Students at Sutton Elementary School heard the F-16 jets fly overhead on Thursday, but Friday morning they heard from those pilots and their crew during a presentation by the F-16 Viper Demonstration Team.
Major Garret “Torro” Schmitz and six team members shared what they do as part of this elite team.
The purpose of the team, Schmitz said, is to demonstrate the unique capabilities of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the United States Air Force’s premiere multi-role fighters, and also to interact with the community through speaking events like the one at Sutton.
Performing at 20 air shows yearly, the Viper Demo Team shows audiences what the single-seat, fighter is capable of in military roles. The powerful engine creates around 31,000 pounds of thrust and can fly at speeds over Mach 2.
Schmitz demonstrated on his safety observer, Ryan Davis, the other F-16 pilot, how a Viper pilot hooks into the plane, the special pants that are worn to help when they pull G’s (gravitational forces) and where a parachute would attach as well as where a life preserver is built into the safety equipment.
Students watched the demonstration and were most excited to learn about the pilot’s helmet, which projects all tactical information on the shield for the pilot to see. The whole audience was surprised to learn that the helmet alone costs around $250,000, not the $50 a student guessed.
Schmitz and his team told about the maneuvers that he would perform at the air show on Saturday and Sunday and that 12 to 15 times during the show, he would experience 9 G’s, which is around 1,800 pounds of force on him, he said.
Other team members discussed the effects on the body, including tunnel vision, which comes with pulling more G’s and how flying in one of these planes, with the bubble canopy makes it feel like you are riding through clouds.
The students also learned about the speed of the plane — from 120 to 700 miles per hour — and how the “low and fast” part of flying the F-16 is one of Schmitz’ favorite aspects of his job.
Schmitz has been the Viper Team commander and pilot since May and has been in the USAF for 10 years. He will remain on the team for two years.
He said that he first saw the Viper Demo Team as a child living in Utah and after seeing the maneuver where the plane spirals straight up to 15,000 feet, he knew that was what he wanted to do.
“I now get to show others,” Schmitz said.
Students and teachers alike asked questions to the team and learned that Schmitz’ call sign is Torro because he flies like a bull in a China shop.
They also learned that when the pilots are flying in formation during the Air Force Heritage Flights, where modern fighter aircraft fly along with World War II, Korean and Vietnam-era plans, there is a 3-foot wing clearance between planes.
The technical crew enjoyed sharing with the students that they drove to Owensboro from Shaw Airforce Base in Sumter, S.C., which took 10 hours, but the two pilots in the F-16s arrived in Owensboro in 30 minutes.
Schmitz said that his family has only seen him fly as part of the demonstration team once in July when they all came to a demonstration in Grand Junction, Colo.
“It was actually my dad’s birthday and that was really cool,” Schmitz said.
Some of his extended family members might be in the crowds this weekend to see him command the F-16.
At the end, when Schmitz asked who would be attending the air show this weekend, students enthusiastically raised their hands, and some even did bull horns, which the students had learned, represented Torro.
The air show begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at Owensboro’s riverfront.
