So I'm in Florida this tues-thurs.... flew home late last night.
Had several meetings in the Orlando area and my last meeting was yesterday around lunch in a town called New Smyrna Beach. The meeting was with the mayor of New Smyrna Beach. I'm not going to put his name here, you can easily research it.
So we are sitting there, doing our thing and when we wrap- we are having some idle chit chat. The Mayor asks where I'm from, I tell him and he says "Oh... I lived in Texas for little while..... Colleyville."
I tell him I know it well and ask him why he was there.
He says "Well, I served in the Navy for 30 years and then went to work for American Airlines as Chief of operations for American Eagle."
I said "Ah... so you were a Naval Aviator. Let me guess.... you look too tall to have been a fighter jockey so I'm gonna go with... you flew a Herc."
He says "Nope. I was a fighter jockey."
I say "Phantom driver?".
He goes "Ya I'm old, but they were already on their way out. No, I flew Tomcats."
I turn to my business partner and say "Ha-- we've got us a real TopGun pilot here."
Then the dude goes "Funny you should mention that. I got a call in 85 from my Air Boss telling me the DOD wanted me anf two other aviators to come down and meet a couple of guys who were going to make a movie and needed pilots. So we go down there and meet these fellas named Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. They tell us what the movie is about and since we were all graduates of TopGun, he wanted us to help make his movie."
At this point, I've transitioned from "interested story listener" to "no fvcking way" fanboy.
Dude walks us through everything. He taught Tom Cruise how to properly salute. How to do a pre-flight check. He flew most of the cast around in the back seat of his Tomcat to get them used to flying for the filming. Said "everybody but Tony Edwards" threw up.
He called him "Tony".
Said he even flew one of the enemy MiGs during the filming--- at which point I jump in and go "Those were F5 Tiger 2's!"-- like I'm 10 years old again.
He smiles and said "Yes, they were. But no civilian knew that.....". I snap back with "I was 10 and I knew it!"..... he laughs.
Dude shows us a pic in his office of him and the cast.... then casually adds in "And then I went and flew with the Blue Angels". You know, like it was no big deal.
I'm 10 years old and on cloud 9. We leave the meeting and I'm literally floating to the car. I grab my phone and call my baby momma and I'm peeling my skin off with excitement as I'm telling her this story. "I just met a fvcking dude that was a pilot in the TopGun movie! Can you believe that!?!?!?".
I tell her the whole story, blow by blow, sparing no details. I get done and her response is "Great. When you get back you have got to get that ladder down from the garage storage and trim the trees in the backyard."
Flabbergasted, my response was "You just don't GET IT" and hung up the phone.
Had several meetings in the Orlando area and my last meeting was yesterday around lunch in a town called New Smyrna Beach. The meeting was with the mayor of New Smyrna Beach. I'm not going to put his name here, you can easily research it.
So we are sitting there, doing our thing and when we wrap- we are having some idle chit chat. The Mayor asks where I'm from, I tell him and he says "Oh... I lived in Texas for little while..... Colleyville."
I tell him I know it well and ask him why he was there.
He says "Well, I served in the Navy for 30 years and then went to work for American Airlines as Chief of operations for American Eagle."
I said "Ah... so you were a Naval Aviator. Let me guess.... you look too tall to have been a fighter jockey so I'm gonna go with... you flew a Herc."
He says "Nope. I was a fighter jockey."
I say "Phantom driver?".
He goes "Ya I'm old, but they were already on their way out. No, I flew Tomcats."
I turn to my business partner and say "Ha-- we've got us a real TopGun pilot here."
Then the dude goes "Funny you should mention that. I got a call in 85 from my Air Boss telling me the DOD wanted me anf two other aviators to come down and meet a couple of guys who were going to make a movie and needed pilots. So we go down there and meet these fellas named Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. They tell us what the movie is about and since we were all graduates of TopGun, he wanted us to help make his movie."
At this point, I've transitioned from "interested story listener" to "no fvcking way" fanboy.
Dude walks us through everything. He taught Tom Cruise how to properly salute. How to do a pre-flight check. He flew most of the cast around in the back seat of his Tomcat to get them used to flying for the filming. Said "everybody but Tony Edwards" threw up.
He called him "Tony".
Said he even flew one of the enemy MiGs during the filming--- at which point I jump in and go "Those were F5 Tiger 2's!"-- like I'm 10 years old again.
He smiles and said "Yes, they were. But no civilian knew that.....". I snap back with "I was 10 and I knew it!"..... he laughs.
Dude shows us a pic in his office of him and the cast.... then casually adds in "And then I went and flew with the Blue Angels". You know, like it was no big deal.
I'm 10 years old and on cloud 9. We leave the meeting and I'm literally floating to the car. I grab my phone and call my baby momma and I'm peeling my skin off with excitement as I'm telling her this story. "I just met a fvcking dude that was a pilot in the TopGun movie! Can you believe that!?!?!?".
I tell her the whole story, blow by blow, sparing no details. I get done and her response is "Great. When you get back you have got to get that ladder down from the garage storage and trim the trees in the backyard."
Flabbergasted, my response was "You just don't GET IT" and hung up the phone.
