The Last of the Dogfighters! A little eye candy and laughs from the badass adversary pilots of VFC-13.
About Paco Chierici
Paco Chierici flew A-6E Intruders and F-14A Tomcats during his 10 year active duty career. He flew the F-5 Tiger II for a further 10 years as a Bandit concurrent with his employment as a commercial pilot. Paco is currently a 737 captain. Paco is also the creator and producer of the award winning naval aviation documentary Speed and Angels. Paco has written articles for various international and domestic magazines as well as regular contributions to Fighter Sweep. He has signed with an agent to represent the sale of his debut novel, Lions in the Sky, a naval aviation thriller. Paco has the standard panoply of medals and ribbons but his proudest accomplishment is the Top Nugget award for landing grades from his first deployment.
All Posts by Paco Chierici
Hornet Ball 2014
My buddy Wingnut is not only an intrepid and steely-eyed fighter pilot who has already garnered some well deserved ink here on FighterSweep, but he also happens to be a pretty damn View More ›
In Memoriam: Lieutenant Nathan Poloski
Today, the Navy released the name of the F/A-18 pilot who lost his life a few days ago flying from the USS Carl Vinson. It was a tragic incident in View More ›
Flying the F-5 Tiger II (Part 5)
The F-5 was the enabler of this amazing flying club. It was a link between the pure era of fighting machines to the modern age of digital combat. The plane View More ›
The Right Use of Airpower at the Right Time (Part 2)
Last week we wrote about whether or not the airstrikes in Iraq against ISIS had a chance to be effective and what their objectives and scope should be. As it View More ›
Flying the F-5 Tiger II (Part 4)
An in-house BFM sortie between two seasoned pilots would consist of a short brief, a quick candy bar and a walk from the Ready Room 20 to 30 minutes before View More ›
Flying the F-5 Tiger II (Part 3)
An F-5 against an F/A-18 is not a fair fight. The Hornet has a spectacular radar with extremely capable ACM modes. At “Fight’s On,” a pilot has just to flick on View More ›
Flying the F-5 Tiger II (Part 2)
As a reservist who flew no more than 120 hours per year, .8 at a time, the F-5 was a dream. It is inexpensive to operate, therefore plentiful, and painfully View More ›
Putin Moves Back to the Future
Putin has ordered a resumption of a Cold War favorite. In the past few days there has been a marked increase of Russian bombers sniffing around the edges of U.S. airspace.
Flying the F-5 Tiger II (Part 1)
Jorge Canyon. The Centroid. The Six-Pack. Sperm Lake. Circle Squares. The Dong. These are the inside names of some of the secret hiding spots in the greatest aerial playground in the United States. For 10 View More ›