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Show IMES Hometown flyer thrilled thumbs-up my 3, 2014 7 Thunderbird pilot raised in Layton flew in air show BY MITCH SHAW Hilltop Times staff HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Half a million people attended last weekend's open house and air show at Hill Air Force Base, and a small group of attendees kept a very close eye on one jet. That plane — the No. 7 F-16 for the Air Force's premier air demonstration squadron, the Thunderbirds — was flown by Maj. Tyler Ellison, a career pilot who has special ties to and deep roots in the Davis County community that surrounds the base. Ellison, 35, spent his formative years in Layton after his family moved there from California when he was in junior high. He attended Kaysville Junior High School, then went on to Davis High School. Thunderbird pilots talk to JROTC students Ellison, whose father was a pilot for Delta Airlines, received his pilot's license when he was 16, a few months before he got his driver's license. "It's true," he said. "I learned how to fly before I could drive." After Ellison graduated from Davis High, he entered the Air Force in 2002 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has been flying with the Thunderbirds for the last year and a half. Before that, he was aide-decamp to the commander at the Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. He has logged more than 1,000 flight hours in the F-15C See PILOT I Page 10 STAFF SGT. LARRY E. REID JR./U.S. Air Force Maj. Tyler Ellison, Thunderbird No. 7, Operations Officer, interacts with admiring air show at Travis Air Force Base, Calif on May 3. fans during the Thunder Over Solano HIGH SCHOOL VISIT BY DANA RIMINGTON Hilltop Times correspondent LAYTON — Over the years, the U.S. Air Force's air demonstration squadron, the Thunderbirds, have flown a host of various aircraft, with the F-16s being used by the team for over 30 years, and will remain that way until the F-35 steps in, which is slated to take over the Thunderbirds F-16s in the next ten years, according to Maj. Blaine Jones, Thunderbird Pilot No. 5 during his visit with JROTC members at Northridge High School on June 27. High school visits are an integral part of the Thunderbird air shows, having talked with more than 10,000 students in 2012, as a way to inspire the next generation, not just through their air show performance, but to show the U.S. Air Force's capabilities. The Thunderbird F-16s aren't too much different than the ones flown in combat, other than the paint and a few minor changes to the planes. Jones says every one of their 11 jets has a different personality. "They all fly a little bit different from each other with their little idiosyncrasies, like rolling a little bit slower than the other, or responding just a little differently to your hand pressure," Jones said. The Thunderbirds have eleven planes, eight of them they bring to the air shows, six they use for performances, and two as spares. Over the years, pilots and crew members have started giving their planes nicknames reflecting the plane's personality. Jones plane has been nicknamed Buttercup. "She's not the prettiest with some of her paint chipped off, and she eventually gets the job done, just like a good work horse," Jones said. Thunderbird pilots normally only serve for two years, but since no one flew during sequestration last year, Jones and his fellow pilots have been allowed to stay on for an additional year. Jones says the reason they DANA RIMINGTON/Hilltop Times correspondent U.S. Air Force Thunderbird Pilot Maj. Blaine Jones talks to JROTC students at Northridge High School on June 27. BELOW: Jones presents a Thunderbirds lithograph to Northridge ROTC students. can fly so close together and so low to the ground is because they practice twice a day from November to March to learn the routines and instill the memory into their muscles for the three shows the team memorizes. The weather decides which of the shows they perform. They have a high, low, and flat routine for times when the clouds are too low, but other than that, their shows are exactly the same. However, Jones pointed out the maneuvers they perform aren't too much different than the moves pilots are familiar with using in flight. 'We just fly a little closer and add a little smoke out the back, but basically, it's the same as what we do in combat," Jones said. Thunderbird pilots are required to have over 750 fighter pilots hours, and seven to eight years of experience. Jones wasn't always in the U.S. Air Force, having received a bachelor's degree in Grain Science, and had a good job working in Kansas City running a bakery when the hijackers attacked on U.S. soil September 11, 2011. "I was sitting in my office hearing about the attacks, and looking at my great office and knowing I made good money, but I came to the realization that everything I had achieved to that day meant nothing," Jones said. "I had done nothing to contribute to my niece's future, or to ensure that the freedoms I enjoy carries on. I felt a calling to prevent the attacks from happening again, so I decided I wanted to be a fighter pilot." Jones told the JROTC students to dream big, because as he put it, "I never knew I couldn't be a fighter pilot and I set my sights on that. Don't ever limit yourself." Jones pointed out that following ones dreams means setting goals, and accomplishing the intermediate steps to get there, which for him entailed going into the air force, getting a pilot's license, and being the best he could in class. "You will fail too," as Jones related the countless flying tests he struggled with. "If I had given up then, I wouldn't be here today, so don't ever give up and learn from those experiences because you will become a better person." |