Washington Capitals’ Team Captain Chris Clark talks to Dr. Deborah Gist, State Superintendent of Education for DC, upon his return Wednesday from a 45 minute VIP flight in Blue Angels 7, an FA-18 Hornet, as part of this weekend’s Air Show at Andrews Air Force Base. Gist got to fly immediately after Clark’s return. (Photo by Greg Whitesell/Examiner)
“They told me they don’t eject on Wednesdays, so we’re all set,” joked Washington Capitals right winger Chris Clark, before being strapped into a Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet for a flight at Andrews Air Force Base Wednesday.
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Clark and D.C. State Superintendent of Education Deborah Gist were the lucky VIPs who each got to ride along in the plane’s rear seat on Wednesday as part of the base’s publicity push for its annual air show this weekend.
During the 45-minute flights, Lt. Frank Weisser piloted the aircraft through some of its high-performance moves, including a simulated aircraft carrier launch at takeoff (32,000 pounds of thrust, thank you), a 500-foot-per-second climb for seven seconds just after takeoff, speeds just shy of supersonic, and a tight turn to simulate the final approach to a carrier, which would have them pulling 7.5 Gs.
But first, some debriefing. During the 7.5G-maneuver, crew chief Austin Armstrong warned Clark, “take a deep breath, flex your legs, hold these handles up here and keep your upper body loose. If you do that correctly, it won’t allow you to black out and go into G lock.”
Oh.
“I hope he looks good” when he gets back, “and not green,” said Gist, who insisted she wasn’t nervous to go up next.
So how’d Clark do? “He did awesome,” Weisser said. “We did test him. We did everything the airplane could do.”
“It was the coolest thing I’ve done,” said a sweaty Clark. “I was definitely claustrophobic at the beginning, but we just kept talking.”
For Clark, the process started months ago. “We invite these people to ‘nominate themselves’ and get a physical,” said Lt. Col. Catherine Reardon, the chief of public affairs for the 316th Wing at Andrews. A big supporter of the military, Clark jumped at the chance. Reardon said they had initially asked D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee as well, but she had scheduling issues (or maybe she’s chicken?).
So how did our people compare to other VIPs, Lt. Weisser?
“You guys have some solid athletes here in D.C.,” he said, adding that everyone reacts differently. “I’ve had professional football players say they just want to cruise around, and I’ve had 65-year-old mothers of five say, ‘I wanna pull some Gs!’”
