Posted on 02/12/2019 1:18:15 PM PST by Yo-Yo
The United States Air Force has removed Captain Zoe Kotnik, the first women to lead one of the flying force's demonstration teams, after being in the position for just two weeks. Kotnik took the reins of the F-16 Viper Demonstration Team in parallel to a potent media blitz on behalf of the Air Force. The announcement was seen by many as an exciting example of how women are becoming an ever more dominant force within the service's ranks and pilot culture.
You can read all about Kotnik and her rise to such a prominent flying position in this previous piece of ours. Suffice it to say that in a year when the Air Force is set to make a major media splash with the highly anticipated blockbuster action film Captain Marvel, which stars Brie Larson as a superhero that has a fighter pilot past, axing its first female demo team lead is far from convenient.
A posting on the team's highly active Facebook page from the Commander of the 20th Fighter Wing who oversees the team reads:
I removed Capt. Kotnik from her position as the commander of the Viper Demo team yesterday, because I lost confidence in her ability to lead the team.
I know that loss of confidence is a common response from the Air Force, whenever someone is removed from a command position, and I think it’s important to understand why we take this approach.
We have thousands of Airmen across our Air Force serving our country, and not one of them is perfect. As good people, like Capt. Kotnik make mistakes, I want them to have the opportunity to learn from them without being under public scrutiny, and to continue to be a part of this great service. They’ll be better for the experience, and in turn, we’ll be better as an Air Force.
In these types of situations, I never forget that we’re dealing with real human beings, that I care deeply about, and that we are charged to take care of. This will be a difficult time for Capt. Kotnik, but she’s surrounded by wingmen that will help her every step of the way.
It was exciting to have the first female demo team pilot here at Shaw, but I’m also just as excited about the many other females that are serving with great distinction across our Air Force. I’m proud to serve with them, and I’m inspired by them. Even as I speak, another female pilot from the 20th Fighter Wing is flying combat missions in the Middle East.
Maj. Waters, last season’s Viper Demo pilot has resumed command, so the team is in great hands, and the show will go on. We’re looking forward to another amazing season with this team.
Col. Derek O’Malley
Commander, 20th Fighter Wing
It's not all that uncommon for the Air Force to remove people from command, but it is quite rare that something like this occurs after just a matter of days of taking up the new position. We don't know for certain the circumstances surrounding this abrupt dismissal, but it's very likely that we will soon.
The Air Force Academy grad turned F-16 pilot was very active on Instagram, regularly communicating with her tens of thousands of followers, but it appears that she shut down her personal account.
We will update this post as more information comes available.
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com
I doubt the T-birds would photoshop on their own website so I guess it’s so.
The only way I would think they could pull it off is if they engaged the autopilot and employed a distance sensing radar that kept them exactly a certain distance apart.
LMAO!!!
Yep. My first thought.
For clarity, this is the solo F16 demo that goes to airshows to fly a demo in the F16. Maj Rains flew the demo last year and rotated out as scheduled. This isn’t the Thunderbird team. Maj Rains has been asked to return to this assignment to minimize any delays in the show schedule.
There is no doubt that the female pilot had the piloting skills for this job as she was already practiced up and certified for the show. Whatever happened must have been on the personal side. No doubt the decision to fire her went all the way to the Secretary of the AF for review. Must be pretty bad.
Ok from what I gathered, the planes aren’t directly over each other. They’re offset enough for them to see each other.
Child’s play.
Just kidding.
Yeah, that’s what I get from the videos, too. Very difficult, but not impossible. I’d guess that the offset is just enough (but no more) for them to see each other over the lip of the cockpit. I wonder if you could do that “for real” using the all-around sensors on the F-35.
I can't believe how often I see that grammatical error today. It's epidemic.
Or they found out she's a he.
Command rotation. I dig it now.
Something going down in the canoodling department? She does have kind of a she-wolf lusty look.
NOT GUILTY
Will not be surprised if that turns out to be the reason.
Farding!
While I have reservations about women in combat roles, I respect her decision to serve her country and imagine she was a hell of a pilot to get the position in the first place. It is truly tragic for her career, her personally and all her family that was certainly proud of her achievement especially with their own air shop and pilot heritage.
Thanks for your service young lady and I hope you overcome such a public event.
Thunderbirds tradition. The ‘5’ is upside down on the aircraft, because the lead solo spends so much time inverted. I think the ‘5’ is even upside down on the pilot’s flight suit.
what’s left. Gay is fine, Tranny is fine. Short of being a Pedo what’s not on the table now?
The latter latter, no schmuck. :-)
Perhaps she wouldn’t put out for the good Colonel..
Col. O’malley either has big brass ones or didn’t do this on his own.
I doubt it. In today’s environment, if a lowly Colonel even suggested dating a female Capt he has ANY career influence over, he would be out.
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