Pilot: Flying Bush was 'just awesome'

usatoday.com ^ | 2/05/03

[Jakarta ex-pat]

Navy pilot John "Skip" Lussier has made hundreds of aircraft carrier landings but none like his pressure-filled touchdown on the USS Abraham Lincoln with President Bush in the cockpit.

"The pressure was ratcheted up just a little bit, but I tried not to think about it," Lussier said Friday on ABC's Good Morning America. "I just wanted to focus on it as a mission and make sure I got the president aboard safely."

[Jonathon Spectre]

I just can't get over the image of President Bush on the deck of that carrier in his flight suit, carrying that helmet. I can't IMAGINE ex-President Scumbag being able to handle a f**king weed-whacker, much less fly a jet.

It's so nice to be proud of our President again.

[Dr Warmoose]

Whatever wire it caught, it was a picture-perfect landing, one for the history books.

I think we should spin catching the fourth wire by saying that the pilot deliberately targetted the fourth wire since it was closer to the center of the ship, providing the softest landing available.(less pitch as one approaches center)

[Incorrigible]

Lussier's military career began with the Navy ROTC at Marquette. He earned a degree in computer science in 1985 and then went to Navy flight school.

Hey John O!!! You know this guy?

[NEWwoman]

Wow! You were "living history."

[Winfield]

I was thinking...I was thinking....I was thinking the same thing!

[andrew7]

It's just too bad Bush went AWOL during the National Guard. Also because Bush had to have it has way they kept the carrier pointed away from land so the California Coast wouldn't appear during this multi-million dollar, out of your wallet, photo-op. And the boys were kept offshore for one more day for a press conference which could have easily been done from shore.

[Conservative4Ever]

You are a freeper after my own heart. Take 'er for a spin.

Red

[sargunner]

How many attempts did it take for you to register a login to FR? Let's see.. andrew1? Taken. andrew2? Taken. andrew3? Taken. andrew4? Taken. andrew5? Taken. andrew6? Taken. andrew7? Sh!t hot, I'm in.

I admire the persistence of you folks from DU..

[andrew7]

That's your answer to Bush spending your tax dollars for a photo op, and keeping the boys away from their families for one more day? Surely you can come up with a reponse more creative than questioning my name.

[sargunner]

Andy, From your perspective it may have been a photo-op. But from mine it was something that these men/women will be able to take with them into later life. An acknowledgement of their participation in something (the war) that could possibly change world affairs in the future. I had my chance at war. As I grow older, I just wish I had that feeling that 'what I/We did make a difference'. Call it envy. Call it old age.

On the name thing. I sense you are much more creative than your enumerated nick indicates.

[andrew7]

Sargunner, I really hope so. Of course the men and women are there because they want to be...what I object to is using them so blatantly in spite of Bush's flimsy (at best) National Guard record, using tax payer money to keep the boat out at sea for one more day, keeping them from reaching their families longer than they had to be, not declaring the war officially over.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

What's up with the teletubbie colors?

TV report called them Skittles, not TeleTubbies. :-)

[csvset]

and keeping the boys away from their families for one more day?

ZZZZzzzzzzzz! After months away from friends and family a few more hours aren't anything. How many times have you deployed on an aircraft carrier? I deployed on seven major deployments and countless other at sea periods during my career. Believe me, another day at sea is nothing, once the BMOW calls "liberty call, liberty call", any and all gripes melt away as crewmembers walk down the brow and into the arms of friends and family.

[fightinJAG]

"He was great," said Lussier. "Once he got into the brief he just started remembering. It was a bonding of aviators. When we got into the plane, I gave him the stick and it was like he hadn't left the cockpit."

President Bush, you are awesome. Thank you for your service, sir.

[fightinJAG]

http://www.jeffhead.com/iraqifreedom/victory.htm

[GeorgiaYankee]

"this multi-million dollar, out of your wallet, photo-op"
_____________________________________

Dubya only needed one plane for this trip,
Can't hold a candle to Ole' Slick...

In March 2000, the President, with Chelsea and his mother-in-law, took a trip to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Oman, and Switzerland. The SRPC noted that both ABC News' World News Tonight and the Air Force Times estimated the cost of the trip at $50 million, a record for the cost of an overseas trip by a president. Used on the trip were 14 C-17 Globemaster IIIs, 12 C-5 Galaxys, 3 C-141 Starlifters, and 2 C-130 Hercules. A large number of other Air Force planes were to deploy.

ABC News' John McWethy filed this report:

"Ninety percent of the costs [cited by the World New Tonight anchor at $50 million] are for airplanes, drawn from an Air Force that is already stressed meeting military and humanitarian commitments overseas. When a President travels, all the public ever sees is Air Force One, but consider this: Seventy-seven other Air Force planes are being used on this one trip, including 26 of the biggest transports, C-5s and C-17s."

"Military sources say that represents more than one-third of the Air Force's entire inventory of these planes that are ready to fly on any given day."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/905281/posts?page=40#40

More info at
http://www.senate.gov/%7Erpc/releases/1999/df033000.htm

[sargunner]

Andy, I think I was a little quick to apply rash judgement on you. Your heart seems to be in the right place.

Take care

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Do you think it is the story that repeats itself or do you think it was improperly posted?

[Husker8877]

Typical nutless liberal. Your ilk are consumed by fuming envy.

Sucks to be a Clinton whore, doesn't it?

[Bonaparte]

Lords of Landing, a 1995 article from Air & Space Magazine, tries to give some sense of what these landings are like. IYO, does it succeed?