Kerry Tells of Flying a Jet Over Israel

AP ^ | 5-3-04 | NEDRA PICKLER

[bellevuesbest]

WASHINGTON (AP) - John Kerry wasn't kidding when he told the Anti-Defamation League that he had a different perspective on Israel. Probably no one else in the room has seen the country upside down from an Israeli Air Force jet.

Kerry said Monday that Tel Aviv kept denying his request to fly one of their planes, but that the colonel who was showing him around Israel during a 1991 visit not only got him into a trainer, but let him take the controls.

"I take it off, we go up into the sky, climb up, head down toward Aqaba," the senator said. "And I wanted to look at Aqaba, so I'm coming down over Aqaba, and I suddenly hear this voice on the intercom, and he says, 'Senator, you'd better turn faster, you're going over Egypt.'"

Kerry said the colonel then gave him permission to do "a little aerobatics" and that he made a loop at about 12,000 feet.

"To be able to come out upside down and look down and catch the horizon in back of me and see all the way down into the Sinai to the old base that had been given up, all the way across into Jordan, all the way out into the Gulf of Aqaba, and to see Israel beneath me, and the lines contained, and to see it all upside down was the perfect way to see the Middle East and Israel," he said.

[12chachacha]

cough (bullshit)
cough (homo)

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Not the way HE told it. I watched it on C-SPAN and he managed to make tedious what was probably an interesting experience.

[NewLand]

"Careful Senator Kerry...you almost hit Senator Gore!"

[Not A Snowbird]

What kind of helicopters? Mine flew Chinooks, the big 'uns.

Ron flew Phroggs... the CH-46 Sea Knight. He flies fixed wing King Airs now, but he still gets misty when he hears a Phrogg go overhead.

[fuzzthatwuz]

Very hard to believe this story.

[in the Arena]

to see it all upside down was the perfect way to see the Middle East and Israel

What a dork.

[12chachacha]

Remember that show called the "Thunderbirds" that had the wooden puppets? He looks like one of those puppets.

[Ruth A.]

Where's the rest of the story? I'm certain that as he looked out of the plane it reminded him of the swift boats in Viet Nam...

[SkyPilot]

"I take it off, we go up into the sky, climb up, head down toward Aqaba," the senator said. "And I wanted to look at Aqaba, so I'm coming down over Aqaba, and I suddenly hear this voice on the intercom, and he says, 'Senator, you'd better turn faster, you're going over Egypt.'"

First of all, an instructor pilot (Kerry would have to fly with a qualified instructor) would never, ever, never, ever allow a unlicensed, unrated in type, unqualified, uncertified, and DV to boot to handle the controls during take off or landing. Those are "critical phases of flight." Second of all, Kerry has more "I's" attached to that paragraph than Clinton's farewell address, as in:

"I, me, I, I, I am, I, I, me, I, I, I did, I..."

Kerry said the colonel then gave him permission to do "a little aerobatics" and that he made a loop at about 12,000 feet.

Third: in a high performance aircraft such as he alluded to, a loop takes anywhere from 10,000 to 12,000 feet to safely accomplish, and then there must be clearance to that inconvenient thing called "the ground." In fairness, he probably didn't recall the exact altitude there were flying at, but it only adds to his lack of credibility to get any facts correct.

"Call me 'Maverick' dammit!!!"

[Sloth]

Was this before or after he landed on the Moon?

[Howlin]

"I take it off, we go up into the sky, climb up, head down toward Aqaba,"

I wondered about that; is that the way pilots talk?

[Momaw Nadon]

[SkyPilot]

"Let's see a show of hands! Do you all think I am jealous of GW Bush? Come on...really!"

[hole_n_one]

lol!

[Henchster]

"Kerry said the colonel then gave him permission to do "a little aerobatics" and that he made a loop at about 12,000 feet."

Engage Kerry "Nuance" Interpreter:

Activate "Medals = Ribbons" Decipher Mode:

"Kerry said the colonel then gave him permission to do "a little aerobatics" hold the controls and that he made a loop turn at about 12,000 feet."

That makes more sense.

[abner]

Gotta' look at this one tomorrow...

Yikes!

[scott7278]

Ping.

[onyx]

Thank you.
I don't believe Kerry's TALE.

[RVN Airplane Driver]

I can tell you as a ex-military pilot this Kerry tale has all the earmarks of complete bull shit...can he never quit lying? He truly is a despicable, pathetic human being who has lied about so many things for so long that he can't imagine why he is now being questioned.

[O Neill]

...he made a loop at about 12,000 feet.

That's one small loop for a pilot, one giant FLIP-FLOP for Kerry-San bin Tovietnam...

I wonder what Yeager would think about this...