Flying with Fat Albert

During my tenure at Red Bull as the Aviation Marketing Director, I was very fortunate to experience a level of aviation magic second to none. One of the many highlights were times spent with the Blue Angels, both the F-18 pilots and the Fat Albert Crew.

Presented here is a snapshot from several moments: That time when we flew a formation flight with a Grumman HU-16B Albatross during Fleetweek (I'm in the HU-16) and at the Quad Cities Airshow in the cockpit during a JATO Assisted Take-off....IMO one of the more rare experiences a civilian can have during a ride-a-long.

The JATO Assisted take-off was definitely in my top ten list of coolest things I've done. I'm here with the legendary aviation photographer Erik Hildebrandt. Yes, I'm nerding out in this video - before social, before smart phones - just having a blast. Pardon the pun.