UPS Ford driver David Ragan flies with Thunderbirds

(David Ragan drives the No. 6 UPS Ford for Roush Fenway Racing.)

Courtesy photo from Roush Fenway Racing

Coming out to race in Las Vegas is always something our entire race team looks forward to doing. Since we only make it out here once a year, you’re always looking for something different or neat to do that you’ve never done before. But, if you had told me a month ago that my newest Vegas experience would be riding with the US Air Force Thunderbirds, I wouldn’t have believed you.

When we’re out racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, we all see the different jets taking off from the base and think it would be really neat to go up and ride with them, but you never think you would get the chance. The opportunity came up just about three weeks ago and when I was asked if I would like to take a ride with them, it took me less time to accept the invitation than it took us to reach 15,000 feet in the air.

We arrived at Nellis Air Force base just a little bit after 11 a.m. on Thursday, and you know that you’re going to have to spend a lot of time getting acquainted with your surroundings and what you’re going to be doing that day, and man, all of the people we met did an outstanding job explaining everything from the safety equipment I would be wearing to what the ride would feel like.

They had a flight suit for me to wear for the day, and they even ‘patched’ me up so my suit wasn’t blank. They gave me an honorary Las Vegas patch, a Thunderbirds patch and a celebrity Thunderbirds patch. They explained to me the history of each of them, and I was really honored to wear them.

A lot of the safety equipment they had me try on wasn’t too different from what I normally wear in our UPS Ford. I tried on a helmet and harness and gloves, along with a G-suit, which helps form to your body when you’re experiencing high G-forces in the air. They fit your mask over your face, which provides oxygen throughout the flight and is where your microphone is so you can talk with your pilot during flight. It’s pretty similar to talking to my Crew Chief, Donnie Wingo, because the pilot always wanted to know how I was feeling and what was liking or disliking about the flight.

I met with the Thunderbirds’ doctor, Captain Thomas Bowden, before my flight and he went through exactly what it was going to be like up in the air and how my body would react to the flight. He was very thorough and even simulated what I needed to do during take off and also what to do after we went in and out of barrel rolls. After meeting with Captain Bowden, I finally met my pilot. Major Tony Mulhare, who is an advance pilot and narrator with the Thunderbirds, was my pilot for the day. His nickname is ‘Split’ and he went through the different maneuvers we would be making and showed me a map of Las Vegas and California, which is where we had clear air space for the day. After Split was done going through his part of my briefing, it was time to go to the jet!

When we walked out to the back of the hangar, all of the Thunderbirds and crew and F-16s were lined up. We met with all of the crew and made it down to our jet, which was No. 8. They even had my name on the canopy part, which is basically the bubble that is the top part of the jet. I got all strapped in and went over the inside of the jet, and then it was time to fly!

We were staged at the end of the runway and were waiting for the other guys take off. When we started to take off, I thought it was pretty normal and cool and then he just pulled the handles and up we went. And we weren’t going up in the air at a 30-degree angle or anything; we were going straight up into the sky. Before I knew it, my G-suit was airing up and I was trying to focus on my breathing.

Takeoff happened very fast, and I could feel a lot of the force on my body. We did a turn pretty quickly into the flight, but then I was able to take a look around at my surroundings. We also were able to just ride straight and I was able to look at all of the cool scenery we were flying over. All I could think about was how cool it was to be where I was sitting. We spent almost an hour in the air, and on our way back in, we met up with one of the other pilots and flew next to him for a bit.

After the flight, it felt like I had just got done boxing in the ring for a while. I’ve got a whole new outlook on what these fighter pilots do. And at the end of the day, it was an amazing experience that I was lucky to have and something I will remember for the rest of my life.

For photos and video of David’s day with the Thunderbirds, visit: www.ups.com/racing.