Rick Reilly's F-14 Tomcat Ride

Bill Matukaitis forwarded me an article originally written by Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated, describing his ride in an F-14 Tomcat. You can read a copy of the article here: Rick Reilly F-14 Ride

This is one of the funniest articles that I've read, in a long time.

Reilly's opening advice:

"If you get this opportunity, let me urge you, with the greatest sincerity . . .

Move to Guam. Change your name. Fake your own death. Whatever you do, do not go. I know. The U.S. Navy invited me to try it. I was thrilled. I was pumped. I was toast!"

... And it goes on to describe the ride

"It was like being on the roller coaster at Six Flags. Only without rails. We did barrel rolls, snap rolls, loops, yanks and banks. We dived, rose and dived again, sometimes with a vertical velocity of 10,000 feet per minute. We chased another F-14, and it chased us. We broke the speed of sound. Sea was sky and sky was sea. Flying at 200 feet we did 90-degree turns at 550 mph, creating a G-force of 6.5"

His descriptions of the experience is an absolute riot. After you read the article, you'll know why to eat bananas before aerobatic flight.

Enjoy!