Fighter Combat International
Bucket List Adventures
Bucket List Adventures (Fighter Combat International: 5865 S. Sossaman Rd #102, Mesa, AZ 85212)
This past new year, I made a resolution to cross off five major items from my bucket list. I’m not staying home or getting any younger, and I want to enjoy every moment of my life. Items on my bucket list range from skydiving, to snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, to running a full marathon. I’m on target to complete my bucket list soon, but one of my favorite experiences close to home was becoming a fighter pilot at Fighter Combat International.
I’m not a pilot, in fact I’ve only ever been on a plane a handful of times in my life! But when I was a kid, I dreamed of flying fighter jets for the United States Air Force. Life had other plans, but I always held on to my fascination with combat aircraft. When I learned about Fighter Combat International, I knew I had to do it. Fighter Combat International offers civilians the chance to fly authentic military planes and simulate air combat or aerobatics. I sprung for the full-day advanced mission, and had a couple old friends join me. We got a tactics manual in the mail, which I studied religiously until the scheduled day. When we got to the facility, we immediately received customized call signs and full flight gear. After an hour of classroom instruction, we finally got to climb into the actual aircraft, each with a personal fighter pilot instructor. My instructor, Carl, got us into the air smoothly and let me take the reigns quickly. He showed me all sorts of maneuvers, and prepared me for battle against my friends! Once everyone was ready, we went head-to-head in three head-on engagements. The level of detail was truly insane—our planes were all equipped with lasers, and when I hit an opponent’s aircraft, smoke poured out of it! It was an amazing adrenaline rush, and everything I had hoped it would be. I’m happy to report that I won all three engagements, earning me the title of “Aero God”. I even have it on good authority that my friends only went a little easy on me!
After the flight was over, there was a brief awards ceremony at The Rose Garden at MCC, and then the crew on the ground played back our entire mission from all angles, so we could see real-time what was happening in each plane. The turnaround time on that footage was really impressive, it already looked polished and ready to go the minute we touched back onto the ground. I left the facility with my medals, flight gear, video footage, and bragging rights for the rest of the year!
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