Navy Aircraft - Flying the F-14

The most versatile navy aircraft in the world was the F-14. I am biased about navy aircraft because I flew the F-14. Navy aircraft can drop bombs or shoot-down other aircraft. Some navy aircraft would strike such fear into their opponents that they would turn and leave before they would approach and fight. The F-14 was one such navy aircraft.

I flew the F-14 navy aircraft for ten years both in the fleet and in the reserves. I attended TOPGUN in 1988, have 430 navy aircraft carrier landings, or traps as we call them, and deployed overseas twice to the Mediterranean. After living this life, and seeing just how unique it was I was inspired to write West of the Rock. It gives a rare, illuminating look into the elite world of Navy pilots flying navy aircraft.  In a series of powerful and often harrowing narratives, I present their life trajectories, from looking up in awe at the power and glory of warplanes, facing the ordeals of even “routine” landings at night on a pitching carrier deck, interacting with the comparatively unremarkable world of civilians, and reaching the point they no longer have the edge needed to be fighter pilots. Simply flying a navy aircraft is only part of it.

Navy aircraft fascinate many individuals. To some a navy aircraft has the meaning of between power and excitement. To others it can define destruction and fear. This book open’s another perspective: The life of a Naval Aviator flying F-14’s. A navy aircraft that changed the lives of those that flew it.

Read more about navy aircraft and flying the F-14. Get your copy of West of the Rock today!