About this episode

Former Royal Australian Air Force pilot Gary “Schlick” Skilton shares his experiences flying the F/A-18A Hornet and discusses various aspects of military aviation in Australia during the 1990s.

Get the full, ad-free episode here: https://www.10percenttrue.com/pricing-plans/list10PCT Episode #92 [CLIP]Former Royal Australian Air Force Hornet pilot Gary “Schlick” Skilton joins me to discuss life flying the F/A-18A Hornet during the 1990s.Before reaching fighters, Schlick spent three years flying the DHC-4 Caribou into remote Australian bush strips and the mountains of Papua New Guinea. Those experiences shaped the airmanship that helped him transition to the Hornet.We discuss the RAAF training pipeline, Hornet conversion, Australian fighter culture, BFM, early AMRAAM integration, operating without Link 16 or an IFF interrogator, exchange pilots from the US, UK and Canada, flying against MiG-29s and F-15s, and the Hornet Upgrade Program that transformed the aircraft after his departure.

People in this episode

Host: Steve Davies

Guest: Gary “Schlick” Skilton

Topics covered

• F/A-18A Hornet
• Royal Australian Air Force
• fighter pilot experiences
• air combat training
• military aviation history
• aircraft upgrades

Keywords

• F/A-18A Hornet
• Royal Australian Air Force
• Gary Skilton
• fighter pilot
• military aviation
• air combat
• AMRAAM
• Link 16
• Papua New Guinea

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Royal Australian Air Force

Products: F/A-18A Hornet, AMRAAM, Link 16, JHMCS

Places: Papua New Guinea, Australia

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