ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - On Monday KMOX told you how Boeing has modernized the over 50-year-old F-15 fighter jet, with the new and improved F-15 set to be flying at the Spirit of St. Louis Air Show this weekend.
Now, we get to hear directly from the test pilots about what it's like to be in the cockpit of those jets.
For over a month, Boeing test pilots have been secretly practicing a demo of the newly modernized F-15 at Mid-America Airport at the new massive Boeing Facility.
St. Louis-native Brian Hartwig, call sign Daryl, formerly with the Navy, is a part of Boeing team that's being helping the pilots get ready for the Spirit of St. Louis Air Show this week.
Hartwig left the Navy in 2020 and have been in Boeing ever since, working in business development. Part of his duties includes helping the company sell more F-15s internationally.
"I have flown all variances of the F-18, which is cool," said Hartwig, who has previously flown an F-18 at the Spirit of St. Louis Air Show back in 2018. "From the oldest to the newest. That was really a special experience for me in the Navy."
Matt Giese, call sign 'Phat', is Boeing's Chief Test Pilot. He says the jets will have 12 training missiles on board during the presentation as part of what they call a 'dirty demo.'
"The dirty demo I think is going to be the first time you are ever going to see this at an air show," said Giese. "Not any other fighter can carry 12 missiles like we can."
The dirty demo at the air show is not just for showing off to the crowd what Boeing's latest and greatest upgrades can do, but to also show potential buyers, like the United States, and countries around the world it's capabilities.
After trekking up four flights of steps due to the elevator not being in operation yet at the new facility. I was on top the roof of the new Boeing building to watch the demo.
"It's a max-after burner takeoff, we rotate about 125 knots, we bring those up in gears and flaps," Giese explains. "Then we immediately do a 60 degree check away from the crowd to show our belly and 'here are our missiles. take a look.' That's the first maneuver that we do and we do that at 100 feet and reposition back to the show line."
The F-15 test pilots are wearing what's called a G-suit. It inflates with air around their legs to help the blood to stay in their heads and avoid a black out. There's also a very unique breathing technique called the anti-straining maneuver.
"It's a series of short breaths and exchanges that allows you to keep air in your lungs and the blood in your brains," said Giese. "You are doing short exchanges (every three-to-four seconds). You are kind of using your gluteus to shove the back of your throat. You are also tensing your fingers, curling your toes, tightening up your calves. It's kind of like sitting in a crunch, tightening up your abdomen. You do your best tight up and do those short little breath exchanges."
The pilots are pulling 9 G's, which is higher than the Blue Angels.
"We pull just under 9 G's on the initial takeoff, so we are in it to win it right from the start," said Giese. "If you don't have adrenaline high, you will at that point because the first thing we do is go straight up."