CNN 5/2/03: Smirky: "Yes, I flew the plane".

[deminks]

I know, another Mission Accomplished post, and a day late at that. but one aspect I have been curious about these past years was whether Smirk really flew that jet to the carrier, what with all the TANG business and all.

From CNN back on the day:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/05/01/bush.carrier.landing/

(snip)

Bush said he did take a turn at piloting the craft.

"Yes, I flew it. Yeah, of course, I liked it," said Bush, who was an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard after graduating from Yale University in 1968.

(snip)

"We picked two mature pilots that also are very good landers," Capt. Kevin Albright, commander of the Lincoln's Airwing 14, said Wednesday.

Bush wanted to swoop onto the deck of the Lincoln aboard an F-18 Hornet, but the Secret Service nixed the idea -- they didn't like leaving the president unguarded in a fighter jet that only has space for the president and a pilot.

Bush had left from Naval Air Station North Island (San Diego) after being brought there from Washington via Air Force One. Just before he left for the carrier, Bush was briefed on what he would have to do to eject in case of emergency.

Officials also told CNN that in preparation for the flight, Bush underwent water survival training, which involves sitting in a simulated cockpit that fills up with water, then spins around, while the person inside has to escape and come up for air. To pilots, the training is known as "panic in a can."

[soothsayer]

1. as a kid my dad would sit me on his lap in the car and let me steer.

so it's kinda' like that, I reckon. surrrrre you flew the plane, georgie.

[madokie]

6. kinda like when a friend took me and my sons up in his small plane

and he turned the controls over to me sorta, next thing I know we are doing whoop d doos. scared everyone except me, I was mortified. let me say that I was glad my bowels were working right earlier that morning

[zbdent]

17. well, that would explain Bush's "manly bulge"

he got wood sitting on the pilot's lap ...

[soothsayer]

18. lol!

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. LOL!

:spray: :rofl:

[MurrayDelph]

21. "I'm a good pilot"

"I'm a very good pilot"

[SammyWinstonJack]

29. ..

:spray:

[EstimatedProphet]

2. Yeah. I buy that. Sure.

Of course he did all that stuff and everything. He wouldn't lie about that. He's the president!

[blm]

26. It's a COMPLETE LIE - Bush couldn't continue because he had a FEAR OF LANDING.

and it came out in 2004 when his Alabama boss's wife revealed that truth, but the corpmedia ignored that tidbit.

[stellanoir]

3. "panic in a can"

Why does that description seem so-o-o apropos of him. . .?

[DFW]

4. In that case he should have ejected

His time in the White House has been one long drawn-out emergancy.

[Olney Blue]

5. Why, oh why, didn't he accidently press the eject button?

[jmowreader]

22. Probably because they unhooked the one he could reach

Come on. Does ANYONE really believe the "security" reason they put Bush in an S-3 Viking?

Let's be real. You get the F/A-18 that's got the best maintenance record. You pick a pilot with several thousand hours in type who absolutely adores Shrub. You have Secret Service protection at the departure airfield and Secret Service protection on the carrier. He's perfectly safe.

What he's NOT safe from, however, is utter embarrassment. Any F/A-18 pilot worth his salt is gonna show his leader just how good an airplane the Hornet is, and how well he can fly it, by nailing the gas and standing the plane on its tail. After five minutes with any fighter jock, Bush's flightsuit would have been either soaked in piss, coated in vomit, or both.

The Secret Service knows this...and that, my friends, is why Bush was taken to his photo op in a plane that only goes 500mph.

[Frustratedlady]

7. "We picked two mature pilots that also are very good landers,"

It's nice someone MATURE was on the flight, as The Kid sure wasn't.

[John1956PA]

8. Not that it is relevant, but the true pilot of that jet flight was later killed in an accident.

I am relying on my memory, which might not be accurate, but I think that the true pilot that day was later killed in a jet flight accident near Japan. I think I remember reading that the pilot was from Pennsylvania. My heart goes out to all families who have lost loved ones who were killed while serving their country.

[zbdent]

19. "accident"?

Sure ...

[trotsky]

9. The more I read about this, the more I wonder...

just how much DID this stunt cost you & me, anyway?

[DFW]

11. An article about that ran at the time

It was estimated at a cool million.

Better spent on his publicity stunt than on
anything else, right?

[John1956PA]

12. The carrier had to be turned around so that the San Diego skyline was not in view.

The photo-op was designed to make it look as though the carrier was far out at sea, rather than its actual location of about five miles off the California coast.

[Lisa]

20. and more about the elaborate set-up ...

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/05/16/nyt.bumiller/

The most elaborate — and criticized — White House event so far was Mr. Bush's speech aboard the Abraham Lincoln announcing the end of major combat in Iraq. White House officials say that a variety of people, including the president, came up with the idea, and that Mr. Sforza embedded himself on the carrier to make preparations days before Mr. Bush's landing in a flight suit and his early evening speech.

Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.

"If you looked at the TV picture, you saw there was flattering light on his left cheek and slight shadowing on his right," Mr. King said. "It looked great."

[conscious evolution]

24. They sure fooled me

I distinctly remember how the reporters were all acting like the carrier was far form home.

Lying bastards.

[SammyWinstonJack]

31. So close to shore that georgie could have flown there by helicopter and it would have been

cheaper. But he's the "photo-op guy".

[KharmaTrain]

10. Thank You For Posting This!!!!

I cited this long-forgotten storyline of mission accomplished the other day. The original story floated was that Junior landed the plane on the Lincoln. I guess the fish didn't bite on that one.

Also...how long would the flight from Camp Pendelton or wherever he took off from to San Diego/Mission Bay? A 10 minute flight? I've had longer rides at Great America.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

13. i have doubts he was even on that plane

they turned the plane around and there were no pictures of him getting out of it.

everything about bush is fake and there is no reason to believe this stunt was any different.

[benddem]

14. one of the things the media missed

and so the public...Condi was on that plane and she was dressed in street clothes. Hmmm wonder why she didn't need a flight suit, helmet and cod piece?

[tanyev]

15. I don't believe for a second that Bush did water survival training just for a photo op.

He wouldn't have had time, what with all the hours of costume fittings.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

16. No, george, think and remember...that was the day before at Disneyworld.

They let you control the lever that made Dumbo go up and down. I know, I know, the exciting days of georgie-goes-on-a-presidential-vacation all seem to blend together, don't they?

[EFerrari]

23. Okay. I nominate this for the Creepiest EVER Statement

by a sitting Resident. :scared:

George, you aren't even allowed to twirl in your desk chair.

:rofl:

[tabasco]

25. Yeah and it was all the Navy guys' decision to put up the big banner.

Do these people ever tell the truth?

[Lurking Dem]

27. Taking the stick for 5 seconds is NOT "flying the plane".

Whadda maroon.

[FredScuttle]

30. "water survival training"

Did *'s simulated cockpit fill up with water, or bourbon?