I Spent A Day As A Fighter Jet Pilot...And Yes, It Was Awesome

As far as day jobs go, it’s safe to say the seven members of the Breitling Jet Team—the largest civilian jet aerobatic group in the world—have one that’s a whole lot cooler than yours. For the past thirteen years, this group of badass Frenchmen’s full-time gig has been traveling the world, living out your most extreme Top Gun fantasies.

They recently made their American debut, and I got to tag along. This is what it's like to be a fighter jet pilot:

Breitling has a long history with aviation and crafting watches for pilots. In 1962, long before an Omega Speedmaster walked on the moon, astronaut and former Navy pilot Scott Carpenter wore his trusty Breitling Navitimer into space. To celebrate this heritage, Breitling turned several Czech-made L-39 Albatros military training jets into flying billboards, and handed them to seven incredibly talented pilots who put them through some serious aerial acrobatics.

Prior to being strapped in with them, I'd never witnessed a jet team perform before. And if you haven’t either, you should make a point to—it’s nothing short of incredible. Their precise routines of full-speed loops, barrel rolls, criss-crosses, and dives in tight formation left me with two distinct impressions: One was that it was mesmerizingly beautiful; like a ballet performed in the clouds, the other was that this was clearly very, very dangerous.

Nevertheless, I donned a flight suit, put on a helmet, and climbed into the rear cockpit of Jet #4, helmed by former French Air Force ace François “PonPon” Ponsot. I was handed a vomit bag, taught how to use the ejector seat, and given exactly one instruction: Don’t. Touch. Anything.

The next thirty minutes were some of the most thrilling of my entire life. It’s one thing to witness these aeronautics from the ground, but to be flying upside down at speeds upwards of 400 miles per hour, and look over and witness another jet doing the exact same thing just feet away from you is absolutely surreal. I’ve been lucky enough to do some very cool things in my time, but this one takes the cake. After we landed, I caught a commercial flight back to New York. Delta never felt so boring.


John Munson is a contributor to Supercompressor. Follow him on Instagram @jwmunson.