F-16 demo pilots preps for flight
Flying high performance jet fighters is a dangerous business, even in peacetime. Fighter pilots must train and learn how to extract and exploit every ounce of performance from these supersonic weapons. When your job is a Demo Pilot, your job is to extract this maximum performance on a regular basis, very close to the ground, sometimes under low cloud ceilings, and the margin for error is razor thin. As the saying goes: "The easier it is made to look, the harder it is to actually do." VIPER EAST F-16 Demo Pilot, Major Ryan "Rider" Corrigan takes a moment to collect his thoughts, or perhaps say a brief prayer, moments before his performance at the Volk Field Open House Saturday, Aug. 21 (U.S. Air Force photo courtesy Joe Oliva)