January 31, 2021 • 42 mins
We got the privilege of speaking to Major Frank "Chomps" Zastoupil, also known as "Blue 3" in the Blue Angels. With amazing insight into the Blue Angels aerobatic team, Frank talks about his life in the US Marine Corps, how it all started and his hopes for the future.
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Ben Hall (00:06):
Hello, and welcome to the pilot based podcast. I'm Ben
and I've been a pilot for over adecade. And I'm Dave
categorically not a pilot. EveryMonday we'll be chatting to both
pilots and non pilots withamazing aviation stories from
all around the world. You canfind all episodes of the pilot
based podcast for free whereveryou get your podcasts. If you
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(00:27):
leave us a review.
Dave Rogers (00:28):
In Episode Three.
We made major Frank chompsdisaster bill, a real life
Maverick flying his blue threein the Blue Angels Aerobatic
Team now, I never expected to beable to use the words naval
aviator in a professionalcontext. And maybe one day Ben,
I get to see a MiG 28 to a 4gnegative time or request a
flyby. But until then, I justhave to settle for great guests
(00:51):
like chops. Here ismajor Frank Zastoupil. welcome
to pilot base. I thank you somuch for joining us. How are
you? And where in the world areyou?
Frank Zastoupil (01:08):
Well, thank you so much for having me today.
This is truly my honour andprivilege to be a part of our
base here. I'm extremely luckyto be able to talk to you all to
find gentlemen today. I'mcurrently in Pensacola, Florida,
which is the western panhandleof Florida down this in the
southeast gulf coast of America.
Central Time Zones about sixhours difference from now.
Dave Rogers (01:28):
Benny's charmed me already.
Ben Hall (01:30):
I know. I know. I'm so.
Dave Rogers (01:34):
Frank, we've got so much that we want to talk about
today. But for those of you whoare only listening to this
podcast, I'd recommend watchingthe video as well, because there
is so much going on behind you.
First of all, talk me throughyour uniform because you've
given us the the great privilegeof actually wearing it today. So
we can see. Well, essentiallywhat you're wearing, is that the
(01:54):
actual flight suit that youwould take off in
Frank Zastoupil (01:59):
Yes, so this is our current fight blue flights
that we wear every single day toand from work while we fly.
Everything is custom tailored toeach individual pilot to get the
appropriate fit. For everysingle individual. It is kind of
a thicker material a littlethicker than a normal flight
suit that you would see on atraditional military pilot, but
(02:20):
it is it's definitely a formfitting suit. We put our name
tags over here if you can kindof see on the our naval aviator
wings as part of the US Navy andMarine Corps. On the right side
we put our crest so yes, yessir. This is our our typical
flight sooner typical everydaywear.
Ben Hall (02:37):
I think a flight suits probably not ideal for Florida
weather though, is it?
Frank Zastoupil (02:41):
Yeah, it gets a little muggy down here.
Dave Rogers (02:45):
So you're in Florida right now. But where
were you born and raised?
Unknown (02:49):
So I'm originally from Houston, Texas, the southeast.
There's kind of a big oilcommunity. And my dad worked for
the oil industry as I wasgrowing up and we kind of home
based out of Houston and then Ijoined the military out of Texas
a&m University. It's one of thelarger kind of military centric
universities in America. Andthen I got commissioned in the
(03:10):
United States Marine Corpsstraight from Aden.
Dave Rogers (03:12):
Are you from a military family then?
Unknown (03:14):
I am not No, sir. So my dad, he just did oil. My
grandfather's wonderful them. Hewas a checklist avakian guy when
he first came over from fromthat country, and then we kind
of just grew up as Texans. Andthen as I was in college, two of
my cousins joined the MarineCorps. And I expressed some
(03:35):
interest in joining the militaryand these two guys, right? Hey,
man, if you join any branch,besides the Marine Corps, we're
gonna disown you. words forthat? I can't I can't say those
words on this podcast, though.
Let's just say it is a veryinfluential that three, three
relatives in the United StatesMarine Corps.
Dave Rogers (03:53):
Oh, absolutely. I'm in the US as well. Such a proud
military nation and the USMarine Corps is held in such
high esteem around the world, itmust give you and your family an
immense amount of pride to haveyour involvement and your
relatives involvement to
Frank Zastoupil (04:10):
help sir, otherwise, it's never personal
gain. I'll say that this isdefinitely Bob, you're doing it.
Not for yourself, for thecountry, for your family and for
all of our counterparts and fory'all as well being such close
partners in the militaryenvironment.
Dave Rogers (04:26):
So please, you plan always to join the military to
become a pilot, or was thatsomething that evolved as your
as your military adventuresgrew?
Frank Zastoupil (04:36):
Great question.
So growing up, I my dad actuallytook me to an airshow in Fort
Worth, Texas, and I was aboutfour years old. And I saw the
Blue Angels fly. I saw them andI was like, Hey, man, that's
kind of a cool job. I think thatthat might be something I want
to do. And I grew up when weused to say I kind of put on
some pounds as a young kid and Igot kind of chubby. I started
playing offensive lineman forour football team growing up and
(04:57):
then I went to College kind ofdisregarded my my dream of
becoming a military aviator atthat time, I was in college,
something sparked inside of meagain. And I was like, you know
what I'm going to actuallypursue this goal. This is
something I have wanted since Iwas four years old, I'm going to
look into it. So I dropped myoptometry track in college, and
I'm waiting to talk to the localMarine Corps. And he made me
(05:20):
take a couple tests, and Istudied my tail off for those
tests. And next thing you know,he said sign right here on this
dotted line, you can become aMarine Corps pilot. So that
sounds like a perfect plan forme. So kind of a last minute
rush to a long term goal, Iwould say kind of surprised my
parents as well. I don't thinkthey truly knew I'd sign on the
dotted line until I told.
Ben Hall (05:42):
So you were still studying at university when you
decided to completely switchfrom optometry you said?
Frank Zastoupil (05:48):
Yes, sir. Yeah, I was in a pre medical optometry
degree and instead,
Ben Hall (05:54):
that's a bit of a change of career, isn't it? Just
a little bit?
Dave Rogers (05:58):
grey? I used to be a pilot though. So maybe they
were all linked all along? Yes.
Lots. So well, you mentionedoffensive lineman there. Did you
play football at college?
Frank Zastoupil (06:10):
I did not know.
I was not a very good footballteam serious. Yeah. Now, in case
you haven't checked today'slatest poll, but uh, no. Animal
I only weigh 185 pounds is boysaround 300.
Dave Rogers (06:24):
Well, that was what I was going to ask because you
talked about gaining a littlebit of weight. So you're 185
pounds now? What were you atyour heaviest? How much shape
did you have to get in?
Frank Zastoupil (06:35):
About 50 pounds? I dropped about 50
pounds. From my high school daysuntil
Dave Rogers (06:40):
50. Well in high school pounds.
Frank Zastoupil (06:43):
I don't know that was in students stones,
right? Because you're in stones.
Ben Hall (06:47):
What's 50 or we're a complete mess with our with our
unit.
Dave Rogers (06:51):
So it sounds like three holograms? Yeah, yeah,
three and a half seconds,something like that. Either way,
that's a lot of running on thetreadmill to get shift that kind
of timber. So once you once yougraduated from college, then and
and you joined the US MarineCorps. What happened then what
was your sort of introduction tothe forces.
Frank Zastoupil (07:12):
So we go from college to a place called
Officer Candidate School locatedin Quantico, Virginia, we spend
10 to 12 weeks there andlearning the basics of officer
corps, customs and courtesiesand how to lead Marines at a
very basic level. It's kind ofour introduction, kind of the
officer boot camp, if you wantto call it that. From there we
go to a school called the basicschool. It's literally just
(07:33):
across i 95, right there next towashington dc in Quantico. And
we it's a six month course,where we learn all of the basics
of leading a rifle platoon. Sowe hike through the woods, and
we do all these long marches.
And we do land navigation atnight. And all these things that
as a pilot are extremely scary,you know, walking into trees,
wearing goggles, so you don'thave eyes, all these different
things. But it is extremelyvaluable, valuable to be a well
(07:54):
rounded Marine Corps officer togo through these different
schools, and ultimately gain anunderstanding about what the
Marine Corps about, you know,everything focuses on the
rifleman for the Marine Corps,non aviation or not anything
else besides the grunt, it'sactually on the ground carrying
a rifle. Everything else in theMarine Corps there is support,
including me, and as a bigconcept understand, going
(08:15):
through the basics, from thebasic school that, you know, I
graduated in 2009, I wentthrough the basic school and OCS
and all that and eventuallystarted flying flight school in
2011, essentially, so about ayear and a half or so, of ground
side training. And then I got tofinally jump in my first
aeroplane. So all this you know,grown up wanting this and then
(08:36):
another delay after collegebefore I could know and I'm
never looking back It is a dreamcome true. As any any pilot out
there want to be pilot orsomebody even dreamed of flying
in a new test.
Dave Rogers (08:50):
It's incredible.
We've been so lucky on this,this podcast, obviously Ben in
your in your life in aviation,you've met 10s, probably
hundreds of pilots, but I'vespoken to far fewer. But one of
the things that always comesacross is how much of a
privilege you will consider itto be able to do the job you do
whatever, whatever job that is,but also just how many setbacks
and delays there are, it doesn'tseem like an easy,
(09:14):
straightforward journey foranybody.
Ben Hall (09:17):
That's I've never met a single pilot who's had a
smooth sailing career right fromthe beginning.
Frank Zastoupil (09:24):
I think everybody's gonna come across
some delay somewhere, to be ableto make their dream come true
and to be able to do a job theywant to do. And so as a Marine
Corps, it's all about the kindof team especially in the Navy
and Marine Corps department andnavy here. It's, it's about how
can we help each other as a teamto get these people to where we
need to move them in the mostefficient manner. So it may be a
six month delay here, but in thelong run, it's producing in
(09:47):
result that is better for ourservice.
Ben Hall (09:51):
So in the US Marine Corps, then what are the pilot
jobs that are available onceyou've got the the number of
grads Josue graduated and youdecide who is who's passed the
requisite qualifications tobecome a pilot? How are you
then? divided up?
Frank Zastoupil (10:09):
Great question.
So in our primary flighttraining, we can pick three
different tracks. And thosetracks are a little helicopter
world, the fixed wing jet world,or the the kind of ospreay, to
see 130 to look at the world,it's based off a variety of
factors, what you want to fly isdefinitely one of them, how you
perform is one of them. And thenthe needs of the Marine Corps or
Navy, in that respect is also.
(10:32):
So when all three of thosedifferent things line up, then
we can have a good compromise asto where we send each individual
pilot. And for me, particularly,I always want to fly a jet. And
so I selected I put jets asnumber one, my grades ended up
panning out that I was qualifiedto fly jets. And then the Marine
Corps said we have one jet spotavailable at the time of the
(10:53):
election, and you're ready togo. Army jets.
Ben Hall (10:57):
This is all aligned.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Dave Rogers (11:00):
So this is this is no time to be modest. Would it
be fair to say that only thepremium fliers the best of the
best, as it were become the jobthat you have. Now, I say this
no time to be modest. I'vesounded like I'm being modest on
your behalf when trying to setup that question. But hopefully
that made sense.
Frank Zastoupil (11:20):
I, I understand your question. But I would
actually say that, it justdepends on what you want to fly.
Like I was just over at ourgroup, Marine Corps group
yesterday, talking to the CEOover there. And it's amazing
that all these phenomenal, very,very bright individuals who come
in and they're like, I want tofly Cobra helicopters, that is
the number one thing I want tofly, or I want to fly c 130s.
(11:41):
And these guys are probably someof the best pilots have ever met
in your life. So it is purelyjust a decision that you want to
do. And it changes and itfluctuates as to the generations
or the cultures at the time whenI was going through jets was
what I wanted. And the guys thatI surrounded myself with were
all guys that wanted jets. Andit just seemed to happen that we
all kind of heated with eachother. It's very, very
(12:03):
competitive. But at the sametime that competition, like we
mentioned earlier, is basedaround that team. I wasn't
trying to outdo that guy. Wewere trying to work together so
that we both got jets because weliked working together. So that
was a that was a crucial aspectof
Dave Rogers (12:17):
some of the first jets or what was the first jet
that you flew?
Frank Zastoupil (12:22):
It was the T 45 goshawk. So it's made by EA. And
we use it for our initialcarrier based training pipeline.
Dave Rogers (12:31):
Okay, and do you remember the kind of the
emotions and the way you feltthe very first time you took off
as a naval aviator?
Unknown (12:40):
Y'all remember that scene from top gun? We're Tom
Cruise is riding his motorcycledown the runway. I mean, the jet
takes it. I'm not even beingcorny. When I pulled into
kingsville, Texas and I saw theJets taken off overhead. I mean,
they're just little orange andwhite. Let me tell you what I
goosebumps as I was, you know,just dropping into the front
gate. I was so overjoyed, likeholy crap, that's what I'm
(13:00):
doing. Hopefully, when I get theopportunity to do it, literally,
that scene just reminds me everysingle time.
Dave Rogers (13:07):
Do you know what I'm so glad that you dropped a
Top Gun reference? Before I did?
Ben Hall (13:12):
It, it was only a matter of time was my
Dave Rogers (13:14):
head in my head. I was like don't don't do a Top
Gun. Don't do that. But yeah, Ican, as soon as you said that I
could, I could kind of visualiseit and almost feel it on your
behalf. We're kind of specialmoment in a very, very select
bunch of human beings who whoget to experience that. And so
let's let's move it on to thecurrent day, then because you
(13:36):
are sat there in your uniformright now, as a Blue Angel. How
did that How did that comeabout? Is that something that
every pilot in your positiongets to experience or is that
something again, that you'reselected for and there's quite a
rigorous process before you canbecome a part of that team.
Frank Zastoupil (13:54):
It is available to anyone any tactical jet
aviator in the United StatesMarine Corps or Navy, you will
go through a certain set ofqualifications or prerequisite
qualifications to be able tojoin the team. But it's open to
anyone who wants to apply. Andit's as simple as just throwing
your name and a hat going andmeeting every single person on
the team performing extremelywell from wherever you came
(14:14):
from. And then more importantly,meshing well as that team that's
going to move forward. And themost crucial part after you
know, before this, I was likeman, the blues are just
something and even the redarrows or the snowbirds or the
Thunderbirds, or or any of thejet teams out there, like those
guys must be the best of thebest at whatever they do. And
then you get here, it's just anormal group of guys that just
(14:35):
work together as one team tomake everything kind of flowing
mesh together. So I think that'skind of the the most important
concept is just how well we thedaily interaction goes between
everybody here is just on adifferent level. I think that's
something that we strive hard todo each and every day.
Dave Rogers (14:52):
So once you become a Blue Angel, is that all you
do? Are you Do you still haveother responsibilities in the US
Marines or for that period oftime is all your concentration
on that one job.
Frank Zastoupil (15:05):
This is my only job the United States Marine
Corps at the time, it's it'spretty lucky, I'm very grateful
to be
Dave Rogers (15:14):
and how long How long have you a Blue Angel for.
Frank Zastoupil (15:17):
So the tours are typically two to three
years, just depends on whichposition that you get selected
for once you get. So, for me, Iselected that they, the team
masters team, so I can meet thethree position, which is the
left wingman inside of thediamond or the Delta formation
is typically a two year tour,the three year tour goes to our
narrator who moves from thenarrator position into the solo
(15:40):
position inside of the actualflying Delta. What's unique
about this year is I actuallyget to experience a frozen team
because of the current pandemicthat's going around the world,
we actually needed to freeze theteam to keep some sort of
experience involved with us tomove on to next year. So that
(16:01):
for the safety aspects and theORM aspects, the operational
risk management aspects or theconsiderations that go into
different show sites or, orflying next to airliners and
doing formation flying, orwherever, whatever it may be, at
the time, there's needed to besome sort of experience factor
that went along with that. Sowe're, this is a very unique
year that a diamond guy ormultiple team members get to
(16:22):
experience an extra year
Dave Rogers (16:23):
to spend a little bit longer live in the dream.
Sounds good to me,
Ben Hall (16:26):
have you actually done any air shows this year at all?
Frank Zastoupil (16:30):
No, we didn't do any air shows this year, they
pandemic kind of cancelled mostof the air shows or most
gatherings and then the riskfactors were just too great. We,
we, we wanted to make sure thatwe were abiding by every sort of
regulation that we could, andthe air shows in us as a team
(16:51):
eventually came do we end upbeing the correct decision at
the time for all these differentevents, we made the best of what
we could
Dave Rogers (16:59):
have you still been able to to fully practice as a
team. Now what is your What isyour normal day look like as a
as a provincials pilot.
Frank Zastoupil (17:07):
So we typically will work out at some point in
the morning, maybe an hour ortwo in the morning, and then
we'll come into work more brief.
And we'll fly and we'll debriefalmost every single day. Of
course, there's some days wherethat can't happen, whether it's
weather or whether it's anoperational requirement, or
whether it's something that justneeds to be an administrative
data handle all the ins and outsand behind the scenes stuff to
make sure that this their showcommunity in this team persists
(17:29):
throughout the next generationsthat simple day, yeah, workout
for an hour to come to work,fly, do the demo, an actual air
show demo, practice, over thefield or over the water or over
something local that we can getdifferent sights and sounds and
feels and talk to differentpeople. And then we come back
and read debrief, which takesabout twice as long as the
(17:49):
actual twice. And we nitpickevery single detail that's in
that flight and something that,you know, the flight is one
thing, and then you get to thedebrief, and you thought you did
okay in that fight and you seeit on the film and to the
general public. Hopefully, itlooked good. And then we see and
like, Man, that looks horrible,or that little wing that we had
didn't exactly match what bosswas doing, or, you know, we
(18:14):
didn't work together as the leftand right wing and to perfectly
match a breakout or whatever itmay have been at the time that
we're constantly seekingperfection, we were constantly
seeking up the standard of everysingle demo or practice or
whatever we're doing at thattime to make it better for the
next one
Ben Hall (18:29):
isn't one of those activities where sort of
confidence plays a big part aswell, because obviously, you're
a very skilled aviator. But, youknow, just like sports, if
you've, if you've seen on adebrief that something's not
quite gone, right, and it wasyour fault, is that playing in
the back of your mind? Or is itmore of you know, you're
confident in your abilities, andyou're professionals and you can
(18:52):
put that behind you and justcrack on, you know, to make it
better next time.
Frank Zastoupil (18:56):
So those go hand in hand, I think, at least
here in my experiences, youknow, they'll do something and
you're like, I know that wasn'tquite up to what I know I could
do. I know I can do better atthat one thing and you'll come
back to the roof and you'll ownit you'll be like you know, a
number to the right women like Ididn't do what I needed to do
there and it affected how youlook so you take complete
ownership of everything you doup in the air in the actual air
(19:19):
while you're flying. Yeah,you'll do that and you're like
alright, I kind of that one maynot go on well or that one went
extremely well that's awesome.
But then you have anothermanoeuvre you know, second later
you have an a very difficultrejoin a second later. So
compartmentalization is key toany fly. This is you know, any
type of flying whether you'recoming into land or taking off
or or even talking on the radioI compartmentalization is very
key aspect moving forward and inthe aviation community.
Dave Rogers (19:44):
Yeah, totally. Talk to me about the jets that you
fly over in the UK you'vealready mentioned and we see the
red arrows on special occasionsand air shows and, and whether
there's an Olympics openingceremony or it's the Queen's
Birthday, there, they're a sightthat moment Brits are familiar
with and they're the small jets.
They're quite old technology,but they're iconic. What you fly
(20:05):
is very, very different isn'tit?
Frank Zastoupil (20:12):
So we actually find fleet aircraft from the
Navy. So we fly the we currentlyfly the Super Hornet we this
next year is going to be ourfirst year flying the Super
Hornet, which is flown by theUnited States Navy and Marine
Corps doesn't have to borns wehad legacy Hornets, the A
through D model, which is whatthe team flew for the last 34
years. And what we do is we takethe oldest of the old fleet
(20:33):
aircraft that the may not benecessarily deployable that day.
And we take the best people tomake those jets flyable every
single day. So we had 34 yearold aircraft that were flying up
until up until November of thisyear. And now we have Super
Hornets, which the same conceptapplies. So we take these jets
that are I mean, just extremelyold aircraft, and then we
(20:54):
painted blue, we make them lookcompletely different than what
they did in the fleet. And thenwe find to the limits. And
that's that's kind of what wedo. And it takes the entire 130
plus person team on this, herein Pensacola, or on the road to
make sure these jets are flyableevery single day, I'll tell you
what, after going from the fleetand seeing the challenges and
the unique maintenance aspectsthat go in with any sort of
(21:14):
aeroplane, to be able to do itday in day out and have six
aircraft be able to fly a demoevery single day. And the quick
turnaround on maintenanceactions here is a sight unseen
any, any level in aviation, thisis just something that you know,
something that is an engineswap, whether it's on a
commercial airliner, whetherit's on fighter jet, it takes
time, and it takes expertexpertise of what you're doing.
(21:36):
And these guys downstairs andgals will do it without even
acquaint without even anything.
And I'll do it faster thanyou've ever seen before. It's
absolutely incredible to watch.
Dave Rogers (21:47):
Wow, 130 people are part of the team. I'm so glad
you mentioned that. Because Iwouldn't have even thought to
ask the question. I assumedthere'd be the six pilots, maybe
a few reserves and some supportstaff. But 130 is an astonishing
number.
Frank Zastoupil (22:03):
Yeah, so we have the six pilots that fly
every single show there, though,there is no reserved pilot, I
would say. So if one of us issick, or if one of us can't fly
that day, then it's we're justnot gonna fly six planes will
fly five points or whatever itis. There's no backup pilots
bring the shares. But thethere's 16 sometimes 17
officers, whether it's theadministrative officer, the
(22:25):
supply officer, the doctor orwhatever it may be. And then we
have 130 maintainers downstairsand support crews that get help
everything. They're the onesbehind the scenes that most
times don't necessarily get therecognition they deserve. But
those are the guys that are thelinchpins that hold this whole
operation together. Like all yousee is a jet flying through the
(22:45):
air what you don't see is thenights of work that have been
put in to make sure that jacketfly
Dave Rogers (22:53):
salutely absolutely incredible stuff. And let's talk
about actually being in the airthen I really want to talk to
you in a bit about how excitedyou are to actually take the
show on the road and and do whatyou've been practising all this
time and sort of representyourself and, and your family
and the US Marine Corps. Butwhen you're actually up in the
(23:13):
air talk to me about theproximity when you are in your
display positions, what kind ofdistance is there between you
and your teammates?
Frank Zastoupil (23:22):
Sure. So that's something that's a relatively
unique to the Blue Angels andeach jet team has their various
differences in what theyprioritise and what we
prioritise as a team is workingtogether as one so that we
always look as one aircraft. So,number one, our boss he'll set
the formation and whatever hiswings are, if they're perfectly
(23:44):
level, that's what all thewomen's wings should be, unless
we're doing a breakout orsomething but when we go into
turn, every week should be levelthe depth consideration the
stacking of like a canopy towingtip or can be to a
stabilator or whatever it may beduring the formation that is set
based on the tip of themanoeuvre that we are doing at
the time. The closest will flyis going to be between me
(24:08):
there's the left wingman myhead, the top of my canopy and
the underside of boss's wing sowhen we get into it, we call it
a diamond 360 It's a left handturn in front of the crowd as we
pull a little bit of GE right infront of everybody. And I will
actually just tuck myself upunder boss's wing right
underneath kind of Where is hisflaps and ailerons neat under
(24:31):
there so you got about a couplefeet of weighing on your left
side. And then all you see is aintake and an engine on your
right as you're looking at it.
That's about 18 inches from thetop of my head to the underside
of that
Ben Hall (24:48):
is where you can see his his left wing on your left
side because it goes over yourhead.
Frank Zastoupil (24:53):
Absolutely.
Yeah you it'll completely shadoweverything inside of your
pocket.
Ben Hall (24:58):
Uncomfortable just talking about it. To be honest,
Dave Rogers (25:01):
I mean, you've you've flown lots of planes,
Ben, most recently, of course,the 8384 British Airways, and
you've spent about how manyhours as a pilot? Have you been
in?
Ben Hall (25:12):
About four and a half, 1000hours in this year?
Dave Rogers (25:15):
You've got so four and a half 1000 hours. By all
accounts, you are an experiencedpilot. How does that make you
feel?
Ben Hall (25:22):
doesn't make me feel great? Well, I mean, or to be
honest, because I wouldn't daregetting within miles of another
aircraft. So to be 18 inchesaway from a wing. That is some
ballsy manoeuvres,
Dave Rogers (25:35):
I should say. So when you're in those positions,
and you're in such closeproximity, what's the
communication like? So I supposeall of the instructions come
from number one? Yes,
Frank Zastoupil (25:47):
that's exactly right. So we, we operate on a on
a cadence. So boss will have aset cadence and his voice
inflections, and how he sayscertain words will mean
different things to everybody inthe formation. So when when, for
example, for example, we don'tfollow g suits, we don't find
anything because we're literallyjust frozen in the jet like we
don't want to move. And it'stypical that you hear going
(26:08):
through flight school, you know,relax, wiggle your toes, do all
that kind of jazz to make sureeverything's nice and nice and
smooth out there. We're actuallystraining so hard in some of
these movers, and pushing downon our leg or pulling up on the
stick and focusing so hard tojust cancel any movement so that
when we hit a bump ofturbulence, let's say all the
catch is kind of bouncedtogether. So we don't want to
(26:30):
have any kind of out of sync orout of waveform type of
movements together. So we'reliterally focused so hard at
that time, that you'll be Oh,man, the Jetsons is finally
there, and the poor pilots, andthey're just sweating his tail
off work. It doesn't get out offormation at the time. But that
is the reason why we don't wearg suits is because the G suits
will inflate. And it willactually change where your elbow
(26:52):
sits on your rests on your legto squeeze this stick to level
that you need to do. Why inclose proximity.
Dave Rogers (27:01):
Goodness me, this is a remarkable insight, Frank.
So thank you so much for fortaking the time. But still lots
of words to talk about, I justwanted to acknowledge the fact
that you're you're telling usall this, it's amazing. I still
want to talk more about flying.
But I also want to talk aboutchomps. So that's your call sign
right? It is
Frank Zastoupil (27:22):
definitely pass on typically it's you come into
the Marine Corps, the Navy orwherever you're going at the
time and you'll do somethingthat maybe super smart or super
good or super stupid or nothinghappens or whatever, maybe at
the time, and you earn acallsign after that, so call
(27:43):
centre earned based on somethingthat is unique to that
individual chomps came from adeployment overseas, I was on
the USS Iijima on a MarineExpeditionary Unit that we were
taken off the east coast andwe're going into the Red Sea and
then kind of for a little bitfurther reason that and actually
another British guy was on thatboat with me up in Britain he's
(28:05):
in the Navy over there so he'she was on that boat and sure
enough and find the AB ABHarrier at the time and I get on
the tram line to get ready tolaunch and my fuel gauge drops
to zero in my engine digitalgauge drops to zero and I didn't
know what to do at the time I Iknew I couldn't launch I should
say so I I came back andeverything involved around that
(28:26):
ship right there as for that onejet trying to take off and I'm
on the train when the enginesrun off so I pull the engines
back to idle and I call up tothe tower and I are talking to
major buzz Tanis at the timenice Lieutenant Colonel retired
but he's like a cha or Frank,Frank guy, you can't launch man.
So go ahead and shoot, you know,pull your back dial taxi off,
(28:47):
get off the train line watchthree jets. Needless to say it's
2am in the morning, it was anight launch is the first like
real mission of the deployment.
So they gave me a call sign saidchomps have choked on the
mission possibility. Oh, theysaid I was scared that that is
the genesis of that. And theyall they made it the challenge
(29:09):
because I was a pretty largeteeth. That smile or whatever it
is. big teeth so my choppers iswhere
Dave Rogers (29:22):
you're talking to two Brits mate. Let's not get
into dentistry. optometry, forthat matter. But so how long was
it before you could sort ofrectify that situation and
finally get off the aircraftcarrier.
Frank Zastoupil (29:37):
So I didn't launch that night. That was a
complete wash for my position tolaunch this as one ship short on
that one. But then the next daywe were able to fly.
Dave Rogers (29:46):
I bet there was so much relief when you could
finally get it for
Frank Zastoupil (29:49):
no yeah, it's like that one thing to
Dave Rogers (29:54):
me. Right. I'm just going back to the room that
you're in. So there's there's somuch stimulation going on behind
you I keep darting around.
Firstly, is that an ice hockeystick do you play?
Frank Zastoupil (30:06):
So this is actually our ready room where we
kind of hang out brief debriefeverything. So everything in
here means something over thelast 75 years to the Blue Angels
history. So, we over my leftshoulder we have our kind of
briefing models. They'recurrently the legacy Hornets
we're forgetting the SuperHornet models and as we speak,
actually, over my rightshoulder, we have a jet, the
(30:29):
hockey stick and you see a golfbag, etc. Anything that has
meant something to the team overthe last 75 years, a little
memento we kind of have in thisroom. pictures on the wall
different air shows a gun barrelfrom a hornet ncsp
Ben Hall (30:45):
Am I right in thinking you're the only US Marine Corps
member? The rest are all USNavy.
Frank Zastoupil (30:50):
I'm the only marine in the jet and we have
three marine pilots that fly sea130 actually, we got our C 130.
This past year from England sothank you for allowing us to
grab us even 30 j off your handsand painted up blue light gold
and make it our Marine Corps jetor Marine Corps demonstration.
Erica, is this is this FatAlbert? Just about over three
(31:13):
Marines. Yeah, amazingmaintainers and support crew
downstairs to help us out. Foranybody that doesn't know what
fat Alba is.
Ben Hall (31:22):
Do you mind just running through the little
modifications? You guys havepopped on it?
Frank Zastoupil (31:28):
What have we done to Fat Albert?
Ben Hall (31:30):
Yeah,
Frank Zastoupil (31:30):
so fat our is a c 130 j that we paint in our
colours. And these guys fly itin a demonstration and in front
of crowds but they also are alogistics piece that they're
able to move equipment or partsor, or people or show loads or
whatever it may be at the time.
There's no special modificationsto the aircraft
Ben Hall (31:49):
does it not have the jet assisted takeoff anymore?
Frank Zastoupil (31:51):
So the T model needed that back in the day the
J model actually has enoughpower. Ah, it's disappointing.
Yeah, that's always a crowdfavourite, but I think you're
gonna be surprised and excitedto see Fat Albert at a
demonstration how just thethrust behind those propellers.
It's a well produced, it's animpressive aeroplane is a truly
impressive,
Dave Rogers (32:11):
either was a US Marine aviator, or as a Blue
Angel. What have been yourproudest moments in the
military?
Frank Zastoupil (32:22):
Some of the proudest moments, the things
that I look back on in my 11 and12 year career so far have been
the people Honestly, it is justthe people that you work with,
and the communities that haveshaped every single thing. You
know, I've been extremely luckyto have flown, the Harrier and
the F 35 and the Hornet and nowthe Super Hornet. But it's not
(32:42):
the planes that truly have madethe difference. It's each
individual community and seeingthe differences and seeing how
everybody just comes together toaccomplish one goal that it is,
it is just so I'm so lucky to bepart of such a good team. You
know, that team isn't just theblues, or it isn't just the
Marine Corps. It's the MarineCorps Navy. And it's the D od
(33:03):
and it's an it's our jointcounterparts. And you know that
for instance, we're just talkingabout Fat Albert, getting Fat
Albert, working hand in handwith the, with the British
military, to be able to makesomething happen. As a joint
team, it was just incredible.
Like the fact that we're able todo that together. I love it. I
love it, especially having acouple British friends I hold
(33:24):
near and dear to my heart. Itmeant a lot to be able to have
that happen.
Dave Rogers (33:31):
I suppose it makes you realise that what you're
doing has a knock on effect notjust in Texas or not just in
Pensacola, or not just in theUnited States, but kind of
around the world. It's it kindof makes it all macro, doesn't
it?
Frank Zastoupil (33:47):
It does. Yeah, the mission set here is
definitely different from thefleet. It's definitely different
from going out and gettingdeployed over bad guy country,
whatever baggage that may be,or, or even friendly patrols or
friendly joint exercises withdifferent various nations around
the world. Our mission isdefinitely different. You know,
we're here to showcase theteamwork and professionalism of
(34:08):
the United States Navy MarineCorps. That's that's our only
mission and how we do thisthrough air shows and community
outreach in various aspects inthat manner. But it definitely
does make it macro, you know, assimple as going and find a jet
to now a representative ofsomething that's so much greater
than one person. It is truly,truly privilege to do
Dave Rogers (34:28):
other than Of course, going out and actually
doing the air shows and andtaking what you do kind of
around America and around theworld to do the job that you've
described. So well. Do you haveany other ambitions as a pilot,
either a plane you'd like to flyor a country you'd like to fly
in or just anything that you'veyou'd really like to achieve in
(34:48):
the near future or kind of along way in the future?
Frank Zastoupil (34:52):
So there's a good answer to this and then
there's the honest answer tothis. Please love flying
different aircraft. As Imentioned, the Harrier that 35 B
and this Hornet and Super Hornetall been fantastic. I wouldn't
mind flying any of them everysingle day. I would also like to
maybe trap on a carrier againand the F 35. c, I think that
(35:14):
would be pretty special that Ihaven't done in about 10 years.
I would also like to do somesort of overseas fly maybe with
you all or maybe wherever it maybe. I think that would be an
incredible opportunity. Whereverthe Marine Corps needs me to go
next, I feel like I've gotten agood deal to be able to come
here if they need me viaEngland, if they're watching
this a I'll pick you up.
Ben Hall (35:37):
We'll put in a good word for you.
Frank Zastoupil (35:38):
I think
Dave Rogers (35:41):
I'd love to see a kind of best of the best of the
best where you get everyonetogether. And you could just do
the same thing. You get one redarrow and one Blue Angel and one
Thunderbird and put them all inhouse and with that. Anyway, we
we digressed is that in terms ofthe display teams then so you've
you've already mentioned theThunderbirds and the red arrows.
(36:02):
Is there a rivalry or is it allsort of? We're great friends
doing a great thing in a greatposition.
Frank Zastoupil (36:09):
Yeah, that's a that's a great question. Is
there a rivalry between theJetsons there's always a
professional rivalry betweenany, you know, extremely high
operating environment anywhereyou But uh, this year has been
unique for us that we'veactually become very close
friends with the Air ForceThunderbirds. I haven't been
able to actually know some ofthe guys in the red arrows, but
I haven't been able topersonally work with him in this
(36:31):
setting yet. But the the rivalrybetween the Air Force
Thunderbirds in the navy blueangels is something that dates
back a couple years. This year,we did something called
Operation America strong, wherethe teams actually got to work
together during the COVIDpandemic and do joint flyer
there's different cities I wasin New York or Washington DC or
Atlanta, over Texas, etc. So wegot to work together and develop
(36:53):
a friendship and a professionalrelationship between the two
teams, to the extent where weactually do joint training
together now whether it's inPensacola or whether it's in
winter training is what we callit in El Centro, California, we
will actually join forcestogether and see how each other
operates and see how and ridewith each other and in the
aircraft to see what the otherguy is actually looking at or
(37:13):
what they're prioritising at thetime, or how their thought
process different is differentthan ours. Or maybe it's very,
very similar. So that has been avery unique thing for this year
that we've developed thisprofessional friendship, while
at the same time maintainingthis competitive nature built in
we put forth the bestdemonstration.
Dave Rogers (37:34):
Amazing, absolutely. But what are the
main differences between whatyou do and what the Thunderbirds
do there.
Frank Zastoupil (37:41):
So the missions are very similar. One is the Air
Force representative of jetteam. And once the Navy Marine
Corps representative,ultimately, we're accomplishing
the same goal. We're operatingto demonstrate professionalism
and teamwork of any sisterservice in the United States.
Dave Rogers (37:57):
Amazing, Ben, I feel as though I'm just asking a
load of questions and getting aload of answers here. Is there
anything that you want to bringup? Or Frank? In fact, is there
anything that you'd kind of liketo to talk about that we haven't
that we haven't brought up yet?
I think you've been incrediblygenerous with your time. Thank
you.
Ben Hall (38:14):
On the rivalries perfectly, this fight between
the Blue Angels and the redarrows who would win that?
Frank Zastoupil (38:25):
That's a good question. I have David Simmons
watching this season on the redarrows right now. Coming on next
Ben Hall (38:35):
week on the podcast we
Dave Rogers (38:36):
have we got to we got James Turner he's read for
he's gonna join us too. So I'msure he'll say lovely things
about you.
Frank Zastoupil (38:42):
They are a great group of guys and gals
everywhere. They are extremelyprofessional. I was able to hang
out with him just for a fewminutes in San Diego last year.
And every single guy and galthat I talked to from that team
was it was an honour to be ableto talk to this. There's people
they're very, very good pilots.
Some of the absolute best pilotshave ever been able to see my
entire life The manoeuvres theydo are incredible. Like it is a
(39:04):
very good jetty.
Ben Hall (39:10):
Frank is just the epitome of class isn't
Dave Rogers (39:12):
I know. He said he charms me from the very
beginning. Unbelievable, but doyou know what Frank you're
absolutely right. But I thinkwhat Ben and I were hoping for
is I yeah, we'd smashed thoseguys. This is a strange
observation for me, given thatyour frame from the chest up,
but you look quite tall. Frank,how tall are you?
Frank Zastoupil (39:34):
I'm 60.
Ben Hall (39:36):
Okay, are you on the tall side for for a pilot in the
us then?
Frank Zastoupil (39:41):
Um, I would say mo a little bit. On
the tall side. Our boss is sixfoot five. I think there's some
guys that I've flown with thathave been definitely taller than
me. So I'd say average toslightly slightly above average
height wise.
Dave Rogers (39:58):
So Ben, you could be a friend Bass jet pilot in
the US.
Ben Hall (40:01):
Yeah. So I'm six foot five. And I was rejected from
the Air Force when I was 17because my femur length was too
long. I think they thought if Iuse the bank seat or just lose
my kneecapscommercial rejections in a 380?
(40:24):
I hope not. No, Ijust as boring at the back.
Dave Rogers (40:30):
Could you imagine that there was one for you, but
not for the passengers you like,see ya. Frank, thank you so
much. This has been a wonderfulconversation. And I just like to
say good luck as everythingopens up and you and you finally
get to do what you've beentraining so hard to do and
actually live that dream andrepresent the US Marine Corps
around the world as part of theBlue Angels. I say good luck.
(40:54):
How are you? How are you feelingabout it? Are you nervous? You
excited? Are you just ready togo?
Frank Zastoupil (41:00):
I think this entire team is ready to go. I
know I am. I know we are readyto rock and roll. We're
prepared. We're ready to readyto put on a good airshow
demonstration represent the bestNavy Marine Corps and all the
800,000 people that are in theNavy Marine Corps at this time.
It's truly an honour and, andBen and Dave, seriously. Thank
you so so much for allowing meto be on this podcast. This is a
(41:23):
very unique honour that I feelvery privileged to be a part of
this and hopefully thatcontinued success for pilot base
and I know it's a great companygreat organisation. So
seriously, thank you.
Ben Hall (41:34):
The privilege is all ours. Frank, thank you so much.
Thanks for listening to thepilot base podcast. We'll be
back next week with anothergreat guest from the aviation
industry. Don't forget to checkout our new career platform at
pilot base.com and all thesocials at pilot base HQ. If you
enjoyed this podcast Don'tforget to subscribe and rice
review
Hello, and welcome to the pilot based podcast. I'm Ben
and I've been a pilot for over adecade. And I'm Dave
categorically not a pilot. EveryMonday we'll be chatting to both
pilots and non pilots withamazing aviation stories from
all around the world. You canfind all episodes of the pilot
based podcast for free whereveryou get your podcasts. If you
like what you're hearing,subscribe to our channel and
(00:27):
leave us a review.
Dave Rogers (00:28):
In Episode Three.
We made major Frank chompsdisaster bill, a real life
Maverick flying his blue threein the Blue Angels Aerobatic
Team now, I never expected to beable to use the words naval
aviator in a professionalcontext. And maybe one day Ben,
I get to see a MiG 28 to a 4gnegative time or request a
flyby. But until then, I justhave to settle for great guests
(00:51):
like chops. Here ismajor Frank Zastoupil. welcome
to pilot base. I thank you somuch for joining us. How are
you? And where in the world areyou?
Frank Zastoupil (01:08):
Well, thank you so much for having me today.
This is truly my honour andprivilege to be a part of our
base here. I'm extremely luckyto be able to talk to you all to
find gentlemen today. I'mcurrently in Pensacola, Florida,
which is the western panhandleof Florida down this in the
southeast gulf coast of America.
Central Time Zones about sixhours difference from now.
Dave Rogers (01:28):
Benny's charmed me already.
Ben Hall (01:30):
I know. I know. I'm so.
Dave Rogers (01:34):
Frank, we've got so much that we want to talk about
today. But for those of you whoare only listening to this
podcast, I'd recommend watchingthe video as well, because there
is so much going on behind you.
First of all, talk me throughyour uniform because you've
given us the the great privilegeof actually wearing it today. So
we can see. Well, essentiallywhat you're wearing, is that the
(01:54):
actual flight suit that youwould take off in
Frank Zastoupil (01:59):
Yes, so this is our current fight blue flights
that we wear every single day toand from work while we fly.
Everything is custom tailored toeach individual pilot to get the
appropriate fit. For everysingle individual. It is kind of
a thicker material a littlethicker than a normal flight
suit that you would see on atraditional military pilot, but
(02:20):
it is it's definitely a formfitting suit. We put our name
tags over here if you can kindof see on the our naval aviator
wings as part of the US Navy andMarine Corps. On the right side
we put our crest so yes, yessir. This is our our typical
flight sooner typical everydaywear.
Ben Hall (02:37):
I think a flight suits probably not ideal for Florida
weather though, is it?
Frank Zastoupil (02:41):
Yeah, it gets a little muggy down here.
Dave Rogers (02:45):
So you're in Florida right now. But where
were you born and raised?
Unknown (02:49):
So I'm originally from Houston, Texas, the southeast.
There's kind of a big oilcommunity. And my dad worked for
the oil industry as I wasgrowing up and we kind of home
based out of Houston and then Ijoined the military out of Texas
a&m University. It's one of thelarger kind of military centric
universities in America. Andthen I got commissioned in the
(03:10):
United States Marine Corpsstraight from Aden.
Dave Rogers (03:12):
Are you from a military family then?
Unknown (03:14):
I am not No, sir. So my dad, he just did oil. My
grandfather's wonderful them. Hewas a checklist avakian guy when
he first came over from fromthat country, and then we kind
of just grew up as Texans. Andthen as I was in college, two of
my cousins joined the MarineCorps. And I expressed some
(03:35):
interest in joining the militaryand these two guys, right? Hey,
man, if you join any branch,besides the Marine Corps, we're
gonna disown you. words forthat? I can't I can't say those
words on this podcast, though.
Let's just say it is a veryinfluential that three, three
relatives in the United StatesMarine Corps.
Dave Rogers (03:53):
Oh, absolutely. I'm in the US as well. Such a proud
military nation and the USMarine Corps is held in such
high esteem around the world, itmust give you and your family an
immense amount of pride to haveyour involvement and your
relatives involvement to
Frank Zastoupil (04:10):
help sir, otherwise, it's never personal
gain. I'll say that this isdefinitely Bob, you're doing it.
Not for yourself, for thecountry, for your family and for
all of our counterparts and fory'all as well being such close
partners in the militaryenvironment.
Dave Rogers (04:26):
So please, you plan always to join the military to
become a pilot, or was thatsomething that evolved as your
as your military adventuresgrew?
Frank Zastoupil (04:36):
Great question.
So growing up, I my dad actuallytook me to an airshow in Fort
Worth, Texas, and I was aboutfour years old. And I saw the
Blue Angels fly. I saw them andI was like, Hey, man, that's
kind of a cool job. I think thatthat might be something I want
to do. And I grew up when weused to say I kind of put on
some pounds as a young kid and Igot kind of chubby. I started
playing offensive lineman forour football team growing up and
(04:57):
then I went to College kind ofdisregarded my my dream of
becoming a military aviator atthat time, I was in college,
something sparked inside of meagain. And I was like, you know
what I'm going to actuallypursue this goal. This is
something I have wanted since Iwas four years old, I'm going to
look into it. So I dropped myoptometry track in college, and
I'm waiting to talk to the localMarine Corps. And he made me
(05:20):
take a couple tests, and Istudied my tail off for those
tests. And next thing you know,he said sign right here on this
dotted line, you can become aMarine Corps pilot. So that
sounds like a perfect plan forme. So kind of a last minute
rush to a long term goal, Iwould say kind of surprised my
parents as well. I don't thinkthey truly knew I'd sign on the
dotted line until I told.
Ben Hall (05:42):
So you were still studying at university when you
decided to completely switchfrom optometry you said?
Frank Zastoupil (05:48):
Yes, sir. Yeah, I was in a pre medical optometry
degree and instead,
Ben Hall (05:54):
that's a bit of a change of career, isn't it? Just
a little bit?
Dave Rogers (05:58):
grey? I used to be a pilot though. So maybe they
were all linked all along? Yes.
Lots. So well, you mentionedoffensive lineman there. Did you
play football at college?
Frank Zastoupil (06:10):
I did not know.
I was not a very good footballteam serious. Yeah. Now, in case
you haven't checked today'slatest poll, but uh, no. Animal
I only weigh 185 pounds is boysaround 300.
Dave Rogers (06:24):
Well, that was what I was going to ask because you
talked about gaining a littlebit of weight. So you're 185
pounds now? What were you atyour heaviest? How much shape
did you have to get in?
Frank Zastoupil (06:35):
About 50 pounds? I dropped about 50
pounds. From my high school daysuntil
Dave Rogers (06:40):
50. Well in high school pounds.
Frank Zastoupil (06:43):
I don't know that was in students stones,
right? Because you're in stones.
Ben Hall (06:47):
What's 50 or we're a complete mess with our with our
unit.
Dave Rogers (06:51):
So it sounds like three holograms? Yeah, yeah,
three and a half seconds,something like that. Either way,
that's a lot of running on thetreadmill to get shift that kind
of timber. So once you once yougraduated from college, then and
and you joined the US MarineCorps. What happened then what
was your sort of introduction tothe forces.
Frank Zastoupil (07:12):
So we go from college to a place called
Officer Candidate School locatedin Quantico, Virginia, we spend
10 to 12 weeks there andlearning the basics of officer
corps, customs and courtesiesand how to lead Marines at a
very basic level. It's kind ofour introduction, kind of the
officer boot camp, if you wantto call it that. From there we
go to a school called the basicschool. It's literally just
(07:33):
across i 95, right there next towashington dc in Quantico. And
we it's a six month course,where we learn all of the basics
of leading a rifle platoon. Sowe hike through the woods, and
we do all these long marches.
And we do land navigation atnight. And all these things that
as a pilot are extremely scary,you know, walking into trees,
wearing goggles, so you don'thave eyes, all these different
things. But it is extremelyvaluable, valuable to be a well
(07:54):
rounded Marine Corps officer togo through these different
schools, and ultimately gain anunderstanding about what the
Marine Corps about, you know,everything focuses on the
rifleman for the Marine Corps,non aviation or not anything
else besides the grunt, it'sactually on the ground carrying
a rifle. Everything else in theMarine Corps there is support,
including me, and as a bigconcept understand, going
(08:15):
through the basics, from thebasic school that, you know, I
graduated in 2009, I wentthrough the basic school and OCS
and all that and eventuallystarted flying flight school in
2011, essentially, so about ayear and a half or so, of ground
side training. And then I got tofinally jump in my first
aeroplane. So all this you know,grown up wanting this and then
(08:36):
another delay after collegebefore I could know and I'm
never looking back It is a dreamcome true. As any any pilot out
there want to be pilot orsomebody even dreamed of flying
in a new test.
Dave Rogers (08:50):
It's incredible.
We've been so lucky on this,this podcast, obviously Ben in
your in your life in aviation,you've met 10s, probably
hundreds of pilots, but I'vespoken to far fewer. But one of
the things that always comesacross is how much of a
privilege you will consider itto be able to do the job you do
whatever, whatever job that is,but also just how many setbacks
and delays there are, it doesn'tseem like an easy,
(09:14):
straightforward journey foranybody.
Ben Hall (09:17):
That's I've never met a single pilot who's had a
smooth sailing career right fromthe beginning.
Frank Zastoupil (09:24):
I think everybody's gonna come across
some delay somewhere, to be ableto make their dream come true
and to be able to do a job theywant to do. And so as a Marine
Corps, it's all about the kindof team especially in the Navy
and Marine Corps department andnavy here. It's, it's about how
can we help each other as a teamto get these people to where we
need to move them in the mostefficient manner. So it may be a
six month delay here, but in thelong run, it's producing in
(09:47):
result that is better for ourservice.
Ben Hall (09:51):
So in the US Marine Corps, then what are the pilot
jobs that are available onceyou've got the the number of
grads Josue graduated and youdecide who is who's passed the
requisite qualifications tobecome a pilot? How are you
then? divided up?
Frank Zastoupil (10:09):
Great question.
So in our primary flighttraining, we can pick three
different tracks. And thosetracks are a little helicopter
world, the fixed wing jet world,or the the kind of ospreay, to
see 130 to look at the world,it's based off a variety of
factors, what you want to fly isdefinitely one of them, how you
perform is one of them. And thenthe needs of the Marine Corps or
Navy, in that respect is also.
(10:32):
So when all three of thosedifferent things line up, then
we can have a good compromise asto where we send each individual
pilot. And for me, particularly,I always want to fly a jet. And
so I selected I put jets asnumber one, my grades ended up
panning out that I was qualifiedto fly jets. And then the Marine
Corps said we have one jet spotavailable at the time of the
(10:53):
election, and you're ready togo. Army jets.
Ben Hall (10:57):
This is all aligned.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Dave Rogers (11:00):
So this is this is no time to be modest. Would it
be fair to say that only thepremium fliers the best of the
best, as it were become the jobthat you have. Now, I say this
no time to be modest. I'vesounded like I'm being modest on
your behalf when trying to setup that question. But hopefully
that made sense.
Frank Zastoupil (11:20):
I, I understand your question. But I would
actually say that, it justdepends on what you want to fly.
Like I was just over at ourgroup, Marine Corps group
yesterday, talking to the CEOover there. And it's amazing
that all these phenomenal, very,very bright individuals who come
in and they're like, I want tofly Cobra helicopters, that is
the number one thing I want tofly, or I want to fly c 130s.
(11:41):
And these guys are probably someof the best pilots have ever met
in your life. So it is purelyjust a decision that you want to
do. And it changes and itfluctuates as to the generations
or the cultures at the time whenI was going through jets was
what I wanted. And the guys thatI surrounded myself with were
all guys that wanted jets. Andit just seemed to happen that we
all kind of heated with eachother. It's very, very
(12:03):
competitive. But at the sametime that competition, like we
mentioned earlier, is basedaround that team. I wasn't
trying to outdo that guy. Wewere trying to work together so
that we both got jets because weliked working together. So that
was a that was a crucial aspectof
Dave Rogers (12:17):
some of the first jets or what was the first jet
that you flew?
Frank Zastoupil (12:22):
It was the T 45 goshawk. So it's made by EA. And
we use it for our initialcarrier based training pipeline.
Dave Rogers (12:31):
Okay, and do you remember the kind of the
emotions and the way you feltthe very first time you took off
as a naval aviator?
Unknown (12:40):
Y'all remember that scene from top gun? We're Tom
Cruise is riding his motorcycledown the runway. I mean, the jet
takes it. I'm not even beingcorny. When I pulled into
kingsville, Texas and I saw theJets taken off overhead. I mean,
they're just little orange andwhite. Let me tell you what I
goosebumps as I was, you know,just dropping into the front
gate. I was so overjoyed, likeholy crap, that's what I'm
(13:00):
doing. Hopefully, when I get theopportunity to do it, literally,
that scene just reminds me everysingle time.
Dave Rogers (13:07):
Do you know what I'm so glad that you dropped a
Top Gun reference? Before I did?
Ben Hall (13:12):
It, it was only a matter of time was my
Dave Rogers (13:14):
head in my head. I was like don't don't do a Top
Gun. Don't do that. But yeah, Ican, as soon as you said that I
could, I could kind of visualiseit and almost feel it on your
behalf. We're kind of specialmoment in a very, very select
bunch of human beings who whoget to experience that. And so
let's let's move it on to thecurrent day, then because you
(13:36):
are sat there in your uniformright now, as a Blue Angel. How
did that How did that comeabout? Is that something that
every pilot in your positiongets to experience or is that
something again, that you'reselected for and there's quite a
rigorous process before you canbecome a part of that team.
Frank Zastoupil (13:54):
It is available to anyone any tactical jet
aviator in the United StatesMarine Corps or Navy, you will
go through a certain set ofqualifications or prerequisite
qualifications to be able tojoin the team. But it's open to
anyone who wants to apply. Andit's as simple as just throwing
your name and a hat going andmeeting every single person on
the team performing extremelywell from wherever you came
(14:14):
from. And then more importantly,meshing well as that team that's
going to move forward. And themost crucial part after you
know, before this, I was likeman, the blues are just
something and even the redarrows or the snowbirds or the
Thunderbirds, or or any of thejet teams out there, like those
guys must be the best of thebest at whatever they do. And
then you get here, it's just anormal group of guys that just
(14:35):
work together as one team tomake everything kind of flowing
mesh together. So I think that'skind of the the most important
concept is just how well we thedaily interaction goes between
everybody here is just on adifferent level. I think that's
something that we strive hard todo each and every day.
Dave Rogers (14:52):
So once you become a Blue Angel, is that all you
do? Are you Do you still haveother responsibilities in the US
Marines or for that period oftime is all your concentration
on that one job.
Frank Zastoupil (15:05):
This is my only job the United States Marine
Corps at the time, it's it'spretty lucky, I'm very grateful
to be
Dave Rogers (15:14):
and how long How long have you a Blue Angel for.
Frank Zastoupil (15:17):
So the tours are typically two to three
years, just depends on whichposition that you get selected
for once you get. So, for me, Iselected that they, the team
masters team, so I can meet thethree position, which is the
left wingman inside of thediamond or the Delta formation
is typically a two year tour,the three year tour goes to our
narrator who moves from thenarrator position into the solo
(15:40):
position inside of the actualflying Delta. What's unique
about this year is I actuallyget to experience a frozen team
because of the current pandemicthat's going around the world,
we actually needed to freeze theteam to keep some sort of
experience involved with us tomove on to next year. So that
(16:01):
for the safety aspects and theORM aspects, the operational
risk management aspects or theconsiderations that go into
different show sites or, orflying next to airliners and
doing formation flying, orwherever, whatever it may be, at
the time, there's needed to besome sort of experience factor
that went along with that. Sowe're, this is a very unique
year that a diamond guy ormultiple team members get to
(16:22):
experience an extra year
Dave Rogers (16:23):
to spend a little bit longer live in the dream.
Sounds good to me,
Ben Hall (16:26):
have you actually done any air shows this year at all?
Frank Zastoupil (16:30):
No, we didn't do any air shows this year, they
pandemic kind of cancelled mostof the air shows or most
gatherings and then the riskfactors were just too great. We,
we, we wanted to make sure thatwe were abiding by every sort of
regulation that we could, andthe air shows in us as a team
(16:51):
eventually came do we end upbeing the correct decision at
the time for all these differentevents, we made the best of what
we could
Dave Rogers (16:59):
have you still been able to to fully practice as a
team. Now what is your What isyour normal day look like as a
as a provincials pilot.
Frank Zastoupil (17:07):
So we typically will work out at some point in
the morning, maybe an hour ortwo in the morning, and then
we'll come into work more brief.
And we'll fly and we'll debriefalmost every single day. Of
course, there's some days wherethat can't happen, whether it's
weather or whether it's anoperational requirement, or
whether it's something that justneeds to be an administrative
data handle all the ins and outsand behind the scenes stuff to
make sure that this their showcommunity in this team persists
(17:29):
throughout the next generationsthat simple day, yeah, workout
for an hour to come to work,fly, do the demo, an actual air
show demo, practice, over thefield or over the water or over
something local that we can getdifferent sights and sounds and
feels and talk to differentpeople. And then we come back
and read debrief, which takesabout twice as long as the
(17:49):
actual twice. And we nitpickevery single detail that's in
that flight and something that,you know, the flight is one
thing, and then you get to thedebrief, and you thought you did
okay in that fight and you seeit on the film and to the
general public. Hopefully, itlooked good. And then we see and
like, Man, that looks horrible,or that little wing that we had
didn't exactly match what bosswas doing, or, you know, we
(18:14):
didn't work together as the leftand right wing and to perfectly
match a breakout or whatever itmay have been at the time that
we're constantly seekingperfection, we were constantly
seeking up the standard of everysingle demo or practice or
whatever we're doing at thattime to make it better for the
next one
Ben Hall (18:29):
isn't one of those activities where sort of
confidence plays a big part aswell, because obviously, you're
a very skilled aviator. But, youknow, just like sports, if
you've, if you've seen on adebrief that something's not
quite gone, right, and it wasyour fault, is that playing in
the back of your mind? Or is itmore of you know, you're
confident in your abilities, andyou're professionals and you can
(18:52):
put that behind you and justcrack on, you know, to make it
better next time.
Frank Zastoupil (18:56):
So those go hand in hand, I think, at least
here in my experiences, youknow, they'll do something and
you're like, I know that wasn'tquite up to what I know I could
do. I know I can do better atthat one thing and you'll come
back to the roof and you'll ownit you'll be like you know, a
number to the right women like Ididn't do what I needed to do
there and it affected how youlook so you take complete
ownership of everything you doup in the air in the actual air
(19:19):
while you're flying. Yeah,you'll do that and you're like
alright, I kind of that one maynot go on well or that one went
extremely well that's awesome.
But then you have anothermanoeuvre you know, second later
you have an a very difficultrejoin a second later. So
compartmentalization is key toany fly. This is you know, any
type of flying whether you'recoming into land or taking off
or or even talking on the radioI compartmentalization is very
key aspect moving forward and inthe aviation community.
Dave Rogers (19:44):
Yeah, totally. Talk to me about the jets that you
fly over in the UK you'vealready mentioned and we see the
red arrows on special occasionsand air shows and, and whether
there's an Olympics openingceremony or it's the Queen's
Birthday, there, they're a sightthat moment Brits are familiar
with and they're the small jets.
They're quite old technology,but they're iconic. What you fly
(20:05):
is very, very different isn'tit?
Frank Zastoupil (20:12):
So we actually find fleet aircraft from the
Navy. So we fly the we currentlyfly the Super Hornet we this
next year is going to be ourfirst year flying the Super
Hornet, which is flown by theUnited States Navy and Marine
Corps doesn't have to borns wehad legacy Hornets, the A
through D model, which is whatthe team flew for the last 34
years. And what we do is we takethe oldest of the old fleet
(20:33):
aircraft that the may not benecessarily deployable that day.
And we take the best people tomake those jets flyable every
single day. So we had 34 yearold aircraft that were flying up
until up until November of thisyear. And now we have Super
Hornets, which the same conceptapplies. So we take these jets
that are I mean, just extremelyold aircraft, and then we
(20:54):
painted blue, we make them lookcompletely different than what
they did in the fleet. And thenwe find to the limits. And
that's that's kind of what wedo. And it takes the entire 130
plus person team on this, herein Pensacola, or on the road to
make sure these jets are flyableevery single day, I'll tell you
what, after going from the fleetand seeing the challenges and
the unique maintenance aspectsthat go in with any sort of
(21:14):
aeroplane, to be able to do itday in day out and have six
aircraft be able to fly a demoevery single day. And the quick
turnaround on maintenanceactions here is a sight unseen
any, any level in aviation, thisis just something that you know,
something that is an engineswap, whether it's on a
commercial airliner, whetherit's on fighter jet, it takes
time, and it takes expertexpertise of what you're doing.
(21:36):
And these guys downstairs andgals will do it without even
acquaint without even anything.
And I'll do it faster thanyou've ever seen before. It's
absolutely incredible to watch.
Dave Rogers (21:47):
Wow, 130 people are part of the team. I'm so glad
you mentioned that. Because Iwouldn't have even thought to
ask the question. I assumedthere'd be the six pilots, maybe
a few reserves and some supportstaff. But 130 is an astonishing
number.
Frank Zastoupil (22:03):
Yeah, so we have the six pilots that fly
every single show there, though,there is no reserved pilot, I
would say. So if one of us issick, or if one of us can't fly
that day, then it's we're justnot gonna fly six planes will
fly five points or whatever itis. There's no backup pilots
bring the shares. But thethere's 16 sometimes 17
officers, whether it's theadministrative officer, the
(22:25):
supply officer, the doctor orwhatever it may be. And then we
have 130 maintainers downstairsand support crews that get help
everything. They're the onesbehind the scenes that most
times don't necessarily get therecognition they deserve. But
those are the guys that are thelinchpins that hold this whole
operation together. Like all yousee is a jet flying through the
(22:45):
air what you don't see is thenights of work that have been
put in to make sure that jacketfly
Dave Rogers (22:53):
salutely absolutely incredible stuff. And let's talk
about actually being in the airthen I really want to talk to
you in a bit about how excitedyou are to actually take the
show on the road and and do whatyou've been practising all this
time and sort of representyourself and, and your family
and the US Marine Corps. Butwhen you're actually up in the
(23:13):
air talk to me about theproximity when you are in your
display positions, what kind ofdistance is there between you
and your teammates?
Frank Zastoupil (23:22):
Sure. So that's something that's a relatively
unique to the Blue Angels andeach jet team has their various
differences in what theyprioritise and what we
prioritise as a team is workingtogether as one so that we
always look as one aircraft. So,number one, our boss he'll set
the formation and whatever hiswings are, if they're perfectly
(23:44):
level, that's what all thewomen's wings should be, unless
we're doing a breakout orsomething but when we go into
turn, every week should be levelthe depth consideration the
stacking of like a canopy towingtip or can be to a
stabilator or whatever it may beduring the formation that is set
based on the tip of themanoeuvre that we are doing at
the time. The closest will flyis going to be between me
(24:08):
there's the left wingman myhead, the top of my canopy and
the underside of boss's wing sowhen we get into it, we call it
a diamond 360 It's a left handturn in front of the crowd as we
pull a little bit of GE right infront of everybody. And I will
actually just tuck myself upunder boss's wing right
underneath kind of Where is hisflaps and ailerons neat under
(24:31):
there so you got about a couplefeet of weighing on your left
side. And then all you see is aintake and an engine on your
right as you're looking at it.
That's about 18 inches from thetop of my head to the underside
of that
Ben Hall (24:48):
is where you can see his his left wing on your left
side because it goes over yourhead.
Frank Zastoupil (24:53):
Absolutely.
Yeah you it'll completely shadoweverything inside of your
pocket.
Ben Hall (24:58):
Uncomfortable just talking about it. To be honest,
Dave Rogers (25:01):
I mean, you've you've flown lots of planes,
Ben, most recently, of course,the 8384 British Airways, and
you've spent about how manyhours as a pilot? Have you been
in?
Ben Hall (25:12):
About four and a half, 1000hours in this year?
Dave Rogers (25:15):
You've got so four and a half 1000 hours. By all
accounts, you are an experiencedpilot. How does that make you
feel?
Ben Hall (25:22):
doesn't make me feel great? Well, I mean, or to be
honest, because I wouldn't daregetting within miles of another
aircraft. So to be 18 inchesaway from a wing. That is some
ballsy manoeuvres,
Dave Rogers (25:35):
I should say. So when you're in those positions,
and you're in such closeproximity, what's the
communication like? So I supposeall of the instructions come
from number one? Yes,
Frank Zastoupil (25:47):
that's exactly right. So we, we operate on a on
a cadence. So boss will have aset cadence and his voice
inflections, and how he sayscertain words will mean
different things to everybody inthe formation. So when when, for
example, for example, we don'tfollow g suits, we don't find
anything because we're literallyjust frozen in the jet like we
don't want to move. And it'stypical that you hear going
(26:08):
through flight school, you know,relax, wiggle your toes, do all
that kind of jazz to make sureeverything's nice and nice and
smooth out there. We're actuallystraining so hard in some of
these movers, and pushing downon our leg or pulling up on the
stick and focusing so hard tojust cancel any movement so that
when we hit a bump ofturbulence, let's say all the
catch is kind of bouncedtogether. So we don't want to
(26:30):
have any kind of out of sync orout of waveform type of
movements together. So we'reliterally focused so hard at
that time, that you'll be Oh,man, the Jetsons is finally
there, and the poor pilots, andthey're just sweating his tail
off work. It doesn't get out offormation at the time. But that
is the reason why we don't wearg suits is because the G suits
will inflate. And it willactually change where your elbow
(26:52):
sits on your rests on your legto squeeze this stick to level
that you need to do. Why inclose proximity.
Dave Rogers (27:01):
Goodness me, this is a remarkable insight, Frank.
So thank you so much for fortaking the time. But still lots
of words to talk about, I justwanted to acknowledge the fact
that you're you're telling usall this, it's amazing. I still
want to talk more about flying.
But I also want to talk aboutchomps. So that's your call sign
right? It is
Frank Zastoupil (27:22):
definitely pass on typically it's you come into
the Marine Corps, the Navy orwherever you're going at the
time and you'll do somethingthat maybe super smart or super
good or super stupid or nothinghappens or whatever, maybe at
the time, and you earn acallsign after that, so call
(27:43):
centre earned based on somethingthat is unique to that
individual chomps came from adeployment overseas, I was on
the USS Iijima on a MarineExpeditionary Unit that we were
taken off the east coast andwe're going into the Red Sea and
then kind of for a little bitfurther reason that and actually
another British guy was on thatboat with me up in Britain he's
(28:05):
in the Navy over there so he'she was on that boat and sure
enough and find the AB ABHarrier at the time and I get on
the tram line to get ready tolaunch and my fuel gauge drops
to zero in my engine digitalgauge drops to zero and I didn't
know what to do at the time I Iknew I couldn't launch I should
say so I I came back andeverything involved around that
(28:26):
ship right there as for that onejet trying to take off and I'm
on the train when the enginesrun off so I pull the engines
back to idle and I call up tothe tower and I are talking to
major buzz Tanis at the timenice Lieutenant Colonel retired
but he's like a cha or Frank,Frank guy, you can't launch man.
So go ahead and shoot, you know,pull your back dial taxi off,
(28:47):
get off the train line watchthree jets. Needless to say it's
2am in the morning, it was anight launch is the first like
real mission of the deployment.
So they gave me a call sign saidchomps have choked on the
mission possibility. Oh, theysaid I was scared that that is
the genesis of that. And theyall they made it the challenge
(29:09):
because I was a pretty largeteeth. That smile or whatever it
is. big teeth so my choppers iswhere
Dave Rogers (29:22):
you're talking to two Brits mate. Let's not get
into dentistry. optometry, forthat matter. But so how long was
it before you could sort ofrectify that situation and
finally get off the aircraftcarrier.
Frank Zastoupil (29:37):
So I didn't launch that night. That was a
complete wash for my position tolaunch this as one ship short on
that one. But then the next daywe were able to fly.
Dave Rogers (29:46):
I bet there was so much relief when you could
finally get it for
Frank Zastoupil (29:49):
no yeah, it's like that one thing to
Dave Rogers (29:54):
me. Right. I'm just going back to the room that
you're in. So there's there's somuch stimulation going on behind
you I keep darting around.
Firstly, is that an ice hockeystick do you play?
Frank Zastoupil (30:06):
So this is actually our ready room where we
kind of hang out brief debriefeverything. So everything in
here means something over thelast 75 years to the Blue Angels
history. So, we over my leftshoulder we have our kind of
briefing models. They'recurrently the legacy Hornets
we're forgetting the SuperHornet models and as we speak,
actually, over my rightshoulder, we have a jet, the
(30:29):
hockey stick and you see a golfbag, etc. Anything that has
meant something to the team overthe last 75 years, a little
memento we kind of have in thisroom. pictures on the wall
different air shows a gun barrelfrom a hornet ncsp
Ben Hall (30:45):
Am I right in thinking you're the only US Marine Corps
member? The rest are all USNavy.
Frank Zastoupil (30:50):
I'm the only marine in the jet and we have
three marine pilots that fly sea130 actually, we got our C 130.
This past year from England sothank you for allowing us to
grab us even 30 j off your handsand painted up blue light gold
and make it our Marine Corps jetor Marine Corps demonstration.
Erica, is this is this FatAlbert? Just about over three
(31:13):
Marines. Yeah, amazingmaintainers and support crew
downstairs to help us out. Foranybody that doesn't know what
fat Alba is.
Ben Hall (31:22):
Do you mind just running through the little
modifications? You guys havepopped on it?
Frank Zastoupil (31:28):
What have we done to Fat Albert?
Ben Hall (31:30):
Yeah,
Frank Zastoupil (31:30):
so fat our is a c 130 j that we paint in our
colours. And these guys fly itin a demonstration and in front
of crowds but they also are alogistics piece that they're
able to move equipment or partsor, or people or show loads or
whatever it may be at the time.
There's no special modificationsto the aircraft
Ben Hall (31:49):
does it not have the jet assisted takeoff anymore?
Frank Zastoupil (31:51):
So the T model needed that back in the day the
J model actually has enoughpower. Ah, it's disappointing.
Yeah, that's always a crowdfavourite, but I think you're
gonna be surprised and excitedto see Fat Albert at a
demonstration how just thethrust behind those propellers.
It's a well produced, it's animpressive aeroplane is a truly
impressive,
Dave Rogers (32:11):
either was a US Marine aviator, or as a Blue
Angel. What have been yourproudest moments in the
military?
Frank Zastoupil (32:22):
Some of the proudest moments, the things
that I look back on in my 11 and12 year career so far have been
the people Honestly, it is justthe people that you work with,
and the communities that haveshaped every single thing. You
know, I've been extremely luckyto have flown, the Harrier and
the F 35 and the Hornet and nowthe Super Hornet. But it's not
(32:42):
the planes that truly have madethe difference. It's each
individual community and seeingthe differences and seeing how
everybody just comes together toaccomplish one goal that it is,
it is just so I'm so lucky to bepart of such a good team. You
know, that team isn't just theblues, or it isn't just the
Marine Corps. It's the MarineCorps Navy. And it's the D od
(33:03):
and it's an it's our jointcounterparts. And you know that
for instance, we're just talkingabout Fat Albert, getting Fat
Albert, working hand in handwith the, with the British
military, to be able to makesomething happen. As a joint
team, it was just incredible.
Like the fact that we're able todo that together. I love it. I
love it, especially having acouple British friends I hold
(33:24):
near and dear to my heart. Itmeant a lot to be able to have
that happen.
Dave Rogers (33:31):
I suppose it makes you realise that what you're
doing has a knock on effect notjust in Texas or not just in
Pensacola, or not just in theUnited States, but kind of
around the world. It's it kindof makes it all macro, doesn't
it?
Frank Zastoupil (33:47):
It does. Yeah, the mission set here is
definitely different from thefleet. It's definitely different
from going out and gettingdeployed over bad guy country,
whatever baggage that may be,or, or even friendly patrols or
friendly joint exercises withdifferent various nations around
the world. Our mission isdefinitely different. You know,
we're here to showcase theteamwork and professionalism of
(34:08):
the United States Navy MarineCorps. That's that's our only
mission and how we do thisthrough air shows and community
outreach in various aspects inthat manner. But it definitely
does make it macro, you know, assimple as going and find a jet
to now a representative ofsomething that's so much greater
than one person. It is truly,truly privilege to do
Dave Rogers (34:28):
other than Of course, going out and actually
doing the air shows and andtaking what you do kind of
around America and around theworld to do the job that you've
described. So well. Do you haveany other ambitions as a pilot,
either a plane you'd like to flyor a country you'd like to fly
in or just anything that you'veyou'd really like to achieve in
(34:48):
the near future or kind of along way in the future?
Frank Zastoupil (34:52):
So there's a good answer to this and then
there's the honest answer tothis. Please love flying
different aircraft. As Imentioned, the Harrier that 35 B
and this Hornet and Super Hornetall been fantastic. I wouldn't
mind flying any of them everysingle day. I would also like to
maybe trap on a carrier againand the F 35. c, I think that
(35:14):
would be pretty special that Ihaven't done in about 10 years.
I would also like to do somesort of overseas fly maybe with
you all or maybe wherever it maybe. I think that would be an
incredible opportunity. Whereverthe Marine Corps needs me to go
next, I feel like I've gotten agood deal to be able to come
here if they need me viaEngland, if they're watching
this a I'll pick you up.
Ben Hall (35:37):
We'll put in a good word for you.
Frank Zastoupil (35:38):
I think
Dave Rogers (35:41):
I'd love to see a kind of best of the best of the
best where you get everyonetogether. And you could just do
the same thing. You get one redarrow and one Blue Angel and one
Thunderbird and put them all inhouse and with that. Anyway, we
we digressed is that in terms ofthe display teams then so you've
you've already mentioned theThunderbirds and the red arrows.
(36:02):
Is there a rivalry or is it allsort of? We're great friends
doing a great thing in a greatposition.
Frank Zastoupil (36:09):
Yeah, that's a that's a great question. Is
there a rivalry between theJetsons there's always a
professional rivalry betweenany, you know, extremely high
operating environment anywhereyou But uh, this year has been
unique for us that we'veactually become very close
friends with the Air ForceThunderbirds. I haven't been
able to actually know some ofthe guys in the red arrows, but
I haven't been able topersonally work with him in this
(36:31):
setting yet. But the the rivalrybetween the Air Force
Thunderbirds in the navy blueangels is something that dates
back a couple years. This year,we did something called
Operation America strong, wherethe teams actually got to work
together during the COVIDpandemic and do joint flyer
there's different cities I wasin New York or Washington DC or
Atlanta, over Texas, etc. So wegot to work together and develop
(36:53):
a friendship and a professionalrelationship between the two
teams, to the extent where weactually do joint training
together now whether it's inPensacola or whether it's in
winter training is what we callit in El Centro, California, we
will actually join forcestogether and see how each other
operates and see how and ridewith each other and in the
aircraft to see what the otherguy is actually looking at or
(37:13):
what they're prioritising at thetime, or how their thought
process different is differentthan ours. Or maybe it's very,
very similar. So that has been avery unique thing for this year
that we've developed thisprofessional friendship, while
at the same time maintainingthis competitive nature built in
we put forth the bestdemonstration.
Dave Rogers (37:34):
Amazing, absolutely. But what are the
main differences between whatyou do and what the Thunderbirds
do there.
Frank Zastoupil (37:41):
So the missions are very similar. One is the Air
Force representative of jetteam. And once the Navy Marine
Corps representative,ultimately, we're accomplishing
the same goal. We're operatingto demonstrate professionalism
and teamwork of any sisterservice in the United States.
Dave Rogers (37:57):
Amazing, Ben, I feel as though I'm just asking a
load of questions and getting aload of answers here. Is there
anything that you want to bringup? Or Frank? In fact, is there
anything that you'd kind of liketo to talk about that we haven't
that we haven't brought up yet?
I think you've been incrediblygenerous with your time. Thank
you.
Ben Hall (38:14):
On the rivalries perfectly, this fight between
the Blue Angels and the redarrows who would win that?
Frank Zastoupil (38:25):
That's a good question. I have David Simmons
watching this season on the redarrows right now. Coming on next
Ben Hall (38:35):
week on the podcast we
Dave Rogers (38:36):
have we got to we got James Turner he's read for
he's gonna join us too. So I'msure he'll say lovely things
about you.
Frank Zastoupil (38:42):
They are a great group of guys and gals
everywhere. They are extremelyprofessional. I was able to hang
out with him just for a fewminutes in San Diego last year.
And every single guy and galthat I talked to from that team
was it was an honour to be ableto talk to this. There's people
they're very, very good pilots.
Some of the absolute best pilotshave ever been able to see my
entire life The manoeuvres theydo are incredible. Like it is a
(39:04):
very good jetty.
Ben Hall (39:10):
Frank is just the epitome of class isn't
Dave Rogers (39:12):
I know. He said he charms me from the very
beginning. Unbelievable, but doyou know what Frank you're
absolutely right. But I thinkwhat Ben and I were hoping for
is I yeah, we'd smashed thoseguys. This is a strange
observation for me, given thatyour frame from the chest up,
but you look quite tall. Frank,how tall are you?
Frank Zastoupil (39:34):
I'm 60.
Ben Hall (39:36):
Okay, are you on the tall side for for a pilot in the
us then?
Frank Zastoupil (39:41):
Um, I would say mo a little bit. On
the tall side. Our boss is sixfoot five. I think there's some
guys that I've flown with thathave been definitely taller than
me. So I'd say average toslightly slightly above average
height wise.
Dave Rogers (39:58):
So Ben, you could be a friend Bass jet pilot in
the US.
Ben Hall (40:01):
Yeah. So I'm six foot five. And I was rejected from
the Air Force when I was 17because my femur length was too
long. I think they thought if Iuse the bank seat or just lose
my kneecapscommercial rejections in a 380?
(40:24):
I hope not. No, Ijust as boring at the back.
Dave Rogers (40:30):
Could you imagine that there was one for you, but
not for the passengers you like,see ya. Frank, thank you so
much. This has been a wonderfulconversation. And I just like to
say good luck as everythingopens up and you and you finally
get to do what you've beentraining so hard to do and
actually live that dream andrepresent the US Marine Corps
around the world as part of theBlue Angels. I say good luck.
(40:54):
How are you? How are you feelingabout it? Are you nervous? You
excited? Are you just ready togo?
Frank Zastoupil (41:00):
I think this entire team is ready to go. I
know I am. I know we are readyto rock and roll. We're
prepared. We're ready to readyto put on a good airshow
demonstration represent the bestNavy Marine Corps and all the
800,000 people that are in theNavy Marine Corps at this time.
It's truly an honour and, andBen and Dave, seriously. Thank
you so so much for allowing meto be on this podcast. This is a
(41:23):
very unique honour that I feelvery privileged to be a part of
this and hopefully thatcontinued success for pilot base
and I know it's a great companygreat organisation. So
seriously, thank you.
Ben Hall (41:34):
The privilege is all ours. Frank, thank you so much.
Thanks for listening to thepilot base podcast. We'll be
back next week with anothergreat guest from the aviation
industry. Don't forget to checkout our new career platform at
pilot base.com and all thesocials at pilot base HQ. If you
enjoyed this podcast Don'tforget to subscribe and rice
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