Smith puts Strike Eagle through its paces

Phil Smith grew up as the kid in the cockpit.

The U.S. Air Force captain who pilots an F-15E jet for the Strike Eagle Demonstration Team got his commercial pilot's license before graduating high school. He's flown since he was 15 - a year before he could legally drive.

"I've always wanted to fly from the time I was a little kid," he said. "My dad was an air traffic controller at Tampa (Fla.) International Airport, and he used to take us up there all the time. I fell in love with aviation."

Smith and his weapons systems officer, Capt. Ed Colfer, will put the F-15E strike fighter through its paces Saturday and Sunday at the Cherry Point Air Show. The team is from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro.

Built by McDonnell Douglas, the F-15E is an air-to-ground and air-to-air attack jet with a 43-foot wingspan and a maximum speed of Mach 2.5 - 1,875 mph. The $31 million planes fly at a 60,000-foot ceiling and can travel 2,400 miles with the aid of three external fuel tanks.

The Strike Eagle team consists of a pilot, weapons system officer, safety officer, narrator and nine maintenance crew members.

Smith says there's no comparison to the thrill of flying in an F-15E.

"A roller coaster is a very timid version," he said. "It's by far the most fun ride you can imagine. We're amazed that we get paid to fly these amazing machines for the United States Air Force."

He said the F-15 can climb from an altitude of 300 feet to 15,000 feet in less than 20 seconds.

"My favorite part of flying is taking up someone who has either never flown before or never been in an F-15 before and just seeing their faces," he said."

A Florida native, Smith attended the Air Force Academy and completed flight training in Georgia before training in the F-15E at Seymour Johnson. As pilot and assistant commander for the Strike Eagle Demonstration Team, Smith performs at about 65 air shows each year for a combined audience of more than 7 million people.

And Smith enjoys meeting those people. He said the bulk of his job is shaking hands, signing autographs and answering questions about the Air Force.

"The actual flying is probably about 20 percent of what we do," he said. "And don't get me wrong, the flying is great, it's a blast. But the most fun is probably the other 80 percent of what we do - the PR stuff."