"Getting onto the plane I was very anxious and honestly very nervous," said Badal. Amid intense classes and hands-on training, Badal says you have no time to make mistakes. The eight-week course at Delaware State University is no easy feat. "So when I did see that email, I was like there's no way! So I contacted everyone I knew, everyone that encouraged me to do it and said guess what, guess what?" "I was honestly in shock because I was not expecting to get in," said Badal. She was one of only 28 students across the country selected for a prestigious Navy summer flight-academy program. While most students spent the summer working part-time jobs or on the beach, Badal spent her time up in the skies, enjoying a bird's eye view of the landscape. Navy summer flight academy.īadal is a senior at El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills. At age 17, Kianet Badal became a pilot thanks to the U.S. Matthew Buckley is the founder of Top Gun Options and Fighter Financial, LLC.WOODLAND HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) - They say "sky's the limit" when trying to pursue your dreams, and a student from Woodland Hills took this to heart. They can lead and execute and re-use their skills.” It’s not easy – it sucks, but it’s definitely doable. “I want to help vets who have some dark days coming. He also sees intersections between the post-9/11 era and the coronavirus, with how many vets are or will soon be in an unexpected place. If you can make quick decisions in a short amount of time and have the right outcomes, along with leadership, I had to wake up and realize the skills the military gave me can be used somewhere else,” he said. It forced me to realize I’m not just a pilot. “Getting furloughed was the best thing that ever happened to me. “When you lose everything, you tend to scramble pretty quickly,” Buckley added.įrom there, he made his way in the trading industry, using the tactical skills he’d developed as a pilot to buy and sell stocks. To make ends meet, he and his wife worked multiple jobs, all while juggling caring for their 8-month-old son. “In the blink of an eye I lost my job,” he said. He was furloughed from the airline before he was ever able to make a flight. Once the country began to sort out the new post-9/11 normal, Whiz found things were changed. He then circled the airfield until police and Texas rangers arrived on the scene. Whiz slowed down and made three circles around the prop plane, gesturing for the pilot to land. The culprits ended up being a small propeller plane flown by a 74-year-old and his grandson who were confused about the no-fly order. I remember stepping outside myself and saying, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this.'” “I was carrying live missiles … full ammo. “You can’t do that unless you’re over the desert – supersonic breaks windows – but we didn’t know who it was at the time,” Buckley said. Due to the nature of the event and the location of the unidentified aircraft, he was authorized to go supersonic – faster than the speed of sound – and cleared to do so at 1,000 feet, something that would normally never be approved. Whiz received direction to launch and intercept. A day later, a plane was spotted in closed airspace near President George W. The first day’s flight was a routine hop. I went from almost flying an airliner, to potentially shooting one down,” he said. At 10:07, United Flight 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.Īs he waited, Whiz couldn’t believe this was happening. Shortly after getting on base, American Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. He was immediately recalled back to his reserve unit VFA-201 at Naval Air Station Fort Worth, arriving just before the base was put under lockdown. “I realized in a blink that we were under attack,” he said. While he was watching, the second plane slammed into the South Tower. While getting ready for his first commercial flight from Dallas Fort Worth to Miami and then Miami to Cancun, Whiz turned on the news and saw the North Tower of the World Trade Center had been hit with a plane.
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