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Lt. Mark Swinger
by Amy Crocker
No, the sky is not falling on your head. And no, the wrath of Thor is not upon us. The great booms echoing in the San Francisco sky come not from the vengeful thunder god, but rather from Blue Angels. The Navy flight demonstration team will be capping off a five-week west coast tour with two air shows over San Francisco bay this weekend. They have been practicing their loops, dives and tandem swirls since their arrival on Tuesday as part of Fleet Week. Aside from practices, the official show lasts 40 minutes, or about how long it takes a 1986 Boeing F/A-18 Hornet to run out of gas. The choreography hasn’t changed much since the Blue Angels formed in 1946, yet it remains consistently controversial.
Lt. Mark Swinger is in his second year as a Blue Angel, one of six pilots in the show. SFist spoke with him about banning the Blue Angels, airplane fuel efficiency, getting rejected for seasonal allergies, and why he could never be an astronaut.
SFist: What does San Francisco look like from upside down in a Blue Angel plane?
Lt. Mark Swinger: It’s awesome from the air. I mean, it’s amazing from the ground, too. Having the opportunity to fly over Fisherman’s Wharf and Alcatraz is really cool.
SF: Can you see the landmarks when you’re flying formations?
MS: Yep, we keep a fairly low altitude over the water. There are only a few cities where we’ll do a show like this, on the water with a city in the background. Seattle’s one of them, and Chicago. It’s great venue.
SF: You guys are staying in Fisherman’s Wharf. What have you done in the city so far?
MS: I played some golf over at Lake Merced. I’m going to go to Alcatraz on Sunday. I’m going to talk at high schools [Friday.]
SF: You selling them the military?
MS: That’s not how I look at it. The military is not for everyone and I realize that. It’s more talking to kids about doing something they think they can’t. I have a rejection letter from the Navy, dated my birthday 2000 when I was trying to get in, saying you’re not eligible for the flight program because of your sinuses.
SF: You can get rejected for that?
MS: Any medical issues. I had really bad seasonal allergies. A lot of people joke that they lie on their medical forms, which is what I should have done. It turned out not to be an issue. It’s just the initial guy was like, “Yeah you can’t fly.” And I said, “Well are you going to look at the paperwork or just say no.” You gotta keep going to the right person till you get the answer you want. That’s what I convey to them.
SF: Did you go into the Navy right after high school?
MS: I wasn’t ready to commit to that. I went to the University of Delaware, history major. I considered maybe going to law school, but I thought, well I could try flying, that sounds fun.
I got my wings in 2002. I did a couple deployments: one off the west coast to the Pacific, one off the east coast to the Persian Gulf, flying over Iraq.
SF: How did you get to be a Blue Angel?
MS: There’s an application process. You need 1200 hours of flight time. Usually about five or six years after you get yours wings is when you have time to apply. But you can’t be too senior either. There’s a small window. We usually get about 30 pilots a year for about two or three spots. A lot of guys apply more than once.
It’s a character interview. We’re on the road for 300 days of the year so you’ve got to be able to get along with each other.
SF: Are Blue Angels pretty respected within the Navy?
MS: When I was on the other side I always made fun of the Blue Angels because of these tight blue flight suits. We’re just air show guys.
SF: What extra training do the Blue Angels get?
MS: The training starts in November; the show season starts in March. We start flying far apart and get closer once we are consistent. We’re much closer now than we were in March. We’re as close as we can be right now.
SF: The Blue Angels fly F/A-18 Hornets. Are these planes pretty top-of-the-line?
MS: These airplanes were probably built about 1984. They’re the oldest F-18s the Navy has. The new ones have radars and software and computers and stuff. We don’t need that in the show. The guys in Afghanistan, they get all the new stuff.
SF: You guys must use a lot fuel for these shows.
MS: These jets are a little more efficient because we don’t have anything hanging on then. Normally in the fleet, you have gas tanks, bombs, missiles - lots of drag. And that slows you down, requires more power and more gas to get you going.
SF: So you fly the Number Four plane, what does that mean?
MS: Number Four is always a second year guy. I’m the back of the diamond formation. During the show, I’m kind of keeping an eye on everybody. Anytime we do a loop, I’m making sure we’re not going to get too low at the bottom. Number One is watching the same thing but I’m the back up. Two and Three are literally staring at Number One the whole time so they’re not paying attention to anything else.
SF: What the coolest maneuver you can do?
MS: I’ll fly upside down off Number One in formation. I’m about six feet away from him 200 feet in the air. So that’s pretty weird. If you do that normally you get fired, so it’s cool to do that here.
SF: Is it hard to keep your lunch down during tricks like that?
MS: When you’re not in control of things it’s a lot harder, like if I have to fly in the back seat when someone else is flying…I mean I’m ok. It’s easier when you know exactly what’s coming. But if it gets bumpy and hot it can be a tough ride.
SF: Is there a special radio code if you get sick?
MS: You don’t tell anybody that.
SF: Does the queasiness training prepare you for a next step, like maybe becoming an astronaut?
MS: I’m not smart enough to be an astronaut. That would be cool but I don’t have the engineering background.
SF: So if not space, what comes next for a Blue Angels pilot?
MS: Going back to the regular navy, flying off of aircraft carriers, which is where we all came from. You only fly in the show for two years. They’re kicking me out the door in November. It’s like a normal set of military orders. Just when you figure your job out, they kick you out.
SF: What do you think of the movement by Board of Supervisors member Chris Daly to ban the Blue Angels in San Francisco?
MS: Everybody’s got their opinion. I’m sorry we’re making a lot of noise, but we’ll be gone soon. It’s a week a year.
SF: So what do you think is the purpose of a Blue Angels show?
MS: A lot of people don’t have the opportunity to see what their military can do and a lot of people look at the Blues as a way to deliver that to American pubic. Hopefully they feel safe; if our guys can do that, they can do whatever.
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Who is cooler, Chris Daly or this guy?!!
I think for looks, for outfit - and for being able to fly like that - this guy.
Also for sincerity and humility: these guys rule, and are le creme de le creme among jet pilots; every pilot knows it and holds great respect for them. Lt. Swinger is being quite self-effacing by just saying that he made fun of their uniforms before he became a Blue Angel.
I love the Blue Angels. They are awesome and inspiring, regardless of one's feelings about the military and its role in life, world, etc. Even if we could eliminate the military, we should keep the Blue Angels. What they do is basically about human aspiration and achievement, and appreciation for how that can really happen and flourish in this world. It's like the Sky Olympics, only better because it's a show, with jet airplanes!
There is reason to regard a proposed ban on the Blue Angels as a continuation of politically self-serving negativism and counter-productive factionalism by supervisors defending ideological territory in ways that really don't help anyone and are also just boring and no fun.
I say let the Angels fly!!!
Precisely.
Plus, Supervisor Daly has no skin in this game anyway. I checked the Blue Angels tour schedule and they aren't doing a Fairfield show.
Jesus what a bunch of mushy garbage.
"I love the Blue Angels. They are awesome and inspiring, regardless of one's feelings about the military and its role in life, world, etc."
Regardless for you. Something tells me your feelings about the military aren't too dim to begin with. From what privileged position do you get to tell me what I can and can not regard in deciding whether or not to be "inspired" and awed?
"Even if we could eliminate the military, we should keep the Blue Angels."
Excellent strawman. Anybody opposed to the Blue Angels flying over SF must want the military gone. Disbanded. Kaput.
"What they do is basically about human aspiration and achievement, and appreciation for how that can really happen and flourish in this world."
Really? I though it was a fucking airshow. I've been to plenty and I've never gotten the impression that they're about "human aspiration and achievement". Usually the 10 military recruiting tents have more to do with what they're about.
Perhaps if your heterosexual privilege weren't clouding your brain, you would understand why some people really resent having the Blue Angels fly over their city. But no, pretty airplanes!
heterosexual
Second time you've made mention of this while complaining about the BA. What it actually has to do with the BA, no idea.
Last I checked, the Blue Angels are part of the US Navy.
Are you really this dumb?
Which do you think is going to have more of a policy effect: saying "blue angels get out" or rallying support via education campaigns, aligning yourself with other groups, calling people, speaking with elected officials, speaking with military officials, and actually doing something?
Or do you just want to sit around and cry about a relatively far-removed faucet?
Well aware of that.
Unaware why heterosexual privilege would color one's opinions about the Blue Angels regardless.
You're a pleasant one. Maybe we can work out a compromise and have a BA crash into your place this weekend, thereby removing you and the BA from SF.
you don't know? fuck, when he mentioned privilege i thought it a little dramatic, but apparently not.
You honestly believe his/her privilege as a heterosexual (presumably, who knows) to join the military without withholding their sexual orientation makes C. more apt to welcome the Blue Angels to town? That's basically what was said.
"Perhaps if your heterosexual privilege weren't clouding your brain, you would understand why some people really resent having the Blue Angels fly over their city. But no, pretty airplanes!"
You clearly have a vested meaning in this show, and that is certainly within your right. At least be forthcoming with your filter, however. Maybe say you object to the fact that military doesn't allow openly gay people in, and by extension, the presence or the military in your city offends you. Or, that you disagree with foreign policy decisions, by extension the military, and by extension the blue angels in your city.
I, personally, see this as a complex matter. San Francisco does have a history of military, so you can't ignore the presence (look at that forest-like area).
I also, personally, vehemently disagree with the bigoted practice of not allowing openly gay people to serve. I've even heard of translaters, who were/are in GREAT need, being sent packing when they were found to be gay. It, to me, is absolutely disgusting and ludicrous that people are still so narrow minded.
Similarly, I disagree with many parts of the situation of the war, the way it has been carried out, and especially what led up to it.
All that being said, I think we can have a balance of "yes, you are a demonstration of some institutions we don't agree with" and "as weird as it is, this is part of some of the culture, and we can disconnect some of the political interweavings and enjoy a nice day out while watching some amazing engineering and (what amounts to) human performance"
I don't blame anyone for being unhappy about it, but I do think that for those who oppose their presence and want their side to be heard should recognize the opposing side of those who want, or are neutral presence.
Myself? I'm gonna be drinking and partaking in things that the military tests for as I watch cool jets fly around. I'll check my political hat at the door.
@sfdely
By "regardless", I meant that there is a way of experiencing the Blue Angels that involves wonderment at the basic phenomena of flying through the sky like that, in formation, etc. I think that way of experiencing is legitimate, and actually more basic than experiencing through a conceptual, political interpretation that associates the Blue Angels with concerns about the military, which are also legitimate and many of which I share. Perhaps not everyone feels it is experientially possible or desirable to separate these levels - but to me it seems generally good not to regard everything as a symbol of something else, especially something you don't like. One could instead examine what makes something a symbol, the thing itself or its relationships to other things, or one's concepts of those.
So far as eliminating the military, two points. First, I said "even if we could eliminate the military", and I would regard that as a good thing, under certain favorable conditions - say, the establishment of an era of peace throughout the world, with a universal commitment to non-violence. I was thinking that even then, it would be cool to have the Blue Angels! Second, nothing I said entails that anyone opposed to the Blue Angels must also want to eliminate the military. Setting this up as a "straw man" isn't something that I did by my statements, nor is it necessary to any of the points I made.
And finally, if I may say so, we don't have to sully a discussion or even a fun repartee on a blogsite with accusations based on sexual orientation. You don't really know whether I'm gay or straight, and anyway my sexual orientation doesn't have to do with my appreciation of the Blue Angels. I know lots of people - gay, lesbian, straight, and transgender - who appreciate the Blue Angels in the way I was mentioning, even if they do also have issues with military, noise, tourist traffic and parking and other things around them. And I have friends who would like them banned - at least from airspace directly above residential neighborhoods - based on noise alone.
Also, I feel your concern about recruitment is quite legitimate - are there recruitment tents? I haven't seen these tents, but I would feel they're not so appropriate to have set up in the middle of a public event.
great job amy!
America, FUCK YEAH!
I'm really tying to figure out what the heck being a heterosexual has to do with appreciating or not appreciating the Blue Angels. Apparently all the gay guys I know who look forward to Fleet Week must have their judgment clouded by heterosexual privilege.
Who knew? I always assumed they had their minds clouded by 19-year old stud muffins running around in Navy whites.
"Which do you think is going to have more of a policy effect: saying "blue angels get out" or rallying support via education campaigns, aligning yourself with other groups, calling people, speaking with elected officials, speaking with military officials, and actually doing something?"
I'm pointing out why I don't like them. Capice? Where precisely do you, as a straight person, get off telling me, a gay person who's offended by military displays in San Francisco, exactly how I should have to respond? What if I have a life to live that doesn't involve constant activism over a policy which even the President is unwilling to change? Is it somehow my burden to carry the weight of overturning "Don't Ask Don't Tell" because it affects my community? Why aren't you doing any of those things?
"Or do you just want to sit around and cry about a relatively far-removed faucet?"
OK, I get it. It's ok to fawn about the airplanes, but it's not OK to explain why they disturb me. Thanks for the double-standard. Your privilege, in case you can't see it, is showing.
"Apparently all the gay guys I know who look forward to Fleet Week must have their judgment clouded by heterosexual privilege."
I don't care what some of your gay friends think (and why should I care about your gay "friends"?). That gives you no right to tell me how I'm supposed to think. I'm sure there's blacks that laugh at blackface; that doesn't make it OK for a white person with "black friends" *cough* to say that it's OK and blacks have no right to complain.
Where has anyone here told you what you can and can not do or how you have to respond or what you're supposed to think or that you're not allowed to complain? There's the strawman.
Wow. Complaining about air shows. Hey, I don't like ballet but I don't go around trying to kick them out of town. Who gives a fuck? Drink a beer and chill the fuck out. Life's too short.
ahem. um, blaring tchaikovsky for 5 days and even a poofter like me would want that shit shut down.
Frankly, I think anyone who accepts the Blue Angels' presence in this town is tacitly endorsing the warmongering and homophobia of our military. Like it or not, their presence here IS a recruitment event, and there are recruitment tents set up right now down in the Marina if anyone wants to check them out.
During last year's fleet week, I was nearly run off of the Embarcadero by some meathead in a US Army truck on his way to convince a few impressionable San Franciscans to go die. Apparently, not sharing San Francisco values also includes not respecting the right of bicycles to use the road.
It's all cute if you like airplanes, but don't tell me I can't complain. Just where do you get off... To be honest, if you're NOT complaining, it makes me wonder whose side you're on.
The transitive property: You're doing it wrong.
heh.
I love Fleet Week! Where else can you witness the average SF gal crawl under a table and blow a US serviceman in full public view? Talk about giving for your country. Yes at Kennedy's on Columbus and yes it was more entertaining than anything I've seen in quite a while.
Ahhhhsk not what your country can do for you, ahhhske what you can do for your country!
; )