Call sign Chapo: Piloting the Hawg

A day in the life of an A-10 fighter pilot

By Master Sgt. Becky Vanshur, 124th Fighter Wing / 

Capt. Mike Shufeldt, is one of the Idaho National Guard’s A-10 Thunderbolt II pilots.

He can smell the strong scent of coffee brewing from the kitchen, as he brushes his teeth. It’s early in the morning, but his dog, Poppy, sits at his heels patiently waiting with a ball in her mouth and tail wagging. Shufeldt grabs his thermos of coffee, throws the ball a couple of times for Poppy, pats her furry head and walks out the door.

The commute across the Treasure Valley isn’t too bad as he heads down the interstate, even with the sun shining in his eyes as it rises above the beautiful Idaho foothills. Shufeldt approaches the main gate of Gowen Field, Boise’s Air Terminal and National Guard Base, with a smile on his face. Today is a good day to fly the mighty A-10 over the nearby Orchard Combat Training Center.

Shufeldt enters the building of the 190th Fighter Squadron and prepares for his day. He gets dressed in his flight G-suit, then his harness for his seat and parachute, and he grabs his high-tech flight helmet. Preparing for his flight and the training mission can take up to two hours. At the operations desk, he listens to his step brief. Today, he is called Bang 11.

The step brief is for him and his wingman, the additional pilot flying the second aircraft on this morning’s training mission. They are briefed on the weather, coordinates, weapons and the close air support mission they are about to fly.

“Bang 11, you are clear to step. Attack,” are the last words said before he heads out to the flight line where his A-10, commonly referred to as a Warthog, is patiently waiting. It is nearing 9 a.m. as he begins the 45-minute preflight check. He walks around his A-10, scanning for any visible issues.

“I do a full preflight inspection on the outside of the jet, to make sure there isn’t anything I see wrong,” said Shufeldt. “Usually there isn’t because our crew chiefs and our maintainers are really good. They are the best, actually.”

He climbs up the ladder and straps into his seat. He and his crew chief turn on the auxiliary power unit and fire up the twin turbine engines. “Clear on one,” said Shufeldt. “Good start on one,” is the response. “Clear on two.” “Two is clear,” is echoed back to him and the two engines are now fired up.

“We check everything, from the brakes to the rudders to the digital systems inside the jet,” said Shufeldt.

Both Warthogs are now ready for flight. “Pull the chalks, see you soon,” said Shufeldt. He disconnects with his crew chief, they salute and he taxis to the runway, stopping near the end to have his A-10’s weapons armed.

The powerful Warthogs line up. Shufeldt is out front. Once cleared for takeoff, he steps firmly on the brakes and runs up the engines. As he eases the throttles forward, the 12-and-a-half-ton beast starts to shake as it reaches nearly 20,000 pounds of thrust.

After checking his gauges and instruments, he pushes the throttles to maximum and releases the brakes. The mighty Warthog gains speed quickly, reaching approximately 150 miles per hour before he pulls back on the stick and the tires leave the runway.

He is up in the air. He takes a deep breath. A moment of calm, but it is short-lived as he begins his in-flight checks and focuses on the mission. He flies toward the target area.

The sun is just above and to the left, the heat from its rays beating down on his neck, the only portion of skin that is exposed.

He can see several dirt roads below in the vast desert and sagebrush-filled land of the OCTC as he approaches the target area near the ground troops below. They are providing ground support while shooting training targets.

“Bang 11 in from the south, guns,” said Shufeldt. “Bang 11, cleared hot,” said the ground troop on the radio below, providing Shufeldt clearance to shoot the 30 mm Gatling gun. “Bang 11, good hits,” is heard after the rounds are fired.

After expending all weapons, he has completed the training mission. Before flying back to Boise, the pilots check each other’s aircraft for any issues. This is called a battle damage check. The A-10s fly wingtip to wingtip, then Shufeldt dips below his wingman’s aircraft and looks up, checking the belly of the A-10. They switch positions and fly back in formation to Gowen Field.

Shufeldt lands, taxis the Warthog back to the flight line and parks in the same spot in which he started. He reverses the order of the prefight for the shutdown procedures with the crew chief. Once inside, he debriefs the mission with his wingman. It is nearing 1:30 in the afternoon and he is hungry. He warms his lunch, a stir-fry he cooked the night before.

Pilots, like any Airman, have additional military training and duties. He completes these, spends an hour at the gym and heads home.

He walks through the front door with barely enough time to close the door behind him as Poppy jumps up as high as she can, almost knocking him over. Shufeldt is home now after a day in his life as an A-10 fighter pilot.

Face of Defense: Piloting the Hawg

MAY 1, 2020 | BY KATIE LANGE, DOD NEWS

A lot of us wake up in the morning and get ready for another day in our office cubicles. For Idaho Air National Guard Capt. Mike Shufeldt, that cubicle is often a 29,000-pound gunship with space for one and lots of buttons, levers, gauges and switches to play with.

Shufeldt’s been flying the A-10 Thunderbolt II for about three years. Surprisingly, like many Air National Guard pilots, he was never active-duty. After college, he decided he wanted to be a fighter pilot. Instead of enlisting in an active-duty branch, he was hired by the Idaho Air National Guard. He then spent a few years in training to fly the A-10, one of the U.S. military’s most reliable and dominant close-air support systems. Nicknamed the Warthog, or “Hawg,” the A-10 has been in use for decades and has continuously adapted to new technology to support and protect U.S. ground forces all over the world.

So what’s it like to fly one of these things? Shufeldt talked with us about how he made his career happen and what it’s like to do the job.Idaho Air National Guard Capt. Mike ShufeldtJob Title: A-10 “Warthog” PilotHometown: Phoenix, ArizonaStationed: Boise, IdahoUnit: 190th Fighter Squadron, 124th Fighter Wing

You weren’t an active-duty military member before this. How did you become an Air National Guard pilot?

I’m what we call a “Guard baby.” I finished my undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona in 2012 and realized I had made a mistake in not joining ROTC to try and become a fighter pilot. Fortunately, I met a Guard F-16 pilot, who introduced me to the idea of joining the Air National Guard. So, I spent the next year getting my packet together and applying to fighter squadrons across the U.S., which required a college degree, pilot’s license, passing a few Air Force qualifying tests and having no grounding medical issues. After interviewing with the 190th Fighter Squadron, I was hired to fly A-10s in Boise. From that point on, I went to the standard U.S. Air Force pilot training knowing that if I made it through, I’d fly the A-10.

Your flight training: Where did you get it, and how long did it take? 

The Air Force pilot training pipeline starts at undergraduate pilot training. It’s about a year-long course, which I did at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. After that, depending on what aircraft you track to, your path can vary. I went to the Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals course at Sheppard as well and then went to B-Course for A-10 training at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.

What advice do you have for current pilots in training?

The best pieces of advice I can offer for UPT students or anyone learning to fly are to prioritize what’s important on a daily basis, learn to shake it off when you mess up or fail a ride, and remember that you are learning to fly, which is awesome! You should be having fun.  

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How does it feel to be one of the few pilots in the world who gets to fly one of the U.S. military’s most durable and reliable aircraft?

I feel humbled and honored every time I strap into an A-10. For one, the history of the A-10 community is extremely impressive. This jet has been providing close-air support and protecting U.S. and coalition forces since before I was born. Also, knowing how much training, time and money goes into developing every A-10 pilot [and fighter pilot] is humbling and makes us take what we do very seriously. I couldn’t think of a better aircraft to fly than the Hawg. The mission is unique, relevant and rewarding, and I love flying it.

I hear your call sign is “Chapo.” Can you explain?

Yes, my call sign is Chapo. As fighter pilot tradition suggests, the exact story and reason is privileged information — sorry! Like most pilot call signs, it gets kind of personal. That being said, being from Arizona probably had something to do with it. 

What’s your headspace like when you’re in the air? Where does your focus lie?

Before missions, there are preflight briefings and aircraft checks. What do those involve? 

Pre-flight briefings can vary in what they entail. We’ll always discuss administrative-type plans in case of emergencies or unplanned weather, etc. Then we’ll go into mission specifics and what we expect to see and encounter on the day’s mission. Finally, we brief contingency plans for anything unexpected and different.

During the pre-flight check of the jet, we follow a checklist to make sure the jet is ready to fly and doesn’t have any issues. I take a big-picture approach to the pre-flight and mainly check the conditions of my weapons, as well as check for any visible damage to the aircraft. I trust our crew chiefs and maintainers and know that the jet is ready to fly when I walk out to it. It takes a lot of people working together to get that aircraft in the air to support a mission. 

There are other mission components, too, including battle damage checks and a post-flight debriefing. What, in your opinion, is the most important part?

I think having a solid plan when you walk out the door is always very important. The brief can answer a lot of questions and get the flight on the same page regarding what is happening on the ground and how we’re going to react to different situations. That being said, I think the best A-10 pilots are the ones who can quickly think on their feet and react to what is happening on a mission. In close-air support, things are always changing and you need to be ready for anything. 

What’s one of your best/craziest memories from a mission?

My most memorable sortie was the first time shooting the A-10’s gun. The GAU-8 is a seven-barrel, 30mm Gatling-style gun that the plane was literally built around. The gun fires at a rate of 70 rounds per second, and the first time you shoot it is a rite of passage in the Hawg community. I remember specifically being at the Barry M. Goldwater training range in Arizona and setting up for my first strafe pass. When you pull the trigger, the jet shakes like crazy, there is gun gas shooting by the cockpit, and you can smell the cordite from the rounds. Afterward, I just remember how my mind was blown at how accurate the GAU-8 is, especially in relation to how violent it feels inside the aircraft.

Do you still feel the same exhilaration as you did when you first started flying?

Like most things in life, you get used to flying, and I think some of the exhilaration fades. That being said, I’m still excited and happy every time I get to fly the Hawg. I imagine I will feel that way until the day I retire from the Air Force. 

A-10s are a single-seat jet. Have you flown in two-seaters? 

I’ve been lucky to be assigned to a single-seat fighter my whole career thus far, other than pilot training, where I flew the T6 Texan II and the T38 Talon. Those are both two-seat aircraft designed to teach undergraduate pilot training students the fundamentals required to become a military aviator. In my civilian flying career, I’ve flown a gambit of different aircraft ranging from small Cessna 172s and Piper Cherokees to Citation Jets and old warbirds.