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Interview With Captain Thumper

Aired April 08, 2003 - 15:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Coalition warplanes are on the attack again today in Iraq. CNN's Gary Tuchman reporting from an air base near the Iraqi border, has a story you'll want to hear about an F-16 pilot who happens to be a woman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is an F-16 fighter plane at this air base near the border of Iraq. And with me right now is the pilot of this plane. This is Captain Thumper. And Thumper is her nickname, or call sign.

Captain, I want to thank you for joining us. Tell me roughly how many missions have you flown during this war so far?

CAPTAIN THUMPER, FIGHTER PILOT: I've flown about 30 mission since I got here.

TUCHMAN: What sticks in your mind so far?

THUMPER: Well, I got several missions that stand out to me. I've been drooling (ph) about all of them and I remember them all. However, one that would stand out, we went north in the Baghdad area and dropped our munitions in the area of the Medina Republican Guard and kind of softened the forces there before our main Marine troops moved into Baghdad.

TUCHMAN: Captain Thumper says she's going to show us the plane close up. I want to ask, first of all, how many bombs and missiles do you have on this plane?

THUMPER: This plane in particular is carrying two bombs and four missiles.

TUCHMAN: What is this, for example, right here?

THUMPER: This right here is our JDAM, our GPS-guided munition.

TUCHMAN: It says there on the top, "die Saddam." Here it says, "this one is going straight into your grave, Saddam." Is that unusual for people to write on the bombs and the missiles?

THUMPER: It's actually pretty common for our different troops. They're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) right on the bombs. It's part of their motivation and their effort in the war.

TUCHMAN: You were telling me you're going to let us go in the cockpit, right?

THUMPER: Yes.

TUCHMAN: Let's walk up there.

How much sleep do you get on a typical night?

THUMPER: I usually get seven to eight hours of sleep a night.

TUCHMAN: That's not bad, right, for someone who flies one, two or three missions a day.

THUMPER: It's not bad. It's actually pretty good.

TUCHMAN: I think one thing people don't realize about these airplanes is you fly by yourself in this small area. You are the navigator and you are the pilot, right?

THUMPER: Yeah, that's true. We're flying by ourselves. And I actually like it that way, because it gives me the opportunity to be in control of the jet, not have somebody second-guessing the things that I'm doing, and I like that aspect of flying this jet.

TUCHMAN: To actually drop a bomb or missile, you were telling me there's a master switch. You flick this switch on. Then you have a computer screen here and that's how you figure -- it's getting a little loud here -- but that's how you figure out which bomb or missile you're going to drop, by coordinating it in the computer screen.

THUMPER: That's right. We have -- they are called multifunction displays. And we'll display on there what types of munitions we have selected. We can toggle through the different selections and choose the one that we want to drop, and then that one is ready to be dispensed.

TUCHMAN: And then, to actually drop a bomb or a missile, what do you press?

THUMPER: First you'll select the master arms switch, like you said, and then you'll press what we call the pickle button right here.

TUCHMAN: That's the button you press to drop the munitions?

THUMPER: Yes.

TUCHMAN: Do you ever feel any pressure when it comes do that point where you have to drop the bomb or missile?

THUMPER: No, I would say I have definitely adrenaline pumping. Definitely kind of like, you know, getting ready for athletic competition. You just have that anticipation of making sure that you've taken all the correct steps and you are dropping on the right coordinates, that you are dropping on the right thing.

TUCHMAN: Final question for you. What would you say to a girl or a woman who wants to follow in your footsteps?

THUMPER: I would tell them to go for it. This is a great and rewarding career. Right now in the military, there are opportunities open to women that they just haven't had in the past. And I would tell them to, if they have a dream, to go for it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired April 8, 2003 - 15:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Coalition warplanes are on the attack again today in Iraq. CNN's Gary Tuchman reporting from an air base near the Iraqi border, has a story you'll want to hear about an F-16 pilot who happens to be a woman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is an F-16 fighter plane at this air base near the border of Iraq. And with me right now is the pilot of this plane. This is Captain Thumper. And Thumper is her nickname, or call sign.

Captain, I want to thank you for joining us. Tell me roughly how many missions have you flown during this war so far?

CAPTAIN THUMPER, FIGHTER PILOT: I've flown about 30 mission since I got here.

TUCHMAN: What sticks in your mind so far?

THUMPER: Well, I got several missions that stand out to me. I've been drooling (ph) about all of them and I remember them all. However, one that would stand out, we went north in the Baghdad area and dropped our munitions in the area of the Medina Republican Guard and kind of softened the forces there before our main Marine troops moved into Baghdad.

TUCHMAN: Captain Thumper says she's going to show us the plane close up. I want to ask, first of all, how many bombs and missiles do you have on this plane?

THUMPER: This plane in particular is carrying two bombs and four missiles.

TUCHMAN: What is this, for example, right here?

THUMPER: This right here is our JDAM, our GPS-guided munition.

TUCHMAN: It says there on the top, "die Saddam." Here it says, "this one is going straight into your grave, Saddam." Is that unusual for people to write on the bombs and the missiles?

THUMPER: It's actually pretty common for our different troops. They're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) right on the bombs. It's part of their motivation and their effort in the war.

TUCHMAN: You were telling me you're going to let us go in the cockpit, right?

THUMPER: Yes.

TUCHMAN: Let's walk up there.

How much sleep do you get on a typical night?

THUMPER: I usually get seven to eight hours of sleep a night.

TUCHMAN: That's not bad, right, for someone who flies one, two or three missions a day.

THUMPER: It's not bad. It's actually pretty good.

TUCHMAN: I think one thing people don't realize about these airplanes is you fly by yourself in this small area. You are the navigator and you are the pilot, right?

THUMPER: Yeah, that's true. We're flying by ourselves. And I actually like it that way, because it gives me the opportunity to be in control of the jet, not have somebody second-guessing the things that I'm doing, and I like that aspect of flying this jet.

TUCHMAN: To actually drop a bomb or missile, you were telling me there's a master switch. You flick this switch on. Then you have a computer screen here and that's how you figure -- it's getting a little loud here -- but that's how you figure out which bomb or missile you're going to drop, by coordinating it in the computer screen.

THUMPER: That's right. We have -- they are called multifunction displays. And we'll display on there what types of munitions we have selected. We can toggle through the different selections and choose the one that we want to drop, and then that one is ready to be dispensed.

TUCHMAN: And then, to actually drop a bomb or a missile, what do you press?

THUMPER: First you'll select the master arms switch, like you said, and then you'll press what we call the pickle button right here.

TUCHMAN: That's the button you press to drop the munitions?

THUMPER: Yes.

TUCHMAN: Do you ever feel any pressure when it comes do that point where you have to drop the bomb or missile?

THUMPER: No, I would say I have definitely adrenaline pumping. Definitely kind of like, you know, getting ready for athletic competition. You just have that anticipation of making sure that you've taken all the correct steps and you are dropping on the right coordinates, that you are dropping on the right thing.

TUCHMAN: Final question for you. What would you say to a girl or a woman who wants to follow in your footsteps?

THUMPER: I would tell them to go for it. This is a great and rewarding career. Right now in the military, there are opportunities open to women that they just haven't had in the past. And I would tell them to, if they have a dream, to go for it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com