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USS Abraham Lincoln Prepares for Flyoff as Bush Visit Looms

Aired April 30, 2003 - 14:33   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln they are doing some scrubbing. I believe Kyra Phillips who is on board has been charged with taking a toothbrush and cleaning off the deck, right? Isn't that what you're going to be doing?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: No. Well, actually they did talk me into packing some these bags. Check out this ready room. This used to be where the F-14 Tomcatters planned, did all the strike planning for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now they're packing up, gathering all their things and getting ready to brief for the big flyoff, Miles.

I'm going to come over here to of course one of my favorite F-14 pilots, Mike Hoss (ph). He's getting ready to come home. I'm going to sit next to him here. And everyone's laughing because this is the guy, Miles, that gave me such a hard time for about three months. Are you ready to get home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure, absolutely ready to get home.

PHILLIPS: We didn't drive you too crazy, did we?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, not at all. It was a joy having you all around.

PHILLIPS: All right. So what's the first thing you'll do when you're going to get home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First thing I'm going to do when I get home is give my wife and kids a big kiss. It's been a long time since I've seen them and I really miss them.

PHILLIPS: It has been tough for you. Thanks, Mike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. So as these guys sit and get ready, Lieutenant Commander John Swazo (ph), he's going to lead the brief. What are you checking right now to make sure this fly off goes well? The squadron's taking off in just about an hour and a half.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're -- in about five minutes, the weather's going to come up on TV and they're just going to brief what the weather is at the ship and at the North Island, Miromar (ph), just kind of our diverts. And then after that, we'll have the big eye up here. It'll have the briefs go through and we'll just talk about how we're going to get ten jets off, rendezvous overhead and do a fly-by and then just go to North Island. So shouldn't take too long. We kind of went through it will last night once already so it should take about 10-15 minutes and that'll be it.

PHILLIPS: All right. And then safety too. You're doing the weather and the safety?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we'll do the weather, you know, the admin portion. Just the administration of getting the jets off and rendezvousing overhead. We'll talk about getting joined up to do a ten-point fly-by. And then we'll split up and go into the three different elements, a four-ship and two-three ships. And then we'll just go into North Island and land and that's about it.

PHILLIPS: All right. And be very happy to be almost home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, definitely. Getting there, slowly.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll check in on your briefing in just a minute.

You guys, are you all ready to go home?

CREW: Yeah!

PHILLIPS: Now see, previously, Miles, they would be sitting in here, strike planning and preparing for whatever scenario they were given over Iraq.

Matter of fact, back Shock and Awe night, this is one of the guys we talked to as we remember, Steve Yures (ph). What do you think? It's a whole different element right now as you sit in here packed up. What's going through your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. You know I was just thinking back to the place I've lived in the Navy and I've been living on this boat longer than I've lived in some cities as I've gone through my career. So I didn't shed too many tears packing last night but I'll be sad for a little bit to see it go.

PHILLIPS: Well you've been a big part of history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it was pretty amazing to be a part of this.

PHILLIPS: All right, Steve Yures, thank you so much.

All right, I'm going to take you guys out of the briefing room now because Lieutenant Commander John Swazo has to get busy to prep everybody for the flyoff. Thanks, guys. I'm going to take you out into the hallway.

The commander of the air wing is -- we've got to kind of let business happen here as normal here. Captain Kevin Albright, he's in charge of the entire airwing here. Something else that everybody's talking about besides this big flyoff, sir, of course is the arrival of the president of the United States. Is this just unprecedented that a -- the president will be landing on a carrier?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so. This is my eighth deployment, never seen this done before. So the level, having the commander in chief coming out is a big deal. It really is. The crew's pretty psyched.

PHILLIPS: Tell me how you had to plan for this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well there's obviously a lot of logistics involved in it, and I won't divulge the type of airplane he's coming on with. But he's going to come aboard in a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so we sent in a few of our pilots to prepare for that.

So there's a lot of things going on behind the scenes. It's not that big of an impact on the airwing, per se. But you know, obviously we want the ship to look nice and we've got a few briefs with him. So I think it will be a fun evening.

PHILLIPS: How did you pick the pilots to fly president of the United States?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two criteria. Picked two mature pilots and two kids that are very good landers. So that's a good ball flyer. So that's how we picked them.

PHILLIPS: Kag (ph), thank you so much for your time. We know you had a very busy, very busy deployment for the ten months. And congratulations that you're going home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Kyra. Appreciate it. We're looking forward to it.

PHILLIPS: No doubt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks. See you.

PHILLIPS: . Thank you. Thanks so much, sir.

All right, so there you go, Miles. All the squadrons, briefing today, getting ready for the big flyoff. And the of course tomorrow the F-18 squadrons flyoff. Huge time for all the pilots out here on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

And of course, the president arrives tomorrow. Everyone's wondering how well that pilot will land, but we heard from Kag, they picked the best.

O'BRIEN: Good landers. The commander in chief gets the best landers. I think that's totally appropriate, don't you?

Now, hey, the Tomcatters are not going to be home for a couple days, right? It takes them a little while because they're actually based in Jacksonville, right? PHILLIPS: They're actually, they're based in Oceana, Virginia. And the reason why it's taking a little longer to get home of course is because of fuel. So they'll make a stop over in San Diego, a stop over Pensacola for the final fuel, fuel up and then head into Oceania and we'll be there for the homecoming.

O'BRIEN: All right. Now tell us about your flyoff just briefly here.

PHILLIPS: That's going to take place tomorrow. That's with the F-18 squadrons. I've been lucky enough to be involved with that, Miles. I was asked if I would like to fly with the F-18s tomorrow as they take off from the carrier and head to Lemoore, California. So I'll be able to bring that to you live tomorrow afternoon.

O'BRIEN: We are looking forward to that, Kyra. Our superstar on a Super Hornet and we'll see how she got the call sign "Blowout" tomorrow. All right. Kyra Phillips.

PHILLIPS: Oh, Miles.

O'BRIEN: We'll see you later. Thanks very much for bringing us a slice of life board that aircraft carrier. It's an exciting time for them. I know. Thanks.

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




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Aired April 30, 2003 - 14:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln they are doing some scrubbing. I believe Kyra Phillips who is on board has been charged with taking a toothbrush and cleaning off the deck, right? Isn't that what you're going to be doing?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: No. Well, actually they did talk me into packing some these bags. Check out this ready room. This used to be where the F-14 Tomcatters planned, did all the strike planning for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now they're packing up, gathering all their things and getting ready to brief for the big flyoff, Miles.

I'm going to come over here to of course one of my favorite F-14 pilots, Mike Hoss (ph). He's getting ready to come home. I'm going to sit next to him here. And everyone's laughing because this is the guy, Miles, that gave me such a hard time for about three months. Are you ready to get home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure, absolutely ready to get home.

PHILLIPS: We didn't drive you too crazy, did we?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, not at all. It was a joy having you all around.

PHILLIPS: All right. So what's the first thing you'll do when you're going to get home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First thing I'm going to do when I get home is give my wife and kids a big kiss. It's been a long time since I've seen them and I really miss them.

PHILLIPS: It has been tough for you. Thanks, Mike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. So as these guys sit and get ready, Lieutenant Commander John Swazo (ph), he's going to lead the brief. What are you checking right now to make sure this fly off goes well? The squadron's taking off in just about an hour and a half.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're -- in about five minutes, the weather's going to come up on TV and they're just going to brief what the weather is at the ship and at the North Island, Miromar (ph), just kind of our diverts. And then after that, we'll have the big eye up here. It'll have the briefs go through and we'll just talk about how we're going to get ten jets off, rendezvous overhead and do a fly-by and then just go to North Island. So shouldn't take too long. We kind of went through it will last night once already so it should take about 10-15 minutes and that'll be it.

PHILLIPS: All right. And then safety too. You're doing the weather and the safety?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we'll do the weather, you know, the admin portion. Just the administration of getting the jets off and rendezvousing overhead. We'll talk about getting joined up to do a ten-point fly-by. And then we'll split up and go into the three different elements, a four-ship and two-three ships. And then we'll just go into North Island and land and that's about it.

PHILLIPS: All right. And be very happy to be almost home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, definitely. Getting there, slowly.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll check in on your briefing in just a minute.

You guys, are you all ready to go home?

CREW: Yeah!

PHILLIPS: Now see, previously, Miles, they would be sitting in here, strike planning and preparing for whatever scenario they were given over Iraq.

Matter of fact, back Shock and Awe night, this is one of the guys we talked to as we remember, Steve Yures (ph). What do you think? It's a whole different element right now as you sit in here packed up. What's going through your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. You know I was just thinking back to the place I've lived in the Navy and I've been living on this boat longer than I've lived in some cities as I've gone through my career. So I didn't shed too many tears packing last night but I'll be sad for a little bit to see it go.

PHILLIPS: Well you've been a big part of history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it was pretty amazing to be a part of this.

PHILLIPS: All right, Steve Yures, thank you so much.

All right, I'm going to take you guys out of the briefing room now because Lieutenant Commander John Swazo has to get busy to prep everybody for the flyoff. Thanks, guys. I'm going to take you out into the hallway.

The commander of the air wing is -- we've got to kind of let business happen here as normal here. Captain Kevin Albright, he's in charge of the entire airwing here. Something else that everybody's talking about besides this big flyoff, sir, of course is the arrival of the president of the United States. Is this just unprecedented that a -- the president will be landing on a carrier?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so. This is my eighth deployment, never seen this done before. So the level, having the commander in chief coming out is a big deal. It really is. The crew's pretty psyched.

PHILLIPS: Tell me how you had to plan for this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well there's obviously a lot of logistics involved in it, and I won't divulge the type of airplane he's coming on with. But he's going to come aboard in a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so we sent in a few of our pilots to prepare for that.

So there's a lot of things going on behind the scenes. It's not that big of an impact on the airwing, per se. But you know, obviously we want the ship to look nice and we've got a few briefs with him. So I think it will be a fun evening.

PHILLIPS: How did you pick the pilots to fly president of the United States?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two criteria. Picked two mature pilots and two kids that are very good landers. So that's a good ball flyer. So that's how we picked them.

PHILLIPS: Kag (ph), thank you so much for your time. We know you had a very busy, very busy deployment for the ten months. And congratulations that you're going home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Kyra. Appreciate it. We're looking forward to it.

PHILLIPS: No doubt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks. See you.

PHILLIPS: . Thank you. Thanks so much, sir.

All right, so there you go, Miles. All the squadrons, briefing today, getting ready for the big flyoff. And the of course tomorrow the F-18 squadrons flyoff. Huge time for all the pilots out here on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

And of course, the president arrives tomorrow. Everyone's wondering how well that pilot will land, but we heard from Kag, they picked the best.

O'BRIEN: Good landers. The commander in chief gets the best landers. I think that's totally appropriate, don't you?

Now, hey, the Tomcatters are not going to be home for a couple days, right? It takes them a little while because they're actually based in Jacksonville, right? PHILLIPS: They're actually, they're based in Oceana, Virginia. And the reason why it's taking a little longer to get home of course is because of fuel. So they'll make a stop over in San Diego, a stop over Pensacola for the final fuel, fuel up and then head into Oceania and we'll be there for the homecoming.

O'BRIEN: All right. Now tell us about your flyoff just briefly here.

PHILLIPS: That's going to take place tomorrow. That's with the F-18 squadrons. I've been lucky enough to be involved with that, Miles. I was asked if I would like to fly with the F-18s tomorrow as they take off from the carrier and head to Lemoore, California. So I'll be able to bring that to you live tomorrow afternoon.

O'BRIEN: We are looking forward to that, Kyra. Our superstar on a Super Hornet and we'll see how she got the call sign "Blowout" tomorrow. All right. Kyra Phillips.

PHILLIPS: Oh, Miles.

O'BRIEN: We'll see you later. Thanks very much for bringing us a slice of life board that aircraft carrier. It's an exciting time for them. I know. Thanks.

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




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