Day in the Life of a Fighter Pilot

ABOARD   THE   USS   CONSTELLATION   IN   THE   PERSIAN   GULF, Jan. 3 -- It was not a raucous New Year's Eve for the Navy pilots of the Bounty Hunters, an F-14 squadron based on the USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf. They had a five-and-a-half-hour flight over southern Iraq the next day to prepare for.

A few of the squadron members spent a quiet evening smoking cigars on a small deck at the rear of the aircraft carrier. The thought of getting shot at — as they often are these days when patrolling the southern no-fly zone of Iraq — did not seem to weigh on them as much as the discomfort they expected from spending over five hours sealed in their cockpits. "My ass is going to be killing me," one pilot said.

As part of Operation Southern Watch, these men are among of a small group of pilots who are encountering and returning fire from Iraqis on a regular basis. They are a friendly, jocular bunch, but at the same time very competitive. They are ranked on their performance each flight out, and they take their rankings seriously.

"Torso," a lieutenant and member of the Bounty Hunters who asked to be identified only by his call sign, allowed ABCNEWS to follow him around on New Year's Day. This is the second tour in the Persian Gulf for the 27-year-old Annapolis graduate from Pennsylvania. He was last patrolling the southern no-fly zone in August of 2000, his first deployment.

With more experience under his belt this cruise, Torso is less nervous and more confident. But the situation has changed dramatically from the summer of 2000. Now, there is a very real prospect of war.

"There's a lot more tension, a lot more electricity in the air," he said. "There's more of a sense of purpose now."

Briefings

Torso spends just as much time briefing for flights as he does flying. After waking up at 10 a.m., the first briefing of the day was a Strike Planning session at 11:30 in the Carrier Intelligence Center (CVIC).

Intelligence officers briefed Torso and the other pilots on their mission. They have known about their mission for some time, but this meeting was to "make sure everything is good to go. Cross the T's and dot the I's," Torso said.