Keith "Rosey" Rosenkranz Interview - By Ryan "Kosmo" Cowley - Page 2 of 2
[Frugal's World] Before deploying to Al Minhad AB in the UAE to take part in Operation Desert Shield, you had accumulated 450 hours of flight time on the F-16. How many hours had you logged by the time you made your last flight in an F-16 on 28 February 1991?
[Keith] During my day in peacetime, F-16 pilots averaged about 20 hours a month. During my six-month stay in the Middle East, I averaged nearly twice that amount.
It takes a good year to a year-and-a-half to become comfortable with the F-16 weapons systems. The training I received in Korea was extremely important. And as hard as it was to sit in the desert for four months before the war started, it turned out to be a blessing. We trained like we fought and once the war started, there was nothing my friends and I could not accomplish in the F-16. We were that proficient!
[Frugal's World] How many hours have you logged as an Airline Transport Pilot?
[Keith] I’ve been flying for Delta Air Lines since July 1991. All told, I have roughly 9,000 hours as a pilot for Delta.
[Frugal's World] What’s the hardest thing about transitioning from yanking and banking in an F-16 to flying the friendly skies in a Boeing?
[Keith] Flying the F-16 was the most thrilling; most challenging; and most fulfilling thing I have ever done in my life. Nothing I do again will match that. The military also provided a great sense of camaraderie. I felt a sense of purpose in serving my country. As a pilot for Delta Air Lines, I have more time off and I make more money than I did in the Air Force. But the B-727 is not an F-16, to say the least.
My biggest challenge in the B-727 is the landing. That’s what the passengers remember every time they walk off the jet – the landing. I’ll be upgrading to the B-757/767 in the fall, so new challenges lie ahead.
[Frugal's World] What do you enjoy most about flying commercial airliners?
[Keith] The money and the time off! How’s that for an answer? Seriously, I love my job. I take each flight as a challenge and I do everything I can to make the ride as smooth and as comfortable as possible for the passengers. Do I feel tempted sometimes to come up initial at 300 knots; break over the field; throw the gear and flaps out; roll off the perch and land? Of course I do! But those days are gone, I guess. Maybe on my Delta fini-flight?
[Frugal's World] Currently you’re flying the Boeing 727 for Delta Air Lines. Delta has announced that it will begin phasing out the “old three holer.” What are your plans for the future?
[Keith] I am currently based out of the DFW Int’l Airport. The B-727 will no longer fly out of this base as of 31 August 2002. I have a training slot for the B-757/767 scheduled in the early fall and I’m looking forward to flying a newer model aircraft. It will be similar to when I left the T-38 to fly the F-16.
My plan is to fly the B-757/767 out of DFW for a year. After that I would like to fly the new B-767-400 out of Los Angeles. They fly that aircraft back and forth between Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Hawaii. After a year or so of flying to Hawaii, I will go to either Atlanta or New York and fly the B-767ER to Europe for a year. By this point, I should be able to hold captain on a B-737-800 somewhere in the system.
[Frugal's World] Your book is full of facts and data describing the F-16, its weapons, and the Gulf War conflict. It must have taken some time to gather all of this information together. How long did it take you to write “Vipers In The Storm?”
[Keith] It took me four years to write the book. I had never written a book before, so it took quite a while and a number of drafts to finish it. To write the book, I used 90 letters that I had written to my wife during my six-month stay in the United Arab Emirates; a detailed journal I kept from 1 January 1991 through the end of the war; the front page sections of every Los Angeles Times newspaper during the war; and a memory full of experiences I will never forget.
I would also like to note that I have all of my combat footage from my F-16 Head-Up Display (HUD) for the missions I flew during the war. I transcribed every radio call directly off of the tapes, so what you read in the chapters that describe my combat missions is exactly what was said. Even the Zulu times that appear at the start of certain paragraphs were taken directly off of my HUD and are accurate to the second.
[Frugal's World] Did your book have to go through some kind of review process by the Department of Defense before publication to ensure no secrets were given away?
[Keith] “Don’t ask the question if you don’t want to know the answer,” is one way for me to answer that. Another way might be to say, “It’s easier to beg forgiveness then to ask for permission.” And would the Department of Defense dare question something Vice President Dick Cheney – who was the Secretary of Defense during the Gulf War – endorsed by writing the book’s foreword? All joking aside, there are no secrets or classified information in the book. To be sure, I asked a few friends of mine who were F-16 fighter weapons school instructors to read it before it went to the publisher.
Another reason I wanted some of my F-16 friends to read the manuscript is because in the fighter community your peers can be extremely critical. There can be a lot of pressure imposed when it comes to accuracy in what one says or writes. If something were embellished or flat out wrong, my buddies would have racked me over the coals. So it was important for me to be as accurate as possible in my writing. If there were any mistakes, I wanted to hear about them before the book was published, not afterwards.
[Frugal's World] With your mug plastered on a book cover and more than one television appearance – including an interview on Fox News popular O’Reilly Factor – has anyone ever recognized you in public as “that guy?”
[Keith] My dream has always been to be in uniform working a trip for Delta and to see a passenger in First Class reading my book - not knowing I was the same person flying them to their destination. I’d love to walk up to that individual and see the look on their face as I ask them whether they are enjoying the book or not and if it would be okay for me to sign it for them. That hasn’t happened yet. Maybe someday?
To answer your question, though, I was in the terminal in Cincinnati between flights a couple of years ago. I was talking to a couple of flight attendants when this passenger came running up to us. Out of breath he said,” I knew I recognized you! I’ve been reading your book and I saw you walking down the concourse. Would you please sign it for me?” That was quite a thrill. Not to mention, it really impressed the flight attendants.
[Frugal's World] Who would you consider to have been an inspiration in your life while you achieved your goals?
[Keith] To be perfectly honest, I can’t say that any one person inspired me. I have always been self-driven to succeed. I knew at a young age what I wanted to do and I worked as hard as I could to achieve the goals I set for myself. I’ve been extremely fortunate to achieve just about everything I have set my sights on over the years. Having great family support certainly helped me along the way.
One of my greatest moments came right after I started with Delta Air Lines. I went to high school right by the north runway at Los Angeles Int’l Airport. I used to look out a second story window on rainy days while eating my lunch and dream of one day flying as an airline pilot. It took fifteen years, but during my first takeoff out of Los Angeles as a Delta pilot, I looked down and saw my old high school. Seeing the same window I used to stare out of years earlier was quite an emotional experience for me. It was at that moment when I knew in my heart that I had achieved one of my life’s biggest goals.
[Frugal's World] Corvette or mini-van?
[Keith] I’d pick the Corvette. I have to add, though, that I don’t like cars where I have to sit low with my legs straight. I drive a Toyota Avalon and I absolutely love it. Now if someone were to give me a Corvette, I’d probably sell it or trade it in for a Mercedes.
[Frugal's World] What is it you do in your free time for fun?
[Keith] Tough question! First of all, I don’t have a lot of free time. I average 13 days on the road each month with Delta Air Lines. When I’m at home, I make it a point to answer every e-mail letter I receive in regards to the book. I also answer every post to my web site message board.
I am currently consulting with the folks at G2 Interactive on the new Falcon V project. In addition, I have done some consulting work in the past for a company called Delex Systems, Inc. They put together Harpoon Missile training programs for countries that buy the Harpoon Missile. If that country plans to use the F-16 as a weapons platform, I get involved and help teach the F-16 pilots the Harpoon Missile integration.
I enjoy spending time with my girls, who will be 14 in September; I have season tickets to the Dallas Stars hockey games; and my cousin’s husband is an Indy racecar driver in the IRL series. I plan to see him race a few times over the summer. And since I have free travel privileges, I enjoy visiting with friends and family around the country.
[Frugal's World] Talking of Falcon V, what role will you take in helping to produce this F-16 simulator?
[Keith] I was excited when the folks at G2 Interactive contacted me about joining their team. They are dedicated to making Falcon V as realistic as possible compared to the real F-16. Having flown the F-16 in combat, I feel that I have a lot to offer to the team. I’ve been to the G2 Interactive offices in Aurora, Colorado a couple of times already and I’ve had a chance to experiment with the game and some of its features. When I see mistakes, I offer corrections.
The training aspects of the game are, perhaps, my biggest interest. I realize there are a lot of hard core players who are extremely familiar with the game and comfortable playing it. I want to ensure the teenager who gets the game for Christmas or a birthday, or the individual who buys it off the shelf, will be motivated enough to really learn how to play it.
It’s important for people to realize I attended Undergraduate Pilot Training in the Air Force for a year just to get my wings. When I attended F-16 training, I took academic classes for almost a month before I even flew the jet. So to expect an individual to be able to play this game having never even flown might be asking a lot. Having said that, my hope is to offer some flying techniques for the first time player.
I will be involved on the marketing side because of my combat experience and the popularity of my book. There’s a lot of work ahead, but I’m confident the hard core players and the first time players will thoroughly enjoy the product.
[Frugal's World] How far can this simulator go with regards to high fidelity realism and accuracy of systems and weapons without breaching security?
[Keith] I’m sure people realize the F-16 contains a number of classified components. All of us would love it if the game could mirror the real F-16 in every way. Unfortunately, that just isn’t possible. There’s a fine line between pure realism in a game and things in the real F-16 that can’t be discussed. On occasion, I am asked about certain systems that I simply can’t talk about. We try to work around these issues and come up with ideas that don’t degrade the realism in the game. Along those lines, I think we have been successful so far. I have a great working relationship with the folks at G2 Interactive and they are very understanding of where the line has to be drawn. They would never do anything to compromise U.S. technology in a way that might affect the safety of the men and women in our armed services who fly the F-16.
[Frugal's World] I’m sure you are aware by now that Falcon 4.0 and its planned follow up Falcon V have a large cult following. What do you think of the existence of such a community and what is your involvement in it?
[Keith] Very few are afforded the opportunity to fly the real F-16. The fact that there are so many that can experience flying it on their computers at home is awesome. While I have to admit that I am not an active player, I feel I have a strong bond with the community. That has come as a result of my book.
When I wrote Vipers In The Storm, I wanted to put the reader in the cockpit. I think I achieved that goal. I’ve received hundreds of letters from all over the world and hundreds more on my web site. I would say a quarter of the letters I receive are from the Falcon community. Being able to share experiences with these individuals, explain F-16 tactics, and help them to better understand the weapons systems and play the game more proficiently, etc… has been extremely rewarding for me.
[Frugal's World] Do you own Falcon 4.0 or any other sim software for that matter and do you use it?
[Keith] I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, but I do not have Falcon 4.0 loaded on my computer. I don’t have any other sim software loaded either. I have experimented with Falcon 4.0 at G2 Interactive headquarters in an effort to test different components, but I am not a regular player. An individual wrote to me on my web site and asked how I could be a consultant if I didn’t play the game. I told him what my schedule was like and the fact that I had already accomplished everything in a real F-16 that one could accomplish. Having both the time and the desire to become proficient with the game is something I haven’t been able to accomplish as of yet. I think he was more understanding afterwards and he said to me, “I guess it’s okay to be an architect and not live in the house you design.” I thought that was a good way to put it.
[Frugal's World] Though you’ve been out of the service for several years now, I’m sure to some degree you keep up with old acquaintances and the Air Force in general. How would you describe the differences in the Air Force today and the Air Force you served in with regards to what is known as the “fine mesh” where only the educated and elite get the opportunity to fly?
[Keith] You have to be an officer to fly and to be an officer you need a college degree. That hasn’t changed. Undergraduate Pilot Training is different than when I went through, though. Students begin in the T-37 just like I did. But after they finish that part of the program, a decision is made as to whether or not the student goes to a fighter/bomber track, in which case they would continue on in training in the T-38. If they are going to the tanker/transport track, they will fly the T-1.
I still have a number of friends who fly the F-16 that I keep in touch with. A few are squadron commanders now. And believe it or not, a number of them still go over to the Middle East to support the Northern/Southern watch program over Iraq. I can remember telling them when I left the Air Force years ago that I had flown a remote tour in Korea forty years after the Korean War and that they would be coming back to fly in the Middle East in the years to come. Looks like that was true!
I would like to add that it isn’t as hard to become an Air Force pilot as one might think. If you have a college degree, are under the age of 30, and in good physical condition, you can take the tests and be accepted into Officer Training School. Once you complete that course, you are commissioned and sent off to Undergraduate Pilot Training.
One of the things I am most proud of where my book is concerned is that I have received letters from about a dozen individuals who read the book, had college degrees, and didn’t like their jobs. They wrote and asked me what they needed to do to become Air Force pilots. One is now flying the F-15E Strike Eagle on active duty; two others are in F-16 Air National Guard units; and the rest are in Undergraduate Pilot Training.
[Frugal's World] What advice would you give to young men and young women with aspirations to someday fly in the Air Force?
[Keith] Kids in high school and in college ask me this question quite often. I tell them to get their degree in something they can fall back on in case they can’t fly. I also encourage them to talk to a recruiter to see what the physical requirements are. There are only so many pilot training slots a year and the first set always goes to the cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The next set of slots goes to cadets in AFROTC schools around the country. The remaining slots are for Officer Training School candidates.
[Frugal's World] Thanks again for taking the time to talk to us.
You can find out more about Keith's book Vipers in the Storm from his website www.vipersinthestorm.com
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