re: Best flyover or military aircraft experience

Flew as the co-pilot with the squadron CO in the El Toro airshow. We were doing the aerial refueling demo with a C-130 (I flew CH-53Es out of MCAS Tustin, which was right across the 405 from El Toro. Was going to be an easy hook up, drag across the crowd, then disconnect and land. Except when it was time to hook up with the basket, our refueling probe wouldn't extend. That would normally be an auto abort, but this was for an airshow. The old man decided to stick with it; which meant that the basket was up under our rotor arc for the connection. Even though it was a dry hookup (we weren't going to actually transfer fuel over a crowd), that was still close to the hairiest thing I ever had happen while flying. It doesn't sound like much unless you were in the 53E community, but I bet I sweat 10lbs off during the 8-9 minutes we were hooked up. The old man must've,too, because as soon as we were free from the basket he gave me the controls.