Kalispell fighter pilot ready to fly F-16s in Korea

The Daily Inter Lake

In 1st Lt. Jason Curtis' line of work, perfection is everything.

There's no room for human error when you're flying an F-16 fighter plane, but Curtis is convinced he's got the best job in the world.

"I passionately love it," the Kalispell native said. "I feel extremely lucky to be able to do this."

Curtis, 25, is wrapping up F-16 training with the Formal Training Unit at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Ariz., where he is a member of the 61st fighter squadron, the "Top Dogs." In February he heads to Kunsan Air Base in the Republic of Korea, where he'll be "the new wing man," patrolling the demilitarized zone at night.

"It's complicated flying," Curtis said. "That area is famous for its extremely thick ocean fog coming in from the Yellow Sea."

But Curtis can't wait.

AS A teenager, he remembers watching the Thunderbirds, the Air Force's air-demonstration squadron, perform in Kalispell.

"I saw the Thunderbirds and that did it for me," he recalled.

Curtis learned how to fly at the Kalispell City Airport. He was nominated by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and accepted to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, where he spent four years earning a degree in aeronautical engineering. President George W. Bush handed him his diploma.

Curtis was then selected for the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas.

"It's a unique program, a very elite pilot training base." he said. "All countries come together to train fighter pilots. I was trained how to fly from Norwegian, Danish, Italian, English, Greek, German and American pilots."

Just 2 percent of his Air Force Academy class was picked for the prestigious training, based on academic and athletic performance and military decorum.

"It was really tough, high stress from the very beginning," he said. "There's a lot of stress in flying single-seat fighters. It tested us to see if I was ready to fly advanced fighter jets."

It was a "building-block approach" that taught pilots the basics of flying in formation, among other skills. Curtis was selected to fly the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, dubbed the "Viper" by pilots.

WHEN CURTIS arrived at the Phoenix base for the advanced fighter Formal Training Unit, the grooming to be a fighter pilot continued. He and fellow pilots engaged in simulated air-to-air combat (dogfighting) and dropped live bombs at training sites.

"They taught us how to not only fly fighters, but to employ them as a lethal weapons platform," he said.

The elite pilots learned how to fly at night under night-vision goggles and how to employ advanced technology targeting pods, a sophisticated device used to designate and engage targets on the ground in any conditions.

"At times it was extremely tough," Curtis said. "Great authority, responsibility and trust come with flying multimillion-dollar fighter jets and carrying high-dollar weapons under my wings. It's a profession of perfection."

With its short wings, the single-seat, single-engine F-16 is one of the most maneuverable fighter-bombers ever built. It can fly at speeds above Mach 2 and at altitudes above 50,000 feet.

"The feeling I get from training for aerial combat is like no other," Curtis said. "It's a sensation of high-speed adrenaline and controlled aggression combined with intense fear in a do-or-die scenario miles above the earth."

FLYING IS in Curtis' genes. His grandfather, Henryk Szczesny, known as "Henry the Pole," was a well-known fighter pilot in World War II for the Royal British Air Force and flew a Vickers Supermarine Spitfire in the Battle of Britain. The single-seat Spitfire is considered the most famous fighter plane in British aeronautics history.

"It's an awesome thing that I'm able to fly the greatest plane in my generation and my grandfather flew the greatest plane of his generation. It comes around full circle."

Szczesny was a fighter ace, with more than five air-to-air kills, and was one of the only Polish squadron commanders to lead a British fighter squadron.

"My grandfather was Polish, and when Poland went down (during the war) he was smuggled to Britain," Curtis said.

Curtis' father, who changed his name to Brad Curtis when he lived in the United States later in life, was also smuggled to England. He was about 5 at the time, and was stowed in a chest of rabbit pellets at one point as family members secretly made their way to England.

Curtis' father eventually became a U.S. citizen and was a pilot who had flight contracts with the U.S. Army, Navy and Air America. He went on to become a commercial pilot with TWA and was sent to Saudi Arabia to teach Saudi pilots how to operate a commercial airline.

The elder Curtis died in a commercial airline accident in Saudi Arabia a few months before Curtis was born. At age 42, he was a pilot on board an L1011 airliner that caught fire from an electrical malfunction midway through the flight. The plane made a safe landing on Aug. 19, 1980, in Riyadh, but all 301 people on board perished when they were unable to open the doors and escape the burning plane.

After the accident, Curtis' mother, Kris, moved from California to Kalispell to raise him and his sister in a small-town environment.

CURTIS WILL spend a year in Korea and then heads to Aviano Air Base in Italy for a three-year assignment. It's a staging ground for operations in the Middle East and the Balkans.

His wife, Larissa Marceau-Curtis, also of Kalispell, may be able to visit him while he's in Korea and will join him once he gets to Italy.

The two were high-school sweethearts who met on stage during the local Northwest Ballet Company's performance of "Nutcracker."

"We've been doing the long-distance relationship from the get-go," Curtis said. "It's definitely not easy, but it's a lifestyle. She believes in the work I do."

Marceau-Curtis spent time in California and Boston before heading to the University of Hawaii to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance. Currently she's a member of a modern-dance company in Phoenix.

"We're doing 40 performances total of 'Snow Queen.' We've done six so far," she said in a telephone interview.

The coming year will be a difficult one, she said, especially given the potentially volatile situation with North Korea. But they're looking forward to being together in Italy.

"I'm really proud of him," she said. "It'll be a lot of great adventures for both of us."

Curtis hopes to one day attend U.S. Air Force Weapons School, a selective program that would allow him to become a specialist on the most current weapon systems for the F-16.

"This would give me the opportunity to instruct future generations of fighter pilots," he said.

He'd like to use his service to his country to inspire other young pilots.

"I want to give back to the community," he said. "The Flathead Valley doesn't get a lot of military exposure. I want to be able to say 'hey, you can do your dream job and it's awesome.'"

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com