Tim Kurtz, ME 83, the Navy’s oldest active fighter pilot, officially retired in January. Kurtz ended his 28-year career with a ceremonial landing of his F-18 strike fighter jet at New Orleans’ Lakefront Airport. After landing, Kurtz’s friends and squadron-mates surrounded him and soaked him to make sure that he’d been thoroughly “watered down,” a Navy tradition that marks a squadron member’s final flight, according to an article in the New Orleans Advocate. It’s unusual for a Navy fighter pilot to still be flying at 54-years old. Pilots have to maintain a high level of physical fitness to cope with the forces of gravity during acceleration and at supersonic speeds. Kurtz was a member of Strike Fighter Squadron 204, known as “the River Rattlers.” Squadron 204 members travel around the country to perform war game exercises with squadrons of younger pilots. Each exercise is filmed, then carefully analyzed afterward to teach young pilots how to meet mission objectives while staying alive.
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