Bobby and Wally chat with a real life Blue Angel! Scott Kartvedt is not only a Blue Angel, but also a military veteran and a major airline pilot. Enjoy this fascinating episode!
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00:01
Behind the Prop Intro
Clear prop SR73 Cherokee number two following twin traffic three mile final one trolley bravo makesford in Runway two five going four mile.
00:10
Nick Alan
This is behind the prop with United Flight Systems owner and licensed pilot Bobby Doss and his co host, major airline captain and designated pilot examiner Wally Mulhern. Now let's go behind the prop.
00:24
Bobby Doss
What's up Wally?
00:26
Wally Mulhern
Hey Bobby, how are you?
00:27
Bobby Doss
I am fantastic as always. This week we have another guest and it's one that we got to see recently. Recording a live podcast in Denver. It was actually an accident that we ended up meeting this person, but it was super exciting. I am a huge fan of the Blue Angels and we have call sign Intake with us today. And Intake, we couldn't be more happy to have you, Bobby.
00:53
Scott Kartvedt
While it's great to join you and your listeners and just kind of share some of our aviation experiences with others, that's how we stay safe as a community and professionals. So I look forward to chatting with you.
01:06
Wally Mulhern
For those of you who listened to our episode last week, you know, we had the studio drummer and I kind of introduced him as somebody that you don't know, but you've heard him. Intake is the same guy. You may not know the name but. And you'll get, we'll get to it later on. So I'm kind of teasing the end of the episode. So stay with us. I guarantee you've seen him fly and not with the Blue Angels.
01:29
Bobby Doss
Awesome. Yeah, I think the speech that you gave at Redbird Migration was awesome and helps me as a flight school owner think about some of the things I'm working on. And, and obviously the Blue Angels are very structured and methodical about what they do. But, but before we get to all the cool stuff we're going to talk about, just give us a little idea of what your aviation career was like. And I normally always work on names, but I know your first name is really Scott, but how do you say your last name for the listener?
01:59
Scott Kartvedt
Scott Hartvet. It looks horribly misspelled. It's K A R T V E D T, but phonetically it's cartvet. Is the way. The right way to say it.
02:09
Bobby Doss
I'm probably going to keep saying Intake just to be safe, but I was.
02:13
Scott Kartvedt
Going to, I was going to say let's go with Intake.
02:15
Bobby Doss
Awesome. Tell us aviation career in general. Kind of how the bug bit. How'd you get started? How do you become a Blue Angel? Just give us the story so.
02:27
Scott Kartvedt
You know the bug bit there. I'm sure there are so many of your listeners that went up in a friend's plane or a family member's plane and they broke the surly bounds of earth and they were bitten by the aviation bug. To be honest, I was an adrenaline junkie since the age, since I could rem. We rode motorcycles out in the desert and anything that went fast and was exhilarating, I was interested in water skiing, you name it. And then the original Top Gun came out and I was 18 and my best friend and I told all of our friends that were going to be fighter pilots like so many 18 year olds of the era. And went on to do it. I graduated college and applied to through the Los Angeles Recruiting Depot, the Navy Recruiting Depot.
03:21
Scott Kartvedt
And I applied and they accepted me. This is the crazy part that nobody ever believes, but I got accepted aviation Officer Candidate school to be a pilot in the Navy. I never been in a small plane. I'd flown commercially. And at Santa Monica Airport they were advertising an introduction to flight on a billboard for 35 bucks. And so I walked in and said, I'm going to Navy flight training in two weeks. Can I go up? Here's your 35 bucks. The guy said, you're going to do what? And I said, yeah, I'd kind of like to do it before I actually start training for the Navy. And so went out over the Pacific Ocean and we did some stalls and he tried to cram as much knowledge into my brain as possible. And we finished and I said, yeah, that was really great.
04:08
Scott Kartvedt
Do you think I could get the same intro to Flight again for another 35 bucks and come back tomorrow? And so he let me come out. So that's kind of how I got involved in it. I, I do love flying. It brings me great joy. And not I'll skip ahead to the Patriot jet team because now, having served an entire military career, I, I do have that passion. It is the greatest thing that I do flying with the Patriot Jet team. It's intense. It brings me so much happiness and I think that's what all of us in aviation feel when we are doing something as human beings that we're not really built to do and we get to see. And I stare out the window in awe at some of the scenery we get to see. So joined the Navy, went through flight training.
05:00
Scott Kartvedt
Hardest thing I've ever done was learn to fly, but worked really hard at it, like so many, and was able to select F18s, traveled all over the globe with the Navy Stops along the way. I flew with the Blue Angels, which most people gravitate towards. But what I am most proud of are the three combat tours in Iraq and the two combat tours in Afghanistan and the sailors and Marines that I served with. I retired out of F35 command in 2012, got hired by one of the major airlines, which subsequently got me picked up with the Patriot Jet team out of San Francisco during Fleet Week. San Francisco Fleet Week. And which got me into Maverick and Mission Impossible 8. And it was a little longer than a 30 second elevator story.
06:00
Bobby Doss
No, that's awesome.
06:02
Scott Kartvedt
That's. That's 35 years of aviation in a nutshell.
06:06
Bobby Doss
And we're gonna continue to tease the Maverick work and the impossible mission stuff, but there's so many cool things to talk about. You. You gave a speech at Redbird Migration, which I'm assuming you've given more than once, but you told stories, showed videos, and some of the stuff that drew to me, and I think Wally was some of the teachings. Right? The Blue Angels never stop learning. The. The way you guys brief and debrief is amazing. Talk through a little bit. They've all heard Wally talk about them debriefing after a big flight. But like, what. What should pilots do that they can take away from the Blue angel regiment? Or maybe what you do with the Patriot team. There's got to be stuff that y' all do that we're not doing daily that would make us safer, better pilots.
06:57
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah, it's a great question. So when you think about a continuum of improvement and accelerating performance, which you all want to do because flight time is expensive to pay for when you're learning to fly and you want to accelerate your performance as fast as possible. And so we spend a ton of time planning and briefing, but in the debrief, everybody thinks about it in the cycle of learning at the end. I. My argument is the debrief is the beginning of the next cycle.
07:29
Scott Kartvedt
If you don't take into account the things that you have learned that you've done well, that you want to continue doing, and the errors that you made in a previous flight, which we all do, and try to improve those errors and wrap that into your plan, then how could you possibly make the second, third, fourth, fifth, hundredth, one hundred, twentieth thousandth flight better than the previous one, unless you are taking on board the things that you can do better, but also more equally as important as repeating the. Those items that you have done well. So the. The debrief is what the Blue Angels have come as close to perfecting as possible. A lot of people don't know that three of the pilots in the six ship Delta six plane, Delta formation are brand the formation every year.
08:26
Scott Kartvedt
But for 79 years, how have we been. No offense to my other armed forces brethren that fly air shows, but how are we the best in the world year in and year out when. And it's through that debrief process. So. And it all starts with being open and honest and letting go of your ego and taking the time to do it. That letting go of the ego piece is so important. And here's an interesting thing for both of you, Bobby and Wally. Whenever somebody is corrected and this gets into the behavioral piece, I'm way into the behavioral piece of aviation because I believe that it helps keep us safe if we can recognize our behavioral strengths and weaknesses.
09:12
Scott Kartvedt
But when somebody corrects you and says, you're over controlling the throttles or you're over controlling the yoke or the stick or you're off altitude or your radio comms are not as clear as concise whatever it may be. The first thing that we want to do is defend. And we want to bow up and we want to say, yeah, but. And we want to explain why we made the decision that we did. Because in the moment we truly felt it was the best decision. None of us ever think, oh man, this is going to be a horrible decision, but I'm going with it anyways. We make the best decision in the moment, so we want to defend it when it turns out that it was a bad decision.
09:56
Scott Kartvedt
But if you are debriefing me, Bobby, and you say, hey, Intake, I need you to communicate a little clearer on the radio and I need you to work on your altitude because your altitude deviations are not acceptable. I need to recognize that the part that you didn't say that. But what needs to be understood is that you said, intake, I believe in you and your capability so much that I know that you can communicate clearer and I know that you can dampen out your altitude deviations and refine it to be a better, more precise pilot. And it's that piece of I believe in you so much and your capability that I'm going to share my knowledge with you. That's the unspoken peace. So don't bow up. If you're going to correct me, then I'm just going to say, thank you.
10:49
Scott Kartvedt
Thank you for believing in me that I had that I can better tomorrow than I was today. Awesome. Now it's up to me to take it on board. Boy, that was a bit of a diatribe.
11:01
Bobby Doss
I love it. I think that when you were talking and you shared the story about, I don't know what the right terminology would be, but hurt that you were called out in front of a room of other Blue Angels and you weren't the only one that made a mistake. Then when you saw that guy at the bar later that night, that he changed your thought process forever about those conversations. And I, if I could inject that into every student that enrolls at my flight school or every pilot that listens to this podcast, man, isn't it so much better that people are willing to give us that feedback and that we can begin to get better? And, and my ego is bigger than the room I'm sitting in, and it probably shouldn't be, but it's hard sometimes to let that go. For sure.
11:49
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah. Well, the flip side of that is if nobody is providing you a way to improve, and I'll say specifically in aviation, that's why we have the remarkable safety record that we do in aviation. If, if nobody is providing you feedback on a way to make tomorrow's flight better than today's or to be a better pilot tomorrow than today, then you're. You've probably stopped listening to them and they don't believe that you are willing to improve anymore. And that's another moment that you need to think, am I unsafe now? Nobody's conversing. We're not making each other better. Nobody's talking and sharing with me anymore. So that's something to consider as well. And we should seek out ways to improve. That's how we keep ourselves coming home and takeoff, sequel, landings. Right, yeah.
12:48
Bobby Doss
So you talked about a mistake on stage. I don't know if you're open to sharing, but have you made a mistake in flying that could have been costly?
12:56
Scott Kartvedt
Oh, gosh, I've made so many mistakes in flying. I make mistakes all the time flying. And so for the early listeners or the early in training pilots that are listening, and even for those that might have been flying for decades, we talk about flows in commercial aviation. And, and I tell people you can miss a flow, but you can't miss a checklist item. Checklist items are written in blood. And you don't skip a checklist. You read the checklist, and that was embedded in me in single seat aviation in the F18. I. We didn't memorize checklists. We ensured that we executed checklists verbatim. They're there for a reason. So I think what you're talking about is January 16, 2001, where when I almost planted an F18 into the Southern California desert. And it wasn't any one thing that nearly took my life that morning.
14:00
Scott Kartvedt
But it was a series of small things that led to others causal chain of events, if you will, that had there been an accident investigation. And those items that came out in the debrief, because we did a very thorough debrief, were, you know, communication, planning and decision making, leadership effectiveness, a series of small items, death by a thousand slashes that nearly became fatal. So.
14:34
Bobby Doss
And it could happen to anybody. I think that's the. If there's one message that comes from that, right? Like you copy down the atis and it changes and you don't listen to the new one. It could be, hey, you're going to a new airport and you just peaked at the taxi diagram, but you don't have it on your knee board when you're really taxiing. We can all get complacent. We've obviously all seen way too many bad things happen in the news of late, have no idea what's caused all those things. But the one big one that sticks out to me, I think it was shortly after were in Denver that someone in a private jet pulled across the Runway in Southwest, did an amazing job of going around. We're all human.
15:15
Bobby Doss
We're gonna, we more than likely we're probably not gonna fly perfect every time we ever fly. But, man, we've got to try to improve every time we fly. And none of us, including you or the Blue Angels or Wally or Bobby, are going to be perfect every time. And we got to do better, for sure.
15:32
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah. So, Bobby, you talk about that Runway excursion, and I know exactly the one that you're talking about because it was remarkable. Let me ask you this and I'll ask all the listeners, you can answer independently with yourself, but do you clear the Runway with a little more rigor prior to landing now because of that incident? I do. I'll raise my hand. I do, for sure.
15:56
Wally Mulhern
Yeah, absolutely.
15:57
Scott Kartvedt
That's the, that's the beauty of debriefing, right. We have self debrief. We saw the video and went, I think I'm going to pay closer attention to that because that could happen to me. And so I'll be a little more vigilant in that landing arena to make sure that doesn't happen. And that's outside of the landing zone. That's the approaching taxiways. And so that's a great example to what I'm talking about, which is that continuous improvement and learning.
16:24
Bobby Doss
Yeah. I've watched that video so many times. And at first glance, you really don't think that corporate jet's going to come across the Runway like those guys and girls in that Southwest jet did an amazing job because it was a last second kind of thing. Like, it's still shocking how for almost 50ft off the ground, you don't think they're going to cross that Runway. And they do. And they made the decision and it a fantastic job. And I'm. I'm much better at my taxi diagram usage and my hold short exercises and everything else because of that, so. But isn't that what you mean when you say checklists are written in blood? There's a guy or a girl that didn't turn out just as good, and that probably became a checklist item. It became a thing that we do different.
17:15
Bobby Doss
Or the FAA did something to create an ad that we all are better for because someone wasn't as lucky as those people. And we should take heed and appreciate all that stuff and not treat it as a. This is just part of it. It is a real thing that we should use and embrace every day.
17:34
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah. I was with. I was actually with the Blue Angels at a. An event called Gray Beards, where some of us older guys go back and share some of the experience and lessons learned and things we may have done different when were on the team Again, just a debrief with the current team members. And I was with the two solo pilots. This was in January. And I looked down and their standard operating procedures was about an inch and a half thick. Remarkably professional standard operating procedures for the team. And I said, hey, is this your SOP? And they said, oh, yeah. I said, oh. 20 years ago, in 2002, when I left the team, we had an SOP that. But it was about 40 pages and it was in Microsoft Word. And we changed it when it needed to be changed.
18:23
Scott Kartvedt
And theirs had diagrams, mathematical engineering. I mean, you could read that. And as long as you could start the F18, you'd have a pretty good shot at putting on at least a decent show.
18:38
Bobby Doss
I was gonna say, don't tell me I'd be able to do it, because I'm gonna try if I get the chance.
18:43
Scott Kartvedt
Did you hear me? Did you hear me hesitate?
18:46
Bobby Doss
I. I felt the slowdown. I thought you pull power there a little bit, Scott, where you were like, I don't want to give too many people hopes here that it's just.
18:54
Wally Mulhern
But he did Say if you can start it, you got to start it first.
18:58
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah, that's right. That's right.
19:00
Bobby Doss
Well, I was going to ask, I think you mentioned it, but I've talked to a few other professional pilots. Did you get in on your first try? Was it that easy? Did you just say, hey, I want to do it, and they let you in?
19:11
Scott Kartvedt
No. This is another fascinating learning story as well. So I had been selected as a finalist in 1999, 1998. And so I went down to finalist week in July, and one of the questions that they asked me was, what's the dumbest thing you've ever done in an airplane? And at the time I thought, oh, these are the Blue Angels. I can't tell them I've done anything wrong. And so what I shared with them was, you know, I was 50ft off altitude in primary flight training and my instructor called me out on it and, you know, I corrected it, but it was not. It was below average. And they said that's it. That's the dumbest thing you've done. And I said, huh? Yeah, absolutely. And then they didn't pick me that year.
19:57
Scott Kartvedt
And the next year I was asked to come back as a finalist, and they asked me the same question. And I went into great detail on an incident that took place during an air power demonstration off the coast of Japan, 1996. And that was involved the Japanese Navy. And I was one of the wingmen on that flight. And I explained it to them and they said, that was you? And I said, yeah, because it was a well known incident. And I said, but let me tell you what I learned from it. And I explained to them what I had learned during that incident at sea. And that was the year they picked me. And the reason that they picked me because they knew that I was willing to be accountable, be responsible, acknowledge my mistakes, be willing to learn from them.
20:56
Scott Kartvedt
And with those things, they can have trust and respect. Trust in me and respect for me. Now we can fly 12 to 18 inches apart.
21:07
Bobby Doss
Yeah. All those people out there that are in the beginning part of their training who are struggling with the flare or don't like stalls or whatever it is that's uncomfortable for you, I would say if you want to do it, embrace the uncomfortableness of it, ask for help, seek out the feedback. You can get it. We all did it. I thought the wings were going to fall off every time were in slow flight and they never did. Right. I was afraid of what the mechanical stuff was going to do, but it's Worked out. And I'm the rookie on this podcast. I'm the rookie every time we talk to anybody. I have one jet type rating. Y' all have more than that. And that makes me the rookie. I have less than 500 hours still, just to be clear too unfortunately.
21:51
Bobby Doss
But some would probably be jealous of my flying career. But I'm jealous of Yalls. Talk a little bit about combat. Like we have not had anybody on the show that we openly discuss combat. Maybe you can't say anything about it. What was that experience like? I mean I can remember the Iraq stuff. Obviously I was in my early 20s back then. Scary times, I don't think. Thank goodness we haven't had something like that we've really been engaged in at that level in the air in a long time. But that was some scary times. What was that like for you and your family?
22:28
Scott Kartvedt
So I left the team in November of 2002 and in March of 2003 I was on the USS Roosevelt off the coast of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean Sea launching to fly over Turkey and head south into northern Iraq and secret Mosul during shock and awe. And. And so as a Navy strike fighter pilot, that's what we train for, that's what we do, that's our profession. And so I always found it to be purposeful. That's what we took. We took the oath to support and defend the Constitution. And so that's what were doing not only in 2003 but 2005 and Afghanistan and 9 and 10. And it was very full circle for me because I was on the team when the World Trade Centers were hit on September 11th.
23:30
Scott Kartvedt
And to now go back and take the fight to the enemies of our country that did that I found it very purposeful. The missions were intense. We happened to be the night carrier. So we would get up at 10 o' clock at night, we'd flip the meals around so we'd have breakfast and then we'd go out to the airplanes, fly into country. You know you're four and a half to seven hour missions. And just so you're listeners know, you know it took about an hour to get into country and then they did one hour cycles. Meaning you would get tank up, get a tank of gas, go down into a vulnerability window where you may employ, you may not go back.
24:15
Scott Kartvedt
If you had more weapons, you get another tank of gas, go back for another hour, get a tank of gas and then go back to the aircraft carrier and land sometime around sunrise and go back to bed. So Very intense, fully committed to the operation. And I found great purpose in it, in what's awesome doing.
24:40
Bobby Doss
And I think obviously you probably hear this, but thank you for everything that you did to make me a free American still. And I'm sure every listener feels the same way.
24:48
Wally Mulhern
Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Thank you for your service and thanks for doing that. As were sitting comfortably at home.
24:54
Scott Kartvedt
During that time, so I found great joy. And can I be a proud dad for just a second?
24:59
Bobby Doss
Sure.
24:59
Scott Kartvedt
Both my boys are F18 pilots and the oldest is deployed right now in the Red Sea with operations that are over there. And so it's a little different being the parent of a fighter pilot rather than being the fighter pilot yourself. But I know what he's going through it. I'm wildly proud of him.
25:19
Bobby Doss
That's awesome. How, how many. I mean, I'm sure there's not just you, but how many father son duos or F18 pilots like that? That's got to be rare.
25:30
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah, I think there's a fair number. I know a handful. The interesting thing about military service is it kind of becomes a family affair. And, you know, the, the pride and purpose that you have in serving. I think your kids can pick up on that. What I found is kids go one of two ways. They either absolutely serve just like mom or dad, or they absolutely do not want to serve like mom or dad. And there is no whole lot of gray area. But for both boys to be flying fighter pilots is certainly some timing, luck and timing. No doubt about it.
26:09
Bobby Doss
That's awesome. So we have two really important topics to talk about. And the first one is I was at dinner last night with my wife. My wife, I don't think she's ever listened to the show. That's okay. She's not a pilot, but we joke about it a lot. And I always ask her on Monday afternoon, did you listen today's show? Just to pick on her? And I told her that I had. I was interviewing a blue angel tonight. And she's like, oh, that's pretty cool. You've done something like that before. And I said, yeah, we've had other air show people. And she's like, oh, that's cool. I hope you have a good show. And I'm like, but this guy Intake did a lot of the training for Maverick and a lot of the video in Maverick is in this guy.
26:52
Bobby Doss
And she's like, oh, tell me more. She was like, so excited, like all of a Sudden you had this fan and it is exciting. Wally's had the same experiences, haven't you, Wally?
27:02
Wally Mulhern
Oh, yeah, all the time.
27:04
Bobby Doss
So no, I mean talking. You've talked about having him on the show and Blue Angels is cool. Cool, like it's super cool. But the fact that you helped Maverick is like over the top. Like there's not a pilot that I know that has not seen Maverick. And for me, those that listen to the show know this. But let's say a year before COVID when they announced the show, I called Cinemark and Cinemark's not a sponsor, but I called Cinemark and I rented a theater, small fly school owner in Houston, Texas. I said, I want to rent a theater as early as you'll let me to show my students Maverick. And they said, okay, you can have a 50 seat room, 150 seat room, or a 250 seat room.
27:45
Bobby Doss
And I'm like, I mean, I don't have that much money, but let's do the 250 seat room. We'll see what happens. So Covid came, the movie got delayed once, the movie got delayed twice, the movie got delayed three times. And here we are way past when I booked this, signed this contract. And they said, do you still want it? And I said, of course I still want it. And I got to see the show. I got to let all of our students and a few family members join us to see the movie. Three days before the movie was released to the general public, there were people in full flight gear, uniforms showing up to this thing. Maverick is no joke. How on earth does a guy like you get to be involved and fly with the actors of a movie of that caliber?
28:29
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah, so it was twofold really, flying for the Patriot Jet team. And Randy Howell that in order to film fast jets, he needed fast jets with cameras on them. So Randy Howell, owner of the Patriot Jet team, worked with Kevin LaRosa at Helenet and they put sure shot cameras on the L39 and submitted a bid to become the cinematographers or aerial photographers of Top Gun Maverick. And they won that award and contract. And so based on my combat experience, Randy asked me if I would train the actors and actresses in December of 2018 before they got into the F18. So we took them out in L39s and did some dog fighting and high GS and so that they could experience to figure out how they were going to act during in those environments. And I thought, wow, that's incredible.
29:27
Scott Kartvedt
I joined the military because of Top Gun. And here I am participating in some small way in the movie. And it was remarkable. And then In June of 2019, Randy called and said, hey, we need to film the final fight scene when Maverick and Rooster steal the Tomcat and fight their way back to the aircraft carrier. Would you be willing to do that? And I said, oh, absolutely. And so went out and filmed that during a two week period, flying three times a day through the canyons under helicopters. It was incredibly dynamic, very intense flying, because you want to be very low to the ground, you want to be very close to other airplanes, you want to be going very fast. But it kind of circles it back, actually, for both of you and the listeners.
30:23
Scott Kartvedt
We would visualize and learn from what we had done the day before and in our experience. So we started with the debrief, right? We wrapped it into the plan. We would go out and execute the. The particular shot that were filming. And we do multiple runs through the canyon. And after each run, we would debrief that run. As we turned around and went back and filmed it again, we turn. We debrief it in the 180 degree turn and running again. And so much like what so many flight students and instructors and pilots do in the debrief, were doing it real time, airborne, to improve on every single run and make it tighter and better and. But it was absolutely incredible flying and a remarkable opportunity to be a stunt pilot in that movie.
31:12
Bobby Doss
So I assumed a lot of that was fake CGI stuff, but your speech taught me otherwise. That that's real flying. Those are real planes. That's not make believe.
31:22
Scott Kartvedt
Oh, yeah, no, that is actual. All of that flying is absolutely real. And some of the scenes still going under the helicopter. Like, if you watch that final six minutes and you see the top of the airplanes, that's when we're going under the helicopters. And that's how they got that footage. One of my favorite shots in the movie.
31:49
Bobby Doss
Yeah. And if I do that in my Cessna, the helicopter flips me upside down and I'm done. So I can't. I don't have that opportunity. But it sounds amazing. Sounds really cool.
31:59
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah. But, you know, Kevin LaRosa was in the helicopter in. So we hadn't flown together, but with that same trust and respect that we built on the Blue Angels and that same debrief and being honest and open and letting go of our egos, we set that culture very quickly in the filming. And within a day, I was flying closer to a helicopter than I ever imagined in a jet but we instantaneously had to have that trust and respect. The only way you could do it was being open and honest with each other.
32:37
Bobby Doss
And I know.
32:38
Wally Mulhern
Scott, did you. Did you meet Tom Cruise?
32:40
Scott Kartvedt
I did. I didn't meet him during the filming of Maverick, he flew exclusively with Randy for training. I worked with Glenn and Monica, Jay and Danny and some others. But I did meet him. He called and asked if I would be the aviation safety supervisor for Mission Impossible 8. And so in 2022, I went to South Africa. And Tom, at the end of our conversation, when he asked me to come down, he said, yeah, you've got a super simple job. You just have to keep me alive. And for those of you that know that Tom does all of his own stunts, that is no small feat. But he listens and talk about somebody who performs at a very high level and wants to improve every second. That's Tom. So you can get good fast.
33:31
Bobby Doss
So that movie's not even out yet, is it?
33:33
Scott Kartvedt
No, that one comes out May 23rd of this year.
33:37
Bobby Doss
Wow.
33:38
Scott Kartvedt
So just like you, Bobby, I booked a theater for two showings to bring some family and friends out and just talk about the filming.
33:47
Bobby Doss
That is so cool. Yeah. I can't wait. If it's true and there's gonna be another Top Gun, I can't wait to do it again for our students and. And share that experience again, because it's amazing. And so we'll. We'll start to wrap. But the last thing that I'm just jealous of is that you have an action figure designed after you from your Blue Angels day. It's like, how many men. Like, I had the Six Million Dollar Man. I had the Evil Knievel again. My dog, my sister called them dolls. And it was not a doll. It was an action figure. I jumped Evil Knievel. That poor doll died 50 times over. I'm sure. But how in the heck do you get to be an action figure?
34:31
Scott Kartvedt
So the public affairs officer had come in when I was on the team and asked all the pilots if there was a company in Hong Kong that wanted a flight suit, a Blue angel flight suit. And none of the other pilots would give up a flight suit. And it wasn't my flight suit, it was the government. So I gave him a flight suit. And that was the kind of the creation of the Scott Cartfit action figure. And I appreciate you not calling it a doll, although you would imagine that having an action figure doll in fighter aviation could be somewhat abusive for me. But when it did come out, I was the number five pilot on the team, and my kids were two and four, and they called it their daddy doll.
35:13
Scott Kartvedt
And I would walk in the house in my blue suit on a Sunday night, and my youngest think he considered it a voodoo doll, you know, and he would rip the arm off, and I would fall to the ground. And so to the. To them, it was the daddy doll. But it clearly states elite Force action figure on the box as you.
35:33
Bobby Doss
That. That's. If it's in writing, it's true. If it's in writing, it's true.
35:37
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah. Ken is a doll Intake as an action figure.
35:41
Wally Mulhern
There you go. There you go.
35:43
Bobby Doss
When the Barbie movie was a big deal, on my sign out by the road, we put Barbie Train Part 141. You should, too, because on the back of Barbie's doll action figure, it said that she got 35 hours of training. So that means she had. If you only had 35 hours, she had to train part 141. And we took advantage of it. We used it as a marketing tool. So whatever it takes, I love it.
36:05
Scott Kartvedt
I think it's great.
36:06
Bobby Doss
Wally, anything to add?
36:08
Wally Mulhern
Tell us about your foundation.
36:10
Scott Kartvedt
Well, it's not my foundation. It's actually the Blue Angels Foundation. And so I've hit that point in my life, as I'm sure many of your listeners have, that you want to give back. Life has been very good to me and our family. And I have always had nothing but tremendous respect for our members of the armed forces. And our veterans, through 19 years of war, really sacrificed a great deal. And so the Blue Angels foundation helps provide funding for mental, physical, and behavioral health for our veterans and their families. We partnered with Home Base, who is help funded by the Red Sox foundation in Massachusetts General. We are opening on May 1 a clinic, Menninger Clinic out of Houston Lakeview Hospital in Pensacola, Florida. And so it's a.
37:07
Scott Kartvedt
It's a place where veterans and their families can get care and treatment anonymously, but with continuity of care to help reintegrate them back into civilian life and help them with some of the demons that they have. So it brings me great joy, and I got to share a lot of stories about all the things that I have done. But when I'm laid to rest in Arlington, I don't need it to say Maverick or Blue Angels, but if it says committed to saving the lives of veterans, that'll be enough for me.
37:42
Bobby Doss
That's awesome. And long backstory. I have some relationship with Menager Clinic. Back when I was a tech salesperson many years ago, if there's anything that Wally and I could ever do in Houston, which is where we're at, I am passionate. I was lucky enough to go to the World Series with Mattress Mac and he had about a hundred veterans that were all ptsd, past veterans who had PTSD that were at a home. My wife and I did a lot with that home for a number of years after that opportunity. So, please, if there's something we can do, I'd love to do whatever I can because like you, while I have an ego, I'd much rather be thought of for the good things I did and not the big things that I accomplished or was able to participate in.
38:25
Bobby Doss
So please let us know what we can do and the listeners for that matter. Right.
38:28
Scott Kartvedt
Yeah. For both of you. Bobby. Well, I want to appreciate the opening. You can go to blueangelsfoundation.org and hit donate now. And there you go. Funds go directly to the veterans and their families. We're all volunteers to all the board members or volunteers that support that organization. And like I said, we're opening this clinic in Houston on May 1, and we're very excited about that.
38:56
Bobby Doss
So, still an active pilot in a major airline. What else do our listeners need to know about you in this session as we wrap up? Or how can they find out more about your action figure or anything else that's important to intake?
39:07
Scott Kartvedt
Well, the, everything that we talked about that and more. I do a lot of corporate training, so scottcartfet.com it will take you to some of the training that I do for companies and to accelerate their performance and teach them how to debrief and increase revenue and drive profit and support their shareholders and customers. And so but my passion is still flying. It's flying with the Patriot Jet team and doing loops to music for crowds around the country brings me great joy and I'm grateful for the time to speak with you two and allowing me the opportunity to share my stories and my aviation journey with your listeners.
39:52
Bobby Doss
Yeah, we can't tell you enough how much we appreciate it. You have an amazing, cool career and I wish your boys all the best of luck in their career and all of our listeners. You might want to fly with Maverick, but it's going to take a lot more work. It's not just reading the SOP and starting the plane. Scott, thank you for joining us. Intake, thank you for joining us. And as always, everybody else, stay behind the prop.
40:19
Nick Alan
Thanks for checking out the behind the Prop podcast. Be sure to click subscribe and check us out online@bravetheprop.com behind the Prop is recorded in Houston, Texas. Creator and host is Bobby Doss. Co host is Wally Mulhern. The show is for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to replace actual flight instruction. Thanks for listening and remember, fly safe.