For Fly-Boy Wannabes

Interesting to Know That:

  • Nearly 200 potential recruits can take this virtual adventure every hour.
  • The rig and simulator weigh 80,000 pounds, and there’s a theater with a custom-built 20-seat Morphis motion pod with high-quality digital projection and audio systems.
  • The F/A-18 Hornet flown by the Blue Angels cost approximately $28 million. It can reach speeds just under Mach 2, almost twice the speed of sound or about 1,400 mph. The maximum rate of climb of the F/A-18 is 30,000 feet per minute.

    Norment Baker may be the Navy’s No. 1 pilot recruiter – unofficially. The truck driver helps steer young men and women toward the wild blue yonder every time he stops his rig.

    Baker hauls a mobile jet fighter simulator for the Navy and his company, Atlanta-based Pulseworks Simulation Attractions, to recruiting events all over the country. Baker says he’s privileged to be on the front lines of America’s recruiting efforts.

    “Unofficially, I’m one of the best recruiters they’ve got,” he says. “I’ve helped several people get into the service.” Occasionally former recruits will stop him and tell him that he’s helped change their life. Truckers, on the other hand, are more interested in his equipment.

    The custom trailer was designed in Great Britain and contains storage for stairs and equipment needed to help with the recruiting effort. But its biggest attraction is the flight simulator perched on the back deck of the 50-foot trailer.

    Wherever he goes, truckers ask him what he’s hauling. “Truckers say, ‘Hey Navy, is that a space football?'” The “football” opens up to reveal a realistic cockpit that potential recruits can test fly.

    Baker says the simulator is as close to the real thing as you can get without flying an actual jet. In fact, it matches every part of the flying experience except the G-forces.
    “The simulator is exactly like you’re on the plane flying with the Blue Angels,” he says.

    The simulator’s appeal to high school students and young adults keeps the truck and trailer on the road most of the year. Navy Recruiter and Petty Officer, Second Class, Corwin J. Irwin says the trailer helps interest young people in the Navy and is a big selling piece.
    “Everybody wants to fly,” Irwin says. “Everybody wants to be Top Gun.”

    The U.S. Navy operates two mobile flight simulators that travel the Interstates giving potential recruits the chance to live out their ‘Top Gun’ fantasies.

    Everyone except Baker, who has been a trucker for eight years and has been hauling the Navy simulator for more than two years. For him it’s a dream haul considering he tried to get in the Navy unsuccessfully. Fresh out of high school, Baker applied for the Navy. “They laughed at me and said, ‘Grow up, boy, and come back and see us.’ I did.”

    And he came back in style. Inside his Navy blue and gold Pete, Baker has glued patches from police departments and military outposts all over the country. His favorite badge is one his son-in-law gave him off his own uniform. His son-in-law is a detective with the police department in Baker’s hometown of Montgomery, Ala.

    The cab also features patriotic bunting and an American flag. But what he likes most about his job is that Baker can impact the lives of young Americans. “I can help them make something out of themselves and maybe plant a seed,” he says.


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