Oh my god! Dude I’m an Iranian, it’s truly so cool that you’re watching this video! I always wondered what happened to the pilot I heard the king actually met with him after he landed.
A lot of people forget that the only exports of the Tomcat did go to Iran while the Shah was in power. What a great perspective from a pilot who flew it. It is always educational and refreshing to hear about the experiences of pilots/crews from other countries, especially combat and/or flying other jets. This was a real treat. Thank you.
Oh my God. What a heck of an upload and interview. A lot of great pilot stuff, background stuff, that he spoke about that gives you chills of what the pilots and the released pilot prisoners had to deal with. For us landbound, not of the flying community, much less the Tomcat community, it is is truly amazing how Snort has touched and still touches so many. Kudos FighterPilotPodcat
Iranian people rose up and overthrew the Pro-western government in '78/'79. Its not about government vs people. Its about peoples philosophy. Which is substantially effected by regional culture. Iranian people sided against reason, science, liberty, justice and almost unilaterally went with irrationality, violence, and religion.
Hello , I enjoyed this TomCast episode, actually is first one i seen. My father was a F14 pilot. I don't have a in depth memory of him , I was very young , about 5 years old when he was shutdown in the war . I got to know the other pilot that flew with him .litterlly i sit and listen to them for hours never got tired listening to them. There was a story i was told that an F14 off one of the carriers lost hydrolic and was almost out of fuel , this was over in persian gulf during first gulf war . An Iranian F14 Pilot contact her on her comm , and walked her through several menuvers or procedures so she can regain control and land on the carrier. After landing she found out who helped her , and the carrier didn't jam his signal because they know he had good intention. Can you research this story and see if it's through. Thanks
at 11:28 picture of the shah by the F-5 is actually of his son. the shah flew the Hawker Hurricane RECON mission at that age whilst being king making him the only head of state to have seen combat mission whilst in power. just a little snippet
Loving the Tomcast. I was not graced with flying as I was an FO in the Army but got trained in CAS so dealt with fighters. Typical 80s-90s child. Fell in love with the F-14 thanks to Top Gun and of course the F-16 thanks to Iron Eagle. I want to say it was in the late 80s I got to observe an F-14 at an Airshow doing a demonstration. Such a beautiful bird and love hearing the history of her. Thank you, gentlemen for putting this on for us and keep up the good work.
@@FighterPilotPodcast I just double checked to make sure I am still "subscribed" because y.t. can do some weird stuff. I don't want to miss your notification of the airshow demo crew.
That 80th Iranian Tomcat STILL exists as far as I know. I saw the serial number for it on a manifest years ago... and it was still in the desert. It had been retired from test duties since at least the early 1990s so it was not "exhausted." It's been in storage most of its existence. I think they only used it at Paxtuxent River for 7-8 years. It was reactivated, mid-, late 1980s and used until the early 1990s. It was redesignated NF-14A if I'm not mistaken. "NF" is the designation they use for a plane that's so highly modified they'll never turn it back to frontline squadrons. It will always be a test plane or trainer at most. It was spared the scrapping and is still in AMARC somewhere. I think they have at least 6-8 F-14s left at AMARC unless something's changed since the last detailed list I saw. One plane is at Pima but I think the rest are being held until they get new museum requests.
@@30AndHatingIt Until a few years ago, it was easy to get access to the AMARC manifest and check aircraft lists. Now, it's MUCH harder to find any information on the plane inventories! This is either deliberate or they're just not maintaining websites as well as they used to. Might be a bit of both. Some commercial websites on the Net do NOT work well as they used to 15 years ago! The Iranian Tomcat might still be there at AMARC. There was a legal situation with that plane and they kept it in reserve in case things changed between the US and Iran. Obviously, it's not going to happen but they probably won't ID the plane for security reasons if it DID get transferred to a museum. Honestly, I don't know at this point where that Tomcat is or if it even exists now. I did see the serial number for it years ago when I bothered to look for a list of the planes "in storage" at AMARC. You can presume Tomcat websites are not up to date on the status of all the airframes. Sometimes, the federal government does not keep good records of what happens to airframes. A ground of explorers found 2 Tomcats in some woods in Texas in the middle of nowhere along with an F-4 that used to be a gate guard at a Marine Corps base that was closed! Obviously, those airframes were DUMPED and no officials bothered to update their status. Those airframes were skeletal but the wing boxes were still in the F-14s. A similar situation happened with a decommissioned F-14 used for the TV series "JAG." That plane was impounded after the TV series ended its run. It was repossessed because the plane wasn't completely demilitarizard and had parts that were supposed to have been removed after it was retired from service! Last I heard, they MIGHT have scrapped that airframe. It happens. There was a retired F-14 that was recently turned into key chains by a company that buys retired airframes. They were selling those key chains for over $100 a piece to aviation enthusiasts. Heck, you can buy fanblades from retired F110 turbofans for a fraction of that cost!
@@30AndHatingIt well Iranian air force has upgrat his F 14 by the help of Russia to impowered its radar and by vise versa ingeering they have built its Fonix missiles , even much stronger the American version
I thought in was strange that he couldn't remember emergency procedures until Crunch and Bio filled in the blank for him. Then I started thinking, if I was asked about my job that I've been doing for fifteen years, I'd probably sound very inexperienced because I don't really think about something I've done many times before, I just act/react. However, a few times I could see the look of confusion on both host's faces with some of the answers, which shows they had some doubts as well. Either way, still one of my favorite podcasts, thanks everyone at FPP!
You are wrong man, there,s a lot of memory items regarding every emergency procedures specially for that very complex F14 ,you definitely forget after 30 yrs of not flying
I made it to around 35:00 into the interview before I had to quit and raise the bull-shit flag. I was an East Coast F-14 pilot in the late '70s. When I went through the RAG, the Iranian Air Force had a contingent training there on the Tomcat. Bio and Crunch: you were asking softball questions about general Tomcat topics that had been printed before in countless books about the jet. You could have easily vetted this guy before with some chat about the F-14 that only another F-14 pilot would be familiar with. I worked with one of these Iranian F-14 wannabe pilots in 2011. After taking early retirement from a major US airline after 25 years of service, I went to work as a Direct Entry Captain (DEC) with Singapore Airlines Cargo. Virtually all the captains were foreign DECs. The First Officers were primarily Singaporean Nationals. I had heard through the grapevine that one of the foreign captains was an ex-Iranian F-14 pilot and naturally I was hoping to meet him some day. Fate scheduled me with him on a trip that required an augmented crew (two captains, one FO {FOs were not type-rated}). We started chatting about the Tomcat and early on, something didn't sound right. He talked in generalities, just like Mikey. It was easy to lead him into a trap by saying something about the F-14 that ONLY another F-14 experienced pilot would know was total bollocks. Bio, Crunch and Jello; you could have done the same. If I'm proven wrong, I'll put myself on report and buy you guys a beer!
Leading journalistic authorities on the IIRAF have reviewed this interview and posed questions about the authenticity of the guest. Whatever you make of the guest's ability or inability to remember things about the Tomcat and IIRAF ops, the key question that has been asked is how he managed to be selected for aircrew when he had previously spent time outside Iran. According to the aforementioned experts, Iran's counter-intelligence service was so paranoid that it imposed a blanket ban on aircrew positions being given to people who had spent any time outside Iran. There's a range of other questions that are reasonable to ask, but I will leave it at that.
I'm not 100% sold on this authenticity either, but that leaves me curious as to what would be the case if that was true. Is he really going around saying that he was an Iranian F-14 pilot when he wasn't? I imagine that could result in the wrong kind of attention from Iranian counter-intelligence. The whole thing issue, along with the clearly inflated claims from Tom Cooper's book on the subject, sheds light on how much of a shame it is that we don't have good information on Iranian F-14 operations. They were/are clearly an important chapter of the big bird's story.
@10percenttrue : unfortunately, the last US pilots to fly with Iranian pilots left more than 40 years ago. That rules out easy word of mouth verification of someone’s service. Absent a direct letter to the Islamic Government - a document unlikely to inspire a response- there’s no easy way for Westerners to confirm someone’s service in the IRIAF. There are aspects of this interview I also find questionable , but I’ll reserve comment until the professionals researchers weigh in.
As my father was graduated from USAF and served over 35 years as Fighter Pilot in IRIAF. I can definitely confirm there is no way the pilot can leave the country. Thats for sure and there is a simple reason for that. Their passport issue as Dipolomatic passport and the Authorities hold their passport. As the rank goes higher they get restricted over and over. Even the mobile phones and land line get control and listened not just the pilot but the entire family :) However usually they can leave the country if the pilot rank is below lt.colonel or being a line pilot, after few years (5 to 10) of leaving the IRIAF
@@manizaeimalso this guy specifically said he was accused of espionage and had to "escape". That means he probably hopped over the border of Turkey or something.
Great interview. However considering concerns around security we have his birth date (& minute!) and a rare & distinctive ring he always wears. May consider editing those bits out?
@@FighterPilotPodcast oof. Does that mean other 'facts' also weren't true? Bit on an integrity issue for an infotainment podcast if accuracy is so loose. Regardless, hope your guest stays safe.
@@jonathangibson9098 I don't know what was true and what wasn't. All I am saying is it is reasonable for people to challenge the veracity of our guest's story. I stand by Mikey, per Crunch & Bio, but am seeking other means of verifying him.
I started having doubts pretty quickly… he didn’t say anything that someone with a cursory knowledge of Iranian F-14 ops hasn’t read in a book. You’d also read how restrictive and paranoid the new IRIAF was towards those from outside the country. It’s hard to envision a scenario where some guy with his background ends up in the front seat of ANY Iranian aircraft post 1979. He also just doesn’t talk they someone of his age is likely to…, The phrases and words just seem… wrong. Yep, what I wrote above isn’t any sort of “smoking gun”, slam dunk evidence…. But I haven’t had doubts about the veracity of a podcast guest like this before. I honestly think you guys got thrown a curveball here.
Awesome series of interviews, excellent perspective from a different culture on this one 👌 And reading some of the comments I'd have to say "have a little faith and enjoy what you're listening to", discrediting is too easy to do and you don't get a medal for it🙏
@FighterPilotPodcast I don't know how you guys confirmed the identity of this interviewee but you had sensible options for better credibility. Babak Taghvaee, Yadollah Sharifirad, Tom Cooper, Farzad Bishop, Abdolhossein Minoosepehr & Fereidoon Izadseta who are currently living abroad (outside of Iran) & could be interviewed with much credible & truthful information about F-14.
Agreed, in the beginning he mentioned the two jets facing off to be purchased by Iran as the F-16 and F-14. This guy is BOGUS but I can't figure it why lol
Fantastic interview. Learned a lot! I always wondered about Iranian pilots who trained in the US, if they sided with the regime, or if they were as odds, seeing they spent time in the US and knew what western culture had to offer. This put everything in perspective, as I had considered this was probably the case. Irrational people murder the very people who's very existence is a threat to their ideas. And as dark as mass-executions are, there is a poetic justice in that they were attacked by Iraq, and had recently murder many of their pilots they needed to defend themselves. Replacing them with unintelligent ideologues, almost the same MO, as Communist nations in the past.
His last comments about pilots just getting together and everybody have been friends for a long time no matter how long you actually have known each other. Reminds me of my philosophy that wherever you go in the world, the common people can get along fine and love each other it’s only the elites that have a problem.
@steveroberts8090 " Reminds me of my philosophy that wherever you go in the world, the common people can get along fine and love each other it’s only the elites that have a problem." The nerve of you making so much darn sense and I couldn't agree more😄👍🏽. Great comment and "Thank you sir, may I have another." E-7 USAR Retd
This interview is mind-blowing. I couldn’t believe my ears. Are you sure he is Iranian? He sounds like an American. What a beautiful place our planet could be if there were no tyrannical governments.
What’s his name! We actually have a few of the Iranian Tom cat pilots like Colonel Asad Adeli who lives in Arizona who can easily verify this guy! There is a lot of red flags about this guy and I’m leaning heavily towards him being a fake and pulling a fast one on you guys!
@@FighterPilotPodcast i am in contact with colonel Asad Adeli and General Izadseta ( both reside in U.S.) If you can somehow private message me his name، it will take me less than 5 minutes to verify him. I am 90% certain this guy is an imposter! Also, please don’t let this guy BS you about remaining anonymous due to security risk and secret stuff! I’ve dealt with a lot of stolen valor people and they all have one thing in common “ I have to stay anonymous because of security reasons and top secret stuff”! That is BS, there is a huge ex Iranian pilot community here in the U.S. who lives openly, give interviews, appear on podcasts… so there is absolutely no reason for this guy to be hiding other than he is BSing and doesn’t want to be called out! Trust me on this! I am an Iranian-American retired U.S. Navy Senior Chief with a top secret clearance. I wish there was a way so we could possibly connect and exchange information so I could speak to you over the phone !
your guest doesnt have enough information about F14 cobat against Mig 25 , actualy Iranian air force has minimum shutt down 3 Mig25, 1.General Rostami by shooting Fonix missile 2. Genera Jahanbakhsh by following Mig25 which Iraki pilot has gone punic and escaape to Turki border instead of Iraki border and finish fule aand crashed down near van lake at Turkey. 3. one F5 following Mig 25 and by shooting his gun more than 400 bullets on Mig 25 and dameged it but it crushed down on Iraki soil , which Tom Cupper has mention that minimum 3 Foxbat has crushed down by Iranian air force
Keep up your great work. It is stupid and biased about the words of that person who only discredits the sacrifices of these pilots. If this was the case, the pilots could have easily escaped with the plane, and one or two people did the same. who were called traitors forever. The day after the first day of the war, some of the pilots who were redeemed voluntarily returned, and even the first person who actually lost his life in the air force was one of these people. He thinks everyone is a traitor, when really this person is an Iranian pilot (his identity has been confirmed, but no one knows!)
We can learn a lot from Iranian pilots.👍 This interview, tells us that the Iranian F14 Tomcat pilots are superior because 1) of their long war with Iraq. 2) The Iranians are more adaptive and operated with limited resources. 3) During the war, They operated the F14s handicap very well 😅😅😅👍! It’s sad Iran and the US are enemies now 😢!
The war didn’t just give birth to amazing pilots but also pretty good doctors and plastic surgeons, these days adult film actresses come here for a makeover😂 and if you think the gov minds well let say they don’t know who made penicillin but sure as hell know who these ladies are. They’re big fans man😂
Well, about the Iranian reverse engineered Phoenix missiles called Fakour 90 and 91...which if you see pictures is more like a bastardized MIM-23 HAWK and Phoenix than a Phoenix copy. I don't think the "insides" of the missile to be reversed engineered parts of the Phoenix. They don't need to have a Phoenix in 2023 (or even 2018 the missile appeared). It would be... too old . Especially since they can have Russian fighters that support R-77 which is equivalent to AMRAAM. Also there have been pictures with Persian cats holding R-27s ...i don't know if they could work with them, however. What i believe is probably they had to implement some Russian R-33/37 technology for them... And it's not that difficult... You just need to tune it accordingly to read and get get guided by the radar's signals and a modified firing system. We are talking about a ARH missile as well... and if we can see the Ukrainian Fulcrums using HARM or Polish ones being able to use Storm Shadow and AIM-120s... I don't see any reason for a Tomcat to not be able to carry modified weapons that are able to function with its radar and that is if that radar is still AWG-9 and not a Russian or Iranian modification of it being able to do it...
HARMs and Storm Shadows can be pre-programmed on the ground, meaning that all the aircraft has to do is send the launch command (which is probably received by a microcontroller in the rail and converted to NATO standard). It's incredibly hard to make missiles work with radars they were never meant to.
I don't believe him, he has great knowledge of things and maybe he was really close or related to a F-14 pilot... He gave no great details about him in the F-14, it was just basic answers and experiences... And one other thing, he sounds a lot younger than what he states..
As person who has grown up in Iranian airforce family, I dont think this guy is a real tomcat pilot. I don't think he has touched a fighter jet in his entire life! So much paradox in his words.
I knew an Iranian Major that escaped from Iran because of the radical regime killing officers etc... He barely got out with his family. If he didn't take his family he said they would be put in prison and/or executed. He said being a muslim moderate was not tolerated in the ranks. They watched them extremely close.
I'm no aviator and neither is this guest. Like the saying goes if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck and this guy is no pilot. I've listened to hundreds of pilot interviews to know the difference and I'm not in the profession. If anything either bio , or crunch you guys could of slipped a question to really see what only you guys know and any true F-14 pilot/RIO would know and catch him if you will lol... anyway this has nothing to do with the upmost integrity of this fantastic show. It was entertaining 🤣
He is Iranian, I can tell by his accent, Even I can name him as i listen to hours of Iranian pilots interviews but rather not for his security He is a legend
@@FighterPilotPodcast In short, the influence and geography of Iran in its region, being an ally of the United States at that time, for being the first buyer of the F-14, your purchase was allowed, The cancellation of the Tomcat occurred because of how difficult it was to maintain and operate, the F-14 could have been perfected and improved as happened with the (F-18 Hornet = Super Hornet) Supposedly the final cancellation of the F-14 is due to the fact that the US did not want Iran to find more spare parts for the Tomcat after having broken relations.
At the time the basic philosophy was to have a country that could keep the region stable, without the need for US military involvement. Of course it led to Iraq building up their forces during the 1970s as well. Then to top that, the US sold more weapons to Iran in the 1980s.
@rostamr4096 "This guy is fake..geee..believe me" Jealous much? Your flying experience must be rcs or dcs. "Well Pilgrim", be lucky you didn't get strapped into a cockpit with a disabled ejection seat.
He is fake ..a bad fake too...Iran Iraq was went on for 8 year and not 10. Also, how could he not remember the boldface? He is fake fake...@@vinyltapelover
Great interview. My uncle (Don Evans) was the pilot of the F-14 in the flyoff against the F-15.
Oh my god! Dude I’m an Iranian, it’s truly so cool that you’re watching this video! I always wondered what happened to the pilot I heard the king actually met with him after he landed.
A lot of people forget that the only exports of the Tomcat did go to Iran while the Shah was in power. What a great perspective from a pilot who flew it. It is always educational and refreshing to hear about the experiences of pilots/crews from other countries, especially combat and/or flying other jets. This was a real treat. Thank you.
Oh my God. What a heck of an upload and interview. A lot of great pilot stuff, background stuff, that he spoke about that gives you chills of what the pilots and the released pilot prisoners had to deal with. For us landbound, not of the flying community, much less the Tomcat community, it is is truly amazing how Snort has touched and still touches so many. Kudos FighterPilotPodcat
Governments may suck but people are usually friendly and open.
True. But makes you wonder about a government "by the people, for the people"...
My thoughts exactly!!!
Iranian people rose up and overthrew the Pro-western government in '78/'79.
Its not about government vs people.
Its about peoples philosophy. Which is substantially effected by regional culture.
Iranian people sided against reason, science, liberty, justice and almost unilaterally went with irrationality, violence, and religion.
@@Triple_J.1 oof, questionable choice on their part.
@@Triple_J.1 oh I'm well aware. My wife is Persian all the iranian people I know hate the current system. Probably why they live in the USA
Hello , I enjoyed this TomCast episode, actually is first one i seen.
My father was a F14 pilot. I don't have a in depth memory of him , I was very young , about 5 years old when he was shutdown in the war .
I got to know the other pilot that flew with him .litterlly i sit and listen to them for hours never got tired listening to them. There was a story i was told that an F14 off one of the carriers lost hydrolic and was almost out of fuel , this was over in persian gulf during first gulf war .
An Iranian F14 Pilot contact her on her comm , and walked her through several menuvers or procedures so she can regain control and land on the carrier.
After landing she found out who helped her , and the carrier didn't jam his signal because they know he had good intention. Can you research this story and see if it's through. Thanks
Great interview! Always good to hear the perspectives of good people that are from a different place in this world. Thank you
You're welcome.
at 11:28 picture of the shah by the F-5 is actually of his son. the shah flew the Hawker Hurricane RECON mission at that age whilst being king making him the only head of state to have seen combat mission whilst in power. just a little snippet
Good to know, thanks.
Did u forget that King Abdullah of Jordan flew a combat mission against ISIS? When they had captured one of his pilots and executed him?
@@Jarhead1086 he killed the rumour to CNN soon after as made up. he led the mission but didnt fly personally
Loving the Tomcast. I was not graced with flying as I was an FO in the Army but got trained in CAS so dealt with fighters. Typical 80s-90s child. Fell in love with the F-14 thanks to Top Gun and of course the F-16 thanks to Iron Eagle. I want to say it was in the late 80s I got to observe an F-14 at an Airshow doing a demonstration. Such a beautiful bird and love hearing the history of her. Thank you, gentlemen for putting this on for us and keep up the good work.
We have an episode coming up with an airshow demonstration crew. 👍
@roydegenstein4293 I hope @FighterPilotPodcast doesn't mind, but if you haven't seen it already, you may enjoy watching Tom Cat Tales.
@@FighterPilotPodcast I just double checked to make sure I am still "subscribed" because y.t. can do some weird stuff. I don't want to miss your notification of the airshow demo crew.
That 80th Iranian Tomcat STILL exists as far as I know.
I saw the serial number for it on a manifest years ago... and it was still in the desert. It had been retired from test duties since at least the early 1990s so it was not "exhausted." It's been in storage most of its existence. I think they only used it at Paxtuxent River for 7-8 years. It was reactivated, mid-, late 1980s and used until the early 1990s. It was redesignated NF-14A if I'm not mistaken. "NF" is the designation they use for a plane that's so highly modified they'll never turn it back to frontline squadrons. It will always be a test plane or trainer at most.
It was spared the scrapping and is still in AMARC somewhere.
I think they have at least 6-8 F-14s left at AMARC unless something's changed since the last detailed list I saw. One plane is at Pima but I think the rest are being held until they get new museum requests.
I’ve seen photos of the boneyard where they seem to have maybe 2-3 left and spaced them out really far. Not sure how many are now left…
@@30AndHatingIt Until a few years ago, it was easy to get access to the AMARC manifest and check aircraft lists.
Now, it's MUCH harder to find any information on the plane inventories! This is either deliberate or they're just not maintaining websites as well as they used to. Might be a bit of both. Some commercial websites on the Net do NOT work well as they used to 15 years ago!
The Iranian Tomcat might still be there at AMARC. There was a legal situation with that plane and they kept it in reserve in case things changed between the US and Iran. Obviously, it's not going to happen but they probably won't ID the plane for security reasons if it DID get transferred to a museum.
Honestly, I don't know at this point where that Tomcat is or if it even exists now.
I did see the serial number for it years ago when I bothered to look for a list of the planes "in storage" at AMARC.
You can presume Tomcat websites are not up to date on the status of all the airframes. Sometimes, the federal government does not keep good records of what happens to airframes. A ground of explorers found 2 Tomcats in some woods in Texas in the middle of nowhere along with an F-4 that used to be a gate guard at a Marine Corps base that was closed! Obviously, those airframes were DUMPED and no officials bothered to update their status. Those airframes were skeletal but the wing boxes were still in the F-14s. A similar situation happened with a decommissioned F-14 used for the TV series "JAG." That plane was impounded after the TV series ended its run. It was repossessed because the plane wasn't completely demilitarizard and had parts that were supposed to have been removed after it was retired from service! Last I heard, they MIGHT have scrapped that airframe. It happens.
There was a retired F-14 that was recently turned into key chains by a company that buys retired airframes. They were selling those key chains for over $100 a piece to aviation enthusiasts. Heck, you can buy fanblades from retired F110 turbofans for a fraction of that cost!
@@30AndHatingIt
well Iranian air force has upgrat his F 14 by the help of Russia to impowered its radar and by vise versa ingeering they have built its Fonix missiles , even much stronger the American version
I thought in was strange that he couldn't remember emergency procedures until Crunch and Bio filled in the blank for him. Then I started thinking, if I was asked about my job that I've been doing for fifteen years, I'd probably sound very inexperienced because I don't really think about something I've done many times before, I just act/react. However, a few times I could see the look of confusion on both host's faces with some of the answers, which shows they had some doubts as well. Either way, still one of my favorite podcasts, thanks everyone at FPP!
For sure. I flew the F-16 for 170 hours a decade ago and would be hard-pressed to remember specifics.
You are wrong man, there,s a lot of memory items regarding every emergency procedures specially for that very complex F14 ,you definitely forget after 30 yrs of not flying
respect to every pilot.why did rhey took f-14 and not f-15?
afaik, the airforce put a better show for the F-14 when they came shopping (though im sure they were other factors xD)
It came down to what Iran had to deal with at the time (Mig- 25) which Tomcat's AWG-9 radar and Phoenix missile capabilities provided the solution.
I made it to around 35:00 into the interview before I had to quit and raise the bull-shit flag. I was an East Coast F-14 pilot in the late '70s. When I went through the RAG, the Iranian Air Force had a contingent training there on the Tomcat. Bio and Crunch: you were asking softball questions about general Tomcat topics that had been printed before in countless books about the jet. You could have easily vetted this guy before with some chat about the F-14 that only another F-14 pilot would be familiar with.
I worked with one of these Iranian F-14 wannabe pilots in 2011. After taking early retirement from a major US airline after 25 years of service, I went to work as a Direct Entry Captain (DEC) with Singapore Airlines Cargo. Virtually all the captains were foreign DECs. The First Officers were primarily Singaporean Nationals. I had heard through the grapevine that one of the foreign captains was an ex-Iranian F-14 pilot and naturally I was hoping to meet him some day. Fate scheduled me with him on a trip that required an augmented crew (two captains, one FO {FOs were not type-rated}). We started chatting about the Tomcat and early on, something didn't sound right. He talked in generalities, just like Mikey. It was easy to lead him into a trap by saying something about the F-14 that ONLY another F-14 experienced pilot would know was total bollocks. Bio, Crunch and Jello; you could have done the same.
If I'm proven wrong, I'll put myself on report and buy you guys a beer!
You raise excellent points and we are doing more research. I too will admit being wrong if so.
No worries. Everyone flies a No Grade pass every once in a while 😊
@@portquarter some more often than others in my case!
That was a great interview! Thank you.
🙏
Leading journalistic authorities on the IIRAF have reviewed this interview and posed questions about the authenticity of the guest. Whatever you make of the guest's ability or inability to remember things about the Tomcat and IIRAF ops, the key question that has been asked is how he managed to be selected for aircrew when he had previously spent time outside Iran. According to the aforementioned experts, Iran's counter-intelligence service was so paranoid that it imposed a blanket ban on aircrew positions being given to people who had spent any time outside Iran. There's a range of other questions that are reasonable to ask, but I will leave it at that.
I'm not 100% sold on this authenticity either, but that leaves me curious as to what would be the case if that was true. Is he really going around saying that he was an Iranian F-14 pilot when he wasn't? I imagine that could result in the wrong kind of attention from Iranian counter-intelligence. The whole thing issue, along with the clearly inflated claims from Tom Cooper's book on the subject, sheds light on how much of a shame it is that we don't have good information on Iranian F-14 operations. They were/are clearly an important chapter of the big bird's story.
@10percenttrue : unfortunately, the last US pilots to fly with Iranian pilots left more than 40 years ago. That rules out easy word of mouth verification of someone’s service. Absent a direct letter to the Islamic Government - a document unlikely to inspire a response- there’s no easy way for Westerners to confirm someone’s service in the IRIAF. There are aspects of this interview I also find questionable , but I’ll reserve comment until the professionals researchers weigh in.
As my father was graduated from USAF and served over 35 years as Fighter Pilot in IRIAF. I can definitely confirm there is no way the pilot can leave the country. Thats for sure and there is a simple reason for that. Their passport issue as Dipolomatic passport and the Authorities hold their passport. As the rank goes higher they get restricted over and over. Even the mobile phones and land line get control and listened not just the pilot but the entire family :)
However usually they can leave the country if the pilot rank is below lt.colonel or being a line pilot, after few years (5 to 10) of leaving the IRIAF
@@manizaeimalso this guy specifically said he was accused of espionage and had to "escape". That means he probably hopped over the border of Turkey or something.
People that really hate the Tomcat will be all over this…
Great episode boys…. I don’t how authentic this guy is… he had some dumbed down answers and let out some tomcat trivia but I’m not sure
Yep, understandable.
Great interview. However considering concerns around security we have his birth date (& minute!) and a rare & distinctive ring he always wears. May consider editing those bits out?
If, indeed, those “facts” are true 😉
@@FighterPilotPodcastThat's a good point, it's certainly possible that he's said things that aren't true.
@@Motorman2112exactly
@@FighterPilotPodcast oof. Does that mean other 'facts' also weren't true? Bit on an integrity issue for an infotainment podcast if accuracy is so loose.
Regardless, hope your guest stays safe.
@@jonathangibson9098 I don't know what was true and what wasn't. All I am saying is it is reasonable for people to challenge the veracity of our guest's story. I stand by Mikey, per Crunch & Bio, but am seeking other means of verifying him.
I started having doubts pretty quickly… he didn’t say anything that someone with a cursory knowledge of Iranian F-14 ops hasn’t read in a book.
You’d also read how restrictive and paranoid the new IRIAF was towards those from outside the country. It’s hard to envision a scenario where some guy with his background ends up in the front seat of ANY Iranian aircraft post 1979.
He also just doesn’t talk they someone of his age is likely to…, The phrases and words just seem… wrong.
Yep, what I wrote above isn’t any sort of “smoking gun”, slam dunk evidence…. But I haven’t had doubts about the veracity of a podcast guest like this before.
I honestly think you guys got thrown a curveball here.
You make good points. I too have my doubts.
@@FighterPilotPodcast perhaps it might be the right call to pull this one? If any doubt exists within FPP, then maybe it might be the thing to do.
@@sedlo nah, that’s why the personal message at the beginning
Mikey nearly starts a new war with his Nascar vs F1 comment :-)
😅
@@FighterPilotPodcastLMAO
Lol
He brought up DCS, im pulling the handles
Awesome series of interviews, excellent perspective from a different culture on this one 👌
And reading some of the comments I'd have to say "have a little faith and enjoy what you're listening to", discrediting is too easy to do and you don't get a medal for it🙏
@FighterPilotPodcast I don't know how you guys confirmed the identity of this interviewee but you had sensible options for better credibility. Babak Taghvaee, Yadollah Sharifirad, Tom Cooper, Farzad Bishop, Abdolhossein Minoosepehr & Fereidoon Izadseta who are currently living abroad (outside of Iran) & could be interviewed with much credible & truthful information about F-14.
Agreed, in the beginning he mentioned the two jets facing off to be purchased by Iran as the F-16 and F-14. This guy is BOGUS but I can't figure it why lol
@@geemanbmwIran did want F-16s prior to the fall of the Shaw. A lot of those jets ended up going to Pakistan.
Very interesting
Fantastic interview. Learned a lot! I always wondered about Iranian pilots who trained in the US, if they sided with the regime, or if they were as odds, seeing they spent time in the US and knew what western culture had to offer.
This put everything in perspective, as I had considered this was probably the case. Irrational people murder the very people who's very existence is a threat to their ideas. And as dark as mass-executions are, there is a poetic justice in that they were attacked by Iraq, and had recently murder many of their pilots they needed to defend themselves. Replacing them with unintelligent ideologues, almost the same MO, as Communist nations in the past.
فرهنگ غرب 😅😅😅😅ادمکشی و جنایت و شبطان پرستی و همجنسگرایی باید 💩 به فرهنگتون
His last comments about pilots just getting together and everybody have been friends for a long time no matter how long you actually have known each other. Reminds me of my philosophy that wherever you go in the world, the common people can get along fine and love each other it’s only the elites that have a problem.
@steveroberts8090 " Reminds me of my philosophy that wherever you go in the world, the common people can get along fine and love each other it’s only the elites that have a problem." The nerve of you making so much darn sense and I couldn't agree
more😄👍🏽. Great comment and "Thank you sir, may I have another." E-7 USAR Retd
isnt this the old interview you guys made 2 years ago !
It is.
...did you catch the part about the 2023 re-run of the F-14 Tomcast video series here on the FPP channel?
@@FighterPilotPodcast great 👍🏻
Wow what an awkward moment for BIO @ 47:57 you just couldn't hide after hearing that lol
Is Mikey named Mehdi by any chance?
I might know him IRL
Amazing information.
🙏
116 flight hours in the F-14 Tomcat and he got a free ring! An incredible story. 🤣
This interview is mind-blowing. I couldn’t believe my ears. Are you sure he is Iranian? He sounds like an American. What a beautiful place our planet could be if there were no tyrannical governments.
Evidently Mikey has not lived in Iran for years so that could account for how he speaks.
New Tomcat Video! I could feel my testosterone spiking as soon it started playing!
What’s his name! We actually have a few of the Iranian Tom cat pilots like Colonel Asad Adeli who lives in Arizona who can easily verify this guy! There is a lot of red flags about this guy and I’m leaning heavily towards him being a fake and pulling a fast one on you guys!
@@pnayeri possibly. If we were duped, I am happy to acknowledge as soon as we have proof.
@@FighterPilotPodcast i am in contact with colonel Asad Adeli and General Izadseta ( both reside in U.S.) If you can somehow private message me his name، it will take me less than 5 minutes to verify him. I am 90% certain this guy is an imposter!
Also, please don’t let this guy BS you about remaining anonymous due to security risk and secret stuff! I’ve dealt with a lot of stolen valor people and they all have one thing in common “ I have to stay anonymous because of security reasons and top secret stuff”! That is BS, there is a huge ex Iranian pilot community here in the U.S. who lives openly, give interviews, appear on podcasts… so there is absolutely no reason for this guy to be hiding other than he is BSing and doesn’t want to be called out! Trust me on this!
I am an Iranian-American retired U.S. Navy Senior Chief with a top secret clearance. I wish there was a way so we could possibly connect and exchange information so I could speak to you over the phone !
legend jet.
Great interview traitor 😉 I wonder why they had trust issues with some of the pilots, if you catch my drift 👍
your guest doesnt have enough information about F14 cobat against Mig 25 , actualy Iranian air force has minimum shutt down 3 Mig25,
1.General Rostami by shooting Fonix missile
2. Genera Jahanbakhsh by following Mig25 which Iraki pilot has gone punic and escaape to Turki border instead of Iraki border and finish fule aand crashed down near van lake at Turkey.
3. one F5 following Mig 25 and by shooting his gun more than 400 bullets on Mig 25 and dameged it but it crushed down on Iraki soil , which Tom Cupper has mention that minimum 3 Foxbat has crushed down by Iranian air force
Keep up your great work.
It is stupid and biased about the words of that person who only discredits the sacrifices of these pilots.
If this was the case, the pilots could have easily escaped with the plane, and one or two people did the same. who were called traitors forever.
The day after the first day of the war, some of the pilots who were redeemed voluntarily returned, and even the first person who actually lost his life in the air force was one of these people.
He thinks everyone is a traitor, when really this person is an Iranian pilot (his identity has been confirmed, but no one knows!)
We can learn a lot from Iranian pilots.👍
This interview, tells us that the Iranian F14 Tomcat pilots are superior because
1) of their long war with Iraq.
2) The Iranians are more adaptive and operated with limited resources.
3) During the war, They operated the F14s handicap very well 😅😅😅👍!
It’s sad Iran and the US are enemies now 😢!
The war didn’t just give birth to amazing pilots but also pretty good doctors and plastic surgeons, these days adult film actresses come here for a makeover😂 and if you think the gov minds well let say they don’t know who made penicillin but sure as hell know who these ladies are. They’re big fans man😂
Don't be sad cuz People are not enemies, let the government do what they want
Well, about the Iranian reverse engineered Phoenix missiles called Fakour 90 and 91...which if you see pictures is more like a bastardized MIM-23 HAWK and Phoenix than a Phoenix copy.
I don't think the "insides" of the missile to be reversed engineered parts of the Phoenix. They don't need to have a Phoenix in 2023 (or even 2018 the missile appeared). It would be... too old . Especially since they can have Russian fighters that support R-77 which is equivalent to AMRAAM. Also there have been pictures with Persian cats holding R-27s ...i don't know if they could work with them, however.
What i believe is probably they had to implement some Russian R-33/37 technology for them...
And it's not that difficult... You just need to tune it accordingly to read and get get guided by the radar's signals and a modified firing system. We are talking about a ARH missile as well... and if we can see the Ukrainian Fulcrums using HARM or Polish ones being able to use Storm Shadow and AIM-120s... I don't see any reason for a Tomcat to not be able to carry modified weapons that are able to function with its radar and that is if that radar is still AWG-9 and not a Russian or Iranian modification of it being able to do it...
HARMs and Storm Shadows can be pre-programmed on the ground, meaning that all the aircraft has to do is send the launch command (which is probably received by a microcontroller in the rail and converted to NATO standard).
It's incredibly hard to make missiles work with radars they were never meant to.
I don't believe him, he has great knowledge of things and maybe he was really close or related to a F-14 pilot...
He gave no great details about him in the F-14, it was just basic answers and experiences...
And one other thing, he sounds a lot younger than what he states..
Yep, all valid points.
As person who has grown up in Iranian airforce family, I dont think this guy is a real tomcat pilot. I don't think he has touched a fighter jet in his entire life! So much paradox in his words.
Iran's king sounds like he was a cool guy.
As i know, he was a coolest iranian.
Well He was also a fighter pilot so yeah he was cool
No
TARGETS!
I knew an Iranian Major that escaped from Iran because of the radical regime killing officers etc... He barely got out with his family. If he didn't take his family he said they would be put in prison and/or executed. He said being a muslim moderate was not tolerated in the ranks. They watched them extremely close.
Scary thought.
@@FighterPilotPodcast His name is Colonel Yadollah Sharifirad.
He is not a real Iranian pilot. He has fooled you. Sounds like A liar at worst, a poseur at best.
He is totally lying about Iranian fighter pilots. They all were honest and loyal to their country.
Perhaps someday we will learn for sure.
I'm no aviator and neither is this guest. Like the saying goes if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck and this guy is no pilot. I've listened to hundreds of pilot interviews to know the difference and I'm not in the profession. If anything either bio , or crunch you guys could of slipped a question to really see what only you guys know and any true F-14 pilot/RIO would know and catch him if you will lol... anyway this has nothing to do with the upmost integrity of this fantastic show. It was entertaining 🤣
Understood. Pulling some threads behind the scenes currently to get more information…
30:20 gnarly
Capt. Jello's new beardy look? Missing navy or bored at commercial or Italian connection or global warming....🙈🙉🙊
Lost my FAA medical clearance (temporarily, hopefully).
@FighterPilotPodcast 🤲🙏our thoughts and prayers with you.💪be positive and hang in there Sailor 🙏🤲
he is not iranian..he has never been in f14...
He is Iranian, I can tell by his accent,
Even I can name him as i listen to hours of Iranian pilots interviews but rather not for his security
He is a legend
Is not ERainian... It is pronounced EEEEERONEEEAN. No emphasis on R... EERON... EERONEEAN
@@naslavaie348 🤦♂️
israeli f-16 which bombed iraq were sold to iran but then came humaini…
king of iran was friend of israel.iran had alot of isreli wepon.
Should of never sold F14 s to Iran…
Easy to say now, they were friends at the time. Besides, per the story, the Iran buy may have saved the F-14 from being cancelled.
@@FighterPilotPodcast
In short, the influence and geography of Iran in its region, being an ally of the United States at that time, for being the first buyer of the F-14, your purchase was allowed, The cancellation of the Tomcat occurred because of how difficult it was to maintain and operate, the F-14 could have been perfected and improved as happened with the (F-18 Hornet = Super Hornet) Supposedly the final cancellation of the F-14 is due to the fact that the US did not want Iran to find more spare parts for the Tomcat after having broken relations.
At the time the basic philosophy was to have a country that could keep the region stable, without the need for US military involvement. Of course it led to Iraq building up their forces during the 1970s as well. Then to top that, the US sold more weapons to Iran in the 1980s.
This guy is fake..geee..believe me
No, he really isn't.
@rostamr4096 "This guy is fake..geee..believe me" Jealous much? Your flying experience must be rcs or dcs. "Well Pilgrim", be lucky you didn't get strapped into a cockpit with a disabled ejection seat.
He is fake ..a bad fake too...Iran Iraq was went on for 8 year and not 10. Also, how could he not remember the boldface? He is fake fake...@@vinyltapelover
He’s almost 60 and flew the Tomcat over 30 years ago. You’re probably 19 living at home what do you know?
I couldnt tell you the emergency procedures for a plane I flew 6 weeks ago