Test pilot Art "Turbo" Tomassetti was one of only a handful of pilots to fly the X-35 – which was of course, the precursor to the F-35. Famously, he flew "Mission X" which consisted of a short takeoff, level supersonic flight, and a vertical landing, which had not been accomplished before in a single flight. Turbo shares this story and more with members of the Hermeus Flight Test team. 00:00 – Introductions 02:47 – Difference between test pilots and pilots 08:17 – The allure of X-planes and first flights 14:49 – The F-35 "Hat Trick" and "Mission X" flights 22:36 – Preparation for a flight test mission 30:00 – The X-35 vs the X-32 34:37 – The challenges Hermeus is tackling 39:04 – Autonomous flight and pilots 43:58 – What is an aircraft you wished you has flown? 48:43 – Turbo, what are you up to today?

The Hermeus Flight Test team hops on the podcast to judge, drool over, and poke fun at famous aircraft. We've got an Air Force test pilot, a Navy test pilot, and a flight test engineer from the Royal Air Force – their knowledge runs deep and their opinions are strong! PODCAST GUESTS AJ Piplica – Founder, CEO Don "Krash" Kaderbek – VP of Test Pat "Vanna" Svatek – Director of Propulsion Test Mick "Ramjet" Mansfield – Director of Flight Test The Flight Test team is hiring! https://www.hermeus.com/careers

Real Engineering is probably our favorite channel on YouTube. They unpack some of the world's most epic engineering challenges with clarity and depth. It was a pleasure to have the channel's creator Brian McManus and his colleague Graham Haerther on the podcast to chat about the art of science communication and the future of YouTube and digital media. And yes, there just might be a forthcoming Real Engineering video about hypersonic flight...