A.C.E.S. is pleased to be associated with former Blue Angels pilot Rick Adams. Rick is a consultant to A.C.E.S. on matters "fighter pilot" and is the host of our corporate team building program, Top Gun Team Building.

Rick Adams flew 125 combat missions over North Vietnam. He was in the thick of the fighting and was shot down not once, but twice. "An ignominious distinction, at best", in his own words. But the story behind the downings reveals much more. It is a story so exceptional that his exploits are chronicled in several books, including Zalin Grant's definitive account of the US Navy's air war over North Vietnam; Over The Beach. His first jet was literally blasted from the sky by a SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile). He survived the initial impact of the exploding SA-2 missile, a missile roughly the size of a telephone pole. As his aircraft burned fiercely, he steered his way toward the ocean with one hand, where he hoped he had a chance of rescue. This left his other hand free to pull the ejection seat's curtain down to a point just above his eyes. It was an on-the-spot improvisation. Procedures dictate that when your jet is on fire, you pull the ejection curtain all the way over your face with both hands and get out now! Attempting to ride out a burning jet traveling at seven miles a minute was considered suicidal. Meanwhile his squadron mates screamed at him over the radio to eject.

He learned some valuable lessons in those moments as he steered his crippled jet towards the safety of the water. The missiles were fired in volleys of three. The first one got him and he was lucky to still be alive. But he knew there were two missiles still in the air, and he could see them rocketing towards his now burning jet at Mach 2 (over 1000 mph). Rather than ejecting and putting as much distance between himself and his SAM-targeted jet, he opted for another on-the-spot improvisation. He tried to out-maneuver the missiles! The missiles tried to correct for his moves, but they were slow in making their corrections. It was a discovery of huge tactical significance. He immediately concluded that if a pilot could see the missile first, he could outmaneuver it. Now he had even more motivation to make it back to the ship: the SAMs were not the unstoppable super weapons that they had all been dreading. But no one would know this if he didn't make it back to the ship!

Finally, his jet exploded and the force of the explosion triggered his ejection seat. He was blasted out of a fireball that seconds ago was a beautiful F-8 Crusader. The ejection sequence was automatic; it separated him from the seat and deployed his parachute. But as he floated down into the Gulf of Tonkin, he could see boats racing out to sea to capture him. When he plunged into the salt water, a spike of pain shot from his hands; burned during the ejection. But it was the least of his worries. He bobbed helplessly in the water as the North Vietnamese boats made their way toward him. Just then a couple of jets from his squadron screamed over his head exceeding the speed of sound. They sonic "boomed" the boats just few feet above their masts. This "persuaded" the boats to reverse course while a rescue helicopter plucked the grateful fighter pilot from the sea. Rick was the first pilot to survive a SAM shoot down. Up to this point in the war, every pilot hit by a SAM was either killed or captured.

The US Navy understood what kind of person they had in their service; he was chosen to become a member of the prestigious Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team. There's much more to learn from this legendary figure whose career as fighter pilot spanned twenty years. Rick Adams is the real thing. You could not find a better host for your Top Gun Teambuilding session. And A.C.E.S. couldn't find a better person to be associated with.