FC Interview – “Corky” Erie, Part 2 by FC Staff

This week, Fence Check presents Part Two of our interview with Cork Erie, director of the NAS Oceana Airshow. (Missed Part One? You can read it here).

What input does the Navy have into planning the show? And how is Fleet participation in the flying display arranged?

I work for the Navy to produce the show, reporting directly to the base’s Commanding Officer. I don’t do any big-ticket stuff without talking to him first. I give him continual updates and briefs. I make sure he’s happy with what I’m doing. The current Commanding Officer is always the previous Executive Officer, so he’ll have seen me do a show before he gets the job. So far they’ve liked the way I do it so they don’t have a whole lot of comments.

The other part is the operational side, with ComNavAirLant. I don’t own any airplanes here at Oceana, nor does the Base CO – he’s a runway provider, that’s it. AirLant owns all the Navy’s airplanes on this coast; Strike Fighter Wing here at Oceana reports to it. I send a naval message to AirLant, saying, “We request the following support for the airshow.” We have to brief a two-star admiral on what we want to do with his airplanes during the show; it’s up to him to say yes or no. Strike Fighter Wing is responsible for developing the plan and briefing the admiral. Obviously I help them build the brief, telling them “This is what we’re looking to do. Here’s last year’s plan; let’s change this up a bit, let’s add this element.” Every Fleet aircraft burning a bag of gas gets briefed and approved by the admiral.

Over the years the airshow has developed a good relationship with the Strike Fighter Wing. We get a Fleet squadron commanding officer to volunteer to lead all Fleet portions of the airshow; he’s like the airborne mission commander. We never have trouble finding a volunteer. Squadrons are very proud; it’s a natural mindset of fighter aircrew that you want to be the guy in the front. That’s the way we are. Sometimes we have problems getting other squadrons to volunteer for the dash twos, threes, or fours. But a significant portion of the squadron commanders on base right now are friends of mine. They were Lieutenants when I was a Lieutenant Commander and I used to fly with them. Now they all say “Corky, I want to be in your show!”

The airshow is a working weekend, but it’s also kind of a rock-star weekend. The aircrew like it. It used to be kind of a competition back when we had both F-14s and F/A-18s here. Strike Fighter Wing would say “We’re going to put a six-plane up,” and the Tomcat guys would say, “Yeah? Well, we’ll put a ten-plane up!” “Then we’ll do a twelve-plane!” “ you! Sixteen!” It was fun.

How does the show work with the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure safety? Does the Navy invoke any safety requirements over and above the FAA’s?

We have an excellent relationship with the FAA. It’s not adversarial at all. I can be sitting out there with the local FSDO at show center watching one of the Fleet guys doing a mock airfield attack, and if he does something a little bit sporty, I look over at the FAA guy and he looks at me, and I just say “Got it.” He says, “OK.” He knows that I know that it’s important we maintain a professionally-flown show. And when that kid lands, I go talk to him and say, “Look, the way you flew that particular maneuver may not have seemed unsafe to you, but it looked unsafe to the FAA. And that’s not good.” It’s all very cordial.

We profoundly stress safety in the brief each day. Civilian performers have their waivers and limitations, and the Fleet guys have their limitations. They can’t go below 500 feet. They’re not allowed to, and they don’t. And if it looks like they’re going below, even if they’re not, I tell them, “It doesn’t matter if you’re not. It looks like you are, and that’s all it takes.”

The Navy has its regulations with regard to flying jet aircraft, and the FAA has its guidance to waivered airspace and things allowed to happen, and it all works very well here. The FAA trusts that my plan is solid, and I trust them to call me on it when it’s not. If the personalities change, I’ll work to engage with the new guy in the way he needs to be engaged to create a good relationship. I have to.

Tell us what you do on a typical day during the show and the week coming into it. Do you get to see any of your handiwork on the show weekend?

It is pretty routine that Friday involves running around, making sure everything is practiced and set during the rehearsal show. The Friday night show, in years when we have it, has been well attended – and not just by the public. I have a lot of duties associated with that, escorting VIPs and such. But usually I can sit and watch the show for fifteen minutes or so.

When Saturday hits, it’s a whole different animal. It’s the first real test of the security and parking plan, which is the major stressor. In general, you’re putting out fires, mending missed communications, things like that. I run around in my golf cart to different points on the flightline, different agencies, different people, whether it’s vendors or workers or sponsors, and just stop by, give a thumbs-up, and ask “You good?” Sometimes they’ll go “I’m good;” sometimes they’ll go “No, come here for a second.” I’ll try to fix spot problems as I find them.

It’s gotten better each year. My staff tells me last year’s show was the smoothest one ever, and I have to tell them they’re right because I remember the first couple of years I was doing this, my phone was ringing every minute, all Friday and all Saturday. I’d go through about four cell phone batteries a day. I remember one instance specifically … you know how voicemails have a timestamp on them? I’m on the phone and I have another call come in. When I pick up my voicemail, I’ve got three messages with the exact same timestamp. But last year, at a certain point I thought my phone was broken, because on Saturday at 2 PM it stopped ringing.

Sunday is my favourite day. Around 1300, I can sit in the chalet, watch the show, and have a drink. There’s not much I can do to effect change at that point.

Your answers so far have touched on how you take forward lessons learned from previous years’ shows. Do you also take lessons from observing other airshows?

I only look at other airshows for ideas in terms of display presentation, or vendor stuff. Our setup is our setup; I don’t have any reason to change it because it works.

I’ll tell you about lessons learned – not a single lesson learned cannot be peeled back to reveal a breakdown in communications as the source. As an exercise with my committee, I take a sample of reports from different agencies, and I put what they’ve written on a PowerPoint slide. Then I have a slide transition where it highlights all the words that are about communication. In almost no case can I find a situation where the plan should not have worked. I say, “Had you informed this guy or put that guy in the CC: block, this lesson wouldn’t be here.” The plan was solid. It’s all about the comms.


Do you feel that being ex-Navy, and an ex-fighter guy, has been a benefit for organizing the airshow? Have you been able to achieve things that a civilian organizer might not have?

I have a lot of knowledge about the chain of command: I know who needs to be talked to, and who needs to be told stuff. But more importantly, your experience as a Naval Aviator allows you to understand how organizations work, because you’ve lived inside one for so long. You know who can give you the answer you need. I may not want to go through the first two or three layers of the organization; I want to go to the guy with the reserved parking spot and ask him the question because he can tell me “yes.”

There’s also a little bit of fighter pilot mindset. I’m the kind of person, like most Naval Aviators, that will never let anything get in the way of a mission. If it’s a rule or a regulation or a barrier or a person holding things up, we’re going to steamroller it. I tell folks “Don’t tell me why you can’t do something; tell me how you’re going to.” This is a service organization. If you’re saying no, you’re not doing your job because you’re not providing the service.

Tell us some of the things you’re most looking forward to in this year’s show.

Things I’m really jazzed about this year are twofold. One is the lineup. It’ll be completely different. When I realized our show was going to be in October and that there was going to be no night show, I had this thought: juxtaposing speed and slow. I thought to myself, “What if I made John Mohr the fastest civilian performer? And from John Mohr, the next step is the Strike Eagle?” With slow movers and fast movers, the dynamic would be incredible. The show has had, for so long, the fastest-moving, most action-packed aerobatic performers. I want something different. I want to get some comedy acts. I hear Kent Pietch has four of them. I call him. “Cool! Kent Pietch, you’re in!” He tells me about Otto. I go, “Oooh, for the kids! Excellent!” Plus I haven’t had a helicopter in my show, ever. And then the Snowbirds call and say their interested! Fast jets, slow civilian acts, TWO jet teams? The timeline will be absolutely off-the-hook! I have no idea what this show is going to look like. That’s what’s exciting for me: it’s completely unexplored territory, performance-wise. It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s one of those challenges I like.

The other thing is our theme. I noticed that, on the weekend of my show, the local Susan G. Komen chapter is having their Race for the Cure. My first thought was, “That might be a problem, but it’s ten o’clock in the morning so it should be OK logistically and for traffic.” Then I thought to myself, “What if I themed the show around breast cancer awareness? What does that do for us? What does it do for them?” I realized that, by throwing the airshow’s bulk behind them, I had an opportunity to do good for their programs, for the local chapters of breast cancer awareness groups, for a whole bunch of people. My pitch to them was, “How would you like to get your message in front of 250,000 people in two days?” And how would the Navy like to align itself publicly with a worthwhile and worthy effort? It’s a win-win for everybody. It’s going to get huge. It’s going to get viral, my web guy said. The 2009 theme is “A celebration of flight, a celebration of life.” The logo’s got a pink ribbon wrapped around the shield with a Blue Angel smoke trail finishing out to one side.

Everybody I talk to about the theme gets excited about it. What it’s going to grow into, I have no idea. But it’s going to get big. It’s going to be awesome.

Do you face any unusual organizational challenges in 2009?

Money. Money. Fiscal challenges, lots of them. But I’ve got good people doing the right thing working with me. We’ll figure it out. Again, the focus is on the mission. If I get a money guy telling me I can’t do something, I’ll say, “No, tell me how we can do it. I want answers, not questions; I want solutions, not problems. Bring it!”


Most of the attention at the airshow goes to the airplanes. Can you tell us about one or two of the less-obvious issues you deal with when putting the show together – things that are below the radar of enthusiasts but ought to be highlighted?

Jump platforms. Unless you’ve got the Golden Knights or Sky Hawks, who bring their own, it can be a big challenge to line up jump platforms. I keep telling myself every year, “I don’t want to be talking about jump platforms the week of the show,” but I just can never make that happen. You wind up having to use a mix of civilian aircraft, which you have to pay for, or military ones. And then you hear, “Oooh, you jump team is civilian?!!” and you’ve got to get them permission to embark on the military aircraft. It becomes, “I just want to send these guys up in a helo.” “No, they’re civilians.” “But they’re retired Special Forces!” “Doesn’t matter.” “!”

The jump plane thing hurts my head each year. But other than that, there’s nothing really that I can’t fix or find my way around. This year will be interesting because of the fiscal year crossover [the show will be happening at the start of the new Fiscal Year rather than the end of the old one], which we can have a four-hour discussion about, with its impact on budget. I had a meeting yesterday about it and I walked out with my eyes crossed.

Fence Checkers who’ve been to the Oceana show always have good things to say about the atmosphere, the lineup of performers, the amount of military participation, and generally how accommodating the Navy and everybody involved in the show seems to be – as if they truly enjoy having six-digit crowds overrun their base. What makes the show special for you?

Multiple things. I enjoy seeing a plan come together. I enjoy seeing the execution mirror the vision. It’s such an enormous task and such an enormous number of people; that they always pull it off so well just amazes me.

I enjoy the opportunity to reach out to different groups, whether it’s senior citizens’ homes or veterans’ groups or kids or special needs, and provide a great day of VIP treatment to people who don’t normally get it. I enjoy the opportunity to reach out to individuals, and to give them service over and above what they wanted.

In 2005, when the Blue Angels cancelled, I had an elderly lady call me up from Roanoke, Virginia. She said “My husband’s an old Navy pilot. He used to fly F4U Corsairs.” (I’m going, “Holy crap, I’ve got an old fighter guy on the line.”) She says she’d like her money back because her husband has never seen the Blues, and they were going to make the trip out until the cancellation, and they’re both 80 and infirm. Technically, we don’t have refunds. But I said “Absolutely, ma’am, we’ll refund your money.” We sent her money back and I sent her an airshow coin and my card. She wrote me a thank-you note for that. The next year, about a month before the show, I happen upon the thank-you note. I go, “You know what I’m going to do?” I sent her two complimentary chalet tickets. I made sure I met them when they came out and talked to her husband. He’d actually shot down four Japanese fighters. A chance to do something like that for someone you’ve never met is really fun. It makes you feel good to do things for others – that’s when you feel your best. One or two chances like that seem to pop up every year.

What has been your fondest memory of the Oceana airshow, so far?

There are a lot of them. One in particular for me occurred in 2007 . It was the first year we had the Blackwater parachute team come out and jump. They have one jumper, Dana, who’s missing both legs; he lost them in a parachuting accident. He’s jumping during the show, and he lands the way he normally does. As Dana starts working the crowdline, as they team does, there’s a kid in there about eight or nine with both his legs missing too. So Dana lifts the kid over the fence, and kneels down and starts talking to him. I thought to myself, “What a wonderful example he gave that kid.”

When I was giving the after-action report brief to the Admiral, I brought that story up. I said “Sir, during this report you’re looking at attendance numbers, you’re looking at traffic counts, you’re looking at budget and how much this cost us. Let me tell you a story about why we did this.” And I told him the story. I said “Sir, that alone is worth every nickel we spent. If everything else went away, that is all we ever need out of this.” The Admiral said, “I think you’re right.”

Things like that happen in micro all through the show every year. I hear about some of them, and some I don’t. But those things are why we do it. It’s for John Q. Public, to show him the mission, but it’s also because you have a chance to do something to make a difference.

What do you see the future holding for the airshow? And for you as a part of it?

The future of airshows is an interesting topic. I know the Air Force is doing a lot of weird things with sponsorship and I know that in the Navy, for the people who manage budgets, an airshow is low-hanging fruit. But I also know “Big Navy” understands why we do airshows. You ask 1000 sailors who enlisted last year, “Did you ever see the Blue Angels?” and a good portion will say yes. Airshows enable the Navy to get their message out as an option, and they show that option in a very cool way. If you said “The military’s no longer doing airshows,” I’ll say “Well, your personnel intake is going to go down. It may not go down right away, but it’s a long term, eroding effect. You won’t notice until it’s too late.”

In the grand scheme of things, the airshows the Navy puts on don’t cost much compared to billion-dollar programs that are off-line or broken. But since it’s really hard to spreadsheet the benefit of an airshow, a budget guy might say, “Axe ‘em.” I don’t think that’s going to happen to Oceana, but I think that’s the biggest challenge we face in the fiscal environment we find ourselves in for 2010 and beyond.

In terms of me personally, I’ll do this for as long as I can. There are challenges, but I’m usually up for them. I remain passionate about the airshow every year, and I don’t see a reason to do anything else. I love it. When I was in the Navy, I’d jump out of bed when the alarm went off thinking “Yay! A work day!” I loved going to work every day, even after I stopped flying. I was living my dream. When I retired, I thought “I hope I get another job that’s just as good.” And I got one.

Acknowledgments

Latest Articles