Go Bold #46: Stories from the Cockpit: Commander (Ret) Kevin Chlan on ejecting from a F/A-18A Hornet while bullseye nose low

Our guest today is someone that has gone through a life changing event which we have learned has given him a beautiful perspective on life.Joining me for this episode is retired U.S. Navy Commander Kevin Chlan, a F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter pilot whose call sign is SHAKA. Commander Chlan is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and he's also a graduate of the Navy's prestigious Fighter Weapons School, which is better known as Top Gun. SHAKA then served as a Navy Weapons School Instructor pilot, and he served as the Commanding Officer of VFA-31 Tomcatters, a Super Hornet strike fighter squadron.On 11 October 2007, as part of his duties as an instructor pilot at Strike Fighter Weapons School Atlantic, SHAKA was flying a legacy (or classic) F/A-18A Hornet from VFA-87 Golden Warriors, where he was acting as Red Air which were presenting training scenarios for blue force fighters, all of which were based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia.As fate would have it, SHAKA had to eject from his F/A-18A that day while bullseye low. What does that mean? How did he survive? And how was he rescued? Our chat covers all those points and more from SHAKA's first hand account.The tag-line for this podcast is "Talking to Real Life Heroes" -- I believe my guests are exactly that, and I believe the people that came to SHAKA's rescue are heroes too. It's because of their professionalism that a life was saved that day, so we here at Go Bold want to thank them for their service.In this episode you'll hear the following words from SHAKA, and they are worth repeating here: "Live life with a sense of gratitude."We couldn't agree more, and we hope that you will find some inspiration from SHAKA's story.We are thankful to Commander Chlan for taking the time to share the harrowing experience of ejecting from the fighter jet he was piloting, the story of his rescue, his recovery, and his outlook on life.Go Bold!