50 is Nifty in an F-16! The Dog Fighting Brother-In-Laws!

So how do you properly celebrate the passing of a century of living? Why, with a family dog fight, naturally! Brother-in-laws Jim Simons and Tom Jagow celebrated their 50th birthdays together. It turns out that they both had the same need…”The Need For Speed”! It is hard to get much faster than over 700 miles per hour anywhere but in an F-16  fighter jet.  The only problem is that it is usually very hard to convince the Air Force to let you borrow a couple of them for a short spin around the block. The next best option?

Start your birthday celebration at Flightdeck Air Combat Center in Anaheim, where up to seven people can enjoy the experience of being fighter pilots together in authentic flight simulators. And this is exactly what Jim, Tom, and 5 other family members did. While their 50 years of life weren’t lived virtually, their dog fight at 10,000 feet (Angels 10) was. When the dog fight was over, the festivities continued at Joe’s Crab Shack where the birthday boys pilots were properly fed, fetted, and humiliated! Visit here for a visual recap of the event, and remember that a birthday without dog fighting is just a birthday but a birthday with Flightdeck is a celebration!

Moark Pilots “Crack Up” At Flightdeck Air Combat Center

In a burst of inspiration and clear thinking, the management team of Moark LLC, the egg division of Land O’ Lakes, decided to hold their latest team building event at Fllightdeck Air Combat Center, one of the jewels in Anaheim’s entertainment crown. The action was both eggs-citing and eggs-eptional as team members came out of their shells during the dogfighting portion of the evening’s festivities (and we’re not yolking)! “Don’t fire until you see the ‘whites’ of their eyes” was part of their 20 minute pre-flight briefing, as they were trained in the fine art of air-to-air combat by flightdeck’s eggs-perienced crew members. Pilots slid into their authentic F-16 cockpits, took off from the airport, and had about 8 minutes of free flight until it was time to “scramble” them for their battle royale.  After the dogfighting, each pilot got to show off his or her landing eggs-pertise. And while some pilots cracked up ther jets on the runway, the smoothest attempt won the coveted “Landing O’ Lakes  Award”. Everybody had a fantastic time…there were no Egg-Beaters in this crowd…they were all the real deal!

Flightdeck Air Combat Center, 9/11, and Grieving Kids

9/11 seems to have happened both ages ago as well as just yesterday in a strange, surreal kind of way! The ownership at Flightdeck Air Combat Center decided to pay homage to the memory of those who were affected by that drastic and cowardly attack on our country by issuing a special offer to all of its newsletter recipients. They would receive a 50% discount on all flights on Friday 9/11/2009 with all of the day’s receipts going to The Comfort Zone Camp, an organization that meets the needs of grieving children who are dealing with the loss of a parent.  When the attack on 9/11/2001 happened, the founders of The Comfort Zone Camps decided to expand the scope of their mission to New Jersey to meet the needs of those children who lost parents in the attack. They currently have camps also in Virginia, California, Texas, and Massachusetts.

The owners of Flightdeck desire to not only provide one of the most fun things to do in Orange County for individuals and groups, but to use Flightdeck to contribute back to the community, both locally, as well as nationally. We feel that if every business, no matter how big or small, took the time to use their resources to benefit worthy causes like Comfort Zone Camps (New York Life Insurance Company has been a major corporate donor and sponsor of  CZC {www.comfortzonecamps.org}), countless lives would be positively impacted. Just ask the kids who attend the Comfort Camps!

Flightdeck Goes Hollywood!

OK, you are a movie producer and you need a location to film short clips to be shown during commercials of the movie “Top Gun” where do you turn in your hour of need…who is going to have your 6? Flightdeck Air Combat Center in Anaheim, Ca., of course! Where else can you film actors Matt Mc Carthy and Nick Stevens being instructed in the art of dogfighting in a briefing room and dueling in authentic F-16 fighter jet flight simulators?

"Roll tape!"

“Nowhere.” What? “NOWHERE SIR!” That’s more like it.

The entire crew enjoyed a full day of shooting (film) on Sept. 2nd–see a short media  here– in order to provide just a few short clips of hosts Matt and Nick and their antics as they seek to become bonafide “action figures” during Action Figure week on the AMC Movie Channel. You can watch their aviation antics heroics on September 24th at 8pm during the commercials for everybody’s favorite fighter pilot movie “Top Gun”. Just be sure not to put your remote on afterburner when the commercials come on, or you’ll miss the real action! After watching “Top Gun”, you can personally pilot your own F-16 at Flightdeck Air Combat Center and use your favorite quote from the movie when you are dogfighting or landing on an aircraft carrier. Just don’t ask for permission to buzz the tower!

The hatfields vs. The McCoys 2.0

Family Feud 2.0; Getting ready for battle!

It was a classic feud! Forget the backwoods of Tennessee, we’re talking the middle of paradise, Anaheim, California! Trade in your overalls  for a flight suit and substitute sidewinder missiles for hayforks and ancient rifles. Voila: Family Feud 2.0, and we don’t mean the TV game show from the ’90s!

On August 11th, the Stotz’s and the Manlapig families squared off at Flightdeck Air Combat Center to do battle in a socially acceptable manner. Brothers Dean “Target” Stotz (with his kids Chipper and Emma) and Russell “Mad Dog” Manlapig (with his progeny Chelsea and Sara) mixed it up in authentic F-16 jet fighter flight simulators at Trip Advisor’s number one rated attraction in Anaheim, Flightdeck Air Combat Center. The dogfight was pre-arranged by Dean’s wife (and eventual virtual widow) Kathy before they came to vacation in nearby Newport Beach.

The action was heated and intense with Dean earning his call sign by being the most popular target (he was a veritable missile magnet)…the rest of the crew slugged it out at 5,000 feet and had a great time in combat, earning their top gun status as fighter pilots. Who knew feuding could be such fun? Watch the action here. But you don’t have to wait for a feud to flare up before you have this brand of flight fun!

Frito Lay Has Good Funyuns at Flightdeck!

Frito Lay has always provided it’s custumers snack foods that provide “Good Fun”! so when it came time to plan a team building event that needed to include  a larger than normal amount of good fun, who did they turn to? If your guess was Flightdeck Air Combat Center, you would be right on the money. Shock! On July 28th, 18 Frito Layers engaged in intense air-to-air combat in authentic F-16 jet fighter flight simulators. After the three flights, awards were handed out to the stand-out pilots, among whom was Ruth “Maui” Huizar (sight seeing award for her propensity to wander from the battle zone), Dwane “Target” Zappe (“Tostitoed to Death” award for being shot down the most), and Jose “Dawg” Reynoso, who garnered both the Sun Chip award for highest altitude gained, as well as the Funyun award for the most entertaining pilot. The lone skill based award went to Daniel “Maverick” Canales who took home the Top Gun honors. “You’ll be seeing us again!” vowed boss Jeff “Mad Dog” Severns as he ushered his crew of newly-minted F-16 pilots out the door. Check this link for a short recap of the event:    http://bit.ly/f4Y5o

Award winning pilots from Frito Lay

“I Thought They Said ‘Doll-fighting!”

One of Flightdeck Air Combat Center's youngest fans with her wing man!

The picture says it all…one of Flightdeck’s youngest fans!

Hit The Sky, Jack!

“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” Elliott used the gas, gas, gas in his F-16 fighter jet flight simulator at Flightdeck Air CombatCenter

Jumpin' Jack Flash Elliott and crew

Jumpin' Jack Flash Elliott

in Anaheim, Ca. last week as he celebrated his 13th birthday with His mother, father, older sister, a cousin, and a close friend. Mom Susan had learned about Flightdeck from an article in Orange Coast Magazine (“101 Things You’ll Love”, July edition), and thought that it would be a fun activity to surprise Jack with, so she enlisted the help of TJ Rogerson and Andy McNally to pull the wool over Jack’s pre-teen eyes. So the plan was to go “somewhere to eat” after Jack’s baseball game.

Jack thought his folks had popped a gasket when they pulled into the commercial complex near Anaheim Stadium that houses Flightdeck and its seven authentic F-16 fighter jet cockpit simulators. But instead of eating fast food, Jack got to feast on fast jets as he, Dad James, TJ, and Andy suited up, were briefed, and boarded their F-16’s to enjoy an hours worth of take offs, landings, air craft carrier “traps” dogfighting with each other while Jack’s mom and older sister enjoyed watching and listening to all of the action in safety of the Officer’s Club. Bib sis took plenty of video footage which she promised would be edited and posted on You Tube for public consumption, so stay tuned for that all important link!

Cat Fight…No, Dog Fight!

For some strange reason, when arguments among females turn violent, it is commonly referred to as a “cat fight”. Recently Melissa Fontes got violent with 4 of her closest friends, and it certainly qualified as a “dogfight”. These five rather lovely ladies got together recently at Flightdeck  Air Combat Center in Anaheim, Ca. to celebrate Melissa’s birthday in grand style by engaging each other in air-to-air combat in authentic F-16 fighter jet simulators. Flightdeck is one of Orange County’s most unique facilities to hold a birthday party celebration: for males or females, adults or

Melissa's bday squad at Flightdeck Air Combat Center after their Top Gun pilot experience.

teenagers! Everybody has the time of their lives at Flightdeck.

Melissa fared the best on her landings, being the only one in her group to stick her aircraft carrier “trap”, an impressive accomplishment for her first attempt! Her friend Alison DeGuzman proved to be the most efficient (aka violent) in the dogfight, registering 10 kills with Lisa Torres nipping at her heels with 9 kills, while Blanca Avila was the target de jour. Petrona McArthur distinguished herself with a stylish inverted attempt at her carrier trap before she splashed into the ocean just a few feet short of the ship. “This beats the heck out of Chip and Dale’s!” Melissa proclaimed, as she tried to stuff a one dollar bill down the flight suit of her air traffic controller Joe “Yut-Yut” Saldin.

Two Missiles for Sister Sarah

She probably couldn’t pick Shirley McLain out of a lineup, and was not even a twinkle in her father’s eye when the movie “Two Mules for Sister Sara” was filmed, but Sarah Rupe was seasoned enough to know that her boyfriend Jeremy deserved something special to celebrate his 17th birthday! So she searched the internet, found Flightdeck Air Combat Center and wondered whether or not her quest was ended. But Sarah’s funds were tight, so she wanted to be sure that she spent them as wisely as possible and that Jeremy would have a fantastic time as a Top Gun pilot, so she ever-so-cleverly checked out the reviews on Yelp.com to see what others had said about their experience with the jet fighter simulators at Flightdeck. Sarah made her advanced reservations, but left Jeremy to wonder about his birthday adventure.

So Sara and Jeremy reported for duty, suited up, and were briefed for their mission. Joining three other first time pilots, they were loaded into their cockpits…side by side, of course. The next hour was spent enjoying take-offs, landings, intense air-to-air combat, and aircraft carrier traps (or at least attempts). When the flight was over and the dust had settled, Jeremy was only one “kill” short of taking the Top Gun honors. Sarah performed very admirably by splashing 10 enemy jets (including Jeremy). When informed of Jeremy’s proficiency, with a coy smile she replied “After all it IS his birthday!” And a most unforgettable one it was…the bar has been set extremely high, Sarah. Good luck topping this one next year!

Jeremy and Sarah, pre-flight