By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
In 1970, John Nussbaumer, dean of Cooley Law School in Auburn Hills, was a fledgling second year cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs when his aviation career went boom.
That year, coincidentally, was a flashpoint in mounting opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. On May 4 of 1970, four students were killed on the campus of Kent State University as thousands gathered to protest the widening of the war into Cambodia. The shootings by members of the Ohio National Guard sparked national outrage and cast anyone in uniform in an almost universally unfavorable light.
Despite that political backdrop, Nussbaumer remained committed to his plan to become an Air Force fighter pilot, likely bound for missions in the decidedly unfriendly skies of Southeast Asia.
“During the summer of that second year as a cadet, they want to give you a taste of flying to keep your interest level high, so to speak,” Nussbaumer says.
He was assigned to temporary duty at an Air Force base in Florida, where he would be afforded the opportunity to be aboard a fighter jet that would crack the sound barrier, the magical 768 mph speed that serves as the threshold into the rarefied air of supersonic.
“It was to be the highlight of the assignment there,” Nussbaumer relates. “It’s like crossing the equator. You get a special certificate and there is some real significance attached to it as a pilot.”
With Nussbaumer on board the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, the chief pilot took off for a training run over the Gulf of Mexico. It was an overcast day with light winds, providing near ideal conditions for the flight.
“He took us up to 40,000 feet in what seemed like a matter of seconds,” Nussbaumer says. “We flew around for a bit before he turned over the controls to me, giving me an opportunity to get a feel for the power of the plane. It was a thrill, to say the least.”
But there were more thrills and chills to come, especially when the Air Force fighter pilot took the Delta Dagger into a pronounced dive, turning on the afterburners to let the twin forces of gravity and jet propulsion catapult the Convair F-102 into the supersonic realm, generating an ear-splitting sonic boom.
“As we broke through the clouds above the Gulf, some 200 feet above the water, we saw a commercial fishing boat right below us with all those on deck scrambling for cover as we roared overhead,” Nussbaumer says with a grin. “One can only imagine what they must have been thinking. We had a good chuckle about it on the way back to the base, but I’m sure that no one was laughing on the boat at that time.”
The episode, Nussbaumer admits, probably would have resulted in some legal consequences for the flight crew if it had happened in the current era of aviation. But for now, any statute of limitations has run, and Nussbaumer can take comfort in knowing that as a longtime attorney he would be well-equipped to handle such a case if disciplinary proceedings had ensued.
“I can laugh about it now – thankfully.”
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