Capt. Nic ‘Laz’ Le Tourneau flew over Washington, D.C. in advance of 250th celebration

By Greta Foss

Summer Intern

apt. Nic “Laz” Le Tourneau celebrated the 250th anniversary of America by flying over some of the country’s most famous monuments. Le Tourneau grew up in New York Mills, but found himself in the nation’s capitol this independence day demonstrating his knowledge and ability pertaining to high speed flying.  ¶  Capt. Le Tourneau is the commander of the United States Air Force F-22 Demonstration Team. He leads a group of 13 pilots who are trained to fly F-22 Raptor aircrafts who show off the capabilities of the aircrafts at airshows all over the country.  ¶  “We are the demonstration team and that means we are the ones who do like the aerobatics at air shows as our primary job. So like we have a kind of a three part job, recruit, retain, and inspire,” said the captain.  ¶  While he was unfortunately unable to complete the official flyover on the Fourth of July due to thunderstorms, he still got to experience flying over the nation’s capitol during their practice flight on July 3. During this practice flight the team was able to see some of the most famous historical monuments and memorials in the United States from the sky.On July 3, he had the ability to fly over the National mall, with the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument set as the backdrop of his flight. This portion—the entrance—was the highlight of the flight for Le Tourneau.

“The way you entered into the show was from the west to the east, and you flew right up the reflecting pools, just right over the top of them. And then, we do what’s called to split us, where we pop the nose really, really high up in the air. We hit the lighter afterburners, and then flip the jet upside down, and essentially dive right into the aerobatic box. And we fly aerobatics anywhere from 200 feet to 15,000 feet. So, you get really low, actually, no kidding below the Washington monument. And to race down just next to the reflecting pools and have all this history around us. It was, I think it was just one of those moments where it’s like, I can’t believe this is actually happening. This is amazing. It was really, really cool,” said Le Tourneau.

The captain first fell in love with the idea of being a demonstration pilot when he watched an air show held at the St. Cloud Airport back in 2010. He recalled thinking that seeing the F-22 Raptors was like nothing he had ever seen before, saying they looked a bit like UFOs. That was when, at 16 years old, he knew that he wanted to be a pilot. He did not know at first that an F-22 was what he wanted to fly, or how to make this dream happen, but he knew he had a goal. 

His journey to become the captain of the country’s only F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team took a lot of time and hard work. He faced many setbacks throughout his journey, no one in his immediate community had a history of flying, he had to work two jobs to try and afford flight school, and he still had to turn to others for financial support. 

Despite the problems he faced, Le Tourneau persevered and gained his pilot license at the age of 17. He worked his way up the ranks in the Air Force and was eventually able to fly the F-22, but from there there were still more steps to becoming the captain of the crew. He had to become a two-ship lead, then a four-ship lead, he had to become a Mission Commander, meaning he can command other types of aircrafts not just Raptors, and then he spent almost 9 months doing rigorous training for his instructor pilot qualification. 

All of this time an effort paid off as it got him where he is today, and according to him fundamentally changed him as a person in a good way. 

“I think hammering on one craft or towards one goal for so long, it requires you to adapt. Like, I failed so many times from the beginning to where I am. There were so many things I had to encounter, and it meant that along the way, I had to learn. And not just, change work ethic wise as a person, but I think it also affected how I valued the people around me, and how I recognize, like, if I’m just gonna have to step over people to do these kinds of things, right? It’s not worth it to me. If I’m gonna have to push people out of the way necessarily to do this stuff, maybe it’s not worth it either. And I think it created a newfound sense for me of community, of care for other people, and it was way more fun, and way more doable when I was able to find people who were looking to be involved in the same thing as me, and pull them along with me, and we were able to work together as a team,” he said. 

The F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team will be flying all around the country until November, showing their skill and professionalism to the American people. On August 1, they showed off their skills at an air show in St. Cloud Minn. The very same site that Capt. Le Tourneau first saw an F-22 fly. 

Le Tourneau was able to get into contact with the pilot who was captain of the demonstration team back in 2010, Maj. David “Zeke” Skalicky. Maj. Skalicky, who is currently the commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base in western Florida, just so happened to be in Minnesota visiting relatives when the airshow was set to happen and agreed to come see the show. 

This was the first time the F-22 Demonstration Team has flown in St. Cloud since that fateful show in 2010, and now this time Skalicky will be on the ground watching Le Tourneau from the same spot he had been standing all those years ago.