One of our teachers commented that their brother had used a F-117 to fly over Iraq. We e-mailed him some questions and got many answers but some could not be answered because they were classified. This is what we got in return:

Hi Tim, Taylor and Dusten
First of all, congratulations on being selected for the ThinkQuest program. You are all obviously excellent students, or you would not be a member of such a distinguished academic program.  I wish you well in your academic future, for education is the key to whatever future profession you might want to
try.

Now, to your questions.....
1) What part of Iraq did I fly over?  I hate to say this, but the F-117 Stealth Fighter is still a pretty secret jet, so we don't tell people where we fly, when we fly, or why we are flying in particular places. Sorry!

2) What was their resistance?  The Iraqis don't like the F-117 because they can't stop us from doing what we want to do within their country.  They have a significant resistance, just not effective against the Stealth Fighter.

3) What are the features of your fighter, how do they work, and how much do they cost?  Well, the Black Jet (affectionate name the pilots call the F-117, its real nickname is "Nighthawk") is completely designed around mathematics equations derived from a Russian scientist's mathematics genius.  That's right, a Russian scientist devised the first equation of how to compute the power
of a radar, and then how to negate that power.  The Black Jet is designed to be virtually invisible to radar, mostly via mathematics.  To understand that, let me explain radar very, very briefly.  A radar beam is sent out from an antennae.  If it hits your airplane, it then bounces back to the antennae
it came from.  The time it takes to go from the antennae to the jet, and then back again, tells the radar a great deal about where you are, what you are, and how big you are.  The Black Jet is designed to either lie to the radar, or simply not reply.  If a radar beam hits us, the jet "lies" about its position
and size, or simply does not allow the radar beam to go back to the antennae. In terms of cost, the F-117 costs over $40 million dollars a jet (that is the unclassified cost).  To put that in perspective, if your parents own a $30 thousand dollar Cadillac automobile, they could buy 1,333 more Cadillacs
before they could equal the cost of 1 F-117 Stealth fighter.

4) What school did I graduate from?  I graduated from the University of
Georgia, in Athens, Georgia in 1979 (I know, you weren't even born then were you?)  I received my Air Force commission as an officer from the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) as a Distinguished Graduate.  Since then, my education has continued through the military to include over 4 years spent in bits and pieces at different schools and training programs.  I also achieved a
Master's of Arts degree in Management from Webster University, and will attend a year of school next year that will give me another Master's degree.  This degree will be from the National Defense University and will be a Master's degree in US National Security Affairs.  So, you see, education never stops
throughout your entire adult life.  If you want to be the best, you have to study hard to get there.  U fortunately, there is no substitution for education  (but I can tell you, there is nothing like being the best at what you do!)

5) What is it like to be a pilot?  I am a lucky guy, because I never wanted to be anything other than an Air Force fighter pilot - and I managed to achieve that goal through hard work and lots of studying.  I can't really put this into the right words, but flying 5 miles above the earth at speeds you
wouldn't dream of, is the most incredible feeling in the world!  The feeling of freedom, of total control, and pure and absolute fun, is incredibly exhilarating - I wouldn't want to do anything else as a career.  Of course, it isn't always fun either; when an engine decides to stop working life gets
pretty interesting pretty quickly!  However, I can honestly say I have never wanted to even try another profession, I find being a pilot and an Air Force officer to be tremendously rewarding and personally just plain fun!