This is “Interview with Commander Frank Weisser”.This Father’s Day, retired U.S. Navy Commander and former Blue Angel Frank Weisser joins Jentezen Franklin for a behind-the-scenes look into the blockbuster movie, “Top Gun: Maverick.” Weisser graciously shared his experiences as a naval aviator and how he came to pilot the iconic scenes in the movie. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to hear directly from Commander Frank Weisser and his amazing testimony of sacrifice, service, and faith. To hear more inspiring messages from Jentezen Franklin, visit http://jentezenfranklin.org/watch?cid… & subscribe to this channel: http://goo.gl/yfkXHy Tell us more about what’s going on in your life: Let us pray with you: https://jentezenfranklin.org/contact?… Share your testimony to encourage us and others: https://jentezenfranklin.org/contact?… See our outreach programs: https://jentezenfranklin.org/outreach… Stay Connected to Jentezen Franklin: https://www.instagram.com/jentezen https://twitter.com/jentezen https://www.facebook.com/JentezenFran… Donate to help us share the gospel around the world through Kingdom Connection broadcasts and other humanitarian outreaches: https://jentezenfranklin.org/donation… #topgun #jentezenfranklin #faith
well he’s a Atlanta native they live up
in Northeast Georgia he attended the
United States Naval Academy he’s got so
many things that I’m giving you the
abbreviated version uh was deployed
aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt after
his training he flew 34 combat missions
in Iraq in support of operation Iraqi
freedom he joined the Blue Angels in
2007 one of the most elite flying groups
that you will ever see he served as the
narrator and VIP pilot in 2008 he also
solo pilot and
natops officer in 2009 he’s an American
hero he wouldn’t say that he’s very
humble very kind but would you give a
warm welcome to Top Gun Commander Frank
wiser
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thank you
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[Applause]
I don’t know if you can see Bill on the
keyboard but he’s got his aviator
glasses on and I mean they’re you know
they’ve never played that when I come
out to preach I don’t understand what
the deal is here I’m a Top Gun Preacher
come on now
you can try to be try to be sometimes
thanks again for being here we really
enjoyed talking in the first service I
saw Charisse and I went to see the movie
uh Maverick the numbers are already in
it’s the number one new thing on the
planet in the world it’s breaking every
record it’s got a great message a
message of inspiration and hope
um what was that like working with Tom
Cruise behind you and your flying feet
off the ground and doing those amazing
feats in that aircraft yeah it was uh it
was an incredible experience of course
and one of the things that did for me
was it broke down a lot of my Hollywood
stereotypes because
um I went into it thinking that these
people were going to be either
um you know too good to deal with just
me or having an air of um superiority
about everything but what I found was to
the to a person they were incredible and
it wasn’t just Tom and the other actors
it was really it takes such a machine to
to do what they do and uh they’re all
just really incredible folks and the
experience was tremendous it’s nice to
see behind the curtains a little bit and
know what they do
um and Tom was a real treat to fly with
he is a hard-working guy like I
mentioned before and he just um you
don’t get to that level of success
without working hard and so he the man
knows how to work and he is always at it
but he’s also an experienced pilot which
makes it a lot more fun to fly with him
because he was just really strong in the
airplane and what I found was when he
didn’t have any limitations we had no
limitations as a crew so we were only
limited by what the jet would could do
which is a lot actually so it was it was
a really from my Advanced point I just
wanted to go up and fly safe and have
fun we we really had a good time
it’s just fascinating to me and I’m sure
to every person out there you know
flying a machine like that
how fast how fast do they get up to
I think there’s a line that says I could
tell you but then I’d have to kill you
the speed that’s published for that
airplane is 1.8 Mach so that’s 180 the
speed of sound which is about 750 miles
an hour
so it will go really fast
and and those g-forces have you ever
passed out
not in an airplane but we get into a
simulator that spins you around and
around until you pass out and it is an
uncomfortable feeling for sure and even
being at seven or eight G’s
is really hard on your body you feel
like there’s an elephant in your lap you
know your body is pulled into the seat
if you go into a roller coaster at Six
Flags you might feel maybe two G’s at
the bottom of the loop but this is you
know I’m a 200 pound person so I weigh
1600 pounds
it’s a lot and and you’ve got to keep
your you’ve got to keep your wits about
it yes not just surviving it’s actually
thinking and still piloting the airplane
you’re different breed I mean you’re
different why what what would you I mean
not only doing that just just flying but
then going into combat situations like
you’ve done over and over in Iraq and
other places and knowing that you’re
going to be fired at knowing that you
the enemy would love as a trophy to take
you and your plane down uh do you do you
do you you guys seem like a do you deal
with that fear is it real to you or is
it just a kind of something kick in yeah
I think um obviously as a pilot you are
you have to be prepared so you you study
and you prepare and you train properly
to avoid that but um as we discussed
earlier for me fear is not was never an
issue and and that’s because we’re
Christian and I’m a Christian so I don’t
I’m not afraid of dying that’s the
ultimate the best is still yet to come
for us right
what I fear is not the airplane what I
fear is losing the people close to me I
would be fearful of not being there for
my family as they grow up but um fearful
of flying over bad guy country was never
something that bothered me
I I was amazed to learn uh in the first
service that you don’t really have you
didn’t really have um
even any experience in flying until you
got in the Navy and what happened yeah
that’s right I went to the Naval Academy
um how old were you I went to the Naval
Academy at 18 so right out of high
school but I went there to serve my
country and so
for me it’s all about service it’s not
about what I did it was about the fact
that I did something and that I wanted
to serve and however I could serve our
country I’d let them decide that for me
and they do that anyway they the
military is very much the term is needs
of the Navy and so my skill set was best
aligned with flying and so that’s what I
was assigned to do and then I learned
that way but what I found out right away
on flight number one was I loved it it
was just an incredible experience
and then it becomes this incredible
blessing because I can now serve my
country and do something I enjoy doing
absolutely were you do you feel like I
mean it’s just it almost sounds so
Random you know if you wouldn’t have
went into the military you you would
have never maybe flown an airplane
that’s insane and and yet that gift was
in here not just a pilot which is
incredible but you are a top pilot I
mean that you were the one that the Navy
sent to do these to represent in this
amazing movie and I guess you know it
just blows my mind that that gift was in
you and somebody identified it and
somebody uh you know
saw that in you and then one thing leads
to another and you Excel it it’s funny
when I went to the Naval Academy I
wanted to be a Navy SEAL and that was
before seals were popular after 9 11 and
that sort of thing this was in the mid
90s and so I was really heartbroken
actually I cried when I found out that I
was gonna fly
and now there’s one other aspect of this
which is if you go to flight school you
don’t know what you’re going to fly and
you can fly the fighters or you could
also fly cargo ships or helicopters or
Maritime Patrol so there’s a lot of
ambiguity in what you’ll end up doing
but I was heartbroken about it and when
I went down to flight school I was
surrounded by people who really had
wanted to do that since they were little
itty bitty kids and so my mind at the
time was I’m just going to work I’ll
outwork all of them even though it’s
what they wanted to do because it’s more
important that I’m serving my country
and if I’m serving it by learning if I’m
serving by doing something I can prove
more to me by working hard at something
I didn’t want to do than by just working
hard at something I I had for sure
always wanted to do
tremendous
do you believe that do you believe that
that everybody has something in them
like that that God put them here to do
yeah I think it would be safe to say you
were born to fly you were born to fly I
mean you the gift was in you is in you
and do you believe God put something in
all of us it may not be a pilot but
there’s something that God has in mind
with every life I do believe that yeah I
think um you have to ask God though you
have to be willing to say
open up your heart and say lead me the
way you want to go and I will follow you
you sound so matter of fact about you
know you started flying and you become
the top pilot but but was there a
um was there a moment when you
recognized that that there was a talent
and a gift that was unusual I hadn’t
happened yet
no I mean I struggled when I learned I
felt like I was a really below average
pilot for a while but once again it’s if
you keep at it and you keep trying and
for me when I get to my lowest point
I resort to prayer
because what else is there when you um
when you you know you can’t do it all on
your own
but there is someone who can help and so
that’s what I would always fall back on
and I believe that my success is because
of my relationship with the Lord
so good amazing
growing up in Georgia and and then being
out making a major Pro maybe the biggest
movie in in so far in history uh as far
as people seeing it and bringing hope
and inspiration through that did you
ever dream that you could have the kind
of impact your life has had not only on
freedom and defending our freedom the
feeling that my wife and I had when we
watched and left the movie was one of
tremendous gratitude
to the Armed Forces
because we realize why we were eating
popcorn and having a good time there
were men and women who absolutely put
their lives on the line they’re in
danger even as we speak in this room
right now and they do it day in and day
out all the time watching
yeah I don’t think I anticipated having
an impact like we’ve been able to have
for a variety of reasons one of the
unique things about being on the Blue
Angels for so long is that you go all
over the country and you get to share
this dream of Aviation you share it why
I was called to serve and you have a
chance to hopefully Inspire and motivate
you know the future generation and for
me it was never about serving in the
Navy I wasn’t trying to find a bunch of
fighter pilots or find Sailors to fix
airplanes it was just explaining why I
felt called the serve and for me it’s
the military is the way in which I chose
to serve but there’s so many ways to
serve and everyone here is surfing and
so it was a chance to inspire and to
just tell kids that it’s better to give
than to receive and it’s better to serve
than to be served and in this world
you’re you’re constantly it’s most
important to do a little bit of
everything and to um to give that back
the Blue Angels have this really cool
capability of sharing this incredible
thing this air show the gentleman that I
named my son been for was the best guy
I’ve ever met in my whole life and he
died in an airplane crash and it was
heartbreaking for me and for our family
but he had joined the Navy to fly
because of seeing the Blue Angels
perform and he made me such a better
person just by being just the kind of
person he was that I spent my time on
the Blue Angels trying to find one more
of him
if I can go out and motivate and Inspire
these kids and find one bin who can kind
of change the world the mission
accomplished on my end it’s so good I
think um
so so you’re flying in at night over the
ocean and you’ve got a short Runway that
you’ve got to land that thing and let’s
just throw in for kicks stormy weather
bad weather because you have to do what
you have to do what is that like what is
that like Landing that fighter jet on
that Runway
what would you describe it
doing landing on aircraft care in the
daytime is fun once you get good at it
it’s one of the
most unique and enjoyable things in all
of Aviation but doing it at night is not
that way doing it at night is just work
and it’s it is scary and you it’s scary
only because you know your limitations
as the pilot and you know your
aircraft’s limitations and you know the
things that you can’t control which is
what the aircraft carrier does what’s
what the weather does and um and there’s
just so many ways to have things go
wrong or to mess up and so it’s actually
liberating the sense that you realize
you can’t do it all yourself and you
have to trust and first and foremost you
trust the Lord to keep you safe but you
also trust the people around you that as
we were talking earlier the time on the
Blue Angels the time behind the aircraft
here at night it’s a level of high trust
where you’re putting your life in so
many people’s hands at the same time and
any of them with a simple mistake not a
deliberate mistake but a simple mistake
could cause you to perish on that
evening and so you have this level of
trust that you put in everyone around
you the person steering the ship the
person talking you down the person
that’s responsible that the lights work
the person that had fixed my airplane
before I went flying my wingman who’s
with me you know there are times where
for example one night over the north
Arabian Sea everything in my airplane
just went dark everything a total extra
failure and so
another airplane joins up and the only
way to land is to follow that airplane
into land now they’re not going to land
they they fly just about close enough
that you can fly on their wing at night
and they drop you off and you look for
it and then you land so talk about a
level of trust that this wingman of mind
I I know I can’t do it alone anymore I
don’t have the capabilities I don’t have
the avocs to do it so it’s it’s a high
degree of trust but it it’s actually a
really wonderful thing to be able to to
trust another human being that much and
and when you’re on that uh that ship and
you know that that night you’re going
out on a mission you did many many 34
combat missions but hundreds of
situations you were flown into during
the Iraq War and so on
when you’re laying on that bunk and that
and that I know you’re missing your
family what do you think about how do
you prepare mentally for knowing I’m not
only going responsible for this machine
and run my mission but I’m going to be
fired at I’m going to be in danger I
could never see my family again what was
that like and how did you get through
that
is it a normal day or is it a routine
that you go through and yeah if um for
us especially if we fly a lot at night
and that’s because we’re good at it and
uh so you have in the military there’s a
there’s a tactical Advantage by
operating when other people can’t
operate and so the US military is really
good at operating in the Darkness
and we do it with night vision goggles
we uh we train more we get more
experience and more uh Hands-On training
and so we do that because it gives us an
advantage and so if you’re flying at
night you’re not even taking off till
nine or ten so you try to sleep in as
late as you can but um when you wake up
and you know you’re flying the night
you’re thinking about it all day long
for sure because you understand the
risks and and more importantly you’ve
had friends who have perished
doing that exact same thing so we try to
honor them by learning from their
mistakes and by not making the same
mistake twice but um you have to be you
have to be mentally strong and prepared
before you ever launch because you’re
strapping a 35 000 pound or a 45 000
once you load all the Ordnance on plan
onto your back
how did your faith uh hold you steady
through those
trying times and and even in what you do
how does your faith what role does it
play
I’d say it’s all consuming on my end
it’s uh and it has to be
um when you realize that you can’t
control it but only the Lord can and you
put your faith in Jesus
it’s actually a pretty big blessing to
know that um like I said you’re not
fearful
you’re just um
grateful that’s the word I spoke of
earlier it’s um I’m very grateful I’m
I’m grateful that I’m here of course but
I was very grateful to be able to serve
it is um it’s quite a blessing to
actually serve a cause bigger than
yourself and that’s really what it comes
down to it’s
um a chance to do something that you can
take pride in but also that you know
you’re doing something valuable for the
world around you is is a blessing you
talk about trust I was just thinking
about it and how you have to trust your
winged man and your people and your
friends
but your wife and your family we just
don’t always understand that I think the
price that the family pays yeah you’re
exactly right so I made the choice to
serve my country
um when we were dating my I said to my
wife you know we’re
if this becomes more if we get serious
almost trying to warn her off that this
is not an easy life to be a Navy Wife
because I’ll be gone a lot and you’re
going to be home by yourself and
hopefully raising a family and and she
told me at the time that she felt that
was the way she was called to serve and
that it takes the spouse too
oh
yeah
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[Applause]
and on that so she chose to serve on at
my side but the children they don’t make
that call they’re born into that level
of service and so my oldest daughter was
born I was with her for one day as we
moved between Virginia and Florida and
then my son was born when I was at a on
a four-week swing doing air shows the
Blue Angels and our our baby girl was
born while I was over Afghanistan and it
it I mean it’s hardest on Bethany
but it’s of course really hard to be
gone
so far away you know I I got in my
airplane the day that Caroline was born
and I typed in the Waypoint so in
airplanes it’s where you’re going you’re
out and as I took off from the care I
typed in the Waypoint for the hospital
she was born at to see the the most
direct route if I had to get there it
was like 8 950 miles over the North Pole
and back down to California I thought
well I’m a long way I’m a long way from
from her right then that’s very touchy
it’s very powerful
and it’s not an easy job being a father
it’s fun and and easier when they’re
young but at some point kids become
um
you know independent and that’s that’s
the goal but there’s great challenges
with that what what would you say to uh
fathers out there today you know I don’t
know how people do it without the Lord I
don’t know how you raise a family in the
21st century without Jesus Christ the
Cornerstone and I may fail at a lot of
things as a father
but I will not fail
at passing down to my children that
Cornerstone of everything that you ever
dream of it must be built on Christ
Jesus our lord is safe that’s success
right that’s that’s a hero if we can do
that as fathers
yeah I wholeheartedly agree I think that
um it takes a far stronger and more
powerful man to admit when they’re wrong
and to ask for forgiveness
I think being brave isn’t about just
protecting your family all the time it’s
about letting your children know that
you also are vulnerable and that you can
make mistakes we were driving to church
this morning and we were having a cup my
daughter my oldest had written a kind
note that we read last night and she
mentioned you know through the ups and
the downs and the tough patches and I
said tell me what those tough patches
were
and so we went through a time that she
was essentially banished to a chair to
sit for a period while she thought about
what she’d done wrong
and I said you know just so you know
it’s harder on me than on you and she
laughed at me because I don’t think you
know Dad it’s definitely harder being
punished and I said no it’s harder to
punish because you don’t know if you’re
doing it right and as the parent you
definitely every parent in the world
wants what’s best for their kids they
want their children to be better off
than they were they want them to be
better people than they were and so you
feel that burden of responsibility
but you there’s no one telling you what
to do and there’s there’s no one leading
you except the Lord and so when you
invite God into your life knowing that
we don’t know all the answers but we ask
him for help
I don’t know any other way than that
so good and today
to all of our fathers who are here to
encourage you we’re here to tell you
that I’m sitting on the stage I know
this is so uncomfortable for me to with
a hero but you’re just as much of a hero
when you stay
when you stand when you say I love my
family no matter what is going on their
mind and nothing will ever make me be
separate and that’s the kind of heavenly
father we have today
how many of you appreciate Commander
Frank wiser coming by with his family
would you show him some appreciation
today thank you sir you’re amazing bless
you
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