Could you please guide the reader true a typical flight preparation. From putting on the flight suites, start-up of the engine, take-off, Mission, landing and de-briefing: Actually the mission starts well before putting on the flight gear: first of all you brief the mission with the other pilots flying with you, deciding what is the objective of the flight (a training mission for a younger pilot, a tasked mission, a practice mission or you get ready with your wingman for ground alert), you give an overview and then you cover all the details as needed not forgetting the plan in case of contingencies or emergencies. Then you receive a step out briefing with the last updates from the supervisor of flight (weather, notams, etc). Now you take your flight gear and go to your jet. Here you find your 2 technicians that show you the aircraft maintenance book and follow you during the turn around. When finished, you can strap in and start the engine. You check the main systems of the jet (flight controls, trim, flaps, shaker/kicker, engine nozzle) and you are ready to taxi to the runway. During the taxi and entering of the runway you do the last checks before takeoff, which is short followed by lighting the afterburner to get airborne. The mission is generally made of mid/high altitude air-to-air interceptions (1v1 up to 2/4vX), sometimes you fly low level intercept, other times you fly with or versus other jets (both fighters and bombers). When you are done you come back to your base and you may practice some basic procedure (instrumental, visual, t/o - no flap, sfo). After landing you fill in the aircraft book and you get back to the Squadron. When all the pilots are back and have taken away the flight gear, you review all important points happened in flight, and to identify all lessons learned. Could you please guide us around during a walk around of the F-104 Starfighter, what are for example the most important items to inspect before the flight: During the turn around you take a good look at your jet. The main things you check are: the pitot tube, static pressure holes, AOA sensor, engine intakes, nose/main landing gear, wheels, brakes, leading/trailing edge of the wings, fuel tanks, drag chute, engine nozzle, hook, auxiliary inlet door of the engine intake, AIM-9L dummy. What was the hardest part, or particular stage during a flight, while flying the F-104 Starfighter: Probably the hardest parts are take off and landing due to the high speed of the jet in those critical phase. After training, those maneuvers are not too difficult but you have to be ready to take actions in case if something goes wrong. Other challenging phases are either low level flying for the limited maneuverability of F-104 and supersonic flight because you have to be careful during the transonic phase. Could you please give the reader a view inside the cockpit of the F-104 Starfighter. The positions of the most important controls, and instruments that are very important to observe during specific parts of the flight: On the F-104 ASAM the instrument positions have been reviewed to make it more pilot friendly. They are quite standard actually. Very much used is the APC, which can be compared to a AOA indicator that gives you a good indication of how close you are, with to best performance, shaker and kicker. You also have a laser inertial platform and a GPS. As far as instrument approach capability only TACAN and GCA approach are available. How does the F-104 Starfighter compare to any other fighter jet you have flown, and please motivate the positive and negative comparing points: I have flown the F-16 Fighting Falcon and EF-2000 Eurofighter, after my time on the F-104 Starfighter. They are all very different, but for sure is the F-104 a jet that the pilot has to know very well and respect. It has many limits as far as avionics and manoeuvrability but the pilot is proud of flying a jet without the help of computers and electronics of any kind. Despite his age it is quite amazing to feel the speed and accelerations to mach 2,2 of the Starfighter. Which type of F-104 Starfighter did you fly within the Italian AF, the F-104S, F-104S-ASA or the F-104S-ASA/M. And could you please explain the main differences between these types: I have flown the TF-104GM and the F-104ASAM. The first is the trainer and the second one is the single seat version. They are both "M" versions, which indicates that they are the last ones with a new cockpit, new laser inertial platform, GPS for the single seat. The trainer has an older radar with a bad performance and has less fuel on board. Could you please give the reader an impression how to start the massive J79-GE-19 Engine, seen from inside the cockpit. And what were the parameters you had to observe during such an engine start, what were the limits: The J79-GE-19 Engine is a impressive engine, especially if you consider it is very complex, however reliable and therefore no electronics in it. The start is not difficult but you have to monitor several parameters and you have to coordinate the external air supply with the technicians. Overall it is very reliable, engine stalls are rare, it's not very sensitive to FOD. The only bad thing is that it smokes quite a bit and let your enemy see you from far away. Some limits?: rpm 66% min; 105.5 max; nozzle 8-9 idle, 1.5-4 military, 7.5-9.5 max AB, nozzle handle pulled 3-4; cit (compressor inlet temp.) 121°c max below 35000ft, 153°c above 40000ft; oil press 12psi min idle, placard+10psi max; egt (exaust gas temp) 50°c min, 688°c max normal ops, 1000°c max time limited. The F-104 Starfighter was used within the Italian AF in the interception role having a NASARR R-21G/H radar with moving-target indicator and continuous-wave illuminator for SARH missiles. Could you please give us a small impression of the radar use in combination with the weapon systems: : The radar of course is old and the display is not a new generation synthetic one, so you have to train in optimizing the radar performance and recognizing of the target when you have a lot of clutter. But at high altitude or over the sea you could have quite good contact range. When simulating the launch of Aspide the continuous-wave illuminator was activated to guide the SARH missile. Was there a particular F-104 Starfighter tail number(s) to which you are fond, or especially liked, and could you please motivate why: Actually I don't have any special tail number I liked more. An aircraft that was nice to fly was the special color versions done for some occasions. My favorite one was a yellow and black one, in 2000. Could you please describe the F-104 Starfighter in your own words: It's not easy to describe in few words a jet that made the history of my air force and which I took my first combat readiness on. Even I have flown much newer jets (F-16 Fighting Falcon and the EF2000 Eurofighter). When I see an old F-104 Starfighter somewhere, I still fell a lot of emotions thinking to the privilege I had flying that wonderful rocket. Did the Starfighter have a special nickname within the Italian AF? And how did they came up with this nickname for the F-104 Starfighter: It is often called "spillo", "spillone" or "chiodo" within the Italian AF, for his shape with the small wings and a fuselage similar to a nail. Have you ever flown a dogfight against a opponent aircraft, and what were the main advantages of the F-104 during a dogfight. Please give the reader a small impression how it is to fly a fast moving aircraft like the F-104 during a dogfight: Actually a dogfight is not what you want flying the F-104, since its maneuverability is not so good as the new jets. Generally you try to intercept the enemy undetected: maybe using AB to avoid making smoke, from low altitude to hide in the ground clutter or very high and supersonic to maximize your weapon ranges. The F-104 Starfighter has a very small wheel base, did you have to use any special reference points or instructions to land the F-104 Starfighter. And could you please guide us true a typical landing routine with the F-104: Landing is quite a critical phase due to the high speed and small buffer with the stall speed. The basic flying speed with 2 wing tip tanks and full flaps is 175 kts, plus correction for fuel. You fly the final monitoring at APC (about 2,5, similar to AOA). You don't have a HUD to help you to fly the correct glide path, so crosscheck the altitude and distance from the runway threshold. After a while you get used to this correction "picture" and you recognize the good glide slope of 2,5°. An important point is not to reduce engine RPM to much to avoid asymmetric air spilling to the flaps. Basically you go to idle just at the touch down. You don't use the aerodynamic brakes, and below 180 knots you deploy the drag chute. At reduced speed you engage the nose wheel steering and at the end of the runway you drop the chute. The author would like to thank Luigino Calliaro, for his endless help, assistance and effort in arranging this interview. This interview was taken at 20-05-2010.