{"id":151065,"date":"2024-06-14T14:47:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T18:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=151065"},"modified":"2024-06-14T14:47:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T18:47:37","slug":"keep-climbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2024\/06\/14\/keep-climbing\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep climbing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flying has been in Air Force Maj. Jake \u201cPrimo\u201d Impellizzeri\u2019s blood for his entire life. His grandfather and father served in the U.S. Air Force. His dad flew a C-130 for 10 years and recently retired as a commercial pilot for Delta Airlines. So as long as he could remember Impellizzeri\u2019s always wanted to be a pilot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had the aviation bug my entire life,\u201d said Impellizzeri.<\/p>\n

The Wright State University graduate\u2019s passion for flying led him to the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds as the pilot of the number 4 red, white and blue Block 52 F-16 fighter jet. The powerful plane produces 29,000 pounds of thrust, which Impellizzeri says produces more power than an entire Dayton 500 NASCAR race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m biased, but the F-16 is the greatest fighter jet in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For the past two years, Impellizzeri has performed dangerous and gravity-defying maneuvers in over 80 airshows per year. Impellizzeri is the number 4 plane and the bottom part of the world-famous diamond formation in which four Thunderbird pilots fly only 18 inches from each plane\u2019s wings.<\/p>\n

Impellizzeri credits Wright State for helping him transition from high school in Cincinnati to college. He graduated from Wright State in 2012 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice and from the Wright State Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a combination of Wright State and the ROTC<\/a> detachment that kind of prepared me for my military career life that I\u2019m doing right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After graduation, Impellizzeri moved to Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, for pilot training. That\u2019s where he was introduced to the F-16 fighter jet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Maj. Jake \u201cPrimo\u201d Impellizzeri arrives at the Columbus Air Show. (Photo by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe are sitting so far in front of the nose tire that it feels like you\u2019re riding on a tip of a pencil,\u201d said Impellizzeri. \u201cWhen you\u2019re up there you feel free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impellizzeri is in his final year as a Thunderbird pilot. He hopes that his time performing acrobatic maneuvers at airshows around the country has sparked a passion in aviation in young kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really here to inspire and showcase the professionalism and the inspiration piece is huge for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re lucky, you may get an opportunity to fly with Impellizzeri just not with the Thunderbirds. He hopes to follow in his father\u2019s footsteps and work for Delta Airlines when his mission is complete.<\/p>\n

To see a schedule of this year\u2019s Air Force Thunderbirds performances visit airforce.com\/thunderbirds\/schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past two years, Maj. Jake \u201cPrimo\u201d Impellizzeri has performed dangerous and gravity-defying maneuvers in over 80 airshows per year as a pilot for the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":151069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,4306,733,729,725,727,747,2039,715,4855,720],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-air-force-rotc","category-alumni","category-around-campus","category-home-news-sidebar","category-homepage-photos-and-video","category-liberal-arts","category-military-veterans","category-news","category-social-sciences-and-international-studies","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151065"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151081,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151065\/revisions\/151081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}