Top Gun Pilot and Combat Aviator | F/A-18 | Founder of Top Gun Foundation | Matthew “Whiz” Buckley
About This Episode
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Today we hear our first Combat Story from a Top Gun and F/A-18 Hornet pilot turned successful options trader Matthew 'Whiz' Buckley.
Whiz found himself flying 44 combat sorties over Iraq and was scrambled just days after 9/11 to intercept a potential threat over the US where he was authorized to go supersonic at just 1,000 feet with a full weapons load (unheard of in the US)!
As with all aviators, we dig into the Call Sign and Whiz is a great one! Despite the highs of flying jets across the world and graduating from Top Gun, Whiz also lost 16 fellow fighter pilots to accidents and suicide, after losing a sister at a very young age that stuck with him for decades.
As a result, he created the Top Gun Foundation to help keep veterans alive and found his way to plant based medicines and psychedelics with other veterans like Marcus Luttrell (aka “Lone Survivor”), which we spend some time on during this episode. Whiz has had tremendous success in his post-military career in the options trading world and continues to train everyday people how to make a living doing the same with Top Gun Options. In fact, his success is what made his foundation possible.
This was a special episode for me personally where we really dig into the experience inside the cockpit and nerd out on all things aviation (like landing on a carrier at night) and the learnings Whiz was fortunate to take from Top Gun and how we can all apply those.
I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did!
Show Notes:
Matthew “Whiz” Buckley
Chapters
- 0:00Intro
- 00:54Guest Introduction (Matther 'Whiz' Buckley)
- 02:20Interview Begins
- 02:57Matthew's early life and his time at the local rescue squad
- 05:47Other career paths
- 09:23The idea of joining the Military
- 13:42Early deaths that motivate
- 16:20Experimentation with Psychedelic Therapy
- 19:32Better Help (AD)
- 20:35'Competitive' nature of Top Gun pilots
- 24:33Boat landings
- 30:19Hardest aircraft to land on a carrier
- 33:51Optics while flying a fighter jet
- 36:26What it's like to fly the F/A-18 Hornet
- 39:43Ten Thousand (AD)
- 42:21The path to getting the right aircraft
- 47:21'Whiz''s time with 9/11
- 58:40Top Gun and being the Advisary
- 01:03:01What makes Top Gun training the most difficult
- 01:07:21Red Teaming
- 01:09:17Top Gun takeaways that can benifit everyone
- 01:15:28The origin of 'Whiz'
- 01:19:14Mishaps and mistakes
- 01:30:05The transition to the Finance world
- 1:32:10Psychedelic Therapy philanthropy
- 01:46:12Would you do anything differently
- 01:54:11What feeling do you wish you could share
- 01:55:27Carried sentimental items
- 01:56:03Would you do it all again
- 2:00:20Listener comments and shout outs
