Cheyenne Man Pulls 9 Gs With Thunderbirds, Then Takes A Nap

Cheyenne’s Bryan “Alf” Grzegorczyk had planned a celebratory drink following his once-in-a-lifetime Thunderbirds’ Hometown Hero Flight to salute everyone who nominated him for the honor and made it all possible.

But all he could manage after the flight was a celebratory nap. A date with his pillow. At least the dreams were sweet after getting to spend the day as an honorary Thunderbird. 

Grzegorczyk  wasn’t reckoning with just how exhausting it is being a Thunderbird for the day. 

“The flight itself is something you can’t even imagine,” he told Cowboy State Daily right after climbing out of the Thunderbird jet late Friday afternoon, exhaustion clear in the set of his shoulders and face. “On the take-off, we’re just going straight up. And I think he said that was 3 G’s or something like that, but that’s how they do it every day.”

It might have been only 3 Gs, but it was a force like none he’d ever felt before. It was at least 100 times anything he’d ever felt on a commercial flight during takeoff.

“Even if you tried to lift your head, you just can’t,” he said. “You’re going so fast. You’re going straight up, and you’re just sucked into your seat.”

At 3 Gs, they were just getting started. Before the flight was over, Grzegorczyk would experience an entire 9.4 Gs of gravitational force. Under that amount of g-force, a 200-pound person weighs more like 2,000 pounds — nearly a ton.

Before they did the 9 Gs bank and roll, though, they put the Thunderbird F-16 Fighting Falcon jet through its paces. 

“He flipped us over, and we did about six or eight maneuvers,” Grzegorczyk said. “It was really cool.”

Grzegorczyk particularly liked the six-roll, where the plane turned and flipped, leaving them to fly upside down.

“Then we joined up with the team, and I got some photos, a video of them joining up with the team that was right above us,” Grzegorczyk said. “So, it was awesome.”

Grzegorczyk’s flight was during the Thunderbird’s practice session for Cheyenne Frontier Days.

“I had a vantage point no one else had,” Grzegorczyk said. “They did everything they were going to do for the main show, and I got a preview from above.”

The Science Of Successfully Flying At 9 Gs

The Thunderbirds typically will choose one hometown hero to join them during their airshow practice sessions in each of the communities where they perform. 

Grzegorczyk, whose nickname, “Alf,” comes from his “alphabet” last name, is an Air Force veteran. But he was nominated for the Thunderbirds’ Hometown Hero Flight for his efforts that have raised millions of dollars for charities over the past 15 years or so, with an event he founded called Thankful Thursdays. 

Grzegorczyk wears a flashy suit for the events, and his energy is quite contagious — contagious enough to raise more than $3.3 million since Grzegorczyk’s event started in 2010. 

For the Thunderbirds flight, Grzegorczyk wore something considerably less flashy. It was a drab olive-green flight suit, along with something called a G-suit. 

The G-suit is what helps makes a 9 G roll in the Thunderbird jet possible. It has inflatable bladders that will squeeze on the legs and abdomen whenever the aircraft experiences high G-force. 

Most people can withstand between 4 to 5 Gs on their own. The G-suit adds another 2.5 Gs to that.  

The G-suit goes on over a flight suit and is cinched up to fit very snugly. The legs of the g-suit have pockets in them, to stow essential gear, including vomit bags — just in case.

It’s In The Breath

The incline of the seat is also strategic, according to the Thunderbird’s flight surgeon, Maj. (Dr.) Jacob R. Hall, whose position is also referred to as Thunderbird 9.

“(The inclined seats) are not just because it’s the Air Force and we like comfortable chairs,” he said. “It actually helps with the Gs. So, if you think about it, your body is trying to push blood up to your head against that force, so a little bit of an incline is better than going straight up.”

That incline adds another one-half G to what people can withstand on their own. 

After that, though,, it’s down to what each person can train their body to do.

“Now we just have to make up like 1.5 Gs with a good strain and breathing technique,” Hall said. “That’s very doable.”

The “strain and squeeze” technique involves contracting the muscles of the thigh and buttocks to counteract the g-force pushing blood away from the upper torso. 

“These big muscles in your thighs and in your butt and your core will hold a lot of blood,” he said. “So, we’re going to tighten and squeeze and strain those muscles to help push the blood back up.”

Hall put his heels together to demonstrate.

“As you do that, you’ll feel those eyes tighten up,” he said. “And that’s where the real money is at in squeezing those thighs tight.”

The second part of the strategy involves a special breathing technique that is done at the same time as squeezing those muscles as tightly as possible. 

“We’re going to get a good breath in, hold it, and then we’re going to bear down hard pressure on your chest,” Hall said. “You should feel your face turning red, veins popping out on your forehead.”

That breath is largely held through the entire maneuver, but a very tiny amount of air is quickly released and drawn back in, making a sound like a very hard “K” in the back of the throat. These little partial breaths help keep the pressure on that’s holding blood up high in the body, while replenishing a little bit of oxygen every three to five seconds.

The 9 G pull lasts between five to 10 seconds, which may not sound like a lot of time — but it is a long time under the circumstances.

As blood drains away from the brain, the first sign that unconsciousness is imminent is vanishing colors. After the vision grays out, peripheral vision is also lost, and things begin to tunnel in, until everything goes dark.

Cowboy In The Sky

Grzegorczyk’s practice paid off. Not only did he make the 9 G club, but he actually made it to 9.4 Gs in all, Thunderbird officials told him after the flight, as they were giving him the pin that signifies his new membership in the Thunderbirds’ 9G Club.

Experiencing 9 Gs was unlike anything Grzegorczyk has ever experienced before. 

“It’s intense, it’s intense,” he said. “It feels like your whole body is collapsing in.”

One thing that surprised Grzegorczyk was how smooth the ride was. Even when hanging upside down or doing maneuvers, things just felt comfortable.

“You’re strapped in so tight,” he said. “It doesn’t feel much different. It felt very smooth up there. My pilot, his call sign was ‘Crime,’ was amazing. He did such a great job of making me feel comfortable, making me feel welcome.”

Grzegorczyk also got to take a turn at flying the plane — though he didn’t try anything beyond basic maneuvers.

“He told me I could do more, but … the controls are very sensitive and just a little touch and you’re going pretty good,” Grzegorczyk said.

Because of that, he opted to keep his maneuvers basic, rather than flashy. 

“It wears you out,” he said. “They told me it was going to, but I never dreamt this.”

Grzegorczyk was invited to sit in on the Thunderbirds’ debrief of their practice run before the Cheyenne Frontier Days show, but said he was too tired to join that, and too tired to make it to the bar for the celebratory drinks he’d planned.

“My phone has been blowing up,” Grzegorczyk said, pointing at the device that was buzzing with yet another text message. “Everyone wants to know how the flight went. But they’re going to have to wait for that story a little.”

Grzegorczyk needed a little crash landing with his pillow first.

“This has been such a humbling experience,” he said. “I’m not sure how it all works, but I just want to thank everyone who had a hand in this. It’s been a whirlwind of excitement and there’s nothing that can replace it. 

“This is something not too many people get to do, and for me to be able to do it … I’m back on the ground and life is good.”

Life is always good when there are one-of-a-kind stories to tell, and this is one story Grzegorczyk will never tire of telling, about the time he got to be a cowboy in the sky with the Thunderbirds.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.