7-Year-Old Aspiring Fighter Pilot Freaks Out Meeting Her Idol

- So the Thunderbirds are the Air Force's premier aerial demonstration squadron, and my next guest is the only female

pilot

, what! Check out some of her work right here. These images are real, they are not manipulated, that is crazy! - Wow! - My God, it's like that movie when they had to put gasoline in the air, I don't remember what it was, Con Air, I don't know what it was. Anyway, and look at the view of her inside the cabin. This is pretty amazing. - Wow. - That? And it's not all performance. She has flown 163 combat hours over Afghanistan in support of Operation Resolute and Operation Freedom Sentinel.

That makes her a real woman. (upbeat music) Alright, please welcome Major Michelle Curran of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds. Thank you very much, first of all. - Thanks for inviting me. - Thank you very much for serving your country and everything you do. I mean, I'm seriously honored to have you here. It's amazing to not only do what you do but also be the only one holding it down for women, what, that's so sweet. - I try. - Did you always want to be a

pilot

? - No, then I was a super shy and awkward kid, as if you hadn't seen me being super athletic, as if that girl was going to be a

fighter

pilot one day.

You're like, maybe a librarian, I don't know. So no, but I was a thrill seeker, so my mom always tells the story when I was two

year

s old, she ran into the house really fast and came back out and I had climbed 12 feet up a tree and she said to me, that? What are you doing up there? So that was the beginning and then, you know, I loved roller coasters and skydiving and all that kind of stuff. I think everyone has the right stereotypes, Top Gun is coming out soon, so everyone says you should ride a motorcycle and play volleyball shirtless, which I don't do.

But yes, we are definitely not those arrogant fighting athletes, like the stereotype that many people have. - It's something very serious. - It is. - And things can go wrong so you have to be serious. - Yes, and it requires a lot of training, a lot of practice, so I think a lot of people think that we ride a motorcycle to work, fly for an hour and then go home. So we spent a lot of time planning the mission, debriefing, we flew our flight and then we came back and looked at it in the greatest detail and then we figured out what we did wrong and we figured out how we can do it better. . - But let's see another of your moves.

This is a video of Major Curran in reverse. That? - Oh! - No no no. Look at that when I would have peed on myself. - Have you ever felt nauseated? This is a question because of the experience I have. I flew with the Blue Angels one time and I was having the time of my life and we were there for about 45 minutes, and that's how long it was supposed to last, but Kevin, the guy who was doing it, said, man, you. I'm kind of nailing this, like the G's don't seem to affect you at all and I was like, let's do this, I'm singing the Top Gun theme song as a tool. - I do that too. - And there's literally a video of me doing this, I literally say yes. (audience laughing) Yes!

It's like, and then I threw up. Yes. In a plastic bag. - I had a four bagger. I vomited four times. - Wow, yes. - Oh my God. So I'm just saying. - What, no applause? - So that you never get nauseous, the G's just don't affect you? You have to prepare for that, obviously? - Yes, I have never had problems with dizziness. A lot of people have problems with that, especially when you're not used to it. But your body adapts after a while. And then the G's, they are much more difficult. So if I don't fly for a while, my tolerance decreases, but when I fly several times a day or every day, it increases and becomes easier, but it is still difficult.

Sitting here we're all a G, so if we all weighed 100 lbs. - Which I do. - Same! (laughing) - Tell everyone. - We're 100 pounds with one G, but you've probably experienced maybe four if you ride like the best roller coasters in the country. Then you momentarily feel like you're pushing 400 pounds. - I love roller coasters. - True, they are the best. Then I get to nine G. I mean, it's not for long, but it still pushes everything into the seat so you learn breathing techniques and things to help counteract that to push everything out. - Hook maneuver, right? - Yes. - Hook, hook, hook. - The G strain.

So every three seconds. - I know about a thong but it's different. - That is different. - Strain. - Oh tension. - That is different. - Help your tolerance G. Save everything, yes. - That's crazy. However, what would scare me is developing that tolerance. I mean, what if you're flying the plane and there's no one with you and you just pass out like I did? Does that happen sometimes? - Well, we do a lot of training to prevent that from happening and many aircraft have new systems installed where the plane can recover on its own. - Oh, that's like Cirrus, who can do that.

A Cirrus airplane can do that. - I mean, that's like saving lives, that I can do it. That's really cool technology. But we wear G-suits. The Blue Angels don't wear G-suits, so you probably couldn't wear one, but I'm sure you wore one when you flew with the Thunderbirds. You put on snow pants with zippers and then there are air pockets. - I didn't buy snow pants. - Yes, I know, what a shame. - But what is your favorite part of the job? - So the best part is the children. I mean, flying is amazing, right? That's fine, of course, but that's not why I applied for the team.

I was the F-16 before, just in a regular F-16 squadron, but going out to an autograph line or we do a lot with the Make A Wish kids, which is incredibly rewarding. They are incredible. It really puts your life into perspective when you interact with them. Or we do school visits to high schools and middle schools and stand there in front of 200 high school kids. When you have those connections with kids and you can tell that they're inspired by what you're doing, especially the little girls, when they come up to me and they're so excited and there's this little girl that I just remembered. from last season, she was probably six or seven

year

s old, she ran up and said, one day I'll take your job. (laughing) I was like, yeah!

I gave her a high five and then she just ran away. She doesn't even get an autograph or anything. I was like, okay, see you soon. - Wouldn't it be great if you were a little like Bad Santa, the movie, and were like good luck? But we actually have a girl backstage who wants to grow up to be like Major Curran and she's only seven years old, but she takes a look. Y'all, she's already pulling G's, like a Thunderbird. He has no idea Major Curran is here. She's going to go crazy. Here we are going to surprise after the break.

You won't want to miss this, I promise. My next guest has been flying since she was two years old. At seven years old she makes seven laps in a plane with her father, who is a pilot. Her dream is to be an elite pilot and, by her name, she is already off to a great start. Please welcome Amelia. (audience applauding) How nice. Talk about being born to fly? Are both of your parents pilots? - Yes. - That's crazy. So how did you get to this? Just looking at them? - It has always been my dream since my dad was a pilot and it has always been my dream to fly a jet. - Oh my god, you look so cool and so cute in this outfit right now.

I mean, you're ready for a video. - Take a photo of the boots. - Take a photo of the country boots below, I'm obsessed with you. If you ever get mad at your parents, come to my house and I'll adopt you. So Amelia, what kind of pilot do you want to be? - An F-16 pilot is like an airplane that is a big jet that has a tail on the back, so it is an F-16 and they are a demonstration team that flies in the air and does aerobatics. - That? (audience applauding) That's amazing. Well, is there a female driver that you admire and that you might want to emulate his career? - Yes, there is one that is flying upside down and she is the main soloist and her name is Michelle. -Wow, and do you like what she does? -Yes.-Do you want to take her job away from her? - I will be the first commander. - You are going to be the first commander.

You aim high or you don't aim at all. Yeah! Well I have a surprise for Amelia, Major Michelle Curran is here, come on out! (audience applauding) (happy music) (audience applauding) (happy music) Oh my God! She said, no furniture will stand in my way. You were pushing babies and children out of your way to get to her. Oh my God. So what do you want to tell Amelia? - I'm so impressed by you. Watching your videos and then

meeting

you, she inspires me. So my job is to inspire people, right? And you're only seven years old and you're inspiring me.

So, I'm really excited to see what you're going to do if you keep working hard and probably one day you'll have a number one Thunderbird in a flight suit, maybe leading the demo round? So I brought you this. - Oh thanks! - Wait, it's signed. - It is signed by all current Thunderbird pilots. Yeah! - So you also have a surprise for Amelia, right? - Yes, actually that's not the surprise, in two days you will come to work with me and you will be a Thunderbird for a day. (laughing) - Thank you! - Oh my God. - You can meet all the pilots and other female officers who also do really interesting jobs.

You can get on the plane and look inside the cabin. You can put on all the gear, the G-suit, the helmet. - Oh my god, isn't it great? - We will take many photographs. - You are excited? I think you're off to a good start. Your career. This is incredible. I can't even imagine being so young and already having a vision of what I want my life to entail and then having one of my heroes help me achieve it. That's really cool. - That's great, you're amazing. - I mean, can you? Because we have it. - How sweet, we are all like that. - We all have children.

Just to have that kind of vision when you're seven years old? - Incredible incredible. - Is incredible. Keep going, you got it. You have this. - Inspire everyone else, oh my goodness. - Little girls watching this right now are not only inspired by her, but they are also inspired by you. You're here flying around on planes at seven. I mean wow.