From Backcountry to Gunship: Jared Butler's Wild Flight Path
Ready 4 Pushback
Nik Fialka
4.8 • 716 Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Nik sits down with Air Force pilot Jared Butler, who shares his remarkable journey from flying in the backcountry of Idaho to operating the AC-130 gunship with Air Force Special Operations Command.
Jared recounts high-stakes moments, including helping locate injured firefighters using low-altitude search patterns and riding out a sudden snowstorm at a one-way mountain airstrip. He also offers an inside look at the AC-130's unique mission and the high level of crew coordination and precision required to support special operations on the ground. As he prepares for retirement, Jared reflects on the challenges of leaving military life behind and shares his hopes for a future in commercial aviation.
What You'll Learn:
The unique challenges of flying aircraft in the backcountry
The structure and mission of the AC-130 gunship in special operations Behind-the-scenes insight into crew dynamics, radio comms, and target coordination on high-stakes missions
Why Crew Resource Management (CRM) is essential in both military and civilian aviation
Reflections on military retirement, finding post-service purpose, and balancing career with family Practical considerations for transitioning from military flying to Part 121, fractional, or ACMI carriers
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, pilot. Welcome to Ready for Pushback. I'm Nick Fialca. Today, I'm having a conversation with |
| 0:08.8 | Jared Butler. And we have two really cool conversations, like two stovepipes of conversations. First, |
| 0:15.5 | we talk about backcountry flying in Idaho, austere environments, flying through snow and like fire spotting and |
| 0:24.8 | like all the different stuff. It's pretty interesting. Mostly for me, like I've never done that. |
| 0:30.1 | I don't know anything about it. And it just seems so cool. Like seems like, man, if I could just get a |
| 0:36.1 | chance to go out there out to the west and do some of that amazing flying, like, that's the freedom. |
| 0:40.7 | That's the excitement of, of flying and the great part of aviation. |
| 0:46.6 | So many cool things. |
| 0:47.6 | And so I wanted to bring that to you. |
| 0:49.7 | Now, the second part is equally cool and super badass. |
| 0:55.6 | Jared is an AC130 gunship pilot. |
| 0:59.2 | And if you don't know what the AC130 gunship is, do me a favor. |
| 1:03.5 | Pause this video, hop over, type an AC130 gunship and watch some YouTube videos on that stuff. |
| 1:08.8 | It will blow your mind. |
| 1:09.8 | We talk about what it's like flying the plane, a bunch of CRM stuff and complexities and |
| 1:17.1 | and just the transition between backcountry flying, AC 130 gunship flying. |
| 1:23.1 | Just craziness, y'all. |
| 1:24.9 | It's really good. |
| 1:26.4 | I wish we had a top secret clearance on this, |
| 1:28.8 | on this episode so I could dive down deeper into a bunch of other questions. But, you know, |
| 1:34.2 | it's what we got. So I hope you like it. I hope you enjoyed it because I certainly did. All right. So |
| 1:38.7 | sit back, relax. Let's get ready for pushback. It all started as a spark. |
... |
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