First Female USAF F-16 Demo Team Commander Fired After Two Weeks

[Airbubba]

Very unusual for a 'poster child' to be relieved of command in my observation.

From the Air Force Times:

First female Viper demo team pilot relieved of command after two weeks

By: Stephen Losey   16 minutes ago

Capt. Zoe Kotnik, the first female pilot to head the F-16 Viper demonstration team, was relieved of command Monday.

“Col. Derek O’Malley, 20th Fighter Wing commander, relieved Capt. Zoe Kotnik from command Feb. 11 due to a loss of confidence in her ability to lead and command the Air Combat Command F-16 Viper demonstration team,” Col. Allen Herritage, director of public affairs at ACC, said in a statement. “The Viper demonstration team is working to minimize impacts on scheduled performances and looks forward to inspiring crowds around the country during the upcoming season as soon as a new commander is selected.”

Herritage would not comment further on what led to Kotnik’s removal, citing privacy concerns.

Air Force Times asked the 20th if Kotnik wished to comment, but has not yet received a response.

Kotnik, an F-16C pilot whose call sign is “SiS,” was certified as the Viper team leader by ACC commander Gen. Mike Holmes on Jan. 29. She graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2011, earned her wings in 2013, and has more than 1,000 flying hours in military aircraft. She deployed to Kunsan Air Base in South Korea for a year, from February 2015 to February 2016. She also has flown air defense missions in support of Operation Noble Eagle.

Kotnik’s selection garnered a great deal of press and social media attention. The Viper team posted a tweet last month announcing her selection that nodded to the advertising campaign for the Marvel Studios movie “Captain Marvel,” which depicts a superhero who starts out as a female Air Force fighter pilot.

Kotnik’s first show as part of the Viper team’s 2019 schedule was to be at an air show at Naval Air Station Key West in Florida, on March 30 and 31, according to ACC’s website

https://twitter.com/ViperDemoTeam/status/1090249070411685889" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/ViperDemoTeam/status/1090249070411685889

Just a few days earlier she had superhero status in USAF media releases:

‘Higher, further, faster’: Air Force names first female fighter pilot to command F-16 Viper team

By CHAD GARLAND | STARS AND STRIPES Published: February 4, 2019

The Air Force has named its first female commander of a single-aircraft demonstration team, as the service looks to leverage the anticipated popularity of an upcoming superhero movie featuring a female fighter pilot to spur recruitment. Capt. Zoe “SiS” Kotnik was named pilot and commander of the Air Combat Command’s F-16 Viper Demonstration Team last week after completing a series of certification flights. The team showcases the F-16V Viper, the latest variant of the Fighting Falcon, at dozens of airshows each year.

In announcing Kotnik’s selection on Twitter, the team posted a video and photos framed and lettered like a comic panel. “In that instant ... She knew she could fly her F-16 higher, further and faster than anyone else,” reads text that appears in the images.

The line is a clear nod to the “Captain Marvel” film, which premieres on March 8 and features Brie Larson in the role of the titular superhero, whose alter ego Carol Danvers is an F-16 pilot in the Air Force. Air Force pilots, including Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, the service’s first female fighter pilot, assisted in the production. A new trailer, aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday, shows Larson’s character on the flight line walking beside fellow pilot Maria Rambeau, played by Lashana Lynch.


“About to show these boys how we do it,” Lynch says. “You ready?” Larson’s reply, which is partly echoed throughout the 30-second spot: “Higher, further, faster, baby.” In another nod to the movie, the Air Force Recruiting Service included the hashtag #higherfurtherfaster in a post on Friday announcing that Leavitt, who heads the recruiting service, hosted dozens of female pilots for an event at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Kotnik was among them. “Every hero has an origin story,” said the post, which included a photo the women on a foggy tarmac in front of a formation of aircraft. “We asked over 80 female pilots to share theirs.”

Kotnik’s origin story started in Poynette, Wis., where she was born into a family of aviators. Her uncle was skydiver and airshow hall of fame pilot Charlie Hillard, who in 1972 became the first American to win the World Aerobatic Championships. Her mother was also a private pilot. But Kotnik’s path to becoming a fighter pilot really began when she saw a NASA T-38 Talon supersonic jet trainer pull up at an airshow, she told Live Airshow TV last fall in a video interview. The pilot shut down the engines, popped the canopy and pulled off the flight helmet, revealing a female fighter pilot.“It was at that moment that I realized, ‘Oh my god, that’s exactly what I can do,’” Kotnik said.