Having spent a few years at Akr working with those guys, most of them were C135 people with Instructor status on T38's a few ex bomber guys and only one ex F16 pilot that springs to mind. All of them late 20's to early 40's, Det cdr Lt Col his deputy was a Major. All had to undergo a phsyc evaluation and were of the same general type. The chase car has a pilot and ther is one in the tower, the pogos are put back in by the engineers once the ac has stopped. If the pilot is having a good day he can play with the fuel and keep the wings level until Pogo gets there, if not the underwing edge is made of titanium and is designed to allow the pilot to rest the ac on the ground. Finally regarding the posts about the strength of the tail wheel, one pilot called to say, 'tower i may have landed short' the reply was yes you have the approach end barrier trailing the ac down the runway.