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April 6, 2002Northport native flying high in reality TV show- Viewers can catch an occasional glimpse of Brian Porter on the series 'American Fighter Pilot'By ALISON VANENGENRecord-Eagle staff writer NORTHPORT - A U.S. Air Force flight instructor and former Northport resident is flying high for a national television network's new reality TV series. Major Brian "Pop-Eye" Porter, 34, is stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Fla., which is also the location of the CBS series "AFP: American Fighter Pilot." The show appears Friday nights at 8 p.m. The series centers around the lives of three fighter pilot students as they face 110 days of F-15 training and compete for coveted "Top Gun" honors. Porter was involved in the show both as a flight instructor to the pilots and by flying camera crews to get aerial shots used in promotional advertising and background footage. "I was fortunate enough to participate in the show doing some of the aerial flights," Porter said. "I did a lot of the flying." Porter said the show is a very accurate depiction of how difficult it is to become an F-15 fighter pilot. The three trainees spent the first episode of the show - their first week of training - learning all about the jets from the inside out. They have to pass flight simulations and academic tests before they can take to the skies. About 10 percent of the students fail. Porter said just being accepted to the program is an achievement. Each year 15,000 pilots apply to train as fighter pilots, and of those about 2,000 are accepted. Of those, only 1,100 graduate. Of those, 50 go on to train on the F-15. "Pilot training on the F-15 takes 12 to 13 months," he said. "It's a demanding program." Porter is one of 25 flight instructors in the 95th Fighter Squadron training the pilots featured on the show. In the first episode, he appeared four or five times in background shots, most memorably in the squadron bar making a toast to the squadron mascot, "Mr. Bones." Porter's mother, former Leelanau County commissioner Marie Porter of Northport, said she, her husband, Albert, and other family members saw the debut of the program March 29 and got their first glimpse of their son's work in the air - from his perspective. "For the first time, Brian can share what he sees with us while flying the F-15," Porter said. "We're very proud of him." Porter, a 1986 graduate of Northport High School, graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1990 and was recruited for fighter pilot training for the Air Force in Texas. He attained "Top Gun" status as a student and started working as a flight instructor at Tyndall Air Force Base in 1998. Porter said his hope is that viewers will get a better understanding of how "AFP" is different from other reality TV shows. "I hope people realize with other reality TV shows that those people are in it for the prize or for a career in entertainment," Porter said. "This show is all about real life and real people. This isn't a made-up situation." Alison VanEngen can be reached at (231) 933-1479, or at avanengen@record-eagle.com
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