A rare opportunity to view the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced strike fighter, the FA-18F Super Hornet, will be made available to the general public from 10:15 a.m. to noon today  at Rolla National Airport.
The Airport, which is owned and operated by the City of Rolla, is located about 13 miles north of Rolla off U.S. Route 63.
The pilots of the FA-18F Super Hornet are Commander Steve “Yeti” Brackett and his Airwing Commander, Capt. James “Hoser” Paulsen.
The FA-18F is the two-seat version of the aircraft, which allows the Commander to fly additional missions such as Forward Air Controller (Airborne), and tactical reconnaissance.
Cmdr. Brackett and Capt. Paulsen are assigned to Carrier Airwing ONE. As an Airwing they will deploy with a Carrier Strike Group, currently the USS Enterprise (CVN-65).
Within the Carrier Strike Group they are the air component and are referred to as the Strike Warfare Commander. They provide fleet air defense of the Carrier Strike Group, long range offensive and defensive counter air, air interdiction (strike), reconnaissance, in-flight refueling, and surface/subsurface surveillance.
Brackett and Paulson are returning from a mission visiting Naval ROTC facilities across the U.S.  They will be meeting with students from Missouri S&T's Aerospace Engineering department, which will be hosted by Baron Aviation.
Brackett is the nephew of Rolla resident Ed Schmidt, a partner and president of Baron Aviation Services, which is headquartered at Rolla National Airport.
The privately owned company provides contractual services for FedEx Express Services, and operates a fleet of 36 Cessna Caravans for FedEX.