Patrick Reid: What was the most fun concept plane you’ve been able to fly?

Nick Carden: We did some low level airdrop where we would drop the cargo out of the back of the plane. We got to fly this really, really, 500,000 pound aircraft with cargo in the back at about 250 feet off the ground, going about 300 miles per hour, and slinging out cargo to do some testing. It’s one of those things you have to be in, how intensely aware and in tune you have to be with the aircraft and the testing that you’re doing. That’s absolutely been my favorite testing I’ve ever done.

We got to actually go through something they call the Star Wars Canyons. They call it the Star Wars Canyons because the canyon sits so low, they do a lot of filming for Star Wars. They do a lot of filming there, because they would put the camera crew on top of the hill, on top of the canyon, and the planes would fly through the middle of the canyon. So you could actually videotape on top of the planes, versus most video is coming from the bottom of the plane.

Patrick Reid: Sounds amazing.

Nick Carden: It’s absolutely amazing. To fly something so large as a C17 through that canyon at that speed was pretty intense and amazing. I’ll never forget it.

Patrick Reid: Yeah, plus you got to fly where they filmed Star Wars.

Nick Carden: That’s true.