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SALT LAKE CITY -- When the F-16 roared across the sky, and rocketed into the clouds, smiles beamed on the faces of the eight kids watching from the ground.
"It's really cool. I like it," said 11-year-old Madison Seamons of Smithfield. She knew she was watching amazing skills in action.
Madison was among group of Utah kids with life-threatening illnesses who pulled on flight suits today and hung out with fighter pilots at Hill Air Force Base. The pilots put on a private show and gave the children a glimpse of their work at Hill Air Force Base.
The Make-a-Wish Foundation invited the children to pal around with the pilots and find out more about their jets, their jobs and the missions they fly.
Madison was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis before she was born. She went to Pearl Harbor with the Make-a-Wish foundation and got quite a history lesson. Now, she's learning more about the current generation of American fighter pilots. She was pretty thrilled.
"To actually talk to somebody who's flown the planes - and some of them have gone to Iraq," she said
The kids love the Pilots-for-a-Day program, and the real pilots say they wouldn't miss it.
Eleven-year-old Wyatt Cody Enman of Lehi, who has Neurofibromatosis, said that what he admired most about the planes was that "They can fly around and blow up things," he said.
That's pretty impressive when you're 11 years old and when the sound of the jets is deafening.
Wyatt has been through a lot in his young life.
"I have to have MRI's tons and tons of times," he said
That's tough stuff for a child who's spent way too much of his life in the hospital. His mission today was simple: get to know some fighter pilots and find out what they do.
Captain Garrett Dover of the 388th Fighter Wing flies an F-16.
"You can just see it in their eyes," he said. "It completely makes their day, hopefully makes their year."
Not long ago, Dover was flying missions over Afghanistan. Today, he said the pilots get the greatest reward.
"It's great that we get to give back in such a unique way," he said. They get a chance to give back to a community that gives its airmen such tremendous support. The kids say the best part about Pilot-for-a-Day is that they get to forget about all of the hassles that go with their illnesses for just a little while."
"It kind of gets my mind off of all the medications, and the doctors, and everything that I have to be around," said Madison.
They simply got swept away in the high volume, high energy atmosphere on the Air Force base.
The kids also got a chance to see a K-9 demonstration, and get some autographs and pictures taken with their favorite pilots. But, the highlight of the day was their personal air show.
The day ended with a ceremony with the commander of the 388th Fighter Wing. He gave them each a set of pilot wings to pin onto their flight suits.
