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HILL AIR FORCE BASE -- The White House plans to cut $400 billion from the defense budget, and those cuts are already being felt in Utah, especially at Hill Air Force Base.
But what if there was a tax-saving option that required fewer cuts?
My best day at work, ever, was the day I strapped into an F-16. What a ride! For an hour I did loops and rolls, flew supersonic, pulled nine Gs and taunted Betty, the voice of the jet's on-board alert system.
"Warning, warning," she said.
That Betty's a peach.
The Pentagon occasionally lets reporters take part in training exercises -- an experience the average tax-paying American can't have.
It actually costs $8,609 an hour to put an F-16 in the air. That got me thinking: how much money could the government raise if people could buy a ride?
I asked some tax-payers how much they would pay.
Well, if I'm a high enough roller and money is no object, then $25,000, perhaps.
–Kenneth Cook
"Well, if I'm a high enough roller and money is no object, then $25,000, perhaps," said Kenneth Cook of the Hill Aerospace museum.
For two decades, the Russians have been letting foreigners pay to fly in their best MiG fighter jets. You get a 45 minute supersonic flight -- plus another $1,000 if you want a souvenir video.
"I'll just want a tour of everything," said Colton Young, a visitor to the Hill Aerospace Museum. "I'd want to be able to fly as much as I could. I'd want someone else to go with me to take me through all of the G forces and everything."
Driving a tank, a week on an aircraft carrier -- there are a lot of possibilities here. And for those on a budget, how about a spin in a Humvee or a tank?
"I can't see why not," said Cook. "I know that the Russians have raised a good deal of money."
And if you can't afford those thrills, you can go to the Hill Aerospace Museum, and fly the simulators for free.
