By Aidan Mortensen | Photo Courtesy of Jim Clash
For Jim Clash, no two days are the same.
Whether it be breaking world records inside a B-1 bomber, driving around Daytona or interviewing famous rockstars like Alice Cooper, if you dream of it, Clash has done it. Clash joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss these adventures and problems he sees developing across the world of travel.
Starting with his most recent accomplishment, Clash set the Guinness World Record for the most supersonic flights by a non-pilot as he took his eighth flight in a B-1 bomber. Speaking on the preparation for this flight, Clash shared,” We always have to do this with every flight I’ve done because rarely do you have to use an ejection seat, but if you do, it’ll save your life. So, I had to go through all the procedures of the ejection seat training. I had to do a physical exam. I had to get in a parachute harness, come down with the virtual reality and not hit trees. I had to do the vestibular chair, where they spin you around to see how your balance is. Just a lot of stuff. And I was tired. We did it all in; I think it was one day.”
While on base for the flight, Clash also engaged in other military activities,” then three days after that, I had to do other things like bomb disposal training, getting bit by German Shepherd attack dogs … The bomb disposal stuff was unbelievable. The suit that you have to wear weighs 70 pounds, like the Hurt Locker. And it is 30 pounds heavier than the U-2 suit that I flew in, the spacesuit. So it was hard just to stand up, let alone do anything. I have a lot of respect for these people who do this bomb disposal stuff.”
Discussing the actual flight, Clash explained what impressed him about the B-1: “I flew it, and it handled more like an F-16. It was very responsive, like an IndyCar versus a NASCAR, which is much more given the steering wheel. When I flew the B-52 way back when, it wasn’t supersonic, and it didn’t have the sort of responsiveness.”
Clash continued,” The other thing I’ll tell you is that it’s very cramped inside, both the B-1 and the B-52. Most of the space on those giant planes is for bombs and fuel. So we’re cramped in. There were four of us. And that is surprising for anybody who sees that plane. And then the afterburners kick out 30,000 pounds of thrust each one of them when you take off. So if you do it at night, these huge flames come out much like a Saturn V rocket. Even during the day, you see them. So that thing kicks you hard once you get going and when it’s supersonic.”
Immediately after his on-base adventures, Clash made the trip to Daytona International Speedway to take laps around the historic venue. “What I do now at Daytona is I’m a certified ride driver. So I take customers around the track at 170 miles an hour in a NASCAR. But I started, obviously, as a driver and student. And I’ve driven a Bugatti at 253 miles an hour. And I’ve driven IndyCars 208 miles an hour at Texas Motor Speedway. So, this was a logical outgrowth of my own driving. What I can tell you about taking people around at Daytona is it’s very satisfying to me to see their reactions. Most people have no idea what it’s like in the car.”
Clash has interviewed eight of the 12 moonwalkers in his career, giving him a unique perspective on space travel. He used this perspective to explain what problems he sees in the industry’s commercialization: “I think there are two aspects. One is what (Elon) Musk is doing with SpaceX, and they’re actually taking people to the space station. That’s a really different thing than what (Jeff) Bezos and (Richard) Branson are doing right now, which is suborbital flights for tourists. And they’re very expensive. I originally had a ticket on Virgin Galactic for a while. I took it back because I don’t like the way they’re doing things.”
“But honestly, if you want to know what I think, I think the privatization is good for the real stuff, Mars, Moon, NASA, Space Station,” added Clash. “And I worry about the suborbital stuff because they don’t wear spacesuits on those flights. And if there’s a depressurization, they’re all going to die in three seconds. So a little nickel-sized hole in that thing would do it. So that’s another reason I don’t want to go up suborbitally, if I wore a spacesuit, maybe. These people want to come back and call themselves astronauts. No, you’re a spaceflight participant or something. But imagine John Glenn or Neil Armstrong thinking, you’re an astronaut. No, you’ve got to go up and do some science. You’ve got to do more than just sitting in a tin can for 11 minutes, which is what Bezos’ flight is.”
He built upon this idea by discussing the difference between real adventure and fad adventure, “There’s a huge difference. And honestly, I’m very dissatisfied with the way things are happening in that business. I’ve been covering this for 30 years. I go back to Infant Thin Air and Mount Everest. Nowadays, you look at Mount Everest, and there’s a line of 100-and-some people going to the summit in one day. And if you look at it, you can’t believe it’s a real photo. Well, these people shouldn’t be up there. They’re amateurs. A lot of them have expensive equipment. They pay $100,000 to do it. But if anything happens, a storm comes in, they’re all going to die. And so I don’t like that aspect. I don’t like the fact that they call themselves big-time climbers when they’re really just guided clients.”
With over thirty years of experience, Clash reflected on his favorite experience as a journalist,” if I had to pick an interview, Dr. Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb. He was an Einstein kind of character, like Oppenheimer and those guys. He was incredibly smart. And I had two hours with him, and he’s a real figure in history. But, you know, I’ve interviewed Armstrong, Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile, Elon Musk, Chuck Yeager. I mean, there’s a ton of them. And as far as the rock and rollers, my book Amplified has 11 of the great 60s rockers in it. Actually, tomorrow night I’m interviewing Alice Cooper, of all people.”
As for his favorite adventure,” I’d probably say driving an Indy car at Texas Motor Speedway, averaging 208 miles an hour. This is about the speed that the real Indy drivers do for a race. So that was an unusual thing. No journalist has ever done it, and no journalist ever will. But, come on, I’ve been shot. I went bullfighting and broke three ribs. I’ve been in the North and South Poles, bobsled with the Olympic team, you name it. But that, I would say, because I had to be an active participant.”
Closing our conversation, Clash shared,” You can do more than you think. This is what I’m saying to your audience. Push yourself to the limit, and you’ll be surprised at what you can do.”
To view Clash’s works, visit here.