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Hollywood, Calif., December 5, 2006 – It’s not déjà vu, but reality for Jay, one of the two Navy fighter pilots highlighted in “Speed and Angels.” The movie follows Jay and Meagan through pilot training and as they head off to war. The DVD will be available on Jan. 30, 2007 and you can pre-order by clicking here.
“I am sharing a lot of my life with whoever cares to watch this movie,” says Jay. “Usually it’s my choice if I want to tell you things about me. But anyone who watches this film will find out a lot about me.”
After the first edit, in fact, a girl walked up to Jay and started talking to him as if they were old friends. He had no idea who she was; but the girl had seen a preview of the movie and felt like she knew him.
While Meagan hasn’t yet had the same experience, she says it is hard to watch parts of the film, especially when she was struggling. “But it does make me realize that I got over those hard times. The movie really does a great job portraying our lifestyles. It doesn’t glamorize being a fighter pilot, but it does give an accurate picture of what it is like.”
Both knew early in their childhoods that flying would play an important part in their lives.
Jay’s dad was a general aviation pilot and he owned a FBO before he died of a heart attack when Jay was just 2 1/2. “Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to fly airplanes,” Jay says. “It is something he loved and I wanted to love it, too.”
In third or fourth grade he became enamored with flying fighter jets after seeing “Top Gun.” Jay flew with family and friends when he could, and as a high school junior, started taking lessons, earning money by working in maintenance at the local airport.
Meagan also became interested in aviation when she was 10 or 12 and saw “Top Gun.” “After that, I wanted to fly jets in the Navy,” she recalls. “My parents at first thought my interest in flying fighter jets would pass. But they were very supportive once they realized this is what I really wanted.”
Jay had to do more than get his mother’s approval. He had to overcome some physical limitations.
The summer before he was a senior in high school he went to a party where a Marine, a man he didn’t know, was showing off his new handguns. Although everyone, including Jay, asked the man to put the guns away, he didn’t and said the safety was on so they posed no danger. Then he demonstrated by aiming at Jay and pulling the trigger.
Doctors said the bullet in Jay’s mouth did as much damage as it could without killing him. It meant that Jay spent most of his last year in high school in the hospital. But by the end of the year he was back to school and flying.
The United States Naval Academy wasn’t convinced he had overcome the physical problems, however, and wouldn’t give him flight status. So Jay fought and appealed and fought and appealed some more. Finally, he was admitted, able to fly.
Both Jay and Meagan said they probably wouldn’t have agreed to the film if they knew it was going to evolve into telling their story.
The movie started as a documentary on The Fighting Saints of VFC-13, the only fighter pilots in the world today who teach the art of dogfighting. But the director, Peyton Wilson, soon realized that while the story of dogfighting was interesting, it wasn’t enough for a 90-minute film.
“In the beginning, I was just a small part of the documentary, so it wasn’t a big deal,” Jay says. “I slowly got used to having the camera put in front of my face.”
But as the movie shifted to become Jay and Meagan’s story, the two immediately worried about the kidding they’d get from their co-workers.
“I thought it would be painful,” Jay says.
Meagan had similar concerns. “For the most part, your co-workers make fun of you a little. They call you a movie star and give you a hard time. But most think “Speed and Angels” is really cool.”
“The film looks at the personal side of being a fighter pilot,” Jay explains. “This is our passion and the documentary shows what fighter pilots have to go through… It shows the good side and the bad side.”
In fact, “Speed and Angels” really isn’t a story about Jay and Meagan. “The movie is a story about every new naval fighter pilot that has had the dream and some challenges and who has fought through it and done it,” Jay says. “It’s about all of us.”
And while their story tells about the realities of naval fighter pilots, there is an even bigger story to tell, they say.
“If there is something you want bad enough, you have to keep fighting for it,” Jay says. “If you have a dream, you have to do everything in your power to make it come true.”
Meagan agrees. “Just go for it,” she says. “Anything is possible when you’re in middle school and high school. So figure out what your goals are and work hard to reach them. Realize there is nothing outside your reach. I had no military and aviation background whatsoever. But I did research where I should go to school and how to get into flight school and make it happen. Just don’t listen to those who say it isn’t possible.”
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The “Speed and Angels” DVD will be available in stores on Jan. 30, 2007.
Meagan became interested in aviation after she saw the hit movie “Top Gun.”
Jay’s dad was a general aviation pilot ever since then, Jay had a passion for flying.
The movie started as a documentary on The Fighting Saints of VFC-13, the only fighter pilots in the world today who teach the art of dogfighting, but director Peyton Wilson realized it wasn’t enough for a 90-minute film.
You can pre-order “Speed and Angels”
For More Information
Speed and Angels
Jay
Meagan
Pre-order DVD
Top Gun
United States Naval Academy
The Fighting Saints of VFC-13
Peyton Wilson
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