Exonian Profiles
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Kerry Kuykendall ’90: Into the Wild Blue
Yonder
When Kerry Kuykendall ’90 saw the movie The Right Stuff in eighth grade, she knew what she wanted to do when she grew up. “I thought I would really like flying fast jets for the military,” she says. Turns out she was right—and that she has the “right stuff” herself. One of the first women ever to pilot a U.S. military aircraft on a bombing run, she has spent the past six months stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the Persian Gulf. After flying 10 routine missions over Iraq to enforce the No Fly Zone, she piloted an F-14B Tomcat on two nighttime bombing missions during Operation Desert Fox in December 1998. The four-day campaign against Iraqi military targets was ordered by President Clinton when Saddam Hussein refused to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors. “As we waited for our bombs to hit,” she recalls, “anti-aircraft artillery flew up around us. But, of course, I had about 10 other things to think about, like making sure the bombs hit and making sure I didn’t lose sight of my wingman or hit another airplane.” No small accomplishment when you consider Kuykendall managed all this, including taking off and landing on the 4.5 acre deck of the carrier, under complete darkness. As one of nine female fliers who piloted bombers, tankers and rescue helicopters during the December assault, Kuykendall has received considerable media attention. But she doesn’t consider herself a pioneer. “I’ve never felt we have preferential or detrimental treatment because of our gender.” Although she spent two months flying peace-keeping missions over Kosovo, Kuykendall will not see action in Yugoslavia and was headed home on the Enterprise when the Bulletin caught up with her via email. She says she cannot imagine a more exciting job than what she is doing now, but she does not rule out Test Pilot School in the future. And after that? “Who knows? I still have dreams of being an astronaut someday.”
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