Mayfield Takes Flight in F-16 Viper With Fighter Pilot Brother

Every so often, Captain Patrick Mayfield is able to come to the rink and watch his brother, New York Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield, go to work.
Safe to say, it's a little harder for Scott to do the same, considering Patrick is an Air Force Captain and F-16 fighter pilot, who for years was stationed overseas in places like Italy, South Korea and deployed to Afghanistan.
But since Patrick is now back stateside at Holloman AFB in New Mexico, Scott took the opportunity this week to tour his brother's office - a cockpit a couple thousand feet in the air and hurdling forward at about 800 mph.

"Not too many people get to fly in one of those so the feeling of being able to look out, the feeling of the takeoff, the G-Force on you, it was really special," Scott Mayfield said. "The whole experience of getting to do it with my brother is probably the most special thing."
According to Capt. Mayfield, the flight lasted about an hour and included a one-on-one right with another jet, flying low through the mountains and breaking the sound barrier, reaching speeds of Mach 1.11 (about 750-800 mph).
"He handled all the Gs and the physical side of it fine, which I'm not surprised with the shape he's in," Capt. Mayfield said. "He didn't get sick either and we had a great flight, ended up going exactly according to plan… I hit pretty much all of the objectives I wanted to hit and he held on for the entire thing and only positive things to say from the back seat."

It's extremely rare for a civilian to get to ride in an F-16, but as a pro athlete, Mayfield was a good fit to take part in some of the training at the base's Optimizing the Human Weapon System (OHWS) program. (The program is based off training to help pilots better prepare their bodies for the strength of the G-force, especially impacts to their neck and back.) The flight took about four months to organize - so the experience was not one that the Mayfield's took for granted.
"A lot of trust was put into me to allow me to do this," Capt. Mayfield said. "The experience as a whole was awesome. Getting to do it with him, the rarity of it on top of that's something I never get to share with people. Normally, F-16 is single seat, you're up there by yourself or another F-16 pilot in their own aircraft, so getting to share that with a non-military member and actually do a mission that we train to here at home is a really neat experience."
Captain Mayfield said sharing a ride with his brother has been a priority ever since he became an F-16 pilot.
"I have over 1,000 hours in F-16s, only one with a family member," Capt. Mayfield said.
There's plenty of mutual respect between the brothers, who have risen to great heights in their chosen careers. After going through all of the flight preparations in the two days ahead of the flight, Scott Mayfield was struck by the attention to detail fighter pilots go through to get up in the air.
"How many little things they pay attention to, every little communication with each other, with the tower and all of that stuff, it's dialed in, it's focused," Scott Mayfield said. "Every athlete strives to try to put themselves in a position where they are focused and dialed in enough to perform at their highest level and that's what these guys do. They have to, not only for safety reasons, any little thing that goes wrong could be a big disaster… They do it at a whole new level."

As for Capt. Mayfield, he admired his brother's drive to leave home at 16 to play for the Youngstown Phantoms and navigate a path to a successful and sustained pro hockey career. Capt. Mayfield has been following his brother's NHL career from afar, watching NHLTV from overseas. He recalls staying up all night to watch Mayfield's first game in their hometown of St. Louis.
"Even when I was deployed over in Afghanistan we had just enough internet to make some streaming work and was able to watch games over there too," he said.
While Scott dreamed of becoming an NHL player, Capt. Mayfield had long set his sights on flying. Their grandfather was a Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force - the highest enlisted rank possible - and a trip to the Air Force Academy for a hockey tournament put the hooks in for good.
"I saw the grounds there and learned what the academy was about and that got me wanting to be a pilot," Capt. Mayfield said. "As far as becoming a fighter pilot, that was during flying with and against another plane, we just got a small taste of it during pilot training and that was enough to get me hooked. From then on, I was doing everything I could to get to F-16s."
Even before he became a captain and an F-16 pilot, the Mayfield family - from father Andy, mom Jane, sister Sarah and Scott -
all appreciated Patrick's service and commitment to his country
.
"It's important to our family, we're all so proud of him for what he does and that's what's been so cool about this week, just seeing the behind the scenes and that detail and effort these guys put in," Scott Mayfield said.

They're even more appreciative that Capt. Mayfield is much closer to home now, back on a base stateside in New Mexico. Compared to being in Europe or Asia, the eight-hour drive - or approximately 40 minute F-16 flight - to Denver, where the Mayfield's reside and Scott spends his offseasons, is a breeze. The family was able to spend Thanksgiving together last year and Andy and Jane were at the base to hear the boys break the sound barrier on Wednesday.
As a result, Capt. Mayfield, who had chills as the Islanders Military Hero of the Game back on Feb. 29, 2020, should be able to get to a few more games and not have to stay up all night to watch his brother. And Scott hopes to have more chances to come visit his brother, sister-in-law and niece a little more often.
After Wednesday's flight, Mayfield was hoping for another trip to get his teammates around the base, perhaps to skate with some of the Air Force members.