BREAKING: Capt. Kotnik, first Female F-16 Viper Demo Team Commander Relieved of Position

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Alex41985
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F-16 Viper Demonstration Pilot relieved of position

Post by Alex41985 » Tue Feb 12, 2019 5:38 pm

Per the Shaw Air Force Base Facebook, Captain Zoe “SiS” Kotnik has been removed from her position as the Commander/Pilot of the F-16 Viper Demonstration Team due to loss of confidence from the commander of the 20th Fighter Wing. Major John “Rain” Waters has resumed command for a third time
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Post by Airshow4444 » Tue Feb 12, 2019 5:40 pm

Some shocking news from the Viper Demo Team today.. .

https://www.facebook.com/ViperDemoTeam/ ... &__tn__=-R
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Post by RyanS » Tue Feb 12, 2019 5:53 pm

In case the FB embed fails...
Viper Demo Team friends and family, please see a message below from the 20th Fighter Wing commander.

I removed Capt. Kotnik from her position as the commander of the Viper Demo team yesterday, because I lost confidence in her ability to lead the team.

I know that loss of confidence is a common response from the Air Force, whenever someone is removed from a command position, and I think it’s important to understand why we take this approach.

We have thousands of Airmen across our Air Force serving our country, and not one of them is perfect. As good people, like Capt. Kotnik make mistakes, I want them to have the opportunity to learn from them without being under public scrutiny, and to continue to be a part of this great service. They’ll be better for the experience, and in turn, we’ll be better as an Air Force.

In these types of situations, I never forget that we’re dealing with real human beings, that I care deeply about, and that we are charged to take care of. This will be a difficult time for Capt. Kotnik, but she’s surrounded by wingmen that will help her every step of the way.

It was exciting to have the first female demo team pilot here at Shaw, but I’m also just as excited about the many other females that are serving with great distinction across our Air Force. I’m proud to serve with them, and I’m inspired by them. Even as I speak, another female pilot from the 20th Fighter Wing is flying combat missions in the Middle East.

Maj. Waters, last season’s Viper Demo pilot has resumed command, so the team is in great hands, and the show will go on. We’re looking forward to another amazing season with this team.

Col. Derek O’Malley
Commander, 20th Fighter Wing
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Post by RyanS » Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:18 pm

This is shocking news. Although she was only announced publicly a couple of weeks ago, she was traveling with the team last year.

It did seem like Rain hung around a bit long for someone who was giving up the demo, but I'm not sure if that's a fact or just my impression. The announcement specifically mentions good people making mistakes. Sad situation.
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Post by Adam » Wed Feb 13, 2019 12:35 am

I find it astonishing how public this is. The statement posted to Facebook was heartfelt and reasonable, but any talk of "loss of confidence" makes it a huge story.

The statement says: "I want them to have the opportunity to learn from them [referring to Capt. Kotnik's 'mistakes'] without being under public scrutiny". In fact, it has exposed her to enormous public speculation by making a story so big it's even made the BBC World News homepage on our side of the Atlantic! It must be an awful experience to go through.

I know of several instances of display pilots being taken off duty elsewhere in the world. Less than two weeks ago, this year's RAF Typhoon display pilot was abruptly switched out. So often there is a vague but graceful excuse - operational reasons, personal reasons, to allow the pilot time to focus on their training or other commitments and so on. Sometimes people privately suspect the given reasons aren't true, but ultimately everybody moves on with minimal fuss.

On the one hand, I appreciate the honesty of today's announcement. On the other, I can't help wondering if it needed to be done in this way - surely it's perminently damaged Capt. Kotnik's reputation and maybe even jeopardized her career?
Last edited by Adam on Wed Feb 13, 2019 1:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by RyanS » Wed Feb 13, 2019 1:16 am

Adam wrote: Wed Feb 13, 2019 12:35 am I find it astonishing how public this is. The statement posted to Facebook was heartfelt and reasonable, but any talk of "loss of confidence" makes it a huge story.

The statement says: "I want them to have the opportunity to learn from them [referring to Capt. Kontik's 'mistakes'] without being under public scrutiny". In fact, it has exposed her to enormous public speculation by making a story so big it's even made the BBC World News homepage on our side of the Atlantic! It must be an awful experience to go through.

I know of several instances of display pilots being taken off duty elsewhere in the world. Less than two weeks ago, this year's RAF Typhoon display pilot was abruptly switched out. So often there is a vague but graceful excuse - operational reasons, personal reasons, to allow the pilot time to focus on their training or other commitments and so on. Sometimes people privately suspect the given reasons aren't true, but ultimately everybody moves on with minimal fuss.

On the one hand, I appreciate the honesty of today's announcement. On the other, I can't help wondering if it needed to be done in this way - surely it's perminently damaged Capt. Kontik's reputation and maybe even jeopardized her career?
I'm with you, but unfortunately the Air Force unknowingly set themselves up for this one. They did so much to promote her being the first female commander and all of that, and so recently, that any announcement of this was going to make big waves. The timing of it just sucks for everyone, but especially her.

That said, I don't know what she did but I can guarantee this was not a decision made lightly and I can't imagine they would phrase it this way if it was not directly some form of personal misconduct. They had to know this was going to grab headlines even outside the industry.

What really frustrates me is how shitty some people are being about it. She seemed pretty nice when I saw her at London, but so many insecure assholes have to take pleasure in it and make jokes about the chick pilot getting tossed. Then on the other side are the preposterous accusations that the AF did this because she's a girl. It makes me so sad.
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Post by KC_Aviation » Wed Feb 13, 2019 1:49 am

Very disappointing to hear this for sure. To the point that this announcement was anything different that normal for the modern day USAF, just look when the Team Lead of Thunderbirds was dismissed in 2017, for lack of confidence as well, no difference between the two announcements.

David
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Post by RFDGuy » Wed Feb 13, 2019 3:43 am

Yeah the new coverage of this is appears to be way more than when the TBirds switched.
Crazy how far reached this story went.
Last edited by RFDGuy on Wed Feb 13, 2019 3:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by AvgeekJoe » Wed Feb 13, 2019 4:19 am

My heart goes out to Capt. Kotnik and I'll keep to me my guesses why she was relieved. I do find it odd that a Colonel and not a General relieved her. Was going to make special plans specifically to catch her demo, now going to use that $$$ elsewhere such as going hopefully to the big Nellis AFB Open House instead.

I do ask guys, having acquaintances - including female - flying in the Armed Forces, that fellow airshow fans and I please keep the speculation down. The aircrew really don't like the civilian chatter, and I've learnt that the hard way. The story will eventually dribble out, as it did with the recent Thunderbirds CO relief.
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