The first female commander of the Air Force's A-10 demo team reflects on flying the Warthog on the eve of its retirement

Johnson's father, who served in the US Army when she was growing up, was a key influence in her decision to pursue a military career in the skies. While her father was an Army reservist, a 9-year-old Johnson would take flights with him in his Cessna 172.

But in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Johnson's father, then-Capt. Gary Johnson, returned to active duty, and the plane sat in a hangar for six months before he ultimately sold it.

"Having very distinct memories of getting to fly with my dad and then remembering why I didn't get to fly with my dad anymore because of 9/11," Johnson said, "that's kind of the whole reason that sparked my interest in both flying and joining the military to be able to serve my country."

Johnson's tenure with the A-10 dates back to her early days in the Air Force. She graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2014 and, in December 2016, joined the 355th Training Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona as an A-10 student pilot.

She piloted the A-10 in South Korea and Afghanistan before returning to Davis-Monthan as an A-10 instructor pilot and flight commander in August 2021.

In March 2023, Johnson was certified as the new commander of the A-10 demo team, becoming the first female pilot to assume the role. She credited her historic appointment to "all the women who have come before me and had to break even more barriers."

"It's not lost on me that there are young women who can see me in this job and think, 'Okay, well, if she can do it, then I can do it,'" Johnson said. "That's been really cool to have fathers bring their daughters up to me and say, 'Hey, I came to this show. I brought my daughter or daughters or my son here to be able to show them that women can do these same things.'"

Nonetheless, Johnson said once you're in the cockpit of the aircraft, "the airplane doesn't know the difference whether I'm a male or female."

"As soon as I put on the helmet, as long as I'm putting in the right inputs and I'm doing the right things, it's going to react the same way," she said.

Johnson said trainees need to complete several phases before getting behind the stick of an A-10. Since it is a single-seat aircraft, student pilots first learn the ropes via flight simulations before getting into the plane itself.

It's only after their eighth flight in the aircraft that students are allowed to practice shooting the A-10's powerful Gatling gun.

The A-10's seven-barrel cannon, capable of shooting up to 4,000 rounds a minute, is famous for the "BRRRT" sound it makes when fired.

Firing the cannon can be an intense experience for pilots, with some saying they wear multiple layers of ear protection as the weapon rattles the aircraft. Johnson said "there's nothing that compares to" shooting the gun, from its powerful shooting to its impressive accuracy.

She said the A-10's cannon has a two-stage trigger and heads-up display, allowing the pilot to designate a target on the ground, stabilize the flight controls, and lock onto it in the moments before firing.

"Unless I were to just hit a ridiculous amount of turbulence or were to take the stick and try to physically move it like all the way to the side, as long as I'm aiming at the target, once I engage the second detent of the trigger, it's going to hit when I'm aiming at," Johnson said. "That's what makes it so ridiculously accurate."

It can also carry up to 16,000 pounds of bombs, missiles, and rockets.

It's easy for anyone to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of switches and gauges required to operate the A-10, and Johnson said she was no different the first time she climbed into the attack jet.

"The first time I got in there in the seat, I was like, 'How am I supposed to figure all of this out and learn what each of these switches do?'" she said, adding that her trepidations were later assuaged after taking "a crawl, walk, run" approach to "learning everything in the airplane."

"It's actually a pretty easy airplane to fly just in general to go from point A to point B," Johnson said. "Fairly easy to land, fairly easy to take off in."

For decades, the A-10 demo team displayed the Warthog's best capabilities, from expert maneuvers to combat simulations.

"We try to give everybody that comes to the show a little bit of a whole range of things," Johnson said, adding that the aircraft kicks off its performance at around 450 knots — or just over 500 mph — before slowing down to pass over the crowd.

"I'll do some aerobatics, which is very non-standard for us in fighter aircraft," she continued. "So that's not what we're necessarily trained to do, but that's what I'm trained to do for this job. While I'm doing aerobatics and everything, I'll be kicking out flares from both the wings."

If the weather allows, Johnson kicks off the A-10 performance with one of the most challenging maneuvers — a vertical 540. The aerial display showcases the Warthog's maneuverability, pulling off 90-degree turns and precise rotations.

"I dive down, I come in a flat pass, I pull up 90 degrees nose high, and I do a 540-degree turn," she said, adding that the trick is "fairly disorienting in the first few times to do it."

But the show wouldn't be complete without showing how the A-10 performs in combat. Pyrotechnics give audiences a taste of the A-10's power in a simulated strafing run.

Though Johnson is the only pilot in the one-aircraft team, she said executing the A-10's impressive displays is a team effort, from those who perform maintenance on the plane to others involved in Air Force recruiting efforts.

"While I might be the face of the team, I can't go do what I do if it wasn't for the 10 other members on the team that put a lot of hard work into their job," she said. "For me to fly a 30-minute sortie, it's multiple hours that go into the work on the airplane for me to be able to fly that. They don't always get the recognition that I believe they deserve."

As the A-10 demo team's final season draws to a close, Johnson said she has been "incredibly blessed to fly" the A-10, both in combat and during airshows.

"I've been very fortunate enough to be able to fly it as long as I have, and I'll get to fly it for at least another six months," Johnson said, "so I'm grateful for every hour, every second I get left in it."

"Our whole purpose has been to go out there, take it to air shows, and give it the farewell tour that we all believe it deserves," she added.

The A-10 was built by Fairchild Republic and has been maintained by Northrop Grumman in partnership with Lockheed Martin; Northrop Grumman reported net earnings of $940 million in the second quarter of 2024.

Two of the aircraft that will take on many of the A-10's close-air support missions are the F-35 Lightning II and the AC-130J Ghostrider, both produced by Lockheed Martin, which reported net earnings of $1.6 billion in the second quarter.

The Air Force plans to phase out its whole fleet of A-10s by 2029, citing the changing nature of warfare and the need for a more modernized air fleet.

Though the aging attack aircraft is destined for the boneyard, Johnson said the A-10's mission to protect and support ground troops on the battlefield will last.

"This whole airplane was built to support the 18-year-old with the rifle on the ground," Johnson said. "Our main mission is close-air support, so whether you continue to fly the A-10 for a few more years, or whether you're someone like me who is most likely going to transition to another airplane, or whether you're a maintainer who's worked on the airplane, you should continue on with that attack mindset."

"I've had plenty of people who have either worked on or flown airplanes who have transitioned to another one already, and they've done a great job of continuing that mindset in whatever new career field they've found themselves in," she added. "That's the biggest thing — for us to be able to continue that mission in whatever other platform or job that we find ourselves in."