From Tuskegee to NASA

WARWICK — NASA Astronaut candidate Lt. Col. (Ret.) Derek Green, vice president and general manager of General Electric’s Global Flight Operations Division, was the guest speaker at a Black History Month event sponsored by the Greenwood Forest Farms Association on Saturday, Feb. 23.

Founded in 1919, Greenwood Forest Farms, a hamlet just outside the Village of Greenwood Lake, was New York State’s first African-American resort community.

The event, “Tuskegee Airmen: African Americans in Aviation,” was held at Warwick’s Albert Wisner Public Library.

The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. They were the first African-American military aviators in the United States armed forces. At that time the American military was segregated and the African-American pilots who trained together at Tuskegee, Alabama, flew with distinction.

Green, a retired Air Force command pilot, praised the Tuskegee Airmen for paving the way for him and other African Americans who choose aviation careers.

During his military service Green served as Commander Operations Support of 201st Airlift Squadron, Washington, D.C.; VIP pilot for the White House and Congress; VIP-Special Airlift Missions Branch, at the Pentagon; Air Force, T-1 Flight Commander Gulf War combat pilot; and NASA Astronaut candidate.

Shuttle disaster claims best friend

Green began his talk by showing a video of his interview on CNN following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on Feb. 1, 2003.

In a riveting description citing minutes, seconds, Mach speeds and hundreds of thousands feet in altitude, Green, who was at the Kennedy Space Center awaiting the return of the shuttle, recalled details involving the final moments in the lives of the crew members.

He told his audience how during reentry damage sustained during launch allowed hot gases to penetrate and destroy the internal wing structure of Columbia. That caused the in-flight breakup of the vehicle over Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

On board the shuttle that day was Green’s best friend, Lt. Col. Michael Anderson, who was in charge of the Shuttle’s science mission.

“No one in the crowd realized what was happening, including Michael’s wife, who looked to me for reassurance after we lost communication with Columbia,” said Green. “But I knew because we hadn’t heard the sonic booms we usually hear during reentry.”

Because of the extraordinary altitude of the spacecraft, Green is certain that his friend and the other crew members did not suffer.

“They would have lost consciousness in seconds,” he said.

Green describes that day as a “watershed moment” in his life.

He questioned why he was alive, what was he searching for and what was his relationship with God.

The exactness of flying Air Force One

Today Green, who lives in Hopewell Junction with his wife, Paula, and their son David, 12, serves as a leader in his church and is a member of several charity and social based organizations.

Following his talk, Green fielded questions from his audience.

Many of the inquiries addressed his experience with Air Force One, the 747 used to fly the President of the United States. He described the unique features of the aircraft and explained that the pilots must control the departure and arrival times, even during the ground taxi phase, by the exact second.

Does it have an escape pod like the one in the movie?

“No, it doesn’t.”
- Roger Gavan