Pilot Pablo: Twins ace cruises around in ... sim fighter jet?

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PHOENIX -- If you were the ace starting pitcher of a Major League Baseball team, what do you think you¡¯d do with your off-day in the middle of a road trip? Read a book? Lounge by the pool? Watch some movies? Play a round of golf?

Try flying a simulated F-16 fighter jet. That¡¯s what Pablo López did on Monday.

Because L¨®pez¡¯s host dad from his time in the Minor Leagues had been in the Air Force and a pilot for United Airlines for more than three decades, L¨®pez found a string of connections that allowed him to hop in a car and trek over to Luke Air Force Base, in the western extremities of the Phoenix metropolitan area, where he got a chance to fly a virtual jet.

Because apparently, that¡¯s a thing that you can just ¡­ do if you know a person who knows a person in the Air Force.

¡°I guess so. I didn't ask too many questions,¡± L¨®pez said. ¡°I agreed to it and I went.¡±

L¨®pez said he spent 20-30 minutes in the simulator, flying around the Phoenix area before taking a quick jaunt out to simulated Las Vegas and back. This wasn¡¯t his first experience on a flight simulator, either. L¨®pez said that in the past, he¡¯d also piloted simulated flights on Boeing 777 and Airbus A320 jets.

It shouldn¡¯t really come as a surprise that the clubhouse¡¯s resident aviation nerd is L¨®pez, who comes from a family of doctors and turned down a chance to go to medical school to pursue his baseball career. He wasn¡¯t the only one last year, when noted plane geek Michael A. Taylor shared the clubhouse and would just read about aviation during team flights, L¨®pez said.

L¨®pez isn¡¯t quite in deep enough to spend his spare time reading books about aviation or anything, but when he boards a plane and sees a lull, he¡¯ll try to knock on the cockpit door to greet the pilots and ask them about the flight path and other such details, he said.

¡°They gave me those things with wings that you can put on your shirt,¡± L¨®pez said. ¡°I've gotten those before.¡±

Perhaps what¡¯s next on L¨®pez¡¯s wish list is the chance to do a ride-along in one of those jets, which he¡¯d certainly be open to. But he said he hasn¡¯t necessarily thought about going for a pilot¡¯s license himself -- and certainly not while he¡¯s still an active player.

¡°I know people say it's scary how easy it is to get, but I haven't thought about it,¡± L¨®pez said.