Steve Schultz, who grew up in Le Mars and first learned to fly at the Le Mars airport, now pilots F-16 fighter planes for the Air National Guard. He does everything from dog fighting to flying twice the speed of sound, and he loves his job. [Click to enlarge]

Cruising at about 400 miles per hour, Steve Schultz looks to his left and sees the sun glinting off another fighter plane soaring nearly wingtip-to-wingtip with his.

And he's not surprised.

Since he was 3 years old, the former Le Mars man knew this is where he wanted to be.

An F-16 fighter jet like the ones Steve Schultz pilots, refuels midair during a mission in Iraq. Schultz, of Le Mars, spent two months on a tour of duty there with the Air National Guard. [Click to enlarge]

"Flying the F-16 is a dream I've always had, for as long as I can remember," said Schultz, a captain in the Air National Guard, based in Sioux Falls, S.D.

He recently returned from a mission in Iraq.

As a young boy in Sioux City, Schultz met air guard pilots who were members of the golf course his parents Doug and Julie Schultz managed there.

During Schultz' tour of duty in Iraq, a sandstorm hit and turned the entire region orange. Even when the dust settled, the buildings and walkways were coated with orange dust. [Click to enlarge]

His parents took him to visit the air base in Sioux City, which used to be home to fighter jets.

In third grade, Schultz' family moved to Le Mars, but he kept in touch with pilots in Sioux City.

Then, as a 15 year old, when most students are training for a driver's license, Schultz started learning to fly.

His teacher: Earl Draayer, the manager of the Le Mars Airport.

Landing was one of the most challenging things to learn.

"Takeoff's easy," Schultz said with a laugh. "You just put the power in, pull back, and the houses get smaller."

Flying requires learning a whole new way of navigating.

"You can't trust the way your body feels -- it's usually wrong," Schultz said. "You feel like you're in a bank (tilting for a turn), but you're actually flying level."

At 16, Schultz flew solo.

A year later, he signed up for the Air National Guard.

He became a crew chief on the F-16 fighter jet in Sioux City.

"I was an aircraft mechanic," Schultz said. "I learned to refuel jets, do maintenance."

He graduated from Le Mars Community School in 2000, finished basic training, went to flight school in Estherville, where he earned his civilian pilot's license and completed his four-year degree at University of Northern Iowa.

In the meantime, Sioux City's air base was revamped to house tanker jets to serve as a refueling wing. Schultz transferred to the base in South Dakota to stick with fighter jets.

He decided to try to get into Air Force pilot training.

One hundred ten people applied. Two were selected.

Schultz was in.

"It's like you see in the movies -- they yell at you and stuff," Schultz said, remembering the training.

Part of it involved a spin in the centrifuge, a giant rotating machine that tests pilots' reactions to simulated gravity forces (g-forces). The forces felt in the centrifuge are stronger than a pilot might feel while flying a loop in the air.

"It was horrible," Schultz said.

G-forces are something fighter pilots need to prepare for, he said. The more g-forces, the harder it is to move. G-forces are measured in gs, so the force of gravity is 1g.

"If you need to move your head at 9g, and your head weighs 20 pounds, you take that times nine, and that's how much it feels like it weighs," Schultz said. "It takes more work, and you still have to fly the jet."

He did well in the training. After five rides in the F-16 fighter jet, he flew solo.

"It's only a $30 million plane," Schultz said with a grin. "No big deal."

The F-16 travels at speeds higher than 1,500 mph.

It can go from 100 mph to two times the speed of sound in a matter of seconds, Schultz said.

"When you're up there, it doesn't seem like you're going that fast, but if you're flying low, seeing the farm houses fly by, you get a real sense of speed," he said.

He learned to dog-fight (one-on-one battle mid-air with another plane) and drop bombs in the F-16.

"It's the best fighter you could possibly fly," Schultz said. "It's awesome, and they pay you to do it."

His recent tour of duty was a two-month stint in Iraq north of Baghdad.

His group flew air support for ground troops.

"If a convoy drives from one town to another and suspects an ambush, they'll call us up and we'll search in front of and behind the convoy and try to find IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," Schultz said. "It's very tough, they can be a briefcase sized deal on the side of the road that blow up when someone drives over them."

They also flew reconnaissance missions.

"From 2 miles up with our equipment we can find a person, recognize a truck and tail it," Schultz said. "Following a truck takes quite a bit of work when you're traveling 350 mph."

Their missions could stretch to five hours, requiring mid-air refueling three or four times.

Schultz has been in tense situations, but hasn't feared for his life, he said.

"You're so busy working for those guys on the ground getting shot at that you don't think about yourself," Schultz said. "You worry more about other people."

Schultz isn't always in a fighter jet. On the weekends he might fly his own plane from Sioux Falls to Le Mars to visit his parents.

"It takes about 18 minutes," he said. "It's not necessarily cost-effective, but it's fun."

Schultz said he's glad he followed his dream, and his plan, to be a fighter pilot.

"I'm coming up on 10 years with the guard. I might as well make a career out of it," Schultz said. "It's everything I hoped for."