George M. Wikoff (born 1968) is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

who currently serves as the vice director of the Joint Staff. He previously served as the Special Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy of the

. In January 2023, Wikoff was nominated for promotion to vice admiral and assignment as commander of the

United States Naval Forces Central Command United States Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) is the United States Navy element of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM). Its area of responsibility includes the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, and Arabian Sea. It consists of the ...

United States Fifth Fleet The Fifth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It has been responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean since 1995 after a 48-year hiatus. It shares a commander and headq ...

, and Combined Maritime Forces.

Career highlights

Topgun The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI program), more popularly known as Top Gun (stylized as TOPGUN), teaches fighter and strike tactics and techniques to selected naval aviators and naval flight officers, wh ...

instructor (

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

) at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC), 1998. On 6 July 1998, Wikoff was pilot of

F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...

BuNo In the United States, all military aircraft display a serial number to identify individual aircraft. These numbers are located on the aircraft tail, so they are sometimes referred to unofficially as "tail numbers". On the Northrop Grumman B-2 S ...

160408 for a 1-V-1 training mission at

Fallon Range Training Complex The Fallon Range Training Complex (FRTC) is a United States Navy military area with four separate training ranges lusan integrated air defense system consisting of thirty-seven real or simulated radars throughout the Dixie Valley area of Nevad ...

. A mis-rigged throttle, when retarded to idle, caused a

compressor stall A compressor stall is a local disruption of the airflow in the compressor of a gas turbine or turbocharger. A stall that results in the complete disruption of the airflow through the compressor is referred to as a compressor surge. The severity of t ...

of one engine and the aircraft entered a spin. The crew, Wickoff and

RIO Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

Art "Kato" Delacruz,Rescuer Reunites with TOPGUN Instructor He Plucked from Desert
Julie H Case,

Team Rubicon Team Rubicon is an international non-government organization (NGO) specializing in disaster response. History Team Rubicon was formed in January 2010 following the Haiti earthquake, when William McNulty and Jacob "Jake" Wood led a medica ...

, 2022-06-02, accessed 2023-01-31 both instructors at NSAWC, successfully ejected.Tomcats of TOPGUN
Key.Aero, accessed 2023-01-31

References

1968 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) People from New Brunswick, New Jersey Catholic University of America alumni United States Naval Aviators University of Arkansas alumni United States Navy admirals Military personnel from New Jersey {{USN-bio-stub