DATE: Thursday, November 13, 1997           TAG: 9711130080

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:  127 lines

A WISH TAKES FLIGHT YOUNG CANCER PATIENT FROM TEXAS BECOMES A TOMCAT PILOT FOR A DAY, THANKS TO THE EFFORTS OF FAMILY FRIENDS AND AVIATORS AT OCEANA

MARCO ``MAD DOG'' Pena always wanted to fly an F-14 Tomcat. This week he did the next-best thing: He swooped through a virtual sky in a flight simulator at Oceana Naval Air Station.

Wearing a flight suit and helmet, he blazed through a make-believe world of projected grass, water and sky. The world spun and rocked, and he pushed his aircraft harder.

Marco, who lives in Harlingen, Texas, was a guest of Fighter Squadron 101, the Navy's F-14 training squadron. He's a cancer patient, and the aviators and other benefactors wanted to grant his wish of flying a Tomcat, or come as close as possible.

Marco was diagnosed with severe bone cancer three years ago and has undergone a bone transplant and more than 30 chemotherapy sessions, some lasting a week. Many days he could not eat because of nausea and weakness.

At the hospital, they called the chemo program ``aggressive.''

Monday at Oceana, home of the Fighter Squadron 101 ``Grim Reapers,'' Mad Dog had an aggressively wonderful day.

For a while, joystick in hand, he seemed to fly within the simulation chamber, as a trainer coached over his shoulder.

Only one thing was missing.< ``I don't have any guns!'' Mad Dog shouted in midflight.

The instructor placed his hands over Marco's and showed him how to shoot.

Tracer lights flew against green and blue while Mad Dog lit up sky, firing at an invisible enemy.

Mad Dog's visit to Oceana was the result of the kindness of individuals in Texas and Hampton Roads.

Some donated frequent-flier miles. Family friends, unbeknownst to the family, raised money for hotel rooms and expenses. A friend who is a retired aviator arranged the trip and contacted the squadron. The carrier Enterprise was host to Marco on Tuesday, a day added on to his tour.

His family - parents Alonzo and Magda Pena and brothers David, 13, and Evan, 10 - came to Hampton Roads too.

Mad Dog, accompanied by Lt. Marco ``Beaker'' Garrison, sat with aviators as they briefed a training mission Monday. In full flight gear, he toured the hangar bay and flight area, where he watched F-14s launch. He sat in the cockpit of one of the sleek fighter craft.

In the Ready Room, Lt. Louis ``Blue Lou'' Shager asked Marco, ``So how'd you get `Mad Dog?' ''

``I had a club back home called the Mad Dogs,'' Marco replied.

Mad Dog explained that he'd found his love flying while traveling to checkups in Houston.

``We go by plane, and I feel relaxed,'' he said. ``And sometimes I go to sleep because I feel so relaxed. Like, if there was no gravity, I would be floating and stuff.''

He feels he belongs in the air.

``I just like to go up there. When you're in an F-14, you can do all these things. You can go into rolls and chase people.''

In real life, because of his illness, Marco can't chase people.

``I have a limp, kind of,'' he said. ``I can't get up stairs real fast. And big things, I can't carry so well.''

But in the cockpit, Mad Dog could launch an aircraft that weighs over 74,000 pounds fully loaded. He could soar above 40,000 feet, then swoop down on an unsuspecting MiG. He could cruise at 600 mph, then tuck back the wings for high-speed flight.

Perhaps. He would find out in the simulator.

After a long wait on the tarmac outside the hangar, Mad Dog got a glimpse inside a real F-14 cockpit. He approached an aircraft stenciled with his name and climbed the steep yellow ladder leading to the canopy.

It was slow going. He held both rails and stepped with his right foot, then pulled his left up. Step by step, he reached the cockpit.

He sat in the plane for a while, then climbed down while his parents took photos, his older brother shot video and a trio of military photographers snapped pictures.

The family lunched and visited the Navy Exchange, where Mad Dog saluted all the officers and several enlisted folks, despite the lieutenant's bars on his flight suit.

Then it was simulator time.

Another flight of stairs led to a chamber and a runway, which led to a training version of an F-14 cockpit. Marco climbed in the front; Evan rode in the back as the radar-intercept officer.

They took off, and green turned into a light blue virtual sky - and then back to green as Mad Dog rocked and rolled his Tomcat. He dove. He flew upside down.

Mom and Dad offered advice from just outside the cockpit.

``Marco, keep your eye on where you're going,'' Alonzo said.

``Look at your gauges,'' Magda offered.

Secondary concerns for a pilot such as Mad Dog.

``Where's the guns?'' he asked. ``I want guns.''

He wobbled, and the ground seemed to waver.

``I don't have any guns!''

The instructor showed him what to do.

``Now pull the trigger.''

``OK.''

``Now you're shooting.''

Beaker looked on. Soon Mad Dog and Evan switched places.

``The boys are just fascinated,'' Magda said, watching her sons crawl over the simulator.

Her husband agreed. But this day was not for every child. This was for Marco.

``He's doing real well now,'' Alonzo Pena said. ``He's been off the chemo almost five months.''

There will be monthly examinations to make sure the cancer does not spread to his lungs. And another operation in the spring.

``The last one was a very difficult surgery - a limb-salvage operation,'' Alonzo Pena said. ``They took the bone out with the tumor and replaced it with a bone from a cadaver.

``The most important thing is that they got the cancer, and that he lives a long and healthy life.''

His son's flight jacket was slung over his arm, and he held the ``Mad Dog'' flight helmet by it's chin straps. It dangled.

``It gives me so much pleasure to take him to something like this,'' his father said.

In a simulated F-14, through a simulated sky, Mad Dog flew. For a time, the honorary Grim Reaper was invincible. ILLUSTRATION: JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE COLOR PHOTOS

Marco ``Mad Dog'' Pena is in full flight gear...

Lt. Marco ``Beaker'' Garrison of the Fighter Squadron 101...

Photo

JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE

Marco Pena, waiting in the Ready Room at Oceana, says flying helps

him feel relaxed.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu