O’Grady Back In The Spotlight

Spokane’s Scott O’Grady thought his days in the media spotlight might finally be over, and he looked forward to routine jet fighter flights out of northern Utah’s Hill Air Force Base.

Forget it. That was before the movie deal and the beginning of work on a second book about the pilot’s rescue from Bosnian Serbs last summer.

“I’ve got to start working with the screenwriters before Feb. 15,” O’Grady said Wednesday. “I don’t have control over what they do, but hopefully I can help make it as realistic as possible.”

O’Grady, 30, was on a routine mission last June 2, enforcing the NATO no-fly zone over Bosnia, when his F-16 fighter was shot down. The Air Force captain spent the next six days on the ground eluding Bosnian Serb forces until he could was rescued.

He has since moved to Utah and joined the Air Force Reserve 419th Fighter Squadron at Hill, which he calls “the most desirable squadron in the whole military.”He just returned from Tampa, Fla., where he signed copies of his book, “Return with Honor.” O’Grady will be at another book signing in Washington, D.C., around St. Patrick’s Day.

Meantime, he has several speaking engagements, will be working with the screenwriters and recommending which actor should portray him in the planned movie.

“I just got a list of at least 15 names, but I don’t know half of the actors,” said O’Grady, who has spent most of the past four years stationed in Europe.