Ryan Bodenheimer

On January 13, 2012, Bodenheimer, then a U.S. Air Force captain, flew F-15E Strike Eagle #89-0487 on a mission from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, that brought the aircraft to 10,000 logged flying hours. He was an F-15E pilot with the 335th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, deployed from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, and was picked for the flight as one of the squadron’s youngest pilots.⁠[1]

On April 24, 2016, Capt. Bodenheimer, a pilot with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, maneuvered his F-16 Fighting Falcon on the flight line at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.⁠[2]

On May 5, 2017, by then a major and Thunderbirds pilot #2, he spoke with Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps students at Vanden High School in Fairfield, California; the team performed at the Wings Over Solano Air Show at Travis Air Force Base on May 6–7.⁠[3]

On November 28, 2025, he appeared as “Max Afterburner” on episode 533 of the Ones Ready podcast, which introduced him as a Strike Eagle pilot and Thunderbird #2; the conversation covered mentorship, resilience, confidence, finding purpose after the military and overcoming burnout.⁠[4]

On May 3, 2026, the YouTube channel Hard Knocks Business published the short video “Former fighter pilot → $1M YouTube business,” filmed in Las Vegas, featuring him and an unnamed female partner who helps produce the channel. In the video he said he flew fighter jets for 12 years and then began making content to share that experience; the channel started as a side hobby before taking off, and they were building an energy drink company.⁠[5][5][5]

In the video he said AdSenseGoogle AdSenseGoogle AdSense is a website advertising monetization program launched by Google in June 2003 that lets website publishers display ads relevant to their content and receive a share of the revenue; its origins are linked to Applied Semantics, which Google acquired the same year.Open the full entry alone brought in about $100,000 a month and that they expected to top $1 million that year. Their podcast covers breaking news, particularly global politics, conflicts and the U.S. military, with him offering a military perspective and his partner a civilian one. He also recalled losing his best friend in a fighter jet crash beside him six months into flight school, an event that left him questioning everything.⁠[5][5][5]

For business owners wary of discussing politics or other controversial topics on social media, he advised looking at both sides, saying audiences today want authenticity above all (video at 01:01).⁠[5]

He advised young entrepreneurs to focus on what they are passionate about, become very good at it and share that value with the world, instead of spreading themselves across dozens of things (video at 01:14).⁠[5]

Asked what he would do if starting from zero, he said he would go into nature with a journal to work out his true direction, and that there is no need to become a millionaire overnight (video at 01:39).⁠[5]

He runs the YouTube channel @MaxAfterburnerusa as “Max Afterburner”; its description opens “I’m Ryan aka ‘Max Afterburner’” and says the channel covers aviation, military tech and “casual geopolitics,” describing him as a former F-16 Thunderbird pilot, F-15E combat pilot and commercial airline pilot.⁠[6]

He also hosts the Max Afterburner Podcast, listed in the News category on Apple Podcasts as his official podcast, covering global military events and casual geopolitics; it began in 2026.⁠[7]

His book Take Command: 17 Principles To Help You Lead Like a Fighter Pilot uses fighter-pilot stories to explain military operational doctrine and apply it to personal life, in four parts on taking command of yourself, the battlefield, your craft and the moment; its release date was listed as to be announced. The author biography on the book page says he flew 70 combat missions in Afghanistan in the F-15E and spent four years as officer in charge of his squadron’s operational war plan for Iran, China and North Korea.⁠[8]

His brand Max Afterburner Energy sells energy drinks and merchandise, with drinks built on a combination of caffeine, L-theanine and nootropics.⁠[9]

YouTube: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MaxAfterburnerusa (opens in a new window).⁠[6][7]

Max Afterburner Energy: Official website: https://maxafterburnerenergy.com (opens in a new window).⁠[9][7]