Step Forward!!

Well….I don’t really have any excuses for not writing for some time….my bad. I last finished up with my midphase checkride. As stated in a previous entry there are four checkrides midphase, final contact, instruments, and formation. With midphase out of the way I focus on putting all the basics together and learning advanced aerobatics!! Advanced aerobatics are basically combinations of basic aerobatcis….for instance: half an aileron roll combined with half a loop is a split S. Pull twenty degrees nose high, freeze the stick (put it into the neutral position) then add a little bit of right rudder and slam the stick to your right thigh; in a second or so you find yourself inverted and then you freeze the stick again. Of course you take a millisecond to enjoy the upside down view then you look straight up…or down how ever you want to look at it….simultaneously searching for a straight road and pulling straight to the zipper. On come the G’s, Give a little G-strain because that’s what the IP wants to hear; “Kuh-sss….Kuh-sss…..Kuh-sss.” Little does he know that I am just making the sounds…it takes at least 5G’s or more to actually give me a run for my money before I have to start actually G-Straining. As I pull to the horizon I pull in and out of the stick shaker (pre-stall indication), max performing the aircraft as it comes to the horizon. Another maneuver is the Cuban-eight; another loop combined with an aileron roll. Started by ‘digging for airspeed’: I will digress for a moment to explain what this term means; it’s a term used for trading altitude for airspeed….basic physics (I remember sitting in physics in high school thinking when are we ever going to use this stuff!…ha! that one came back around). The higher the height or altitude the higher your potential energy which can be traded for kinetic energy, i.e. airspeed or velocity. So in pilot terms…if you have altitude and need airspeed…point you nose down and ‘dig for airspeed’. So back to the Cuban Eight: digging for airspeed, approximately 230-250kts, pull to the zipper…do about ¾ of a loop and find myself inverted 45 degrees nose low I quickly freeze the stick and once again do another aileron roll bringing you wings level 45 degrees nose low. I quickly put forward pressure on the stick because the aircraft is building airspeed at a ludicrous rate and the faster she goes the more she wants to fly/pull up. I have to hold this attitude till I attain 235kts then I pull to the zipper and do the exact same thing the other way finishing off wings level 45 degrees nose low. Other maneuvers include the clover leaf, chandelle, and lazy eight. All variations of the standard maneuvers (loop, roll, split-s).

The best part about this phase of T-6’s though was not the maneuvers themselves, it was the solos! We get two area solos, i.e. we get to take a T-6 out to the MOA (military operating area) and do all the aerobatics alone. That was one hell of a day! The first solo was cool but going to the area on your own is pretty f’ing sweet. So everything is pretty much the same as the first solo…stepping to the jet and pulling up to the hold short but only this time my call is a little different than the first solo “Magoo 24, number one, static, Wizard, my seat is armed” Wizard is an auxiliary field that we use to do patterns at. My plan is to stop by and do some patterns and then head to the area for some fun.“ Winds one two zero at fifteen, number one cleared for take off”. “Sweet! That was your last chance boys, you’re really going to let me do this!” I roll out onto the runway and plant her slightly left of center line. “nose wheel steering off….now power” I let her hum at 30% torque for a moment, give a quick Shepard prayer “please God, don’t let me fuck this up,” then I slam it to max and release the brakes. In a few moments I am off the ground and heading to the wiz. “Departure, Magoo two four, level two thousand one hundred, VFR to wizard.” Departure comes back “Magoo two four, Ident”…Ident is a function of our transponder that makes a flash on departures radar screen…lets them know they are talking to the right person. After a quick push of the button I hear “Magoo two four, radar contact five miles south of the field, cleared wizard”. After a few minutes of navigating I have wizard in sight and I reach a known change of freq point (qwail). I switch to wizard’s freq and I announce “Magoo two four, qwail”. Wizard responds “Welcome to the wiz, your number three in the pattern.” A little more navigating and I am lined up perfectly for initial (starting point in an overhead pattern – google it). I clear (clear: look for traffic) to the left for anyone on 90/45 to initial…sweet no one!. I call “Magoo two four, initial” Hell Yeah! Here we go! I cruise in 200 knots thinking this is going to be the most shit hot pattern I have ever done, my plan is to impress the hell out of the IP’s in the observation tower. I roll into the break bringing the PCL to 10% and slowing to 140 on downwind and check my spacing. I roll out on downwind and find myself at 150….sweet, I have a solitary moment to myself while I lose a few knots, so I think to myself how lucky I am do be doing this on my own. I thank God for the opportunity I have. I come back to what I am doing and focus “airspeed, one forty, gear clear”, I still say it out loud to keep in the habit of announcing it. I keep my eyes on the runway as I come to the perch, taking a few glances in side the cockpit to make sure that I have good airspeed and that my gear and flaps have extended properly. Still announcing “check handle down, three green, flaps take off” (as if there were an IP in the back seat). I roll off the perch making the call “Magoo two four, gear down.” In the words so well put by one of our attached IP’s I think to myself “aaaiiimmmpoint, AIRSPEED! ….Aaaiiimmmpoint, AIRSPEED!”. (Just making sure that our eyes are outside majority of the time coming around the final turn.) Like I said earlier I want this landing to be one for the records. I am working my ass off making little corrections in power and pitch to make sure I am rolling down final perfectly. Now this is important but, in my opinion, there are always two sections to the landing….final and the flare. People can maintain glideslope but if the flare sucks you can still give it to the ground in a hard landing. Funny thing, that’s exactly how the first one ended up…final looked great but for some reason as I came over the threshold my flare sucked and turned the most perfect landing into a navy/gay carrier landing! ‘simultaneously’ pushing the power to max, I find every curse word in the English language to express my disappointment with my landing performance. I get in the air and clean up the gear and flaps as I think about anyone calling initial in the past thirty seconds (can’t pull closed if someone is entering the overhead pattern). Didn’t hear anyone so “magoo two four, request closed,” the wiz comes back with those great words “closed approved!” I decide to hold the plane at five hundred feet a moment longer to make my closed pull as sweet as possible. I wait till the airspeed builds close to 200kts and then I roll and pull, I pull the PCL to 20% part way through the turn to make sure I roll out on downwind at 140kts. After the first landing I was able to bring the next one around for a perfect squeaked on landing! But the third one brought something new to my world, I was told for the first time the dreadful words “In the flare, go around.” (If your landing looks bad from the ground they call your go around for you). From the first solo I gained a little bit of confidence, I came in a little low which screwed the flare a little but I knew I could fix it so I hung a little longer in the flare to do it….from the outside, doesn’t look good…hence the go around call. Oh well! After that I figured it was time to go have some fun in the area. “Magoo two four, initial, departing.” The last three radio calls I attach departing to let the observers know that I am leaving the pattern after this touch and go. I roll around for a standard touch and go and then call departing then switch to departure.

“Magoo two four, passing two thousand three hundred, off of wizard, request contact low.” I give another Ident and hear “Radar contact ten miles south of wizard, cleared area six low.” I respond “Magoo two four, six low.” After a little navigating I arrive safely above my area and request a descent into the area. “Magoo two four, request descent, into area six low.” They come back, “Magoo two four, cleared descent, area six low.” I begin my descent and fence in (Fuel: balanced and quantity, Engine: Within limits, Navaids: Set up properly and being monitored for the area, Communication: Switch to Ch. 9 for ski monitoring, and Equipment: loose items stowed and g-suit test.). I now have a 14 mile by 18 mile by 5,000ft box in the sky to play in. I take a moment to take it all in; unlatch my mask, and remove my visor, and take a look around (sshhh…that’s a no no, to remove that stuff…in case I have to eject.). I did not see a viable threat at the time so I felt ok with doing it! Those few moments spent taking it all in are forever some of the more memorable in my life. It’s an amazing feeling controlling a five million dollar aircraft on your own. I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world to get to do this….and the cherry on top is that they pay us to do this! I give the advice to anyone heading to pilot training….take these moments from time to time, most of the time you are so busy that you don’t really step back and take a good look at what you are really getting to do. Anyways…so with the tree hugging moment over, it was time to have some fun! I proceeded to maneuver the plane in every fashion I had been taught…and a little more. I start with a G-Ex (warm up g’s)….I pulled one hell of a warm up, no where near standard. I rolled to ninety degrees of bank and pulled as hard as I could only peaking out at a little more than 5Gs, couldn’t get much more (evidently the only way to get near seven is to be in a descending spiral while pulling to keep up the energy). Then began one maneuver after another, A loop into a split-s, to an immelman, to Cuban eight, to a barrel roll….damn near got myself dizzy! Fun as hell though! A quick look at the time and it was already time to get heading back…boo! After a reluctant call to ski (ski: radar control that monitors the T-6 MOA’s) “Ski, Magoo two four, 6 low, with hotel, request rio one.” (“[controller, call sign, area, current atis (weather), type of arrival). Ski responds “Magoo two four, descend six thousand, cleared tule (pronounced tool), cleared rio one arrival.” Sweet time to go home “Magoo two four, six thousand, direct tule.” After a little navigating I found myself flying up initial for one three right. I make my newly found initial full stop call…”magoo two four, initial, five fitty.” Hmm…sounds gay when I write it down but it sounded cool over the radio. Call my base “magoo two four, gear down, full stop.” I safely put her on the ground and taxi back with a new found confidence that can only be gained by experiencing such a flight. Man I love this Shit….

Solo and Midphase!

It has been too long since I have last written something down and too much stuff to talk about since then. I will do my best to illustrate what exactly I have been doing for the past month or so. Last I left off I was about to solo…..well that definitely happened and I didn’t die so I will begin from there. It was very interesting because I was very excited but not nervous about soloing. I had been waiting all week to be able to solo….I knew I was ready. Usually the way it works is you fly in the morning with your instructor to see if you are ready and then in the afternoon you fly your solo. My solo was a little different due to some meteorological conditions (weather); I flew my pre-solo ride but because the winds picked up I could not fly that same afternoon. I ended up having to get special permission to fly my solo the next day without a pre-solo ride. The day of I was surprised to be so calm and composed about what I was about to do….I guess I really hadn’t thought it through totally…..I was not over anxious or nervous about the flight all day; at least most of the day was like that. In the civilian world most of the time your instructor pilots will fly with you and then you come back and they get out and you go up for the remainder of the time. Here however you step to the jet on your own without an IP; no supervision. I use that word simply because that’s what a lot of pilot training is, supervision; No one to see if you preflight the jet properly, to see if you start the jet properly, just no one. It is the coolest feeling in world stepping to your first military aircraft by yourself; you get the first real sense of being a pilot. On the other hand, it wasn’t until I had actually strapped the jet on had I realized the level of the situation I was in, I never thought twice until then about how they were about to let me take a 5 million dollar jet up by myself……which is bad ass!!; but then I began to get a little nervous. As I was going through my normal engine start up and taxi I could not stop thinking about the fact that if I miss something….its on me…I have no IP in the back to catch my mistake. You better believe it took me twice as long to start the jet as it normally takes. Although there is more room for error because I am on my own, there is still that safety factor that if I mess up or something goes terribly wrong I always have that option to just give it back to the taxpayers and punch out…..Martin Baker M-16 ejection seat….our get out of jail free card; Hopefully I never have to use it.

Once I got the plane started and up to the hold short line (line you ‘hold short’ of before taking off) most of the nervousness had left and my natural tendency to say ‘I got this shit’ took over. “Pogo 25 number one, static, patterns, my seat is armed” (call sign, number waiting for take off, type of take off [rolling, static], what I will be doing, and my safety pin is out of my ejection seat). The controller comes back “ Number one, winds three one zero at one four, cleared for take off”……holy shit I am about to do this! “Pogo 25 cleared for take off,” I respond. I taxi out onto the runway, come to a stop, click my nose wheel steering off, power up to about 30 percent, holding the brakes, check my engine gauges “engine green and white good for flight….lets go have some fun!”, I release the brakes and push it to full power. The plane torques a little to the left due to the propeller….a little correction with some right rudder and we are rolling down smoothly. Still making the normal call outs even though there is no one in the back “Airspeed alive, good engine!,” “eighty knots, start to pitch back.” Once lifted off I still call “two climbing, good engine, gear clear…..” (Two instruments tell us that we are climbing, the engine is running good, and clear the gear with the guy in the back), “Gear up, flaps up, lights out, 130” (gear have fully retracted, flaps have been retracted, a little light in the handle goes out when the gear are up, and the airspeed.). After that I went around the patch (pattern) before I decided to attempt my first landing with no supervision. The cockpit was oddly quiet, minus the radio chatter. The patterns felt normal as usual except I put quite the buffer on my landings….if they didn’t look right, feel right, or smell right I went around. The controllers for our runways are notorious for the ground to air hook. If we screw something up in the pattern and they notice it, we can still fail our ride; pogo’s that is (initial solo’s). All in all though it was still my day….for that 40 min or so that aircraft was mine; I pondered what they would do to me if I would have departed the pattern for a little fun out in the area….just for a moment though. The flight went well besides the few go around’s; I was able to bring the plane back safely with no problems. Once on the ground I taxied back and shut down where I had many of my classmates waiting!

There is a tradition that after your solo you get dunked in the solo pool…..a cow watering hole looking thing. There is a stipulation though…..if you make it back to the flight room without being caught then the class has to buy you beer for successfully eluding them; I did not get back to the flight room.

With solo out of the way I now got to get into some of the better parts of flying….Aerobatics! The first block of aerobatics consist of maneuvers that require only one control surface; The Loop, Aileron Roll, and Split S. I thought flying at 200knots was cool….till the ride after my solo. Majority of the ride was spent going over the maneuvers…….sweet! basically just yanking and banking pulling 3-4 G’s and going inverted for an hour; Something I had been dreaming of doing since I was a kid. The loop – a maneuver that is pretty straight forward, 230-250 knots wings level and then a 3-4G pull…..straight to the zipper, then slowing to 120-140 over the top (have to keep an eye on this because if your faster than this over the top you will gain too much energy/airspeed on the way down….dangerous), a slight less pull over the top but right back in on the way down. On the way down pick up a road to pull straight while you pull to the horizon. Pretty cool maneuver. Other maneuvers include the aileron roll and the split S.

With the first solo complete I was now onto more important matters, Mid-phase checkride. Mid-phase checkride is the first checkride of four in phase II. The checkride itself is divided into two sections, the ground portion and the flight portion. You basically fly a profile that contains many different maneuvers and types of patterns/landings first and then come back for a ground evaluation that test your knowledge of the aircraft and emergency procedures. Everything on the flight and ground portion start off as an excellent and then move down in grade as you, in essence ‘screw up’. There is a whole flight of check pilots dedicated to the very task of evaluating students. They are allowed to fly with a student only once to insure that there is a no biased evaluation of the student’s performance. Check rides are some of the most stressful flights in UPT; in college your test were weighed more than your daily homework’s and participation grades….same thing here. There are a few small differences though…..college tests: controlled environment, check rides: several variables out of your control (i.e. weather, aircraft performance, difficulty of check pilot, etc.) and one dude watching your every move from the back seat.

They tell you that you need to be as prepared as you possibly can because Murphy is going to sitting right by your side. That was the truth for the day of my check ride. The night before my check ride the weather called for winds out of the south (runway 13R) with a possible change during the day coming from the north (runway 31L). So the night before I decided to be as prepared as possible and go over how the pattern would change if the runway changed; good on me right? A little. The day came and I had everything ready for the ground evaluation I just needed to get through the flight. Well as stated, Murphy decided to come for the ride. That morning the winds not only shifted to runway 31L but they also were calling for high gusty winds…..”F’ing great!” I thought to myself. This means I would have to carry power in on final and I would have to totally change the way I do my emergency landing pattern (a one chance try at the runway simulating an engine out, gusty winds make it very difficult). It is a very eerie feeling briefing with someone you have never flown with before that is going to have a huge affect on the rest of your life. So I meet my check pilot, 1Lt DeWolfe. First impressions were not bad, it was still the, I am the IP and you are the student feel but it was not as bad as I had expected it to be. So we briefed up the flight and stepped to the jet, where the first possible hook sometimes happens – the aircraft forms (forms that show any write ups/discrepancies/fuelings/engine hours…etc.). If studs miss anything on the forms and try and take a jet without the proper forms…instant hook. Murphy decided to say hello here too! The forms for my jet had a lot of stuff I had not seen before but in my mind it was no time to go asking the IP…”what does that write up mean?” Hind sight I should have asked a crew chief but luckily enough nothing was wrong with the forms when I put them back in the aircraft…..whew! We strapped the jet on and started listening to ATIS (weather/airfield status…etc.), sure enough winds gusting and something interesting, a cloud cover rolling in….hmmm. If the status is not dual (weather at a certain weather minimum) then normally the check rides don’t happen….normally. The weather was calling for restricted solo (another status that allows solos) when I pulled from the chocks but by the time I had gotten onto the taxi way the shit hit the fan. They quickly changed the status to restricted patterns (one of the lowest status’s, lower than dual) and now they were doing a different departure……a departure I had never done before. At this point I almost wanted to laugh because there was a list in my head that I made before I stepped that had everything that could possible go wrong..….one by one they were occurring. Because of the status change the taxi way got very congested because they were recalling all the solos that had taken off a few minutes before. All the available places I normally had to do my run up were taken…..”where the hell am I supposed to go!” I began thinking to myself. The IP was nice enough to take the aircraft and park off to the side out of the way….it was a non-standard event so I was not graded on it.

By the time we got to the run up area the status was not dual….so I queried the IP “Sir, right now the status is not calling for dual….are we still going to go?”…..after a long pause he just came back “just continue doing your run up I will take care of that.” So I am thinking there is no way we are going, we don’t have a dual status and the weather looks like crap. After I finish the run up he said the absolute opposite of what I wanted to hear “ok dude, here is what you are going to do, you are going to pattern delay here, I will get you to low key (mid-way portion of an ELP, didn’t have the weather for a full up ELP), and then we will hit the area and then come home.” Now this changed my whole profile; Hmmm….So I make a quick scan of my list, ‘yup, everything that I think could have gone wrong, has gone wrong’. My response to him of course is “Yes Sir!” I attribute everything in that flight to the moment right before I pulled onto the runway….I made a quick prayer, and then threw everything out the window, I had no more excuses for doing bad, I was in the worst state I could possibly be in. “You got this shit Mike!” The most amazing thing happened next, I flew one of the best, most precise flights I ever flew since I began flying the T-6. Everything in the flight just worked perfectly, I carried power in on final and my landings were money, I was conservative and rolled off of low key early and my ELP was perfect, and all my maneuvers in the area could not have been done better. The easiest part came when I got back, the ground evaluation. I over prepared for the ground evaluation so all the questions came and went; quick and easy. He briefed me on everything that happened during the flight and the ground evaluation and then told me my grade. It amazed me to hear the words come out of his mouth when he told me I had earned a 2E, a very good check ride score. Only two downgrades for the whole flight.

Whew!!! Now on to advanced aerobatics! I thank god for everyday I get to fly!

Mustache March!!!

So what exactly is Mustache March? It’s where everyone, that is able, grows a mustache for the entire month of March. You have many types, small ones, big ones, bushy ones, adolescence ones, pedophile ones…etc. . It’s not necessarily the best month to be around an Air Force Base. They definitely look pretty tacky around the squadron right now! None the less Guns flight is still growing them strong. …..and yes there are regulations on mustache growth in the Air Force.

Well I can’t believe that we have been on the flight line for a month now. I am up to ten flights in the T-6 and I only have two more before I solo (scary….not really). So far everything is going well; I have not encountered any big obstacles to overcome. Flying is amazing and fun as hell but as the day’s progress on there is always something new to learn. Right now it is all contact stuff, which means we are just learning the basics: how to fly the traffic pattern (drastically different than a civilian traffic pattern), how to do power on stalls, slow flight, nose high [low, inverted] recoveries, spins (f’ing cool), traffic pattern stalls, ELP (emergency landing pattern) stalls, and mainly how to be safe! The cool stuff comes after solo, we get to do basic aerobatics (baby aero….as they call it) which consists of loops, aileron rolls, and a split S. But its not all fun and games in the cockpit, we are coming up on our Instruments II test which is taking most of our studying time in the flight room if we are not studying for an EPQ, Stand up, instrument sim, EP sim, or just preparing for your next flight. As for Instruments I, I pulled a 95.74. It’s a good score but overall as a class we did not do too well. It was the first test we had while on the flight line and the first test we had people fail; a humbling moment for the class.

It is very interesting to see how we are doing as a class now that we have hit the flight line. During phase I academics we pretty much mopped up; handled everything they threw at us and we did it well. But now that we have hit the flight line the class is struggling, having more failures during test, and are beginning to hook rides (get unsat for a flight). “It’s a dark time for 09-04,” so well put by our flight commander. We just need to come together more as a team and try helping one another out more often. Once everyone gets past their mid-phase checkride things begin to click a little more, so they say.

I thought I would be able to make it through the program without hooking a ride but I have already failed at that goal….for a very stupid reason too. Everything in your flight from the time you sit down to brief to the time you finish your debrief is graded, everything! It was a normal day, at least it should have been, where I was preparing for another flight. A classmate of mine, Logan, and I began talking about the days planned events….after a little conversation, a dirty joke, and some mild prodding we came to the conclusion that we had planned to go to the same auxiliary field and we were scheduled for a take off time with in three minutes of each other. Now due to the competitive nature of us, we put a small wager of an adult beverage on the line for the first man to get to Wizard (the Aux field); First mistake! Well that being said I was determined to beat him so I went and pre-flighted my gear (check the seal on your mask….before every flight usually right before you step) before I even briefed; second mistake! I then went back and briefed up my flight as quick as the IP would allow and we made our way to the suit up area. I proudly threw on my gear as quick as I could (Note: everything is not actually strapped on until you get into the plane) and stood waiting for my IP as he pre-flighted his gear; third mistake! We arrived at the plane and I did the standard ground ops to the best of my ability so as to expedite our departure. So we go to get into the plane and I begin strapping on my harness……only it fits a little snugger than usual; now at this point something should have clicked in my head but the only thing going through it was I need to beat Logan to Wizard. So, a quick adjustment and bam I am good to go; fourth mistake! I strap in and then get the helmet on (not the mask yet). And begin to get the plane started. With the canopy closed and the propeller running I finally get to the part in the checklist where I don the mask….only it fits a little weird, it felt like it was binding on something…..”Mike I need to beat Logan to Wizard, you can fix it on the way.” I thought to myself as I continued the checklist; fifth mistake! I should note that I verbalized a little of the “this doesn’t fit right,” which my IP was able to pick up on. As I continued the checklist my IP began asking me two questions: What is the last four of your social? What is your last name? I was a little thrown off but answered none the less, “my last name is written on the card you idiot” I thought to myself (data card: holds the flight profile)….then it clicked as he told me to turn my head. On our helmets is a little sticky that has, you guessed it, our last four of our social and our last name. Only the helmet I had on did not have any of the answers to the previous questions…….I was not wearing my gear! After I shut down the engine per request of the IP, I made the walk/sprint of shame across the flight line to switch the gear out for my correct gear! While suiting up I put my G-suit on but must have take a step back and when I went to grab my harness and helmet I grabbed the dudes’ next to me. The rest of the ride went great, but in the debrief he made it crystal clear that I had not passed the ride because I unsat’d the ground ops portion! Stupid mistakes that I will never make again. And yes I definitely got a lot of shit for that.



Well other than the stupid mistakes here or there I am doing pretty well. We got some new name patches which everyone is stoked about; they make us look semi professional. Check the pics. Other than that looking forward to soloing. Peace!

Dollar Ride!!!

So we finally hit the flight line……I am utterly stunned at what I am doing. This past week we hit the flight line…i.e. we all start flying or better yet learning to fly the T-6. Before we get to fly, each morning we go through ‘the morning brief’ first, it’s a briefing done by the students that informs that class of the projected weather for the day, informs everyone of the current NOTAMS (notice to airmen, notes on items that have changed in the area and are not in our current publications; i.e. out of service runways or navigation aids etc), and we also go over the previous days 355 comments (records of previous days flights and anyone who had messed up radio calls). Usually the brief last a half hour and are very professional. Our first formal brief, however, was one for the record books. A few days before we hit the flight line the previous class decided to give us a brief on how to be successful throughout the program and also gave us some insight on how to prepare the morning brief. It helped us out tremendously….or so we thought. Running through all the slides needed in the morning brief, one came up that said Air Force Song. They told us that “at this point everyone just stands up and begins singing,”….. “I know it sounds weird but its just one of those hazing things you have to do until your mid-phase check rides,”…..we all thought it was weird at first but we all wanted to perform and be prepared so we inevitably trusted them and fell for it; That’s right! The Air Force Song is NOT supposed to be sung during morning brief! Well the first day on the flight line comes and we begin our morning brief, everything goes well except for a few minor details and of course the one slide. The one slide comes up and all 29 of us come to attention and begin singing! We are quickly interrupted by the flight commander though, “What are you doing!! Sit down!! Sit Down!! Formal brief is no time to be cute!!”…..We all stop immediately and do as we are told, in total disbelief of what is going on. As I sat down I took a glance around the room to see the confusion in everyone else’s eyes. Best put by a previous cadet commander of mine “you know that sound a gun makes when its empty” “CLICK!”…..It only took me a few seconds, we had just been fooled!!! How could we be so gullible! I couldn’t help but say in my head “oh you bastards!!” and then I laughed a little inside. Well played my friends, well played! After we were well reamed for our actions we finished the brief and gathered around each other to share our disbelief. It didn’t even take to the end of the day to make it around to all the squadrons, 09-04 had become infamous…….and we hadn’t even touched a T-6 yet.

Well once the morning chaos came to an end everyone began planning for their first flights. I was overly excited because I was in the first go of the day. I had a brief time of 0950 for an 1120 take of time. The first ride is called your dollar ride, it’s called that because it’s a freebee….you can’t do anything wrong to mess up your gradebook. The ride is set aside to motivate you and acclimate you to the flying environment; It did just that! During my briefing all I could think about was getting to strap on the aircraft….I kept thinking….ok ok…got it ORM (operational risk management), blah blah blah….lets go fly! Of course that is the total wrong idea but none the less I still wanted to get to the aircraft. So my briefing finally finishes and we get to go get suited up. As we walk to the aircraft I couldn’t help but think back to when Justin and I went to Enid, Ok to go check out the pilot training base there and we got a tour of the flight line; we saw several students stepping to and from their jets…..its weird….now I am actually the one in their place. It didn’t truly hit me about what I was doing until I went through my checklist to start the engine. Up to that point I had been through all the checklist and worked on getting the aircraft started as quickly as I possible could. I was going through the motions and then I finally looked up and was in awe when I saw the propeller spinning in front of me. I couldn’t believe I was about to fly my first Air Force Aircraft!

Of course this was only for a split moment because I needed to get the aircraft out of the chocks as quickly as possible. With the engine started I went through the finishing touches on turning everything on and I then motioned to the crew chief that I was ready to go. Once that happened my IP took the aircraft (boo!!) he was a demo/do kind of guy….meaning that he wanted to show me once how everything was done and then it would be up to me to perform it the next time because I saw it once. Either way we got rolling and got to the end of the runway…made our call “Texan 17, number one, static” ….”Texan 17, winds one three zero at one zero, cleared for take off”….”Texan 17 cleared for takeoff.” Rolling onto the runway for the first time in the T-6 was another surreal moment, the runway was huge; and I was about to fly in my first Air Force Aircraft! Once again I did not get control, my IP did a demo takeoff for me; none the less it was still cool. The T-6 has so much more power than I ever thought. Once we were airborne we flew out to one of the MOA’s (military operating areas) and we went through a few maneuvers, starting with the G-EX (just a slight descending turn pulling 4G’s, it’s a warm up for the following maneuvers and has to be done every flight). I went up not knowing what to think about how my body would react to G’s and how I would like them; I had a flight in a T-38 before but it was so long ago and I was not at the controls. Nor worries though, I love them; 4G’s is actually not as much of a strain as I thought it would be. We were holding conversations about how my breathing technique needed to be fixed…..all while pulling 4G’s. Once that was finished he gave me the aircraft and said he wanted me to do some turns to some headings, I know it sounds pretty boring but you throw 60 degrees of bank in, 2G’s, and a student that is totally on the top of the world…..it was awesome! With that maneuver done he showed me one last one, a power on stall. Pretty straight forward, pull up and let the aircraft lose its lift. After that he said “well that’s all I have right now, is there anything else you want to see?” ……..Never ask a dude that now is positive he loves pulling G’s and knows there is so much more the aircraft could do, if there is anything else he wants to see. On dollar rides the IP’s are not allowed to demo aerobatic maneuvers but the day before my roommate told me to ask about clearing maneuvers (turns to clear your area of other traffic), Vertical ones to be specific. “Sir, Think I am supposed to ask you about vertical clearing maneuvers,” I asked…..”haha….vertical clearing maneuvers” He responds. After a moment of pondering he comes back “how are you feeling” (he was notorious for asking that, I guess a lot of students usually get sick on their first ride). “I feel great, sir”. I then feel a slight drop in the nose to gain airspeed and then he comes back “get your strain maneuver ready” (AGSM – Anti-G strain maneuver, a way to tense your body to keep the blood in your head). YES!!. After which we began to pull a loop, then a split S, then a barrel roll. The whole time I am just near laughing at the top of my lungs because I am so excited! I can’t believe they pay me to do this shit!

Once the maneuvers were finished he gave me the aircraft to fly back to Laughlin. Did a few checklist and made a few calls and before I knew it we were heading back, sad at first but the traffic pattern at Laughlin is quite a busy place. The traffic pattern for you flyers are sometimes boring, or maybe they aren’t for some, but when you’re in a T-6 banking 60 degrees every time and flying 200kts, stuff happens fast and it’s hell-a-fun! On the second to last landing he gave me the aircraft from the perch point and let me take it in on my own. Whoa! Pretty sick bringing it down to the ground for the first time! I was pretty shocked he let me do it, but I know he was guarding the controls in the back. I was able to set in down on the ground on my first try…..I think it was complete luck but none the less I did it. We went around the patch one more time and brought it in for a final stop…..so sad! We taxied back and shut her down…..I just had my first flight of my Air Force Career…..unbelievable.

I would love to go on more about how the rest of the week of studying and standing at attention answering questions went but I need to get prepared for the next one. For anyone heading to pilot training reading this….its everything you’re dreaming it would be! If you’re opinion differs then you probably don’t belong here.

Phase I Complete!!!

Whew!!!.......where do I start? The last update I had was somewhere near the beginning of phase one….around the physiology time frame. Well I know some people have been looking forward to an update but there really has not been much of a change in routine till now. Phase I has included many hours of studying/reading, working out, and now sims…..now I am not much of a reader but the amount of material we have been through in the past few weeks is a stack of papers roughly a foot high; I think I have read more here than I ever did all four years of high school. In the past 3-4 weeks we have been through 7 academic test, 2 fitness test, and 5 Sims (simulators). Below are my scores (Note: my scores are posted to keep my family and friends informed on my performance here at UPT and are not there to boast over anyone else.):

Fitness
- PFT (Physical Fitness Test): 100%
- FACT (Fighter Air Crew Test): 100%
Academics
- Local Area Survival: 100%
- Aerospace Physiology: (-1) roughly 96%
- Systems 1: (-1) 98%
- Systems 2: (-1) 98%
- Aerodynamics: 100%
- Flying Fundamentals: (-2) 96%
- Contact: 100%
Simulators
- B1001: Excellent
- B1002: Excellent
- B2001: Excellent
- B1101: Excellent
- B2001: Excellent

I will probably not post any more of the sims just because there are so many of them. It should be noted as well that the excellent score on the sims is not hard to reach my any means; they have “very low standards,” so well put by one of the LSI instructors (sim instructors). As for our class as a whole though, we are doing awesome; the average for every test so far is one missed question and no failures. I guess that is unheard of in pilot training, every class usually has at least one failure per test or something like that. So 09-04 is making a good name for itself thus far….now if we can keep it going on the flight line.

Now for some detail; Academics is run around a system of teaching that comes from all angles. We have CAI’s (computer aided instruction) that walks you through the lessons, then you have a the actual lessons themselves in your pubs, and then you have a review with an instructor; this is good because it helps people out that come from all different styles of learning, visual, group/individual studying, verbal….etc. A typical day of academics in UPT is as follows:

545 – wake up (1hr to get ready/eat breakfast, ½ hr to drive to work)*
715 – show
715-1100 – 2-3 CAI lessons
1100-1200 – lunch
1200-1700 – 2-3 CAI lessons or classes/reviews/simulator
* We have one gate open right now so you have to wait in a 10 min line to get onto base..Sucks!*

The simulators are the best part of academics because its really where you get hands on with what you are learning. You have about 45 min briefing with the instructor on what the sim is going to entail, about an 1hr in the sim, and then a 45 min debrief with the instructor. They have three different types of sims, UTD’s (cockpit but no visuals/screen), IFT’s (1 screen in front), and OFT (270 degree visual surrounding you; the coolest one). The sims are pretty much the coolest video game a kid could get to play with, you have a cockpit with all the switches and controls and then a surrounding screen; you also have to be suited up in your harness, helmet, g-suit (on Emergency Procedure sims). The emergency sims are cool because you go out and fly to the area while the whole time the sim instructor is throwing emergency situations at you: “Departure, Texan 11, four thousand five hundred for one three thousand, request contact low”….[interrupted by flashing lights] *Fire Light & Master Warning Light Illuminate* *Aural warning goes off in your helmet* *Hydraulic Pressure and Oil Pressure begin fluctuating* *ITT begins increasing* *Power loss*. [Turn, Climb, Clean, Check] - Turn towards the nearest airfield, climb to trade airspeed for altitude and get to 125 KIAS (best glide speed), clean the aircraft….i.e. gear/flaps/speed brake retracted, and check your instruments to analyze the problem. “Looks like we have a fire [boldface applies – PCL-OFF, FIREWALL SHUTOFF HANDLE – PULL], sir is the fire extinguished? (asking the LSI instructor)”, instructor response: “nope”. [notify the IP that an ejection is imminent] "Sir engine fire, no response to actions, prepare to bail out”, [Check Airspeed and Altitude; 125-180KIAS & above 6000MSL], [notify the world what is happening your cockpit/distress call] "Texan 11, two five miles south east of Laughlin, two souls on board, engine fire, bailing out over area 1,” [squawk 7700 if time] [check your visor down, mask clicked tight, leg straps, lab belt, seat survival kit, harness checked] [turn toward an uninhabited area] [Assume the position: head back, arms in, legs extended] “ok, lets do this! BAIL OUT! BAIL OUT! BAIL OUT!” And we live to see another day. Now that of course is just in the sim, hopefully we will never have to see that problem in the actual aircraft but in the chance we do, we know how to approach it.

Now that’s all cool but the really cool part comes next week when we hit the flight line and we actually get to fly the real thing. I get to finally be at the controls of my first Air Force Aircraft!! Its going to be awesome but I am sure I will be hearing a lot of “I have the aircraft,” (what the IP says when I do something stupid or wrong and he takes the controls), my response will be “Damn!, you have the aircraft.”

As for the social aspect of things in my life things are going well, its pretty cool when you can just chill at the end of a week with all the dudes you work with and studied hard with. Of course we threw another famous 09-04/08-13 party to keep people entertained on Saturday nights; pictures are below. Mom, that is red colored water in my camelbak (and yes, that is the way it is spelled). The most interesting social interaction I had was last night; we finished our test and headed to the O-Club to blow off some steam. There just happened to be a party for some high ranking officer that was promoted, which meant that the wing staff and many of the other distinguished members of the base were there too. Long story short by the end of the evening we were playing crud (game played at a modified pool table…google it) with the wing commander (guy that owns and commands the base), ops group commander, and some of the other staff. Everyone made a good impression and we all walked out still in UPT so all is well.

The last cool thing coming up is my roommates track (find out which way training will take them, fighter/bomber, heavies, or helicopters). They will track Wednesday, leave to their new respective flights and we will take their place in the 84th FTS as the new Guns flight. My roommate John has a good chance at T-38’s and my roommate Jake has a good chance for T-1’s; good luck to them both.

That’s about all I can think of right now. For those reading if there as anything you want me to write about or need more insight on something just leave a comment and I will try and elaborate on it the next time I write. Wish me luck in the T-6. I still thank God for every day I am here!

2008!!!!

A little update from the Rio! Last I wrote I was just about to start UPT; so I will start back from there. I started UPT and had two days roughly full of briefings where everyone on base came and told us how they support us. At first the briefings seemed unimportant and a waste of time but it wasn’t until the life support briefing that I fully understood the importance of everyone on the base and how lucky I was to be in the position I am in today. If you need anything at all everyone is there to help….if you need a new mask, cool you got a new mask…..need a new visor, cool you got a new visor…you need help with studying or with anything else for that matter, everyone is there to help you! It goes to show that the Air Force takes care of their people, especially their pilots. Well after the two days of “pilot training” I headed up to home (Allen, tx) to see the family. Xmas break was great! I spent a few days in Allen with the family and then we all headed to DC to visit Uncle Will, Aunt Nena, and Kaitlyn for Xmas. To sum up xmas: plenty of drinking, eating/getting fat, getting presents, and spending time with family….everything I wanted it to be. We even got to get some snowboarding time in…..I have improved quite a bit from the last time I went but then again this time I tried to be a little more cautious due to the devastating repercussions had I incurred an injury. Either way, a well needed break before the start. After DC we headed back to Allen to hang out for new years! 2008! Wow I am getting old.

Now I am back in Del Rio and spooling up for the year of my life. When I first got back we checked in on a Thursday which was pretty sweet because it was a half day. We came in at 1:30 and said, hey we’re alive and then we got one briefing and went home. The next day was cool because of pictures, we put on our service dress and took a picture in front of a flag…I don’t know how it turned out yet but it will be interesting to look at years later or even at the end of this year; see how much hair I lost. This past week has been the first real week of pilot training where we actually learned stuff that applied to flight. The first part of phase I is Aerospace Physiology, where we learn everything from our survival equipment to how the body is affected by pressure (i.e. altitude). It is pretty cool seeing everyone interested in what is going on in class and the labs we get to do. We got to get suited up to learn how to strap into the ejection seat/cockpit correctly, we got to light off some signal flares, we got to practice PLF’s (Parachute Landing Falls), we got to practice the barany chair (a spinning chair that is used to disorient you, simulating spatial disorientation), and tomorrow we get to jump into the altitude chamber. The altitude chamber is pretty cool because it simulates being at altitude and shows us our specific symptoms of hypoxia (hypoxia: lack of oxygen to the brain; check out youtube for altitude chamber videos); we pretty much get to get drunk for free or better yet on your! dime. As for the actual academic part of it, its not that hard. We had our first test on Wednesday and 2/3 of the class got a hundred, myself included. Of course Aero Phys is the easiest part of pilot training….it only gets worse from here. This next week we have the FACT (Fighter Air Crew Test) which is a physical test that measures your strength and how well you will do in fighters….so they say (everyone has to do it); shouldn’t be to hard. We also have our Aerospace Physiology test and then we hit systems I….f^&* yeah! 1 ½ weeks down and 4 ½ weeks till we hit the flight line. Training Day 11 and still in pilot training!

Game On!

Now for a very important update. I am just days away from starting undergraduate pilot training. It feels so surreal that it is actually here; it has always been “Yeah, I will be a pilot someday,” – “Only a few years now” – “Yes! Got the slot, six months now.” Now it’s - “Unbelievable, one week!.” Today’s events are really what inspired me to write; I had my life support fitting appointment today. I was fitted for my G-suite, Harness, Helmet, and Mask today (G-suite: a girdle thing that goes around your waist and legs and is filled with air to help prevent loss of consciousness during high G-maneuvers, Harness: a harness that attaches the pilot to the ejection seat, Helmet & Mask: straight forward). It was such a great feeling putting all the gear on for the first time. Funny thing is that when I arrived I was filled with this unutterable joy about all the stuff I was getting issued but I wanted to seem cool calm and collect in somewhat of a stoic manner so I acted as if I was just picking up my laundry. I later found out that there are several guys that come in “So on top of the world because they are starting that they act like they are captain America or something,” so delicately put by the airman. Good thing I kept my mouth shut….but that pretty much sums up how I felt. At the end of the fitting the airman showed me to my ‘peg’ (locker/cubbie where my helmet/G-suite/harness are stored); the best part was seeing her put my name on my ‘peg’ and say “this is where you will suite up before you fly.” An unbelievably cool feeling knowing you’re this close to being apart of the fraternity known as Air Force Pilots.

Now all that is cool but what is more important is the studying! In the past months I was able to get a hand on a dash 1 (Flight Manual) and have been studying my Boldface/Ops limits (two pages of the aircraft limitations and emergency procedures that need to be down cold the day we start) and going over some academic material; hopefully preparing me for the first few weeks of class. The closer I get to my start date the more and more I realize the level expectations and effort that is going to be required during the next year; this will be the hardest task I have ever faced.

One of the best parts is meeting all the people that will be in 09-04 (class number). Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to meet the rest of my flight. I know I am a little biased but we have a pretty kick ass flight. Everyone is cool to be around on one level or another and everyone seems to have there head on straight…a lot of Type A guys that are going to be tough competition in the race for T-38’s but none the less great guys and gals; we are going to have a hell of a time on the way.

Our class start date is 19 Dec 07 ….a lot of us wanted it to be 17 Dec because of the correlation to the Wright Flyers historical flight but no cigar. We will have about 2 ½ days of class academics and then we will go on xmas/new years break. I will get to spend some quality time in DC with the Aunt Nena and Uncle Will and then New Years in Dallas…..Then, Game On!
Below are some pictures of the past week: