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….