Flown Solo / Started Formation

We've had lots of nice weather and lots of sweet flying since the last post! So much so that we've all soloed, have had a couple formation rides and will be having our Contact checkride next week already. It's been great though! Flying the T-38 is so much fun...it's hard to explain unless you're actually the one doing it.

Once those first two instrument rides in the backseat were done, it was our turn to sit on the point of our new rocket instead of the IP! It helped a lot being in the front merely due to the fact I could see better...overall I felt the front seat help my situational awareness go up quite a bit. Just like in Tweets, the first block of rides are contact rides where we practice the same kind of acro (loop, cuban 8, immelman, split-s, barrel roll, lazy 8) and use ground references to stay in our areas . After the area work, we head back to the pattern for practice in preparation for our upcoming checkride. They told us the hardest part about flying the T-38 is landing it, but I didn't think it was too difficult. Thank God for good hands...He made me what I am. After my first flight with my new flight commander he said, "I rarely put well above average on a student's gradesheet, but I'm going to put it on yours." That gave me a lot of confidence right from the beginning.

Only after about a week of flying in the front seat we were ready to go solo. Not just a pattern solo, but solo to the practice area! I could hardly believe I was getting paid to go fly some acro in a small fighter jet by myself...a great feeling. There were times all five of us studs (students...of course) would walk together out to our individual jets for solo flights joking about how we should get a little formation solo practice in while we had the chance. The same went for the "pregame" jitters this time around too, but once I was strapped in the jet it was game time ladies and gentlemen! Your first solo in the T-38 you have to do some crazy stuff to push the limits, but what I did you will never know. We've had four solos already, and I have three more dual flights before the checkride. I'm feeling pretty confident about it. As always, I'm setting the goals high with shooting for a 0 to 2 downgrade excellent.

We also started formation this week, and like before it was sweet! The majority of our flights in the 38 are formation flights, so that's cool. We move beyond the basic form stuff we did in Tweets after a few rides and get into some more advanced maneuvers...like acro while in formation and tactical turns. Also, towards the end of the program we get introduced to 4-ship formation. I'll let you know how all that goes for sure...what a job!