Viper SOLO!
The coolest thing I've ever done in life was solo the F-16 Viper this past Wednesday! I said it was hard to explain the feeling of running the show from the front seat of a two seat trainer (F-16D)...well, trying to explain the feeling of running the show in a single seat Viper (F-16C) is even more impossible! With it only being my fifth flight in the jet, I had to admit I had a lot of what I've called before on my site the "pre-game jitters." You know the anxiousness you feel before a big sports event or something like that. But, once I sat my butt down in the seat of the jet it was "game time." On these solo flights, we have an IP in a chase aircraft fly about 1000 ft. off our wing as a safety observer. He's also in an F-16C...basically the only difference between the D and C model is one or two seats. After making our way to the jets, my IP and I did our preflight, finished our ground ops and then I checked my IP in on the radios after engine start. Once we had taxi clearance to the runway, we were off to have some fun...soon we switched to tower frequency and took the runway for takeoff. As we taxied into position, I centered my jet on my half and my IP centered his jet up on his half of the runway. My IP gave me a head nod signaling he was ready for takeoff, and I returned the run-up signal to check engine operation before releasing brakes. With both our engines working well, I selected afterburner did my takeoff being thrown back in the seat as the afterburner lit! Fifteen seconds later, my IP released brakes and soon had rejoined to the chase position off my left wing. While enroute to the airspace, I selected autopilot and just took a few minutes to take in the sites...I could hardly believe I was flying the F-16 solo! I always feel that my situational awareness goes up a ton when flying solo because there's no one to fall back on without a backseater...what a great feeling!
After we entered our assigned airspace, we flew some formation and acrobatics. Those maneuvers didn't take too long, and we were soon headed back to the pattern for some landings and simulated flameout (SFO) practice. Since the F-16 has one engine, the mindset we have is a lot different like explained before...we're always aware of the closest runway in case our engine quits and we have to glide in for an emergency landing. The SFO is practiced to prepare us for the unfortunate day something like that would happen. I've flown about 10 or so SFO's so far, and I'm getting the hang of it and feel confident that if needed I could put the jet on the ground safely if at a point to do so.
I also had another solo flight today. I planned up an instrument ride down to Davis Monthan AFB in Tuscan, AZ where they have the A-10 FTU. It was pretty cool to fly down there and see the Air Force's bone yard where they send all the retired aircraft and shrink wrap them or use them for spare parts. While on final for one of my approaches, I had a two ship of A-10's fly over about 500 ft above me. Another thing that's cool is there are some pretty tall mountains just to the north of the airfield. So, as we (myself and the IP in the chase aircraft) flew into the area I could look over my shoulder and my IP and I were below the peaks...an awesome site! This flight was obviously somewhere I had never been before, which that can be interesting sometimes being unfamiliar with the area. But, thankfully everything went well. I have one more solo flight before my checkride next Tuesday, which is also solo...I'm liking all the solo time we're going to get. After all, we're training to fly a single seat, single engine aircraft that kicks some serious butt! OK, it's time for me to shower and meet the buds for dinner. Check six and fly safe!
The coolest thing I've ever done in life was solo the F-16 Viper this past Wednesday! I said it was hard to explain the feeling of running the show from the front seat of a two seat trainer (F-16D)...well, trying to explain the feeling of running the show in a single seat Viper (F-16C) is even more impossible! With it only being my fifth flight in the jet, I had to admit I had a lot of what I've called before on my site the "pre-game jitters." You know the anxiousness you feel before a big sports event or something like that. But, once I sat my butt down in the seat of the jet it was "game time." On these solo flights, we have an IP in a chase aircraft fly about 1000 ft. off our wing as a safety observer. He's also in an F-16C...basically the only difference between the D and C model is one or two seats. After making our way to the jets, my IP and I did our preflight, finished our ground ops and then I checked my IP in on the radios after engine start. Once we had taxi clearance to the runway, we were off to have some fun...soon we switched to tower frequency and took the runway for takeoff. As we taxied into position, I centered my jet on my half and my IP centered his jet up on his half of the runway. My IP gave me a head nod signaling he was ready for takeoff, and I returned the run-up signal to check engine operation before releasing brakes. With both our engines working well, I selected afterburner did my takeoff being thrown back in the seat as the afterburner lit! Fifteen seconds later, my IP released brakes and soon had rejoined to the chase position off my left wing. While enroute to the airspace, I selected autopilot and just took a few minutes to take in the sites...I could hardly believe I was flying the F-16 solo! I always feel that my situational awareness goes up a ton when flying solo because there's no one to fall back on without a backseater...what a great feeling!
After we entered our assigned airspace, we flew some formation and acrobatics. Those maneuvers didn't take too long, and we were soon headed back to the pattern for some landings and simulated flameout (SFO) practice. Since the F-16 has one engine, the mindset we have is a lot different like explained before...we're always aware of the closest runway in case our engine quits and we have to glide in for an emergency landing. The SFO is practiced to prepare us for the unfortunate day something like that would happen. I've flown about 10 or so SFO's so far, and I'm getting the hang of it and feel confident that if needed I could put the jet on the ground safely if at a point to do so.
I also had another solo flight today. I planned up an instrument ride down to Davis Monthan AFB in Tuscan, AZ where they have the A-10 FTU. It was pretty cool to fly down there and see the Air Force's bone yard where they send all the retired aircraft and shrink wrap them or use them for spare parts. While on final for one of my approaches, I had a two ship of A-10's fly over about 500 ft above me. Another thing that's cool is there are some pretty tall mountains just to the north of the airfield. So, as we (myself and the IP in the chase aircraft) flew into the area I could look over my shoulder and my IP and I were below the peaks...an awesome site! This flight was obviously somewhere I had never been before, which that can be interesting sometimes being unfamiliar with the area. But, thankfully everything went well. I have one more solo flight before my checkride next Tuesday, which is also solo...I'm liking all the solo time we're going to get. After all, we're training to fly a single seat, single engine aircraft that kicks some serious butt! OK, it's time for me to shower and meet the buds for dinner. Check six and fly safe!
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