310FS Night Systems Course

There isn't really a good place to put this update, so I figured I'd put it here. Before we leave Luke AFB, there's some additional flying that all F-16 graduates do to get qualified in flying with the Targeting Pod (TP) and Night Vision Goggles (NVGs). While we're still officially a part of the 63rd FS, we fly with the 310th FS Tophats. Their mission is solely to train guys with the TP and NVGs. The TP provides an infrared (IR) image in the cockpit and allows us to target things on the ground based on the temperature contrast between the target of interest (a building, truck, tank, etc.) and it's surroundings. The TP also has a high powered laser in addition to the IR camera. Once the target is being tracked, we can laser designate it and drop a laser guided bomb (LGB) with very high accuracy. We can carry GBU-10, GBU-12 and GBU-24 LGBs. They are merely "dumb" bombs with laser seeker kits installed in the nose and fin kits installed in the tail for directional control. The flying consists of three days rides learning the TP and five night rides which involve a basic formation flight, two air-to-air flights and two air-to-ground rides using the TP while wearing the NVGs. The third TP ride was the most memorable since we had a chance to drop two inert GBU-12 bombs! On previous rides we would call "splash" when the time to impact clock read zero, but this ride we were able to call it based on the huge cloud of smoke and dirt thrown into the air at bomb impact. I currently have three NVG flights left in the 310th before I'm done flying here at Luke. The Air Force is packing up my stuff the end of the month to ship it over to Italy, and I catch a flight out of Phoenix on 15 Apr. I'm looking forward to getting settled into my new life and new squadron soon!

Graduation

It's already time for me to talk about another graduation...time flies when you're having fun, literally! Graduation weekend was a great time with all of my family and friends out here in Phoenix. In all I had 21 people at the graduation dinner Saturday, February 25th. People started arriving in town on Wednesday of that week, so it was nice to have some time to relax, play golf and hang out by the pool for a few days. Thursday morning after some of my immediate family arrived, my older brother and I played 18 holes of golf at the Wigwam Resort where he and his wife were staying. So, while we were chasing a little white ball around the course, the rest of my family was relaxed by the resort pool. Neither of us played really great, but had fun nontheless.

Friday kicked off with breakfast at the squadron at 0730 in the morning with doughnuts, bagels, muffins and all that good stuff. After grabbing a bite to eat, we headed into our squadron's main briefing room for a family welcome given by our squadron commander. He gave a brief history of the base, shared exactly what we had been through over the past six months or so of training and then proceeded into giving out some awards for the air-to-ground phase of training. The first seven rides of that phase went towards compiling the scores for the different awards handed out. In all, there were around 12 different awards handed out for each type of bombing delivery we practiced to include strafe (shooting the gun at low altitude). I'll add in here that when you're flying in a program such as the F-16 training program, you don't know where you stack up in the class because you're so busy flying from one day to the next. Well, I was blown away to receive eight of the awards for the air-to-ground phase of training...I could hardly believe it! God gave me the ability to do pretty well and it all goes back to Him. Needless to say it was very surprising!

After the welcome, I took my family to the end of the runway to watch some of the jets take off. It was great to watch their faces as a few F-16's roared by executing an afterburner takeoff. I heard a lot of, "I can't believe you fly one of those things!" I couldn't agree with them more...I can hardly believe it myself! From there I took six of the guys to the simulators to fly low around some mountains, shoot some bad guys and then try to land. It was cool to have them sit in the seat and see what it was like in an F-16 cockpit. After some fun time there, it was out to the flightline for burgers and pics by a jet. Some of the instructors in the squadron did the honors and grilled up some fine beef patties.

Saturday morning, my brother and I went golfing again...this time is was with our guest speaker, Colonel Wilson, and my squadron commander here in the 63rd FS. Colonel Wilson was my base commander when I was stationed at Columbus AFB, MS. Golf went a little better this time, and it was also a lot cheaper playing at the base. Our base course is ranked in the top five of Air Force courses, so it's really nice. After wrapping up another 18 holes, we headed back to the Wigwam to chill with the family before the big graduation dinner that night at the Officer's Club. At this point, all of my 21 guests had made it into town and were anticipating the evening's events. Most of them hand never been to a military dinner, so I was excited for them to experience one.

Soon, we were all sitting at the 2.5 tables it took to fit all my family and friends. After the posting of the colors and honoring the Prisoners of War (POW) and those Missing in Action (MIA), we sat to enjoy a good meal before the guest speaker. Of course with so many people, pictures were taken of everything. We also watched our class video during the dinner.

After dinner and a speech from the guest speaker, our class handed out some awards to the instructors we thought did a great job teaching us throughout the course. The squadron commander then handed out some awards to our class as were wrapped up the evening. Of the awards given out, I received the Air to Ground Top Gun award and the Distinguished Graduate Award. Wow, we had finished a tough F-16 training course and I finished at the top...dude, very awesome! It's a God thing no matter how you look at it. He made me who I am and has allowed me to experience what I have so that I can fly the best fighter in the world! While on stage receiving one of the awards, my squadron commander called my family the "Trumparazzi" (my callsign being Trump) since there were so many of them...we could hard see at thing after all the pics. It was a great night that I'm glad so many people were able to be a part of. It was another step in an awesome journey I've been having in the Air Force serving the country. Soon I'll be enjoying the Italian Alps and some great Italian food! At this point I'm still planning to update the site when over there, but we'll see...check six!

F-16 Training Course Complete!

The day after my flight up to Hill AFB, UT I finished the F-16 Initial Qualification Course here at Luke. It was a great feeling to land after that sortie and know I had taken another big step forward in my Air Force Career! To celebrate everyone finishing up, we took a squadron trip up to Los Vegas, NV to visit Nellis AFB. Most F-16 classes take a trip up north to see the base because there's a lot of cool stuff going on. They have what is commonly referred to as "the petting zoo" which is a collection of foreign military equipment for guys like us to see first hand and learn about. We also were able to get a couple classified briefings on some of the future capabilities of the F-16 and on the Air Force's newest fighter jet, the F-22 Raptor. Lets just say that the Raptor will kick the tail of whoever it goes up against...hands down. I had never seen one up close, but we had a chance to walk around one and check it out.

From there we stopped by the Air Force Thunderbirds hanger to check out their operation. I had mentioned before that a flight commander of mine here at Luke is a new member of the team. We met up with him and had a tour of the place...as we walked out the back of the hanger to the flight line, the diamond formation was just landing and taxied back while we were out there. It was pretty cool to see...a few years ago I could only dream of flying a fighter jet as I watched the Thunderbirds perform and now I am! There were a ton of other aircraft parked out on the ramp as well since there was a Red Flag exercise going on like the one I explained a couple entries ago. Almost every jet you could imagine was flying in the skies over the base...even foreign jets. Of course, we also hit up the Vegas strip while we were there. It was a cool place to see at night with all that was going on. Good food and good times!

We start into the Night Systems and Targeting Pod academics on Monday already to start preparing for flights that start in March. I'm not looking forward to sitting in the classroom again since it was so nice to be done with that stuff for awhile. But, I guess I aught to be doing something to earn that paycheck! I'll get back with you all soon.

Video:

Flying The Grand Canyon

These pictures couldn't wait to be posted later...it's one of the best pics taken to date. I took off this morning on my flight up to Hill AFB, UT and soon flew over the Grand Canyon just like we did for the UTTR LFE. One of my bros in the class took this pic of my jet as we flew over...how cool is that?! I'm going to have to blow it up and put it on the wall somewhere.

About 45 minutes after the Canyon, we had landed at Hill AFB. It was awesome around there with all the mountains and now...definitely a place I'd like to be stationed and fly the Viper someday. We grabbed lunch at this philly steak place, relaxed for awhile and then flew back here to Luke. On the way back we flew down low over Lake Powell, which is part of the Colorado River that's been dammed up on the east end of the Canyon. That too was an awesome thing to see. From there, we also flew down over the Barringer Meteor Crater about 35 miles east of Flagstaff, AZ. It was an awesome ride to basically finish the program on, and one I'll definitely remember! Hope you enjoy the view as much as I did!

Two Rides Left...

Two rides left in the course...with things going as fast as they have, I'll be back here in the states pretty soon as an instructor in the jet! I have an out and back flight to Hill AFB, UT tomorrow and one more close air support (CAS) ride on Tuesday. The week after I dropped the live Mk82s, we had a simulated desert deployment down to Gila Bend AAF (auxiliary air field) to give us a flavor for what it'll be like real world in the "sandbox" as it's called. Gila Bend AAF has an 8,500 ft runway and is 45 min south of the base. We use it for visual approaches to take a load off of the traffic pattern at Luke. I realize that Iraq will be a lot different, but it was a change flying out of and into a different airfield that's out in the desert. While there, I had my first CAS flight. During a CAS scenario, there are ground troops (Army, Marines, Special Forces, etc.) in close contact with the enemy and that are in need of some direct fire power on a specific location. We had some Army ground controllers supporting us on this flight as well as a Joint Forward Air Controller (JFAC). The JFAC (also flying an F-16) works with the ground controller and has his eyes talked onto a target that needs destroyed or the position of enemy troops. Once he's in contact with the position of interest, he's cleared in hot and marks it with smoke rockets. That's where we come into play...we are then cleared in on the marked target and either strafe it with our gun, or drop some bombs. We were dropping training bombs (BDU-33s) on this flight. It was really cool to see how the whole process works and realize that I may be called on someday in the future to save some of my military bros on the ground.

At the end of the program, we fly in what they call a Large Force Employment (LFE). I flew in one this past Monday up to the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), and then in another local one on Friday. It's where everything we've been learning over the past 5 months comes together into a big simulated mission into "bad guy" territory. For the LFE to the UTTR, we took 14 F-16s from Luke to destroy four different targets. Providing red air support were four F-18 Super Hornets from CA simulating Russian Mig-29's. We also had two tankers giving us gas before the fight. You can already see there's a lot of coordination and planning that goes on for an exercise like this. The day before each LFE is spent in the planning room with about eight guys working to bring everything together under the direction of the Mission Commander. The UTTR LFE I flew in was 3.5 hours from gear in the well until touch down, so that was about 2.5 times longer than the usual sortie. The flight up and back was awesome with great scenery. The Grand Canyon is incredibly huge from both the air and the ground...I could hardly believe how far it stretched! Once in Utah, the mountains were covered with snow and shot up pretty high. During our fight there were times we flew below the snow covered peaks. We could also see the Great Salt Lake just to the north of our airspace. I'll be seeing some more of the awesome mountains around Salt Lake City tomorrow.

Our LFE this past Friday was a little smaller, but not my much. It included 10 F-16s with six F-15C Eagles providing our red air support again simulating Mig-29s. Since it was a local flight, there were no tankers needed. I actually got to see a couple Eagles up close during the fight...my flight lead and I shot them both! Later on as he and I were leaving the fight due to our gas being low, an Eagle rolled in behind me and shot me up pretty good. But, it didn't count at that point because of our gas...in real life it would have though. The LFEs were a great experience as a young fighter pilot! It was only a glimpse of what a Red Flag Exercise at Nellis AFB, NV will be like someday. Those exercises include close to 75 airplanes in a mass "war." Looking forward to it!

The end of next month I have a ton of family and friends heading out here for my graduation, so I'll be sure to take some pics and fill everyone in. Until then, have fun, fly safe and check six!!

Christmas Break...Live Bomb Drop

It was good to get home again and see the fam over Christmas. The last time I was home was July 4th weekend, so it had been a little while. I was able to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in an even longer time and just relax. Of course that meant eating way too much, so I'll be working to shed the few extra pounds I put on over the break. I'll be seeing my family again out here in Phoenix for my F-16 graduation late in February.

My last update, I told everyone I thought shooting the F-16s 20mm Gatling gun was great. Well, dropping 6 live Mk82 bombs off the jet is just a good! We're nearing the end of the program now with only 5 more flights until I'm complete with the F-16 initial qualification course. There are some cool things coming up in the near future that I'll get to in a bit. In the basic surface attack (BSA) rides, we learn the site pictures for different types of dive bombing deliveries that range from 10-45 degrees of dive. From there we move into a more tactical surface attack phase where we plan the low level route and type of attack we'd like to fly against a specific target on the ground. That could be a simulated runway, surface-to-air missile site, a convoy of trucks, etc. The military ranges south of Phoenix actually have fake targets like I just mentioned for us to use on these missions. So, we start off as before flying a low level ingress to a specific target in order to stay low and out of sight. Once through the low level and within approximately 5.0 miles of the target, we climb out of the low altitude structure in preparation to roll in and complete a diving bomb delivery like we practiced in the basic phase. The amount of time from the 5.0 mile mark to weapons release is about 10-20 seconds. Once the bombs are dropped, we immediately fly back down to low altitude. Today, we did just that with four F-16s, each with 6 live Mk82 bombs on board. The Mk82 is a 500lb general purpose bomb which can be modified for both GPS and laser guidance, but ours had neither. I was number two of the 4-ship and had a nice show once I was off target and had a chance to roll up to take a look at the explosions from number one and myself! I thought, "That has to be the coolest thing I've ever done." I know, it seems like I say the same thing pretty much each time I post an update, but today it was definitely true. Shooting the gun is a close second behind dropping live bombs.

The last couple flights of the program are going to be the culmination of many different areas of training we've gone through over the past months. We're planning a mock war scenario, which will be taking place up in Utah airspace against F-18s and F-15s who will be simulating Russian Mig-29s. We will take off out here at Luke AFB with about 14 F-16s, meet a tanker on the way north and then fight the 4-6 "Migs" on our way to drop our simulated bombs on a predesignated target. We'll also be flying another local mission out of here against Marine F-5s. The F-5 is what they used as the Migs in Top Gun. They're somewhere between the size of a T-38 and F-16 and will be tough to visually acquire. I'll let everyone know how the last few rides finish up next month sometime. Oh yeah, as of today I'm academics complete for the initial qualification course here in the F-16!

Next Assignment: Aviano Air Base, Italy

Yesterday was a big day in my Air Force career, and will be having a direct impact on the next three years of my life...we received our next F-16 assignments we'll be headed to after Luke AFB. The assignment process is a little different in RTU than it was in pilot training. This time around, our squadron commander was given eight assignments from the Air Force personnel center. After briefing us on the different bases with their pros/cons, he left it up to us as a class to determine who was going to get what assignment. Since there were a couple of us who wanted the same assignment as our first choice, we ranked each one and then rolled dice to see who would be going where. It was a rather tense time for most of us, seeing as how small dice would be determining a lot for us. But, I had prayed before the whole thing that God would put me where He wanted. God once again totally blessed me and gave me my second choice of Aviano Air Base, Italy for the next three years where I'll be flying in the 510th FS known as the Buzzards! Aviano is part of United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). I'm pumped and can hardly believe I'm going to be flying the Viper in Europe. My first choice was Kunsan Air Base, Korea for a year with a follow on assignment to Italy, but that didn't work out for a very worthy reason. Soon I'll be off to Italy, and will be traveling Europe to see some awesome places. The base is located in the northern part of the country near the Alps and about 45 min northeast of Venice. A ton of great places are only a short train ride away, and I plan to take full advantage of the opportunity!

We're obviously in the air-to-ground phase of training now and I'm having a blast. Yes, shooting the F-16's gun is as cool as it sounds! A typical ride in this phase consists of flying a low level as a four ship, hitting the bombing range to drop practice bombs (BDU-33s) and then finish with some strafing. Low levels are similar to those in the T-38, except the terrain is much more fun to fly over and we're doing it at 500 ft and 500 knots (instead of 360 like in the T-38). There are a decent amount of small mountains that make the low altitude flying a lot of fun...it can also make it more dangerous since there are big rocks you could fly into, but a good cross-check ahead of the jet will keep you safe.

Shooting the gun is very awesome...the whole jet shakes when the trigger is pulled! We roll in to strafe a target on the ground from about 2000 ft above ground level and 400 knots. By the time we shoot the gun and pull off target, the jet gets down to around 100-200 ft! That's pretty low in a Viper flying in access of 400 knots. I've been asked if it were scary flying low and fast like that. All I have to say is heck no! It's a total adrenaline rush, and when you can get back in the squadron and find out you had one of the better strafe scores for that flight it's a good feeling.


I have about 14 rides left in the program, and it has gone really fast as it has with other training I've been through. I have a great job and a great Lord who's guiding it all...I'm enjoying a great ride!

Air-to-Ground...Shooting the Gun

We've already completed half of the F-16 FTU training course! I have two air-to-air flights left before getting into the air-to-ground phase on Friday. Sometime this next week I'll get the chance to air refuel at night as well. It's been a lot of fun, and I've been learning a lot. The type of flying we've been doing over the past weeks is something that only time will allow me to get better at. I have a good understanding of my roles as a wingman during the "fight", and I'll get better at executing those roles with a few more hours under my belt. I had a great flight last week, which was a 4 blue air vs 2 red air engagement. We were supposed to have AWACS support, but they fell out for some reason. My main priority was to fly good formation, keep sight of my flight lead (I was #2 of the four blue air Vipers) and take shots at the red air when he directed me to. In a couple years, I'll be the guy leading the 4-ship of Vipers! In the picture below, I'm in the background on my first solo tanker flight.
A couple weekends ago, my squadron worked the NASCAR race at Phoenix International Raceway to raise a little money and help out the track. It was a pretty good time, but for the most part it was a different world. I mean, cars racing fast around a track is cool and all, but I'm not a dedicated fan or anything...different class of people. But hey, the world would be boring if we were all the same.

On another note, the 63FS is the next in line to get follow on assignments after training. Where would I like to go you ask? Well, if there's an assignment to Korea for a year with a follow on to Hill AFB, UT I'd probably try for that. Going to Germany or Italy is also up there on my list...we'll see what the assignment drop is like before I get too set on what I want. We've been told that we should know before Christmas, so we'll see. I know God has it all under control, so I'm not going to lose much sleep over it. I'll be flying the Viper no matter what. I'll get back to you all when I get a chance to fire the gun and strafe some targets out in the desert somewhere...I'm pretty sure that's this coming Friday!

"Break right, Bogey your 6 o'clock, 1 mile, slightly high!"

The air-to-air phase of training is sweet, and we're only about two weeks away from finishing and getting into the air-to-ground stuff. A little over a week ago, I had the most fun flight next to my solo flight in the Viper. It was an Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM) flight as a 3-ship formation. It's the first flight where I felt that we were actually getting into the full up real thing of dog fighting as a team against the "enemy." My flight lead and I were "blue" air (the good guys) and #3 of the formation was "red" air (the single bad dude). Once up in the MOA we did a couple hard turns to test our bodies against the high g's we'd be experiencing on this flight. Everyone was feeling good, so we headed right into the fighting. I moved into my wingman position of 9,000'-12,000' at either lead's 3 or 9 o'clock and flew about 1,000' above his altitude. In this position I could check his 6 and keep my nugget on a swivel looking for red air and not worry so much about hitting him. Red air would fly around wherever he wanted to behind flight lead and I at about 1.5-2 miles, +/- 2,000' or so of our altitude in preparation to engage one of us. "Viper 1 ready, Viper 2 ready, Bogey ready" was called on the radio once in position and ready to fight. If you had been listening to the radios during our fights, this is what a typical engagement would have sounded like: "Viper, fights on! Viper 1, break right, Bogey your 6 o'clock, 1 mile, slightly high/low...Viper 1, tally one...Viper 1 engaged...Viper 2 supporting...Viper 1, merged hostile F-16...Viper 2, fox II/III...Vipers, bugout 150, Viper 2, kill hostile F-16, right turn,15 thousand, Viper 2...Viper 1 blind...Viper 2 is your right 3 o'clock, slightly low for 2 miles...Viper 1 visual." The break turn is a full up 9 g turn while putting out flares to defeat a IR missile shot. During all of this, I'm having to keep site of the two jets as they fight, fly my jet in such a way to lock up the bad guy with my radar and then shoot him without my flight lead being in the way...there's a lot going on. I'm sure the radio comm sounds like gibberish to most of you, but it's very important during a fight to keep it quick and precise. There are AF regulations that specify exactly what should be said during an engagement and when so a lot of time has to be spent studying it. I still jack it up sometimes, but it's getting better. The time between each of those calls will also vary in length depending on what's taking place in the fight at the time. The flight was an awesome flight to end the week on...the bigger picture of all our training is making more sense!

A few weeks ago, my flight commander left for his new assignment as the opposing solo on the United States Air Force Thunderbird demonstration team. I think that's pretty awesome, and could potentially see myself doing the same thing in the future if the opportunity presented itself. We're hoping to get up the Nelis AFB, NV as a class sometime in the next couple months to check the Thunderbirds out as well as some of the other cool stuff they have there at the base. I'll keep flying high and having a great time until the next post!

First Time Supersonic

This past week I had my first chance to go supersonic...the best part is I was solo! I was flying a 1 vs. 1 intercept ride (I know, Greek to most of you =) and had the chance to light the afterburnner and reach mach 1.1. In the jet of course you don't hear the sonic boom, but since we were flying in the far South parts of AZ I'm sure some Mexican's trying the sneak across the border into the US gave it a second thought...they probably thought they were being bombed or something. HAHA! The only way you can tell in the jet is some of the needles on your instruments bounce a little bit while the shockwave reaches the pitot boom. I'm retarded and didn't think to look back to try and see a condensation cloud from the shockwave...oh well, next time! The speed of sound is something like 700 miles an hour depending upon the temperature of the air and altitude you're flying at.

This week went well and was a lot of fun...as always. The further we get into training, the more I realize I have to learn. Funny how that's pretty much life when you're not the one ultimately in control of things. Flying and being in formation when you need to be is becoming more second nature...but learning to use all the sensors on the jet efficiently is going to take time like I've said before. But, I could be flipping burgers somewhere (no offense to those that do...) but I'm flying the coolest fighter out there and training in the best country there is! God's totally given me the good end of the deal!

Done With BFM

It doesn't seem that long ago I had just finished my qualification checkride and was all pumped to let you guys know I had been cleared solo in the Viper. Well, here I am already done with OBFM and DBFM (dogfighting)! For those of you who have forgotten what those stand for, it's offensive and defensive basic fighter maneuvers. The flying is set up to start a "fight" either behind the bad guy at about 1.5 miles or with him behind you. The objective from the "fights on" call is to maneuver into a position to take both simulated missile (AIM-9 and AIM-120) and gun shots while on offense, or to fly in such a way as to keep the bad guy from doing the same to you when on defense. We had four rides in both the offensive and defensive phases with the forth being what they called a demonstrate proficiency flight. We have to show the IP the other jet in these air-to-air flights that we're able to execute the tactics they've taught us well enough to move on in training. Thankfully both my demo prof rides went well! We're learning these basic building blocks so that we can build on them in more difficult phases of training, one which is called Tactical Intercepts (TI). This is the next phase of my training and we'll be using our on board radar to run intercepts on the "bad" guys. In short, we'll start beyond visual range (BVR) and end up maneuvering our jets in such as way so that we arrive at a picture familiar to what we saw in the two previous phases of training...hopefully it's the offensive picture! We'll start 1 vs. 1 and move on into more complicated formation attacks such as 4 vs. 4.

Almost two weeks ago now, we also had our naming ceremony and solo party. Of course, the naming for a fighter pilot is a pretty big deal, so the squadron has a big ceremony where a lot of things take place...most of which are highly classified and I'd have to kill if you if I told you... Needless to say, after a lot of being made fun of and eating some very disgusting things I was given the callsign "TRUMP." It's a long story, but it has to do with a real estate purchase I didn't go through with and therefore was threatened to be sued...nothing has come of it. So, since Donald Trump is a huge real estate investor and people try to sue him for his money, the guys in the squadron thought "TRUMP" would fit well. I think it's pretty funny, and at least my name didn't come from something I did crazy while flying.

Besides soloing the Viper, probably the coolest thing I've done in the jet is meet up with a tanker earlier this week. At the beginning of a DBFM ride, we hit a refueling track and got gas from a KC-10 out of Travis AFB, CA. It was an awesome time. We rolled in behind this huge tanker, made radio contact and pulled into the precontact position. The precontact position is about 50 ft directly behind and slightly below the tanker. When I was ready I made the call, "SCAR 02, stabilized and ready" to which the boomer replied, "SCAR 02, you're cleared contact." I slowly pushed up the power and moved forward towards the boom, flying slightly to the side. The F-16's air refueling door is directly behind the cockpit, so it was up to the boomer to fly the boom to the receptacle and plug in after it was past my peripheral vision. Once I felt the small shudder telling me I had made contact, I then shifted my attention to the director lights on the belly of the aircraft. Two rows of lights tell the guy getting gas to go up, down, forward or aft. I was able to get all 2500# of gas without falling off the boom my first try. After disconnecting, I tried some dry connects for practice and fell too far aft a couple times and lost connection...it'll get better with more practice. All that matters is I did well enough to be clear to the tanker solo!

In a little over a month from now I'll be getting into the air-to-ground phase of training. We'll get to shoot a live gun and drop live bombs a couple times, so there's some awesome stuff yet to come!

Viper Qualification Checkride (Form 8)

Well, I officially have my F-16 "driver's" license...I passed my initial qualification checkride this past Wednesday with zero downgrades! The checkride was solo again with a chase aircraft following me around as I went through my profile for the flight. While the IP was chasing me, he was taking notes on any big mistakes made during the maneuvers and instrument approaches that might have be worthy of a downgrade. Thankfully I was flying well and none of the minor things I did bought me any hits...sweet! Now that I've been checked out in the Viper, I can fly solo without a dude looking over my shoulder from about 1000 ft away watching every move I make. Also, as I mentioned before I'm cleared to fly in the weather down to minimums of 700 ft for the cloud base and 2 miles in flight visibility.

Next week we start into the fun stuff...the air-to-air BFM phase of training. The first ride of the phase is with a backseater, and the rest are solo. It's going to be an awesome time learning how to use this machine to bring the hurt on anyone who wants to try and bring his game to the table! It's going to be a lot more involved compared to the little bit of BFM we did in IFF when you add in the radar and other systems you have at your fingertips...literally. Almost all of the switches and buttons you need to shoot and kill another guy or drop a bomb on target are all on the throttle and stick. They call it hands on throttle and stick (HOTAS). That way it keeps your eyes from getting locked down in the cockpit causing you to lose sight of the bandit or situational awareness of what's going on in the fight. It's going to take me awhile to get good at all of this, but it's a really good program of building on skills one step at a time. I'll get back with you guys when I have some cool news from the air-to-air phase of training!

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!

F-16 Solo Flight on Wednesday!

Wow, this job rocks! I've only had three flights in the front seat and will be going solo on flight number five! It's almost impossible to explain the feeling I've had actually running the show from the front seat...the best thing in the world! The cockpit is set up perfectly and it wraps around you as you sit in the seat. The F-16 has what they call a bubble canopy, so there no canopy rail obscuring your vision like in the T-38! The visibility is great. Up to this point the flying has been pretty basic stuff just like with any other flying program. We're working on ground ops, take-offs and landings, area work to get a feel for how the thing flies and then instrument approaches...usually three per flight before hitting the overhead pattern for some touch-n-gos. This is also preparation for our Form 8 checkride, which checks us out in the jet and allows us to fly solo in the clouds if needed down to minimums of 700-2 (700 ft above ground level and 2 miles visibility). There are a few parts that make up the Form 8. The first part is testing...missed one question out of 100 there. The second part is an Emergency Procedures Evaluation, or a checkride in the simulator making sure we can safely handle emergencies in the jet and get it on the deck safely if able. I had that yesterday and received a Q1 with no downgrades, so I was pretty happy. The third part is an actual flying checkride, which I'll have the week after next sometime...then it's on to the air-to-air phase of training! So, things are moving along well and I'm ready to solo the F-16 in a few days...too awesome! I'm pretty sure I'm one of the most blessed people around!

First F-16 Ride!!

Well, yesterday was officially the second most exciting day of my Air Force career next to getting my pilot wings. I was able to jump in the back seat of an F-16 and enjoy an air-to-air BFM ride while two instructors "fought" each other...I don't think I have the words to describe how cool it was! We stepped out of the crew bus at our jet and had a crewchief (the enlisted guys that keep the jets working and do maintenance) there standing at parade rest. As the instructor and I walked up, he snapped to attention and gave us a crisp salute. I returned the salute, thanked him, got some good tips on how to do a good preflight of the jet from the instructor and then jumped in the backseat. It took me awhile to get all settled in since I had only practiced strapping into the seat once before. One of the awesome things about the F-16 is that we don't have to carry a heavy parachute on our backs out the the jet anymore...it's all packed into the ejection seat. All we wear is a harness that is attached to the seat.

About 20 minutes after engine start our formation was cleared for takeoff and we took the runway. I was in the number 2 jet (the wingman) on this flight, so once flight lead confirmed our engines were working good he lit the afterburner and headed down the runway...our jet was shaking a ton from the thrust his engine was putting out. Ten seconds later, the front seater of my jet released brakes and lit the wick as they say (lit the afterburner). I had never felt thrust like that before, and was definitely thrown back into the seat a lot more than I had been in the T-38! Soon we were airborne and joined up on lead's wing...all I had to do was enjoy the ride and enjoy the sites, which is exactly what I did! I knew most of what was going on during the air-to-air engagements since I had flown the basics of BFM back in IFF. All I wanted to do was have a good time and not pass out from the high g's the jet can put on your body. We hit between 8.5 and 9.0 g's three to four times, but it's wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. All I had to relate to was my experience in the centrifuge at Holloman AFB, which was a lot worse! One our way to and from the MOA, it was cool flying over new scenery that I hadn't seen before. Everything is really brown, even the mountains. As you fly in from the West, Phoenix appears and seems to go forever...it's a huge city.

After the flight I had a few geasles (little red dots on your arms, butt and upper legs from capillaries breaking while straining hard to keep the blood in your head under g) after the flight, but it's all good. They don't hurt, just proof that you were working a little bit during the flight. It usually only happens when your body hasn't been exposed to high g levels for awhile, and it had been about five weeks since I had last flown...plus, I had never been close to 9 g's in a jet before.

This next week is the big week where we're in the front seat running the show. Thursday morning about 0525 I'll be briefing up my first F-16 ride where I'm the pilot in command. We've had a lot of simulator time to help us prepare for the big day. Flying a jet is flying a jet, you just have to get used to the new systems and procedures specific to the airframe...that will be the harder part. I feel like one of the most blessed people in the world doing what I'm doing, and I hope all of you out there are able to reach your goals and dreams like God has allowed me to. Fly safe, and check six!

LAFB - F-16 Academics

We just finished the first week of F-16 academics with a test today...they aren't joking about the fire hose effect. The test was over the F-16 engine, which in the Block 42 is the Pratt & Whitney 220 (PW220). Flying the F-16 is going to take a whole different mindset compared to what I've been used to up until this point. The two jets I flew in pilot training and IFF all had two engines...in other words, if one dies on you the other should be sufficient to get you home safely. The F-16 having only one causes the pilot to always have in the back of his mind where the closest piece of concrete is just in case the engine decides it's had enough. It also affects the way we handle emergencies...you can't just shot off the engine if it's acting up like you could have more easily in a twin engine jet. Next week we're looking forward to two more tests and our first sims to start getting us used to the new jet. They've told us our first flights are going to be on 25 Aug, so that's already less than a month away!

There are eight guys in my class, all but one is married and the other is engaged. So, it looks like I'll be eating well during my time here. They'll all want to make me feel a part of the married crowd by cooking me meals...I'm not complaining! I have to admit I don't cook that much, nor do I care to take the time to do so. A man's place is with the grill! Speaking of a grill, the house I just moved into and will be renting while I'm in Phoenix is completely furnished to include a grill. It's a sweet place only about 10 minutes from the base with a nice pool in the back. Another guy and I in the program will be splitting the costs. Well, I'm tired after a long week. I'll write more when the fun stuff begins. Oh, the Luke AFB aircraft designator is "LF" as seen in the first picture.

Luke Air Force Base - LAFB

After a very long drive, my dad and I finally made it to Phoenix, AZ. It's going to be an awesome place to live and fly! So far I haven't done too much besides move into my new house and chill out with some family in the area. The house is located in a nice place close to the base and has F-16s flying overhead a lot throughout the day. Thankfully it has a pool in the backyard to help deal with the heat! I'm headed to the base today to get my initial paperwork going and check in at my new squadron. I've been assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing, 63rd Fighter Squadron here at Luke AFB known as the Panthers. I'll be starting early next week with F-16 academics. It should be around a month or so before I start flying, and soon after that I'll have my first solo! I've had instructor pilots tell me their first solo in the fighter jet they were assigned to out of pilot training was the most memorable flight of their flying careers. I have an awesome 7-8 months of training ahead, and can hardly believe I'm going to be flying an F-16 around solo for the majority of the time! God's good!