Tweets On Steroids

I think that's a good way to put how the initial couple months of T-38's is going to be...Tweets on steroids. We have to learn a new plane again, but this time there's less time before flying starts. A typical day so far has been about 12 hours full of academics, sims and flights with 30 minutes of eating dinner and two to three hours of studying before bed...but it's awesome and wouldn't want to be doing anything else! I get a chance to exercise in the sometimes too. As you know, class and sims started right away getting us prepared for our first flights, and those took place this past Thursday and Friday. The sims are a really good representation of the actual plane (minus the movement), so it's been very helpful in getting us up to speed. There are three that have 180 degrees of view and three with just a flat screen in front of you.

After a week and half of academics and sims, we were off to Holloman AFB for the centrifuge. It wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be, but it was still pretty painful. The tumbling sensation along with the hi g's were the main factors making you feel weird. G's just means how much of an increase in body weight you feel. 7g's would be seven times your body weight, so for me that's about 1400 lbs. Dang! We did have a G-suit which increases g tolerance by about 1g. The purpose of the fuge is to make sure our bodies can handle the g forces of the next aircraft and give a chance to practice our g-strain (breathing techniques under high g loads). We had to do five profiles as follows:

Profile #1: a gradual increase to 4g's for 40 seconds (to warm up)
Profile #2: a slightly rapid increase to 5g's for 40 seconds
Profile #3: a rapid (about 1 second) increase to 6g's for 30 seconds
Profile #4: a rapid increase to 7.5 g's for 15 seconds
Profile #5: a rapid increase to 6g's while looking back over your right shoulder

The 6g's for 30 seconds was the hardest due to air hunger at about 20 seconds...you can't just relax and take a deep breath. Anyway, the whole thing took about 10 minutes per person, so we were out of there pretty quick with only five of us. We did have some time to relax after the fuge, so checked out some of the local dunes and were even able to fly a Stealth Fighter (F-117) sim and see a jet.



We got our new nametages the other day, which we're not going to wear until we solo...hopefully in a couple weeks. I'm in Falcon flight with the callsign of Pistol now instead of Skunk. My first couple rides were great...it's hard to explain a first ride in a supersonic jet! It's a total kick in the rear compared to the T-37. The training syllabus had us in the backseat for the first two rides, but we were still able to do the takeoff and even fly out the the practice area.

After some basic maneuvers, we had a little fun with loops and some other acrobatics. Just as an example, the entry parameters for a loop are 500 knots and at least 8,000-10,000 ft of usable airspace above you. It's a lot different since we're moving so fast. On our way back to the pattern, my IP took the jet so he could show me some of the ground references used and just so I could get a feel for how it all works. I didn't mind, it gave me a chance to take in the sites while flying in the pattern at 300 knots! My next ride I'm in the front seat and we'll start the contact phase of training. Speaking of all that I need to return to the books. I have a test and two flights tomorrow.

A Little Nicer Than The T-37

The T-38 is obviously a big upgrade over the T-37. It has what they call a glass cockpit along with other upgrades. Just check out the cockpit below...it's pretty obvious! =)

Thursday after track select was already filled with class and other things at my new squadron, the 50th Flying Training Squadron. The first 2 weeks will be academics and simulator training before we actually start flying in the 3rd week. The Talon has a lot more and complicated systems, but soon we'll have a good handle on it. Our new flight commander said that based on the weather, we could be soloing within 2 weeks after we start flying...TOO COOL! In a couple weeks we have to fly out to Holloman AFB in New Mexico to have our first experience in the centrifuge. I've heard it sucks pretty bad, but hey no pain no gain right?! =) Alright, I'd better get back to looking at some T-38 stuff.

Track Select...T-38s!

Well, my goal was reached this past Wednesday night at our track select ceremony...I got my T-38, God's good! The whole day was pretty cool being able to show our friends and family around the squadron and base. It started at 0800 with a mock run through of what takes place first thing in the flight room every day followed by a tour of the flight line and RSU. They scheduled sim rides in the afternoon for our friends/family, and then we had some down time before the club where track select took place.
The track select process goes something like this. First, they welcome the guests who came to the ceremony and then introduce the class. Then, they call each student up there one at a time to get their next jet. But, of course they have to make fun on you using stupid things you've done over the past 5 months before they let you go. They used a PowerPoint presentation with some interesting pics and facts to help. After the ridicule and making fun, you take a deep breath and then spin a wooden prop on a stand to see your next jet. As the prop spins they flash different planes [the T-1 (cargo/tanker), T-38 (fighter/bomber), T-44 (C-130) and UH-1 (helicopter)] on the screen. I was anxious all day, but pretty confident I had performed well enough to give myself a chance at fighters. When the prop finished spinning for me, the first picture below is what I saw up on the screen! AWESOME! I was one of 4 in our class of 23 (18 active duty) to get selected, and ended up #2 in the class overall. The #1 guy is going to fly KC-10's in the AFRES.


On to Phase III...