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!

IFF Graduation

We finished up IFF on Thursday with a small "graduation" ceremony. It pretty much consisted of the usual fighter pilot nonsense of making as much fun of each other as possible before handing you your certificate. I'm pretty sure I was given the most crap by my flight commander for things I had done throughout pilot training. The first thing he had on me was the website. If any of you out there start your own site and then get into fighters, be ready to take the heat from the dudes you work with. In reality they think you're really cool and wish they had one of their own, but they have to make fun so they feel better about themselves. =) The next was the callsign the guys back at Columbus AFB gave me, Turd. It comes from the SNL Celebrity Jeopardy clips from back in the day where a guy calls himself Turd Ferguson...anyway, that was also fair game at graduation. Lastly, I had made a comment during one of my first few flights something to the effect of "Jester's dead" after shooting a simulated air-to-air missile. Yeah, that didn't go over too well at the time, but it made for good laughs after the fact. IFF went well and I was able to come away with the air-to-air Top Gun award and I finished second in the air-to-ground phase of training. Good stuff, but now it's on to the real deal! After graduation, I drove all the way back to Columbus, MS picking up my dad at the Atlanta airport on the way. I finished out processing the CAFB, packed my things into a rental truck, loaded my car onto a trailer, had dinner with friends in the area and then left town Friday night. On to FTU!

IFF Complete

As of yesterday afternoon, I"m officially done with IFF! I've had a great time in the program. God was good to me as always and allowed me to adjust quickly to the flying here making it a lot of fun. I finished up the SA portion of my training here with a 4-ship to the bombing range flying the tactical pattern. This pattern simulates there is a high concentration of surface threats (surface to air missile sites for example) in the area, and we need to ingress to the target low and fast. For this tactical pattern, we fly at 500' and 420 knots between a series of ground references to a pre-determined "pop" point. This point is where we pull the nose of the aircraft up to either 15 or 30 degrees nose high (depending if we're doing 10 or 20 degree passes), acquire the target at our left 10 o'clock or so in the climb and then roll in to bomb the target. This all happens pretty quick, so keeping yourself ahead of the jet is a must. These rides were definitely up there on my list of fun rides! Once I finished the SA rides I was on to my last two HABFM flights. High aspect is just that...we fly nose to nose each around 400 knots each and at the merge (when we pass each other) it's time to fight and kill the other dude like we did in OBFM and DBFM. Both went well and now it's time to press to Phoenix!

We'll pass the next couple days with last minute paperwork and crappy stuff like that before we graduate on Thursday. I'll be packed up and ready to go as soon as graduation's over with because I have to finish some things back at Columbus AFB before I start the long drive to Phoenix this weekend. I'll give a IFF graduation update once out in AZ. Until then, peace out!

Three More Weeks

The end is now in sight...only five more flights and three sims before I'm done here at IFF. Things are going and IFF has really allowed me to enjoy the new type of flying and challenge every flight brings. It gives a fighter pilot wannabe confidence to know he's doing a decent job. I finished up both the OBFM and DBFM phases this past Thursday with my second solo flight, which was the best flight I've had here at IFF so far...perfect timing! It's hard to explain exactly what goes on during an engagement without you seeing it, but bottom line the instructor in the other jet never "killed" me! We simulate taking both missile and gun shots at each other if we can maneuver our jet to point at the other guy, but I was able to do what I had been taught well enough to keep him from getting any shots on me. It felt pretty good, but I have five more flights left so I have to keep focused!

The next phase of training is surface attack (SA), or in other words we're learning the basics of dropping bombs. We do a variety of different passes on the range here close to the base to simulate bombing (it's all done electronically by the jet) a target they have set up. I think it's an old Army truck or something like that. We bomb at 10, 20, 30 and 45 degree angles in the conventional pattern. The steeper angles really feel like your racing at the ground pretty fast since we aim to drop our "bomb" at 420 knots at a predetermined altitude specific to each degree. For the 10 degree pass, we fly a rectangular pattern at 2100' before rolling in on the target. For the others it's, 4800', 7000' and 14000' respectively. Once we pickle the "bomb", we execute what they call a safe escape maneuver. This involves getting to 4g's within 2 seconds and pulling the nose of the jet to 30 degrees nose high before rolling to the crosswind leg of the rectangular pattern. When I drop bombs for real in the future, this escape maneuver will be done to keep my jet from flying through the fragmentation pattern of the bombs. Once a bomb explodes it sends a bunch of shrapnel into the air and that's a bad thing to have fly down the intake of your engine! I'm going to enjoy this phase a lot...it's closer to the ground and there's a lot going on! After surface attack I have two High Aspect BFM (HABFM) flights, and that will be it. In two months I'll be flying the F-16 and soon after I'll be dropping bombs for real! Oh yeah, I'm a 1st lieutenant now...can't believe I've been in the AF for two years already!

First Flying Block Complete

Friday was a good day when I finished the first block of five rides without much trouble. These rides are flown to make sure we learned what we should of in pilot training, and they also give us a chance to shake rust off our tactical formation. Mine flights all felt pretty solid. We also started with some "baby" BFM in preparation for the Offensive BFM (OBFM) block of four flights, which I start tomorrow. The instructors here are a lot more picky then at Columbus with the admin stuff like I talked about before. Starting the aircraft, moving all the right switches at the right time and being on the right radio frequency on time are things they'll nail you on if it's not right. Attention to detail is what you'll hear a lot if you come through IFF. They'll hammer you for not flying good tactical formation too because it should be second nature by now.

OBFM is just like it sounds...we'll be flying behind another T-38 (on offense) learning how to shoot missiles and fire our gun at him to kill him. The dude in front will be flying what they call defensive BFM (DBFM), although he's pretty much a steady platform for me to practice on. There are different set-ups and flying "drills" we go through to learn the basics of air-to-air engagement while in the OBFM and DBFM phases. After four OBFM rides, I'll move into DBFM and then from there into High Aspect BFM (HABFM). I'll talk to all of that later. BFM in general is an aggressive type of flying...a lot more so than pilot training. We've learned how to fly, now we're learning how to use our jets as a weapon. Yanking and banking all over the place, in afterburner on second and in idle the next. The stick full aft to full forward, full right then left...all while trying to keep the bad guy in sight, employ your weapons and keep situational awareness of what's going on around you. It's definitely a good workout both physically and mentally! But, that's why I love if...it's a challenge and a ton of fun! God knew where I should be and I'm grateful for it! OK, I'm going to finish studying and then catch a movie!

Flying Starts Next Week

Week #1 wasn't too bad here at IFF. The first couple days were filled mostly with inprocessing stuff and academics. The academics covered some new and old things we already knew, so the test later in the week was pretty easy. It's still the same jet as we've been flying, but knowing how use and operate the air-to-air and air-to-ground features of the avionics on the jet is what we needed to get up to speed on. We also had a couple sims this week. The simulators here are pretty awesome...unlike the ones at Columbus AFB which only have 180 degrees field of view, here they have 360 so you're completely enclosed in the sim. So far I haven't seen anything new, but that will be changing later this coming week or early the next. My first five rides involved basic 2 and 4 ship formation procedures...they want to make sure I can hack that first before sending me to the air-to-air phase of training. I'll be good to go there. The hardest part will be knowing the different flying procedures for the base, but I've been studying them with the bros so we'll be ready.

The T-38s here at Moody are painted a little different than the T-38s at all the other SUPT bases. I guess they want to look different and distinguish themselves from the others. They all have the bigger engines like I mentioned before, and they're all a little more beat up from the aggressive flying we do here. I haven't flown yet, but my bros tell me the jets are pretty bent from all the flying they've done in IFF over the past 20-30 years. I have a sandbag ride in a 4-ship tomorrow, which will help me understand the new procedures I was talking about and hopefully prepare me for my first ride Tuesday. I'll get back with everyone in a couple weeks.

Moody Air Force Base - MAFB

I finally pulled in down here in Valdosta, GA for my IFF class which starts Monday at Moody Air Force Base. It's GREAT to be here getting ready to start something new and different! Living in a new place is cool too. The base is very nice (they have a brand new awesome gym), and the town is much better than Columbus, MS. I played the base golf course today, and it's decent. Here at Moody they currently fly the T-6 Texan, the T-38C Talon, the HC-130 and the HH-60 helicopter. So, I'll be seeing a variety of aircraft in the pattern while flying the T-38C around here. Some of my buds who are already here in IFF were able to show me my new squadron and the flightline...I can't wait to get started! The flying is going to be much different than in SUPT and it'll be more of a "big-boy" program which I'm ready for.

My living quarters while I'm here at Moody aren't actually on the base...they're about a 15 minute drive away, but it's a pretty nice place. The base basically has a deal with some apartments in town to house us as we go through the program. It's good in a way too because we can be separate from work, hang with the bros in one place and chill at the pool after a hard days work!

The whole day Monday will probably be spent inprocessing and making sure all the paperwork is up to speed and they have all the records they need to. Day two starts academics and after about a week or so the flying will begin. The cool thing about IFF is they're training us to be good/smart wingmen. So, that means it's all formation flying and lead will be leading us everywhere we need to go...I just need to be in position and be smart with my flying and administrative stuff (knowing procedures, sounding sharp on the radio, etc.) From what I've heard, they don't expect you to be awesome at basic fighter maneuvers (BFM) right away. The main thing is not scaring flight lead by doing something unsafe with the jet when you're "fighting" or flying a rejoin, and just showing that you have the potential and situational awareness while flying to be a good fighter pilot in your follow on aircraft. I'll be able to give more input on exactly what's it's like in a few weeks, but for now that's what I've been told...let the fun begin!

Intro to Fighter Fundamentals...Almost Here

Most of you are probably wondering what I've been up to for the past two months or so. Well, lets just say I'm glad that I leave for IFF in a week and a half! Since survival training I've been flying as much as possible, going to the gym, playing golf and spending time with friends. I help out with some flight scheduling around the squadron to earn my pay as well! Most of my bros that I went through pilot training with are gone, so I'm ready to move on myself. Once I get to Moody AFB, I will be assigned to the 435th Flying Training Squadron, known as the Black Eagles. They too fly the T-38C, but with some bigger engines to give a little more thrust. The sooner I get through IFF the sooner I get to strap into an F-16!

IFF will consist of offensive and defensive Basic Fighter Maneuver (BFM) flights, surface attack flights (simulated bombing) and some others for a total of around 18. There are also SIMs. I've been told that if I keep from doing the following three things, I'll be fine at IFF:

1. Don't fly through Joker/Bingo fuel (sounds familiar from my formation checkride in 38s eh?)

2. Don't over g the jet.

3. Don't bust the training floor (usually set at 9,000' MSL)

Normally, those things aren't hard not to do, but when you're in and out of afterburner in an air-to-air sortie trying to "kill" the guy in front of you or keep from being "killed" yourself they can fall out of your cross-check. Of course, having thick skin when they're debriefing you on the things you screwed up and having a work hard/positive attitude will play a big part in my success there. Anyway, I'm not too worried about it. I'll give it my best effort and let God take care of the rest. That's all I have this time around...not much has been happening. I'll try to keep things updated while at IFF, assuming I have easy access to the internet while I'm there. Fly safe!

Combat Survival Training

I recently completed both land and water survival training before I head off to IFF in May. Land survival and resistance training up at Fairchild AFB in Spokane, WA went well, but by the end I was ready to get home. The first few days of training we had "death by PowerPoint," which is typical of most training courses. They discussed things like first aid care, surviving off the land and camouflage techniques to prepare us for our time in the woods. We were all issued a ruck sack and a bunch of other gear for the upcoming week of "camping, which weighted 50-60 lbs total once it was all packed. Saturday at 0500 we departed the base for a little more than an hour trip north into the mountains in northeastern WA. Towards the end of our trip snow began to appear on the ground and by the time we were at the official training site there was about 2-3 ft. The last 5-6 miles of the trip we had to jump into a personnel carrier type machine on tracks because of the snow. After we were dropped off, we grabbed our ruck sacks and began a short hike to what would be our camp for the next couple nights. Our element was comprised of 7 people...myself and another 2nd Lt being the only officers. He is also going to be flying F-16s down the road. The first couple days were spent learning how to use items we'd have after ejecting to make shelters, signal recovery helicopters and set up traps. We would also hike about 2 miles a day through the snow to different points in the area. We never caught anything, but the Air Force was nice enough to provide a couple rabbits for our eating pleasure. We killed and eat a couple rabbits the first night. Personally it didn't taste all that great to me, but I wouldn't complain if I were in the woods without food. We also hiked about 2-3 miles a day around the mountains...we didn't have snowshoes, so at times it was a pain since with every few steps you'd sink up to you thigh in snow.

Eventually the focus shifted from the surviving part to the evading part. We were taught basic navigation using a compass and map as well as movement, camouflaging and concealment techniques. This was the most fun in my opinion. The last day before getting "captured" was spent evading the "enemy" (our previous days instructors) and making it to a rendezvous point. I led a group of two other enlisted guys and thankfully we never got caught. I don't take all the credit, they did a good job too. We split up leading the evading portion between the three of us. The morning of the last day...yeah, we didn't have a chance to get away. They gave us a point on the map to get to, but as soon as we basically turned around to head into the woods...guys jumped out with fake guns and camo on their faces yelling as us to get down...we were caught.

This began the resistance phase, my least favorite part. There isn't much I can say about this phase because most of it's classified. Plus, I don't want to ruin the "fun" for those of you who will experience the training in the future. I will say I have a whole new respect for the American flag and all those who have been or will be a Prisoner of War (POW). We were taught how to resist interrogations and physical discomfort and return with honor to our countries...something very tough to do sometimes (the resisting part) under such high pressure and extreme torture as we learned from past POW cases. We were in the resistance lab for approximately 48 hrs.

A week after returning from land survival and resistance training, I was on my way to Pensacola, FL to the Navy base for water survival. This training was pretty fun. We kicked things off with PowerPoint stuff as usual, but day two we were into the water...it was a little chilly. The best part was the parasailing and helicopter hoist. After being pulled up to about 500 ft. under the canopy, we'd disconnect from tow boat, run our post ejection checklist and prepare for a water landing. After splashdown, we'd release our canopy and wait for the "rescue" boat. The Navy let us use one of their choppers from the base for the hoist demo. After signaling our position to direct the chopper to our location, we prepared to grab the hoist skimming along to surface of the water. Once the chopper was hovering above us, we'd strap in and give a thumbs up to let them know we were ready and away we went.

We also had a little entertainment on day three of training with the Blue Angles training directly overhead...sweet! It helped the day go by quicker watching them practice their maneuvers. Knowing they were in town, I had to drive down to the flightline and check things out. We were done with training Thursday afternoon, so I decided to chill with a buddy of mine from OTS for the rest of the weekend. I'm sure I'll make it back down before I'm out of here. That's it for now...check back in a few weeks.

Graduate Aviation Program (GAP)

After graduating from SUPT, I moved into the Graduate Aviation Program (GAP) here at Columbus AFB. It's a fancy term to describe the flight I'll be in from now until I head off to Intro to Fighter Fundamentals (IFF) at Moody AFB, GA in May. The GAP flight is called Training Flight. It's actually a pretty cool program, and the goal is to keep our flying skills from getting too rusty. We are still a part of the 50 FTS and have both dedicated and sandbag flights. The dedicated flights are actual flights the squadron dedicates to the guys in the GAP program to keep them current whereas sandbag flights are those we can jump into whenever there's an open cockpit available. So far I've had one dedicated and two nice tries at sandbag flights...they've both been cancelled due to weather. But, I'm on the board to fly a couple 4-ship and a couple 2-ship sandbag flights this coming week. We're also allowed to sandbag cross-country flights if we can find an open cockpit, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for one of those. Besides the flights, we have dedicated sims and the commander's approval to use the sim whenever we want to keep instruments skills sharp.

In addition to being part of the GAP, I have an additional duty to help out as an assistance flight scheduler in Hawk Flight...one of the four student training flights in the 50 FTS. I actually requested a scheduling job because I knew I'd have a better chance at getting flights whenever they were available, and it would keep me in the squadron. We have a big base wide Operations Readiness Inspection (ORI) coming up soon and a few dudes are getting tagged to help out with that...thankfully not me!

As I mentioned on the graduation page, we were all looking forward to the awesome opportunity (cough, cough) to head back to Holloman AFB, NM and revisit the torture chamber...only this time a little more pain was expected. For the Viper guys, the max g load we had to keep from passing out under was 9g's. Like my first fuge experience, it was painful but thankfully I didn't chew my shoulder like a couple guys did. I was the fourth person to go of the F-16 guys. The first guy made it fine, but the second dude wasn't so lucky. This was his second trip to Holloman to try and pass the F-16 profiles, but he passed out on profile #3 again. Of course this made my pregame jitters increase a bit...but, I knew I was in good enough shape to keep the blood in my head. =) There was also an F-15C dude that passed out on his first try, but then made it a few minutes later after he had some time to rest. The F-16 profiles were as follows:

Profile #1: 0.1g/second increase without the g-suit or straining to determine our resting g tolerance...5.0g for me.
Profile #2: 6.0g's for 30 seconds
Profile #3: 9.0g's for 15 seconds...ouch!!
Profile #4: check six at 7.0g's for 10 seconds
Profile #5: 90 seconds of varied g loads from 3.5g to 9g to simulate an air-to-air engagement...very tiring!

Next on my schedule are land and water survival training, which I leave for in a couple weeks. Survive Evade Resist Escape (S.E.R.E.) training is the technical term for it. This kind of training prepares us for the unfortunate day we hope never comes...having to eject over enemy territory. The survive and evade part is meant to keep one from getting captured, and the resist and escape part is for post capture if it happens. The water survival shows us the additional difficulties of surviving if ejecting takes place over water. I'll be finished with this training in late March. I'll update everyone as much as I'm allowed (because of classified stuff) on how the training went when I get back. Fly safe, and check six!

Next Assignment: Luke Air Force Base, Arizona!

Wow...what can I say! It feels awesome to have all the hard work over the past year pay off in getting my first choice out of pilot training. Honestly, it all the praise goes to God...He's blessed me too much!! I think this week has been the longest week I've ever been through. The nerves, excitement and being anxious about assignment night have all contributed to restless nights of sleep and a brain that just wouldn't shut off! Now I can finally tell people what I'll be doing next and where I'll be going after graduation. I was asked a ton over Christmas, "So, where are you going after this?" All I said was, "I'll get back to you on January 7th." F-16 training will be at Luke AFB in Phoenix, AZ, which should be a pretty cool place to live...better than Columbus, MS!! As of now I don't have my dates for Intro to Fighter Fundamentals (IFF) at Moody AFB, GA, but the guys that have graduated just ahead of us have said they've been waiting 4-5 months to get there. IFF is a course in teaching basic fighter maneuvers (BFM) in the T-38C with bigger engines. It's 2 months long, and has around 20 flights total. So, in the meantime I'll be going back to the centrifuge for the F-16 profile and complete some other training. I have survival training, both land and water, as well as resistance training...some fun, some not so fun. But hey, it's worth it!

From what I've heard from IP's that have flown the F-16, it's going to be an awesome time. Of course, flying any fighter for the most part is sweet, but to be flying my #1 choice out of pilot training is going to be awesome! For me it came down the mission, with location being second. The F-16 is a multi-role fighter, so it'll give me a chance to do different things. It has both air-to-air and air-to-ground capability, which is cool because I'm a person who tends to get bored doing the same thing over and over again. I can dogfight one day and drop bombs the next. Also, I wanted to be able to use all the training I've been getting in war if the country needs me. It's been awhile since we've gone air-to-air with any country...we may in the future, but at least I'll be able to blow stuff up in the Falcon (a.k.a Viper). As far as locations are concerned, there are both good and bad. But, I've decided even if I end up in one of the "bad" spots, I'll still be flying an awesome jet and I'll make the most of my surroundings!

Assignment night is very similar to track select at the end of T-37s. It takes place in the O-club on base here and is set up where each individual student gets call up in front one at a time to get their assignment...we probably had about 400-500 people there. After you're made fun of and joked on a bit, the screen behind you shows the next jet you'll be flying. I can't even explain the feeling inside when I saw the F-16! My classmates rushed the stage to congratulate me, and then it was on to the next person. What a great time, and a day I'll never forget!

Over the past few weeks we finished up with our 4-ship formation flying, which by far has been the most fun...just slightly above low level flying. Being up there in formation with three other jets around you is awesome. Our 4-ship flights in the T-38 were just to get us familiar with what we'd be doing a lot more of in our follow on jet, and as with most things dealing with flying I'm looking forward to it!All that's left for me is five flights and then graduation on the 21st. It's been an awesome year of flying and an awesome year of rewarding work...God is good!