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!