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!
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!
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. 
