Formation Solo!

I realize I lied last update saying it would be my last one, but my formation solo on Monday was too awesome to leave out! By far, it was the most fun and memorable flight I've had yet. When I sit back and think about the fact I was flying formation in my own jet against two IP's in the other jet makes it even more awesome. Everything went like any other formation ride. I was lead on the takeoff so I took us out to the practice area and gave my wingman some work on the wing doing different maneuvers. Soon, it was my turn to hand over the lead to my wingman so they could give me some practice...that's where most of the fun happens. When you're on the wing it's your primary responsibility to keep sight of lead and stay in position off his wing while he flys around. The IP's in the other jet thought I was doing well enough to give me crossunders at 90 degrees of bank (I realize that makes no sense to most, but it's not nomally something they give to students), which went pretty well. All of formation isn't in close to the other jet. We do an exercise called extented trail which kinda looks like a simulated dogfight...not anything close to a simulated F-15 or F-16 dogfight, but as a student in the T-37 it's pretty cool. The IP's gave me a lot of the extended trail and had fun trying to get me out of position on their six, but I hung in there pretty well. On our recovery back to the base, I had some more fun. I was in the fighting wing position (about 300-800 ft behind and slightly to either side of lead) on their right wing when the IP's racked their jet up to 90 degrees and pulled across my path of flight to see what I'd do to keep from hitting them! About the only thing I could do was a lag role (similar to a barrel role) up over top while maintaining visual on lead and then get back into position on the left. WOW...how awesome! So much of this stuff is hard to put into words, I just wish I could show some of you guys. I guess you'll have to trust me when I say this is the best job in the world! As it's looking right now, I'll have my formation check next wednesday and I'll be pretty much done. I have 5 flights left in the good, old and fun Tweet!

T-37 Academics & Simulator Complete

Tweets is going by fast...I only have 8 more rides until I'm Tweet complete! I flew a lot of instrument rides this week, and had my I-check today. Everything went really well and I came away with one downgrade. I didn't get any downgrades for flying, but I got downgraded on my emergency procedure during the ground evaluation of all things! CRAP! Oh well, I'm not complaining with what I got. I should have my formation checkride in the next couple weeks. Have I told you...formation is the coolest thing! I'm sure I have, but couldn't remember. =) We finished with academics a few weeks ago, but I've just forgotten to say anything about it. It's been nice not having to worry about that stuff...flying is where I can spend all my time now. I also had my last simulator thursday before my checkride today. We've been so busy flying and studying the past few months, that it's hard to believe we're almost done with Phase II!

Last weekend was cross-country weekend. It turned out to be a good time and a big learning experience. We fly so much around here in the Columbus AFB environment that we get really used to how things opperate. Going cross-country teaches you a lot of things about instrument flying and gets you used to how things are going to be outside of here. Due to weather, we ended up flying north. We hit Ft. Cambell, KY on the way up to Wright Patterson AFB, OH where we spent the night. Most of you know I worked a civilian job a Wright Patt before OTS, so it was good to see some buds and family around there. The next day we made our way over to St. Louis for a Cardinals/Marlins game. The third day changed from flying south down to the beach because of weather again. We ended up over in Arkansas, which wasn't too bad before heading back here on Sunday. It was a mentally tiring but great weekend. It totally helped bring together all the simulator and instrument rides we've had over the past months.


Packing our bags in the Tweet was a process. My IP stuffed his bag behind the seats and I put mine in the right nose comparment I'm doing in the picture above. Our shoes went wherever there was space in the front there and then with a little force the comparment was latched with my bad crammed in there. Fun times! All I packed was one flight suit, and couple changes of civilian clothes and the important stuff. =) As we were climbing in the jets, I said good-bye to the buds and then was pumped up by a couple F-16's from the 178th Fighter Wing in Springfield, OH doing touch-n-gos.

Well, that's it for this update. The next one will be my final update in Tweets probably...on to Phase III! T-38's baby!

Career Day

Well, we finally came to an agreement on our class patch and it should be in this next week sometime. It's tradition for the classes to get together and design a patch they'll wear the rest of their time in pilot training. Our first one didn't get passed, but it didn't bother me too much...I didn't care for the idea. I like the second idea much better, and if you're into sports like I am I'm sure you'll agree. A couple dudes in my class "stole" the idea from ESPN made a sweet design.

This next week is going to be a good one. We had a career day yesterday here on base from about 0900 in the the early afternoon which we had to be at. The operations group commander had a bunch of different planes flown in so we could talk with the pilots about their aircraft and what we can expect if we go that route. It was a good chance to get a close up of some sweet planes. I definitely know I want to fly fighters, and the order of my top three choices are F-16, F-15C, F-15E. At least for now...the order tends to change with time. Anyway, why this coming week is going to be so good is because first we have Monday off! The second reason is I'm going cross-country to the beach. We're taking off from here on Thursday and eventually ending up at Tyndall AFB in Panama City, FL. Friday we'll hit Hurlbert Field (Destin Beach) on the way to Pensacola, FL. Saturday we're headed to Keesler AFB around Biloxi, MS before flying back up here Sunday. It'll be nice to see some different airspace and relax at the beach some. I'll let you all know how that went sometime in the weeks to come.


Yeah, we do other things besides fly here in Mississippi. Some of our friends are from one of the local colleges in town, and they asked a group of us to a formal they were having. We hit up a nice restaurant in town before going to the dance, and then it was off to relax and get our grove on with friends.
Well, as it's looking right now I may be done with Tweets in about 3-4 weeks. It's gone fast! I have a few more instrument rides and then about 8 more formation rides before those checkrides. The cross-country takes care of most if not all of our navigation rides. It'll be nice to have some down time to get back in shape and prepare Lord willing for T-38's!! =) Take it easy.

T-37 Formation Flying, Very Cool

As you know, I had my Final Contact checkride at the beginning of the week. Thankfully it all went well, and I came away with a 3 downgrade excellent...3E. My three downgrades came from minor things in acro and a slight overshoot on one of my patterns. I still have a couple more chances for that 0E I'm shooting for! As with last checkride, I was able to read some critiques from past students on the check pilot I was going to fly with, and it did help. The emergency procedure he gave me in the debrief was just like I had read about, and the general knowledge questions were as well.

On Tuesday I had my formation "dollar" ride and saw what it was like for the first time...too cool! Formation I'm sure is going to be the best part of training! It was one of those demo/do kind of flights where my IP would show me what it should look like and then give me a try with the main objective being, don't hit the other jet! =) So, we took off in formation and got up through the clouds to where I could give things a shot. I was given two main tips from other pilots I know to help me out with form:

1. Wiggle your fingers and toes
2. Lower your shoulders

The more you can relax, the better you'll fly is basically what those two things remind you to do. My first try at trying to stay 3-5 ft from leads wingtip was a little shaky and I heard, "I have the jet" from my IP a few times, but soon I was getting a handle on being light with the stick and throttles. The 3-5 ft is in the horizontal plain, so we're a little aft and below lead as we're flying. I wish I could take some pics of that to give you all an idea of how cool it looks from the cockpit. Anyway, the IP I was flying with was a former F-16 pilot, so she had a lot of good tips from all her experience flying fighters. It won't be long until we're pressing up against my form checkride, so check back over the next couple weeks to see what's up...I need to go study some more before bed.

Moving Right Along

I tell you what, the tempo has picked up the past couple weeks! We've still been having great weather, and it's made for some awesome flying. The last time I updated the site, I was coming up on my first checkride, Midphase. The day before the checkride we were assigned our check pilot. Knowing who I was going to fly with allowed me to scan through critiques students wrote up from past checkrides. I read through that info and learned as much as I could about the pilot I would be flying with.

Thursday of that week was the big day, and overall it went well. Of course, I'm kinda ticked at myself because I had flown better previously, but it's all good. It was a little tense before we flew for a couple reasons. To keep it kind of simple, the navigation aids on the ground that tell us where we're at in the Military Operations Area (MOA) while we practice decided to go down about an hour before I was supposed to check. When this happens, there's a whole different procedure for keeping track of where you're at in the air. Of course, I had never flown with these different procedures so I tried to cram them into my head about 20 minutes before brief time. Crazy stuff...but thankfully as we were stepping to the jet the nav aids I was used to working came back on line! The second reason, well it was my first checkride ever and I had those pregame jitters going on.

Finally we got to our jet, and were off. I had everything all nice and planned out how I wanted it to go, but checkrides rarely go as planned. =) The pattern was very full, and some of the requirements (like normal and single engine patterns and landings) I wanted to get out of the way right off the bat in the pattern had to wait until we returned from the MOA. The big thing the check pilot was looking for was if I could safely fly out to the practice area, keep myself in the area assigned and the fly safely back. An area is defined by a min and max altitude, and two radials off of a specific nav aid. The area work all went great, and soon I was requesting recovery to the base. The recovery radio call goes like this, "Columbus approach, Ripsaw 35 (that was the check pilot's call sign) request recovery Marble, with Bravo." That all went fine and we were soon back in the pattern to finish a couple things I didn't get a chance to do earlier. Once the flying was over I had a ground evaluation to see if I've been keeping up and learning my stuff. After about 20 minutes or so of questioning and all, it was over and I came away with a 4 downgrade good...or a 4G. I was pretty happy with that, but I'm definitely shooting for better Monday!

After a long and tiring week, it was time to relax a little bit down in Destin Beach, FL! Eglin AFB was having an airshow, so a couple of us took of Friday after we left the flightline. My college roommate's parents live right there by the base and beach, and they allowed us to stay there for a couple nights. It was a great time to just relax. Saturday morning we got up for a run, had breakfast and then headed out on the boat for a while. Their house is on a bay off of the Gulf, so we cruised out in the the Gulf of Mexico for a bit and soaked up some rays. We got back to the house around 1100 and then headed to the base to check out the planes and catch the Thunderbirds later in the day. After being down there for the weekend, I don't think I'd have much of a problem with flying F-15C's there at Eglin...it's a great base and right by the beach! Come to think if it, that would be no problem at all!
With Midphase behind me, we were right into the next block of flights...advanced acro. I know I've said yanking in the pattern is fun, but the acro is ever more so. The Monday after FL I flew twice, with the second flight being my first area solo. The first flight was a demo-do kind of flight. The IP would show me what the maneuver should look like, and then I'd give it a shot. Besides the loop, aileron roll and split-s from before, we were now doing the cuban 8, lazy 8, immelman, chandelle, cloverleaf and barrel roll. I'm sure you can read about those maneuvers somewhere else on the web, so I'm not going to try and explain them. They're fun, that's all there is to it!

Now, back to my area solo. Like most of this stuff, I can't even explain how cool it was to be taking an Air Force jet out by myself to flip and spin around alone! How awesome is that?! Not to mention this is my job!! In this block of flights, I've been able to go to the MOA 4 times solo to practice the acro in preparation for my Final Contact checkride the beginning of next week. I'm totally ready for it, and just need to keep doing what I've been doing. The only thing that's easy to do with this new stuff is to go out the top or bottom of the assigned area. If you get set up and then start stringing the maneuvers together without keeping a good eye on your altitude, you'll find yourself a little too high or a little too low. Anyway, I'm not too worried about doing that...I'll be shooting for a 0 to 3 downgrade excellent. (0E-3E).

Once Monday is over with, I'll be into formation flying...that's going to ROCK! My formation and instruments checkride will be the only two I have left before we track select into T-1's, T-38's, T-44's or a helicopter trainer that I can't remember the name of. You all know by now T-38's is my goal, and I'll be finding out 30 June at our track select party if I reached that goal. There's only one more test as well before we're academics complete, and I'm definitely looking forward to that! We had our first Navigation test yesterday, and again thank God...another 100%. I did miss a question, but it's being thrown out.

Well, that's all for now. I need to hit the gym and then meet up with some friends to study for the checkride Monday.