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...

Phase II / Tweet Complete!

It's hard to believe, but I'm done flying the Tweet! I finished last Friday with my low level navigation flight, which was an awesome last ride. The whole flight was flown at about 500 ft and 210-220 knots. It simulates what may take place in a different jet in that we need to be able to find ground checkpoints and make sure we're on time to each so we reach the target on time. We obviously didn't have anything to bomb in the tweet, but our "target" at the end of the mission was a dam. Fun times!

Thursday I had my formation checkride and came away with a 3 downgrade excellent...I was happy with a 3E even though my downgrades were stupid mistakes. That's always how it seems to go. =) It was actually a bit out of the ordinary. I was scheduled to have my checkride on Wednesday of last week, but we were only able to get half of it done. I did all my lead work and had just given my wingman the lead when we heard over the radios, "Columbus AFB is now on weather recall." Basically, thunderstorms were moving into the area and we had to get home before they hit. My check IP took the jet and lead us home. Thursday I was able to finish up the rest of my checkride on the wing...we even had to dodge some weather then as well. It's so hot and humid around here, thunderstorms pop up fast. If I get the chance at the T-38, formation is going to be awesome!

A bunch of us went out last weekend to celebrate being done with the T-37 at a local restaurant. This pic goes out to my best friend from back home...John Deere!

Video:

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!