Week 27 & 28

Week 27

Another exciting week. These T-1 flights are long and seem to get longer after every one I fly. After the preparation, briefings, actual flight, debriefing and EP the day is pretty much gone. This week I flew 4 times and had a SIM. The flights are going pretty good and I am getting used to the jet. It is amazing to me what this thing can do as far as its computers and junk. Its not as fun to fly as the T-6 because it is not exactly an aerobatic airplane, but it goes a lot faster and is a lot more comfortable to fly. The other day we had an IP that let us take a camera with us (Dave, the other student I fly with brought his video camera and took a bunch of videos of me flying, so I’ll get those out as soon as I can). As far as the flights I really don’t have any really cool stories except on one of my flights the flaps stuck at 10 degrees and would not retract so we had to burn off a bunch of gas in the MOA so we could safely land. Also, on Friday we went cloud chasing which was pretty fun. The cloud deck was about 5 feet below us and we just scooted across the surface. It really seemed like we were just barely above ground and was quite a rush. Another cool thing about the T-1 is that we go all over Texas for our sorties. Just this week I went to San Angelo, Corpus Christi (which is right by the ocean and that was cool), Midland, and Laredo. We also had a test and an EPQ this week, both went well. Oh, and my SIM instructor was Mr. Klopeck from the burbs. I swear he looks exactly like him. I will have to take a picture and show you.

Week 28

Things in T-1’s are going good. I just cant seem to get used to waking up at 4 in the morning. Hopefully soon we will start getting the later jets so I don’t have to come in so bloody early in the morning. Lately its just been tests, tests, and some more tests, and the occasional flight and SIM. I am doing pretty well in T-1’s, but still miss the excitement of aerobatic flying. When I finish I will have to rent an aerobatic airplane and take some of you up with me. Especially jimmy just so I can make him vomit in a bag while pulling 6 G’s, I know he’d love that. I did have one thing happen to me this week that was eye opening. The T-1 has weather radar and a anti-ice system which enables us to fly in almost any kind of weather. So, the other day we took off when lightning was forcasted and flew through some rather ominous looking clouds. The weather radar wasn’t reflecting anything bad until we all saw a huge flash of light and a loud bang which shook the plane. It took us a second to realize that we had just been struck by lightning. My IP hit the weather radar control panel which then immediately began reflecting some serious weather ahead of us. So, I requested an immediate descent and got us out of the weather. After that our avionics and flight systems were still running fine, so we finished the mission at a different location.