I felt very confidant and well trained by the time I graduated from PIT in January of 1974. Now it was time to go back to Alabama to face some real students.
Chapter 5
Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) is a yearlong program that trains new officers how to fly jets.
Prior to beginning the primary, or T-37 phase, all applicants had to prove themselves through a 30-hour flight program in the Cessna 172. The Cessna program was staffed with civilian instructors. The purpose of this program was similar to the ROTC flight program I completed in college. It weeded out candidates who didn’t have those qualities the Air Force deemed essential to becoming a successful pilot. This was a very cost effective way to eliminate the most obvious nonstarter candidates. Students who were consistently airsick or just plain scared were quickly eliminated; the same for the uncoordinated or those who cracked under pressure. But just getting through the Cessna program was no guarantee that you would be able to go all the way and get your wings. About 1/3 of all candidates were eliminated over the course of a year, most of them in the T-37 phase. The T-37 was a short, squat, two-engine jet with side-by-side seating. The engines produced a loud, highpitched whine. The airplane was known as the “Tweet” or the “Dog Whistle.”
The students in our program were an elite bunch. All were college graduates and some were graduates of the service academies. All met strict selection criteria and were highly motivated. When our students reached the T-38 phase they had accumulated about 120 flying hours, 90 in a low-performance jet (T-37), and 30 in the Cessna program. Now we were to take these students with low experience and pair them with a high performance aircraft.
My squadron, the 52nd Flying Training Squadron, had four different flights (student groups): “F,” “G,” “H” and “I.” There was also a Standardization/Evaluation section. This group administered check rides to the instructors. A separate Check Section gave check rides to the students. The T-38 training phase lasted six months. The four Flights or groups ran the gamut of training. “F” flight, for example, would be in the beginner, or instrument phase. “I” flight, ready to graduate, was in the four ship formation phase.
I had been assigned to “H” flight and they had just begun the formation phase when I arrived. The students each had three or four rides and had not soloed in formation yet. Soloing in formation was a major accomplishment in the T-38 program; second in importance only to the initial solo in the contact phase.
Captain Doug Collert was our Flight Commander. My fellow line instructors were: Lt Greg Barrett, Lt Rob O’Connell, Lt Cal James, and Captain Stan Sparks. All the instructors, except Stan, were FAIPs. This was Air Force speak for “First Assignment Instructor Pilots.” This was their first assignment after graduating pilot training. Stan, like me, had come from a previous aircraft. He was a C-141 pilot. He had done a lot of traveling in the 141 and he wanted to stay put with his family for a few years. All the IPs had three students assigned to them but since I was coming into their program late, I got to share two students, one from Stan and one from Greg.
Chapter 6
My first ride with a real student was a formation ride. I was paired up with Greg and two of his students. These students were both good but with only three formation rides each, were not that comfortable in formation. I started out as lead. We followed a standard profile for this phase including: takeoff, departure, normal maneuvering in fingertip, pitchouts and rejoins, area departure, traffic pattern entry, followed by single ship landings. Since I hadn’t flown with this student before, I would demonstrate the first maneuver, and then let him try it. We flew half the ride as lead, then swapped positions with Greg and took the wing. Some of those “what if” scenarios in PIT came true on my first ride with an actual student. This student was a former navigator with the rank of Captain. I think he may have been nervous because he hadn’t flown with me before. Flying with a fellow Captain may have spooked him since his regular instructor was a First Lieutenant. Whatever the reason, his flying suffered because of it.
He made several of the classic errors I had been warned about. Once we got into our flying area, I gave him control of the airplane and told him to set up for a straight-ahead rejoin. By the time he set up the maneuver we were heading out of our area into the adjacent one. I took the airplane back, got us back into our area, and set up for the pitchout and rejoin. When this was done, I gave him back the airplane and the go-ahead to do the maneuver. Our wingman was on our right. My student looked at the wingman, gave the signal, and then cleared right. I knew what was coming. He attempted to turn the wrong way right into our wingman. I was ready for him, however. As soon as I felt the first input on the stick I took over and rolled left. I asked him why he was trying to kill us but he couldn’t answer.
We did a couple of pitchout/rejoins each then we practiced some G loaded wing work. We instructors constantly pushed the students to improve. A simple way to do this in formation was through G loading. Normal straight and level flying resulted in 1 G (force of gravity). A 60-degree bank level turn produced 2 Gs. A 500-knot loop started out at 5 or 6 Gs. These high G maneuvers pushed your blood supply from your head into your core and legs. To counter this, we wore G-suits, which were inflatable chaps-like devices worn around the mid section and legs which responded to G forces by filling with air. The G-suit would squeeze the legs and stomach and keep the blood supply from moving downward. Without restricting the blood flow, a high G maneuver could cause a blackout; not a good result in a high-speed airplane.
Greg and I let the students fly and they were staying in position but they weren’t pushing their limits. It was our turn. Within a few minutes we were doing four and five G turns around cumulus clouds. In this kind of workout, we were all breathing hard and sweating. About 15 minutes of this back and forth was enough and we gave the airplanes back to the students and they practiced for a while.
My student finally relaxed enough to fly up to his potential and I learned a valuable lesson that day. Some students can be easily intimidated so it was important for me to put them at ease before we flew. To the student, the instructor was a powerful figure that could crush your dreams of a flying career so it was important for the student to trust and not fear the instructor. Only by being relaxed and at ease could the student perform up to his potential. This approach to instructor-student relationships was starkly different from the prevailing attitude when I went through pilot training. Back then, the operative words for the instructors’ treatment of students were: fear, sarcasm and ridicule. Things were certainly changing for the better.
Chapter 7
The instrument phase was the start of the T-38 program. Before we even began this phase we gave the students a freebie. It was called a “Dollar Ride” because the student would give their instructors a dollar for the privilege of the first T-38 ride. The money went into a kitty to fund squadron parties. Prior to this first ride the students had been to ground school and learned all about the airplane. They were required to master all the systems, learn the limitations and the emergency procedures. After completing ground school, they were given a simulator ride to familiarize them with the cockpit layout. The Dollar Ride was fun for both the student and the instructor. They got to see the capabilities of the aircraft and we got to show off a bit. Part of the ride included a supersonic run. None of the students had ever broken the sound barrier before, but after this ride they were members of the Mach 1+ Club.