Solo in the W.G.A.S.F.

Well, a couple days ago I soloed the F-15C Eagle, the world’s greatest air superiority fighter.  That was quite a feeling to be sitting on the runway in a 50,000lb jet with more horsepower than twice the Nascar starting lineup and only one seat.  In the Eagle you sit way out in front of the engines and the canopy comes down to about your elbows, so you really feel like you’re just sitting on top of a rocket.  Then to look to the side and see missiles hanging off the wings made realize that I had truly entered the fighter pilot world.  In this flight as most that we fly in the tactical world I was part of a  two-ship.  So I blasted off and rejoined on my flight lead and flew out to do so practice dogfighting (they aren’t real missiles)

   It was only my fourth flight in the jet, but I found myself flying fingertip and then shooting simulated missiles and even gunning down the other jet (of course he was making it easy) it was surprising how much I have learned; yet it also showed me how much more I have to learn.  It was an awesome time and only the beginning of a new chapter in my story.

The Eagle Roar

I just flew the Eagle for the first time this week and it was awesome!
On my second flight yesterday I did a full afterburner quick climb which basically means that I took off using all 36,000 lbs of thrust leveled off about 50 feet over the ground and by the end of the runway I had almost 400 mph. Then I basically stood the jet on it's tail and rocketed straight up. It was really cool as I looked back at the ground falling away behind me. I think it really struck me what I was doing when I was flying around the landing pattern and some more Eagles were coming in and I thought, just as I have my whole life, wow that's so cool. Then I realized I was zooming around in the same thing!
This really is one heck of a jet. When you do a break turn (a high G, hard turn) you hear this huge rush of air called the Eagle roar as you come through corner velocity, very cool. It performs so well that I am so glad to be flying it for a good while and getting to learn how to make it do exactly what I want it to.
On Thursday I should be soloing which will be my fourth flight in the jet!

Anticipation

Well it’s taken me several days to find words for my first flight in an F-15 Eagle.  Last Thursday I went up in the back seat of a two seater with the squadron commander, who is one of the most experienced Eagle pilots in the world.  We were in a four ship fighting another four Eagles from Portland.  We started out with a bone-shaking takeoff in full AB (afterburner) and it just got better from there.  We got into a pretty good BVR fight (Beyond Visual Range) though I didn’t know exactly what was going on.  At one point though we were screaming just a couple hundred feet over the desert at about 700 mph!  If I hadn’t been wearing a mask (and you had a very high speed camera) you would have seen a huge grin on my face. 

    Then today I rode in flight where we went out and fought over the ocean.  That was weird cause we had to wear dry suits since the water is so cold (in case we had to punch out); they’re pretty hot when you’re in that miniature greenhouse we call a cockpit.  But it was awesome to be in the middle of a close up dogfight.  At one point I was looking over my shoulder at the other guy (not a good sign when he’s behind you) and the dude flying tightened down to 8.7g’s all of a sudden (somewhat painful and one of the reasons it’s better to be the guy flying).  He let me fly a little fingertip on the way back and it was crazy to think how far I’ve come that I could just jump on the controls and fly such a huge jet only a few feet away from another one. 

  Yet those two experiences were just to whet my appetite for what is soon to come… Tomorrow I will pilot the Eagle for the first time!!  I will strap in as the pilot of a $35 million dollar war machine built for the sole purpose of being the most deadly air-to-air fighter in the world.  Yes, I’m excited.  Very Excited!