40 replies to this topic

[ClearedHot]

mudkow60, on 16 December 2011 - 11:27 AM, said:

So...who gets the model?

Been swamped and missed the cutoff date, but I will share two stories anyway.

1. Flying a solo sortie and lose an engine (oil pump shaft sheared), IFE recovery to center runway pull off in the hammerhead and shut down. Another stud in my class is flying a Form Check with an absolute prick. The dude hated everyone and everything, I think because he was selected to fly T-38's instead of F-16's after his RF-4 tour. I am standing in the hammerhead when the formation lands and clears the outside runway. They are taxiing back and the canopies go up followed by a loud thump and a puff of smoke out of my buddies’ jet. They shut down right there and the fire dept runs over to check them out. They get out of the plane and we are all standing there talking when the fire chief walks up holding a mess of papers and metal in his hands and says "sir I found the problem, someone lost a checklist down the intake." The douche-nozzle check pilot goes nuts screaming at my buddy and telling he is done in UPT...he berates him for another 30 seconds in front of everyone. When he was done my buddy calmly said, "But sir, I have my checklist and holds it up"....sure enough it turns out the check pilot put his checklist up on the dash when they landed and when he opened the canopy it went flying out and right down the intake...KARMA.

2. For a young SNAP getting cleared solo to the area was a big deal, the training wheels were off and it felt like you were flying a real airplane. Several guys in the class in front of me talked about their “Thunderbird Audition” ride, which was basically screwing off in the jet on their first solo to the area. Some were claiming they had done X number of aileron rolls while going vertical and I of course wanted to test my metal. It’s been a long time but I think the airspace block was 9K to 23K?...so I started at 500 Knots and 13K in full blower and lowered the nose to accelerate, just as I kissed 9K I honked back on the stick and started going straight up. I of course buried the stick left enjoyed a few seconds of “yeah I’m the man” as I was going straight up like a rocketship doing aileron rolls…the fact that I was going straight up so fast didn’t really hit me until I looked at the altimeter and saw it spinning like a fan through 22K. I started pulling the stick back as hard as I could and somehow had the presence of mind to turn off my Mode C…however, that is where any airmanship ended because I must have pulled the throttles back as well and now I was getting slow….very slow…so slow in fact that I did a near perfect execution of a prohibited maneuver, the tail slide…it scared the crap out of me and for an instant I was certain I was going to depart. Luckily the nose fell through and I went screaming back down into the area…I leveled at 16K, turned the Mode C on and flew orbits until my gas was gone and my heart stopped beating out of my chest.

Edited by ClearedHot, 16 December 2011 - 02:00 PM.

[Champ Kind]

ClearedHot, on 16 December 2011 - 01:59 PM, said:

I leveled at 16K, turned the Mode C on and flew orbits until my gas was gone and my heart stopped beating out of my chest.

The altitude being notional, and whether it was a T-38, a Tweet, or even a T-6, I am sure that there are many other area solo stories that end that way.

Very well-written! Brought back some memories.

[Rainman A-10]

Crashed and totaled a TH-55 when the IP was trying to demo opposite hands hover from the left seat (left hand on co-pilot cyclic, right hand on AC collective).

[stract]

Rainman A-10, on 16 December 2011 - 07:34 PM, said:

Crashed and totaled a TH-55 when the IP was trying to demo opposite hands hover from the left seat (left hand on co-pilot cyclic, right hand on AC collective).

that's fucked up. Did you ever have a blade fire?

We chased cows in an LZ during my area student solo in the Huey, and then went to Florala for lunch.

[Baseops.Net]

We are keeping the contest open through the weekend for some last minute entries (hope your respective squadrons are slowing down ops a bit to give you a chance to contribute to the forums...).

The aircraft models are nice - well worth the sharing of your UPT stories.

[Rainman A-10]

I was practicing slope landings during the NVG phase and watched a Huey in the same LZ about 50m in front of me hook a skid and demonstrate a perfect example of dynamic rollover. Helo parts and dirt and shit flew everywhere but missed us completely. Everyone walked away from the other chopper.

Impressive. Very.

Edited by Rainman A-10, 17 December 2011 - 07:23 PM.

[Rainman A-10]

That was pretty much it. The shit happened fast. I had just set down and my IP said "Now look at that guy, see how he is drifting left? He needs to get the upslope skid on the ground and put the collective down firmly, this is only about a 5 degree slope...whoah, HOLY SHIT! Everyone OK? They're climbing out, good." There was a third helo in the LZ and the IP in that one outranked my IP, we called him on the radio and my IP said "Ok, they've got it. Let's get the fuck out of here before we get caught up in the paperwork."

I was pretty much mouth agape. We went out and rejoined with a couple other helos My IP was talking to, did a 5 ship formation autorotation to touchdown (no shit, insane but my IP said "you never know when you might need to do this" and I thought...5 ship formation autorotation? WTFO!? OK, he flew in Vietnam, not me. I guess I better not fuck this up.) at Bob Sikes, shut down for gas, went in and got some chow while my IP told the story to the other crusty old Vietnam era IPs like nothing serious had happened and I flew an "NVG low level" back home on a full stomach. I didn't mention what had happened that night to my frau since I couldn't believe it myself and I figured she would certainly think this helo shit was nuts. I just rerflected on it and thought "this fucking helo shit is FUCKING AWESOME!", which it was (and still is). No one said a word about the mishap the next day in the mass brief. UFB.

There were a shitload of crashes at Rucker when I was there. A total of 17 guys died while I was in UPT-H, several at night since we were doing all kinds of fucked up shit using Gen II AN/PVS-5 cutaway goggles. The Army treats this stuff differently, especially back in the 80s (so did the USAF actually).

We cut away the bottoms of these pieces of shit (below) so we could see under them for cockpit stuff and then had a Frankenmod attachment to our helmets with something like four rolls of quarters in a pouch on the back of the helmet as a counterweight. Pencil neck geeks need not apply, it felt like a 45lb plate on your cranium by the end of the night. Anything less than 30% moon and it was almost like being unaided.

[F16Rooster]

It was a hot June day about 1800 when we took off for a Form 2-check. As we got to our area I noticed random cumulus clouds rolling through our MOA and we did our best to avoid them. The student in the other T-6 was a good stick and efficient flying formation so we got through our check profile in about 20 minutes. After our last manuever on the profile I hear 2 say "Those clouds look pretty suspicious, I think they deserve a closer look". At this suggestion, a wide grin broke out and it must have on my IP too as the next thing I hear is "Roger, go fighting wing" and a little chuckle from the IP that had been silent up to this point. A lag roll from 2 and the PCL goes to max. For the next 40 minutes we chased eachother up and over and around any cloud that looked the least bit "suspicious" all while the sun was sliding lower providing that beautiful lighting that can only be seen from the air. After our reluctant return we debriefed over beer and all 4 of us were smiling the entire time. That was one of the few times that "High Flight" poem seemed unequivocally fitting. It was, hands down, the most fun I've ever had in an airplane and was my best day in UPT.

[Rainman A-10]

Grind, on 18 December 2011 - 01:40 PM, said:

Grandpa

Get off my lawn!

[Tank]

mudkow60, on 16 December 2011 - 11:27 AM, said:

So...who gets the model?

So, who gets the model?

[BQZip01]

Well?

[ClearedHot]

While we are waiting I will share one more story.

I was T-38 Nav check complete and only flying sorties to get the required hours to graduate. My IP and I ended up planning a low-level through Big Bend and I was really looking forward to a "no-pressure" flight. We start up and taxi to the hammerhead and are waiting our turn for departure when I see a T-38 coming in to land that is way below glideslope. I mentioned it to me IP and said I don't think that guy is gonna make the runway. Sure enough a couple seconds later the RSU yells out "Overrun 13 Center go around, use burner, Lariat on Guard!"...too late, the T-38 thumps into the over run way short of the runway just as the wick lights. Rocks, dirt, and grass are flying everywhere as he goes limps back the air in full blower and manages to keep it flying. I said a little prayer "Thank god it wasn't me...please lord don't let me fuck up like that"...and we pressed over to the outside runway for departure. We departed and flew our low-level without incident, had a quick debrief and I cruised back to the dorms. I lived on the second floor and as I walked up I saw my neighbor leaning over the railing with a big frown on his face. He was in the class behind me with some friends from school so we had become friends as well. He had a few issues in UPT but always managed to pull through them. As I walked up the stairs it was obvious he was really having a bad day, so I asked him what was wrong. He said he didn't want to talk about it. I was having a great day and made the mistake of trying to cheer him up...so I told him it could be worse, let me tell you what I saw today...at which point I recounted the of the T-38 crash landing in the overrun...oddly he did not cheer up or even smile, he simply looked at me and said "Dude, that was me!"...at which point I made hasty retreat to my room.

Epilogue, he did graduate and eventually got checked out in the MC-130E...still a good dude to this day.

Edited by ClearedHot, 28 December 2011 - 10:44 AM.

[BQZip01]

ClearedHot, on 28 December 2011 - 10:42 AM, said:

While we are waiting I will share one more story.

I was T-38 Nav check complete and only flying sorties to get the required hours to graduate. My IP and I ended up planning a low-level through Big Bend and I was really looking forward to a "no-pressure" flight. We start up and taxi to the hammerhead and are waiting our turn for departure when I see a T-38 coming in to land that is way below glideslope. I mentioned it to me IP and said I don't think that guy is gonna make the runway. Sure enough a couple seconds later the RSU yells out "Overrun 13 Center go around, use burner, Lariat on Guard!"...too late, the T-38 thumps into the over run way short of the runway just as the wick lights. Rocks, dirt, and grass are flying everywhere as he goes limps back the air in full blower and manages to keep it flying. I said a little prayer "Thank god it wasn't me...please lord don't let me fuck up like that"...and we pressed over to the outside runway for departure. We departed and flew our low-level without incident, had a quick debrief and I cruised back to the dorms. I lived on the second floor and as I walked up I saw my neighbor leaning over the railing with a big frown on his face. He was in the class behind me with some friends from school so we had become friends as well. He had a few issues in UPT but always managed to pull through them. As I walked up the stairs it was obvious he was really having a bad day, so I asked him what was wrong. He said he didn't want to talk about it. I was having a great day and made the mistake of trying to cheer him up...so I told him it could be worse, let me tell you what I saw today...at which point I recounted the of the T-38 crash landing in the overrun...oddly he did not cheer up or even smile, he simply looked at me and said "Dude, that was me!"...at which point I made hasty retreat to my room.

Epilogue, he did graduate and eventually got checked out in the MC-130E...still a good dude to this day.

Glad to hear the guy was safe.

[ClearedHot]

No update so I will have to share one more story.

Like everyone I had both good and bad IP's, one of the good ones was not only a superb instructor, he also had a great sense of humor and was CONSTANTLY playing jokes on us. About six weeks before graduation I finally had the opportunity to pay him back. I was nav check complete and flying yet another sortie for time to get my required hours for graduation. We were on our second flight of the day and we flew out the working area and took turns chasing clouds. I was having a blast when he asked me to level off for a minute. Honestly i was expecting some sort of practical joke so I was kind o spring-loaded to react...but he got really quite. All of a sudden he bumped the stick and I thought he wanted to fly, so I said "your jet", but he immediately said, "no sorry, I didn't mean to bump the stick"...so I kept flying and as i came up on the edge of the working area started an aggressive turn back to the south..."he chimed in, hang on, can you just fly level for another minute." After about 30 seconds he again bumped the stick...so I looked in the mirror ad it looked like he was struggling...I finally said "are you ok", to which he replied, "yes, I really have to piss, I drank a bunch of water and didn't hit the restroom before we stepped....so I am trying to piss into my water bottle." I couldn't help myself, I immediately selected full blower and unloaded the jet, then I pulled as hard as I could until we were 60 degrees nose high, rolled the plane inverted and as hard as I could again back to level flight...but stayed inverted and left him hanging in the straps. He was screaming at me the entire time (and apparently pissing all over himself as well). He cussed me for ten minutes and I was actually starting to get worried that he was really mad and might bust me or something, but eventually he calmed down ad laughed about it.

I ran into him in 2008, we were in the same ACC SQ/CC course and he was the same happy go lucky guy. On the first day of the course he immediately lit into me for what I did, but we again had a good laugh about. Sadly, he was killed in an Eagle crash a few months later.

[Baseops.Net]

And the winner is.................... HiFlyer with his Las Vegas Strip story. With this story, you have won one custom express mahogany aircraft model. Thanks to all that participated and sorry for taking so long to release the winner. Please PM "aimhigherjets.com" for instructions on how to receive your winning model!

HiFlyer, on 12 December 2011 - 05:43 PM, said:

Okay...my entry.

It was about September, 1968. I been flying a night local sortie at Willie and was sitting down with my IP (the Ops Officer) to debrief. At the time the senior class was returning from their day-night out and back to Nellis AFB. We had just begun the debriefing when we were interrupted by a nervous student who had just returned from Nellis. He told the Ops Officer that he needed to speak with him to report an incident and started to speak in a frantic rush. It seems he was on the night return sortie, taking off to the south (Runway 23) . He broke ground and the tower immediately gave him a left turn to heading 180 and (he thought) a “climb/maintain 3500 feet” with a frequency change to Nellis departure. He was trying to comply when he noticed that he was already climbing past 5,000 ft, so he immediately pushed it over to get back down to 3500 ft and tried to start his checklist and get his chart out. Suddenly people started yelling at him on Guard and he looked out the canopy, realizing he was going pretty fast and was awfully close to the ground (Note: for you not familiar with Nellis, the field elevation is about 3800 feet!). At that point he realized that while the gear and flaps were up, he had forgotten to pull the power out of afterburner. He was about 400 feet off the ground, in full afterburner, doing about 500+ knots, heading 180, which put him straight down the Strip in Las Vegas. His final words were to the Ops Officer were “I don’t think I hit anything, and I can’t remember anything else, except that Mickey Rooney was playing at the Sands.” My IP stood there for a while with his face turning red, told the student to go into his office and write it down, then walked outside, laughing so hard he could hardly breathe, to regain his composure. The odd thing was that we never heard a thing from the FAA. Apparently nobody bothered to report it, despite the fact that the stud blew down the Strip at over 400 kts and over the McCarran Field pattern at considerably more than the 280Kts limit. I was only an observer, but it’s the most memorable single event in my UPT days!

[ClearedHot]

Congrats to HiFlyer!