GA Aircraft Flown

[HuggyU2]

Today, a good friend and I flew formation.  

It was the first time in 34 years that two A-37's flew in formation in North America.  Took them from Boise to St George VFR.  

And yes... it was a blast.  

[RegularJoe]

Why the move to Utah?

[SHFP]

Annual Warbird Fly In.   And one Owner, has had his based in SGU until recently, and other Owner, from Boise always comes.   Usually, in his Alpha Jet.   I'll be repositioning home,  my humble Cessna A185F Amphib, there tomorrow.  Unfortunately, our Mig-15 UTI, won't be flying, as we are still working on finishing up the replacement of the new canopy seals.  We did, however, finally get the drop tanks hung after having to remove one for repairs.   And we didn't need no Vodka, like Ivan and Vladimir, in the cold Korean Peninsula.  

Looking forward to visiting with those that come.

Check 6,  Dof

 

 

 

 

[SHFP]

[SHFP]

[FourFans]

23 hours ago, HuggyU2 said:

Today, a good friend and I flew formation.  

It was the first time in 34 years that two A-37's flew in formation in North America.  Took them from Boise to St George VFR.  

And yes... it was a blast.  

That picture causes tinnitus.

[HuggyU2]

No, the A-37 sounds like a T-38. 
it doesn't make the dog whistle of the T-37's J-69. 
 

The J-85 in the Super Tweet puts out as much in Mil as a T-38A puts out in Max. 

Edited October 25 by HuggyU2

[SHFP]

Really nice Airshow by Western Warbirds.  Very Professional and Friendly interactions between Huggy and Mark with all the Visitors they met.   Now with all that,  and from another Dino (like myself)...SH formatting Huggy...LOL...Glad we finally met...next is getting you into the Dino Mig.

[HuggyU2]

Thanks, SHFP!  Honored to meet a fellow jet pilot like you!  And thanks for finding me on  the ramp!

Really nice event this weekend!

And your amphib is awesome!

 

Edited October 26 by HuggyU2

[Springer]

On 10/23/2025 at 9:38 PM, HuggyU2 said:

Today, a good friend and I flew formation.  

It was the first time in 34 years that two A-37's flew in formation in North America.  Took them from Boise to St George VFR. 

Great shot Huggy....ahhhhh the memories but.......

Can't believe you left with an empty seat. Good Capt never leaves a "jump seater" behind.

[HuggyU2]

Yeah, I'm sorry!!

At SGU, I took Hank Hoffman flying: 205 combat missions in the A-37 and a TPS graduate  Neat guy!  Still knew and flew the jet really well!

 

Edited October 29 by HuggyU2

[SHFP]

Kudos Huggy for taking him.  I chatted with him prior.  He was really looking forward to going.   Thanks from all of us.  

[arg]

Sorry about the FB link

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1331132237948069

[brabus]

400 FPM passing through 35k…that is crazy. I’m impressed. 

[SocialD]

15 hours ago, brabus said:

400 FPM passing through 35k…that is crazy. I’m impressed. 

 

Agreed, that's pretty badass!  Love to see peope pushing the limits.  I'll keep flying my tailwheels where they belong... < 500 ft AGL.  

[DirkDiggler]

Anyone have any experience with owning or flying a Socota TB-20 or 21?

[HuggyU2]

The Travis AFB Aero Club has a TB-20. I went out there 4-5 years ago and rented it with an instructor just to try it out. Enjoyed it. 
Maybe a good option for you to go sample it. 
https://www.travisaeroclub.com/our-fleet

Edited November 3 by HuggyU2

[ClearedHot]

Took my wife to the shooting range in Conecuh Alabama yesterday, as we were wrapping up we had a very unexpected flyover.  I thought it might be @Hacker in FiFi but after checking the schedule online I am guessing it was Doc returning home after cancelling the rest of their season for an engine change in Panama City. 

Must have been a sight to see the sky filled with these beautiful birds.  The sound was incredible.

[Hacker]

Yessir, that's Doc.

 

Fifi is at home in Dallas already beginning to be pulled apart for winter MX. We also had to cancel our last event of the season (Blytheville, Arkansas, for the opening of the National Cold War Center) due to a prop issue.

[HuggyU2]

Blytheville AFB. "Hooterville".  
Forgot all about that place. 

It was one of the ~13 bases that had B-52s and KC-135's when I graduated UPT. They had Tweets too, for the old ACE Program... which Gen Loh killed, in what I'd call a not-well-thought out decision. 

[Hacker]

8 minutes ago, HuggyU2 said:

Blytheville AFB. "Hooterville".  
Forgot all about that place. 

It was one of the ~13 bases that had B-52s and KC-135's when I graduated UPT. They had Tweets too, for the old ACE Program... which Gen Loh killed, in what I'd call a not-well-thought out decision. 

They have been hosting NATA Formation Clinics out there for several years.  An old SAC base with huge runways, lots of ramp space, and tons of clear airspace around it is a particularly good place to have 'em.

The runway is long enough that a couple of years ago a formation of T-6s took off, lead had an engine loss of power at about 150' AGL with the gear up, and he was still able to get the gear down and land in the remaining runway. 

 

[bfargin]

Agreed Huggy, the ACE program was awesome for us -135 and -52 copilots. I ended up with over 400 hours of tweet time while a CO at Plattsburgh. Used Csquared (the off days right after alert week - for you youngsters) as an opportunity to cruise down South for a few days with 3 hops each day. We’d leave out on Wednesday right off alert and return Sunday evening by 6pm. Any controlled airport with a military fuel contract and at least 5,000 feet of runway was good to go. Smyrna, TN used to give a small bottle of Jack for each 100 gallons of fuel. The Squadron bar keep was happy every time i flew through there.

The furthest I flew out of Plattsburgh on a tweet trip was to NM and back. A few others to Homestead, FL and back. Great flying experience and tons of fun to boot. A few of us even got formation qualed and flew a few out and back formation trips too. I’m still shocked how many of my fellow CO’s didn’t take full advantage of the program. I was able to fill empty flight slots/schedules tons of times just by being willing and available to fly. One year I flew 2 “guest” flights with our 2 tanker squadron commanders. 

[arg]

3 hours ago, bfargin said:

Agreed Huggy, the ACE program was awesome for us -135 and -52 copilots. I ended up with over 400 hours of tweet time while a CO at Plattsburgh. Used Csquared (the off days right after alert week - for you youngsters) as an opportunity to cruise down South for a few days with 3 hops each day. We’d leave out on Wednesday right off alert and return Sunday evening by 6pm. Any controlled airport with a military fuel contract and at least 5,000 feet of runway was good to go. Smyrna, TN used to give a small bottle of Jack for each 100 gallons of fuel. The Squadron bar keep was happy every time i flew through there.

The furthest I flew out of Plattsburgh on a tweet trip was to NM and back. A few others to Homestead, FL and back. Great flying experience and tons of fun to boot. A few of us even got formation qualed and flew a few out and back formation trips too. I’m still shocked how many of my fellow CO’s didn’t take full advantage of the program. I was able to fill empty flight slots/schedules tons of times just by being willing and available to fly. One year I flew 2 “guest” flights with our 2 tanker squadron commanders. 

Yall were enjoying it too much.....cancel that shit now!

[Clark Griswold]

Agreed Huggy, the ACE program was awesome for us -135 and -52 copilots. I ended up with over 400 hours of tweet time while a CO at Plattsburgh. Used Csquared (the off days right after alert week - for you youngsters) as an opportunity to cruise down South for a few days with 3 hops each day. We’d leave out on Wednesday right off alert and return Sunday evening by 6pm. Any controlled airport with a military fuel contract and at least 5,000 feet of runway was good to go. Smyrna, TN used to give a small bottle of Jack for each 100 gallons of fuel. The Squadron bar keep was happy every time i flew through there.
The furthest I flew out of Plattsburgh on a tweet trip was to NM and back. A few others to Homestead, FL and back. Great flying experience and tons of fun to boot. A few of us even got formation qualed and flew a few out and back formation trips too. I’m still shocked how many of my fellow CO’s didn’t take full advantage of the program. I was able to fill empty flight slots/schedules tons of times just by being willing and available to fly. One year I flew 2 “guest” flights with our 2 tanker squadron commanders. 

I bet those T-37 hours were probably 10% the cost of -135 hours and at that point in your flying career twice as valuable in building airmanship.
Resurrect ACE, fly COs after UPT thru a solid 300 hour min program.
Give the new ACE program T-6s from AETC (after an avionics update) then recapitalize UPT with PC-21s, T-6Cs or M-345s… or this training aircraft offered by Grob
https://gaf-aerospace.com/tpx-cobra-en.html#:~:text=The TPX is a low-wing%2C side-by-side%2C two-seater,turboprop engine with 750 HP%2C 7-blade propeller.
 
One more thing, ACE was unfortunately before my day but I believe it was there to give COs flying hours they weren’t getting sitting alert to assure pilot development and to aid the development and timing of Aircraft Commander eligible (by hours) pilots of whatever aircraft they were assigned.
Good for the pilot and good for the Air Force.
ACE 2.0 would serve the same / similar rationale, cheaper flight hours developing Aircraft Commander eligible pilots sooner, less expensive and less wear and tear on an already well utilized fleet of aircraft Edited 2 hours ago by Clark Griswold

[brabus]

My only comparison to heavies is the airlines, which I know isn’t apples to apples, but I don’t think it’s far off much of the time. These styles of flying allow for significant decay of stick/rudder skills and dealing with EPs/abnormals/unintended events that require them (vs. manipulating automation/simply pushing buttons). It is a disservice to young pilots especially not having ACE - the mil is holding them back on advancing their skills/maintaining solid proficiency.
 

There’s a lot of airline pilots who could really use some GA time for this reason, and the ones who don’t care and rest on their 6900 airline hours don’t seem to realize they don’t really have 6900 hrs of flying, they have 6900 hrs of managing computers and rinse/repeating the same taxi flows/departures/arrivals (over generalization a bit, but point remains).