10Nov00 Contact Week 1

     Preflight ground school is finally over and this past Monday we checked into our squadrons. You report in at 0730 and listen to briefings until 1130. Different people come in at different times to tell you how this phase will be and that its going to suck and that we shouldn't get discouraged by that because its just training. We aren't supposed to be having fun in this phase. We were also told who are "onwing" (IP) was and who our personal advisor and flight leaders were. Of course during our break we all (all 6 of us) went to go look at the IP picture board to see how mean our onwings looked. I couldn't tell at all from the picture of mine, but some looked really intimidating. It didn't help though, that the IP giving the briefing laughed at the onwing and PA that I got and said very sarcastically that I was going to have a lot of fun with those two. He said they were really "wound tight."  Great....that just made my day. After our briefings and some paperwork, some of us went out to practice our preflight on the static display (which later on in the week was hit by a truck). 
     Tuesday I met with my onwing who seemed like a nice guy. We went over some stuff such as what he expected of me and all that and all seemed pretty reasonable. He's a USAF captain who used to fly DC-10s. He's the first person who has made me think DC-10s are not bad. He seemed to have a pretty cool life going all around the world. I'm still set on fighters though. After the brief, we went out to do the preflight and he told me to bring my pocket natops to use for this one. We are supposed to have the preflight memorized but he wanted me to use the checklist for this first time and he also recommended it for my solo so that I wouldn't miss anything. I still don't know why the Navy doesn't want you to use checklists for this, but so be it. We got to the plane and as I started reading the checklist after the first couple of items, he jumped in and started explaining everything. I just followed along and and he would ask me what certain parts were as he went over it in the preflight. I was able to answer every question....even the ITT trim harness (by the name you would never guess what this is for) which we never talked about in systems class. Look at your preflight handout for this one.  Its in there somewhere. I learned that the preflight doesn't have to go in the exact order as the handout or the video. Also, in the video about preflight that you watch (that for some reason they make you watch the first week) it says you have like 10 things to look at when you preflight the parachute....no, you only look at the general condition, the lanyard, and the pin in the back. That video sucks. In the end, my on-wing wound up demonstrating most of the preflight. Some of my friend's on-wings did the same and some made them do everything. It all depends who you get. After the preflight we went back to the squadron and my on-wing told me he would see me the next day. In our briefing on Monday one of the IPs told us that he had his students draw all of area 1 and something else on the first day so I asked my on-wing if I should be ready to draw anything. He said just to study the discuss items so it was all good. My on-wing also happens to be one of the schedulers which has its advantages =).
     After 1700 I logged on to the schedule webpage and saw that I had a flight at 1330 which was perfect because it would give me extra study time the next day. Some of my friends were scheduled for 0515 and 0600 which sucked for them especially since the 0515 guy lives 40 minutes off base. That is the biggest disadvantage of living off base. On Tuesday I showed up to find out that I wouldn't be able to fly because of the weather. There were some pretty bad sigmets near by. A quick cold front was coming through and of course the fun weather comes ahead. My on-wing told me that he would schedule us early the next day and even if the weather was bad, we would still do the briefing. The weather didn't look good for the next morning, but you can always hope. Well Thursday came along and I was scared of getting struck by lightning or getting blown away as I was running to my car. I got to the squadron and after a bit my on-wing showed up and said we might not fly today. We went over to the line shack to brief anyway and he asked me al of the discuss items and the special syllabus items. We are given a syllabus during book issue which tells you everything you have to know per flight and per block (4-6 flights). It also tells you the level of proficiency you have to be at to pass the block. By the end of each block, most events need to be a 4 or better. There are also limits of regression (i.e. going from a 4 to a 3). My on-wing also has me learn all the notes warnings and cautions for each of the emergency procedures. I answered everything fine and he gave me some realistic hypothetical situations on what I would do. The briefing went well and he then told me he would look at the weather. It was actually getting better. The worst seemed to have passed and we could see come blue through the clouds. There were still some pretty dark ugly clouds in the distance so I waited around to see if it cleared up. After an hour my on-wing said we were gonna go for it. It was still sprinkling while we were doing our preflight but we could see clear skies beyond the dark ones. The front was getting closer but the pressure was still falling. After a front passes, the pressure rises and the wind shifts 90 degrees.  More on the wind shift later. 
     We did the preflight together again, and then I got in. It was quite a feeling being in the real thing knowing that I was about to go on my first training flight. To me it all began there. It was awesome when I finally hit the starter switch and heard that turbine spool up. I had a huge smile on. We were using a GPU since it was the first start of the day and my N1 (compressor RPMs) was way over 12% (when you are supposed to introduce fuel) by the time I got to it. I then put the condition lever into feather (turns on the fuel) and the engine came to life. At 60% N1 I shut off the starter, checked the instruments, unfeathered the prop and gave the thumbs up to the lineman signaling a good start. We kept on going through the checklist and after checking our brakes, we started to taxi to the run up area. Well...he started to taxi. The T-34 doesn't have a steerable nosewheel which, as I found out flying the T-34B before, really sucks (they rent the bravo version in Norfolk and I got 4 hours in one). We got to the run up area and during the run up I almost cramped up my legs while pushing on the brakes so hard so that the plane wouldn't go forward. After that he let me taxi to the runway and he made the radio call to tower. We got on the runway powered up to 500 ft lbs of torque, checked instruments, dropped his heels to the floor, jammed the power up to 1015 ft lbs and were lurched towards takeoff. The T-34 gains speed pretty quickly and our 70 knot rotation speed was there before I knew it. My on-wing pulled back raised the gear and right at the upwind numbers, we started our turn outbound. We headed over to area 1 and passing highway 29 I got on channel 3 and said "Pensacola approach 3E046 cleared to the west, cancel radar advisories."  I then switched to channel 7. This is all part of course rules. By now I was flying and turned to 230 and started climbing at the standard 120 KIAS. The first thing I noticed flying the 34C is how incredibly sensitive the ailerons are. It was hard to return it to center without rolling the other way. After a little while I started to get used to it, but I was still over correcting. He took the controls and proceeded to show me the area 1 airfields and landmarks. What struck me about area 1 was how close everything seemed in the air as opposed to how I imagined it looking at the charts. After a quick tour, my on-wing was going to show me a landing at Barin. We called in and were told the active was 09. We came in full speed at 170 KIAS just left of the runway at 1200 MSL and broke right passing the upwind numbers. Gear went down after 150 KAIS and lined up on downwind at 100 knots abeam the upwind numbers we did the landing check list and descended to 1000 MSL. Our track on the ground was a bit weird so we called Barin again to confirm the active runway. It was still 09. As we got to the 180 position (abeam the downwind numbers) we informed Barin, put the flaps down, and finished the landing checklist. As we turned to the runway, the wind was actually pushing us into it instead of away and my on wing had trouble getting rid of speed. We floated down most of the runway, touched down towards the end, powered up, popped back into the air and noticed that the small end of the windsock was pointing away in the exact direction that we were flying (you are supposed to land into the small end) and it was totally erect. This meant that we had a tailwind of at least 15 knots! We aren't supposed to land with ANY tailwind component.  My on-wing had done a great landing with the wind we had and we informed Barin that they were landing on the wrong side.  After all that excitment we climbed back up to 7500 ft which in the T-34C takes no time compared to a cessna. My on-wing then showed me a level speed change, slow flight, an approach turn stall and a regular power off stall. After watching all this, he asked me if I felt ok (like he did the other 20 times) and then asked me if I wanted to do some PA (precision aerobatics). I said HELLS YEAH! So he told me to do the anti g strain when he said on-coming Gs. He pitched the nose down, got to 190-200 KIAS, said on-coming Gs and I experienced my first loop ever with 4.5 Gs. It felt pretty cool and I moved my head around to try to see how I'm supposed to keep oriented. My neck felt a little kink from the sudden on rush but besides that I felt awesome. I had a HUGE smile on as we were going straight down. He then let the plane get some speed, pulled up again as if to do another loop but did a half roll going down to make it a half cuban eight. He got more speed and did an immelman. Then he got level, did a half roll, held it upside down for a couple of seconds and pulled back to do a split S which I thought was the coolest feeling one. I couldn't take the smile off my face. Afterwards he asked me if I was feeling ok and I said I was perfect. I asked if we could do a spin but it was time to take the plane back. The clouds were at the course rules altitude (3500ft) so my on-wing flew back on instruments. Coming in for landing was interesting. You see....Whiting uses split field operations. While on short final, Whiting cleared a plane for takeoff while we were landing on the same runway. I'm not used to having a plane taxi out halfway down the runway in front of me so it was somewhat discomforting. We touched down in the first 1000 ft and I was surprised to see how fast thing thing stops with beta (prop angle reverses). We taxi cleared of the runway and he let me taxi back to our parking spot. Taxi is not bad once you get used to the plane always wanting to go off the centerline and you learn to act before the plane does. We parked, shut down and my instructor rushed off to turn in the plane. I savored my first flight a little and almost left my O2 mask in the cockpit when I was leaving. 
     We debriefed and he told me next time I was going to do most of the flying and all the radio calls. He told me to study the procedures for all the maneuvers in the block and so that's what I have been doing today (Friday).  My first flight was a great experience and my on-wing's calm instructional technique and the aerobatics have really motivated me for the next flight. I hope he stays calm for the rest of the flights also. I don't learn well with screamers. I've been typing all the maneuvers out in an easy to read and remember format. You can look at them here. The way I've written them might be hard to understand since you haven't read the book or seen them done, but if you have any questions you can ask. I learn from explaining. When you learn anything here, I suggest you find a friend who is behind you in the program and start explaining things you have learned to him. It will benefit him and you even more. If you can teach it, you know it almost perfectly.