Chris's Short Lived
JSUPT Diary
Stability Demo…….
Next day I am flying again. Cool.
Relatively early flight, 1039 takeoff. This time we would actually be dead on for wheels up. I quickly applied the lessons I learned from the flight previous, but I was also only on my 3rd flight. I handled the brief myself muddling through it and listening to my instructor inputs and I went through the checklist.
I was still to slow with the wheels and flaps, but I got the departure down pretty well. I was learning to feel the jet. I was also learning something else. I don’t like hard-core flying. Some of the students were really hard-core and they loved the yanking tanking and banking, but I was finding I liked smooth flying. I would get really good at setting the trim and just keeping the plane straight and level without any input.
The TP stalls and slow flight weren’t what they needed to be, but I was learning. I could get the recovery done, but not quite fast enough. But that’s why you practice. If I had it to do over again, I would have chair flown these a lot more.
The really cool thing about this flight was the instructor demo of the unloaded recovery. After we got into the area G-xed and did the in-flight check, my instructor explained to me what was going to happen. The purpose of the demo was to demonstrate the stability of the T-37 and build student confidence in the aircraft. After I understood, he pulled the throttles back and simply rolled the T-37 into almost a pure vertical climb. Nothing but blue sky in the canopy. Right before the jet stalled, he let pushed it over. Nothing but Oklahoma farmland. Ever wonder what a 0 g environment feels like? That’s it. I was ruined from roller coasters for ever. Up to that time, this would be the coolest thing I had ever done. I would say that a lot in pilot training.
I was still having issues with knowing where I was. I was getting better but I couldn’t process the ground references for the area orientation quickly enough. I was having the same issues with the letdown and pattern entry. But they were coming along.
I was also still getting used to the closed pattern, I loved doing them (everybody does) but I sucked at it. My clearing, SA, decision making and in-flight checks were all bad. I goofed my descent checklist. My comm was getting better but I was still stumbling through some of the calls. I needed to practice those at home more. I hacked the EP because I didn’t state the boldface correctly, but my GK was OK. Another “GOOD” for the flight.
The JSUPT page In the Beginning.. On the Flightline....... Avoiding Airsickness ....
So here it is, summed up in a few flights and a handful of sims, kinda depressing when I see it laid out so simply, so small, so short. I only made it a few flights after solo. But if it helps anyone or entertains anyone, then maybe it was worth it Sim 1 Sim 2 Flight 1 Sim 3 Flight 2 Flight 3 Flight 4 Flight 5 Sim 4 Sim 5 Flight 6 Flight 7 Sim 6 Flight 8 Flight 9 Flight 10 Sim7 Sim 8 Flight 11 Flight 12 Sim 9 Flight 13 Flight14 Sim 10 Flight 15 Flight 16 Flight 17 Flight 18 Flight 19 Flight 20 Flight 21 Flight 22 Flight 23 Flight 24 Flight 25 Flight 26 Flight 27 Flight 28
