Chris's Short Lived
JSUPT Diary
My First Sim...........
Before you can fly the jet, even your first, you have to fly two sims. Actually this a buttload of ground training done by the instructors in the flight room before that as well. You are responsible for keeping all the documentation on this. Again, you don't graduate, your gradebook does.
I was a little down on the roster so I was on the flightline for five days before I had my first sim ride. Pre solo you have to wear your helmet and mask in the sim to get used to it. Boy does that suck. There is no O2 regulator in the sim, just a regular vent hose connection that connects to ambient air. So your trying to suck air through three feet of garden hose while flying this jet simulator. Meanwhile, your head is "on fire" becuase you've never done this before and are trying to get it right.
It was late in the afternoon, so I had the day to practice. The first sim is purely an introduction. You have memorized the procedures, but can you actually perform them? You have to practice actually recognizing problems, reacting safely and quickly and making the right decisions
So a little more than an hour out, you head to life support, grad your helmet bag with your helmet and mask and then walk to the sim building. You report to the instructor section. Again, 99.9 percent of these guys are retired military. Nearly all are Vietnam veterans, some even Korean vets. My instructor was a Vietnam vet and a former squadron commander of the 33rd. Yeah, you'd think he'd be a hard ass, but none of these guys were. Some were more picky than others, but I developed a theory; anyone who has actually been shot at in war is pretty mellow. Our current sq. commander and DO were both gulf war vets and they were very difficult to unsettle.
After our mission brief and some Q&A we headed back out to the sim section. You have to sign into the simulators at the front desk, get the pubs for it and then go back to the sim. Remember to pee, all that water again, and then report to the sim.
I don't know about the T-6, but the T-37 sims are full motion. You actually walk down a gangplank and enter the sim and strap in. It was actually really cool.
My ground operations (meaning my flow) and takeoff were graded fair, but I didn't study the departure well enough and that was graded Unsat. Once in the air I was OK. I found the niche of making small slow corrections pretty quickly. If your used to flying with a yoke, it takes a little more time to get used to a stick. Subtlety is key.
My big flaw in flying was trim, this caused me to take a hit in altitude control. I trimmed like a C172 and it just doesn't work that way, so I spent the flight chasing altitude, my trim was also graded Unsat with my altitude control. But I could keep the plane pointed in the right direction, I could fly in two decisions, not four yet.
Changing airspeed while level and as well as steep turns (45 and 60) degrees were also fair. But that was about it. I had been practicing my com, so that was graded fair. The trick on that is to practice while you're driving to school. Everyone will tell you that. Just out loud ask for permission to depart before you leave the driveway, clearance onto the road, etc.
The rest of the flight wasn't so good. My in-flight planning, letdown and traffic entry, transition to landing, straight in landing, in flight checks and cross composite checks were all Unsat. I also took a hit in decision making, situational awareness, and task management. I then tanked my sit down EP and general Knowledge (GK) during debrief.
But it wasn't all bad. The instructor showed my some good techniques for SA and cross check. Our habit is to stare at a gauge and then pull the information we need from it. The idea is to take a mental picture of the gauge and get you head back out of the cockpit, then pull the info from a mental image. To demonstrate this he held is watch up and asked me to take a mental picture. He put it back down and asked me if it had roman numerals or numbers? the color of the bezel? color of the hands? where was the second hand? and finally what time is it? This was a valuable trick I would take with me as a biker and as an air battle manager, it is also something you can practice at home or in your car. Look down at your gages, take a picture and come back up. How much gas do you have? what is the engine temp? how fast are you going? what RPM? what is the radio station tuned to? etc.
Even with all the Unsat hits I took, I was doing OK for my level. The overall grade was Good. The bottom line, I needed to chair fly more.
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
