HuggyU2
Well-Known Member
thesoonerkid,
Hacker nailed it, WRT prep/expectations for the flight.
As a Beale IP, when I give an orientation flight, I takeoff and depart VFR in a afterburner climb to 16,500'. We then head west toward the coast, drop down to "below 3000 feet", and go VFR down the coastline. Approaching San Fran's Class B, we cross the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz at 2000', getting a gorgeous view of the city. At that point, we turn north toward the Maxwell MOA.
At this point, the orientation flyer has had a good 40+ minutes of time to acclimate to the jet in a very benign G environment (less than 2G's). I'm not a fan of going to the MOA directly and G-ing it up in the first few minutes: the pilot gets sick, they are miserable, and the flight ends early.
Now, we hit the MOA, we have burned down fuel, and are able to rock and roll. I build up with a few turns of increasing G, then move into a barrel roll, and or lazy 8. If the ort flyer wants more, then we start pushing up the G load. By the time we hit recovery fuel, they are usually saying "I think that's all I want to do". Consider asking your IP to save the MOA work until late in the game, and go have a little fun flying VFR and/or low level (knowing AETC, they probably will freak out if you want to go low level, though).
Oh yeah: I also have them tell me throughout the flight how they are doing based on a scale of 1 to 10,... it keeps me in the loop on how their stomach is doing.
I also plan on 1 straight in, touch and go, closed pattern, full stop. Any more patterns than that and the ort flyer will usually get sick. By then, the cockpit is nasty-hot,... and while I might be having a good time, you won't be. On half of the ort sorties I do, we end up doing a straight in full stop anyways, since they are usually "done" by then.
Whatever you do, just enjoy it, and don't waste a bunch of time taking pictures... save those for after the flight, standing by the jet.
Area5150: if you want to go fly a T-38 or F-5, find a jet, get a loan, and call me! I have the FAA rating to fly them. That said, it would be much cheaper, easier,... and probably more fun,... to go fly the Alpha Jet. Overall more performance than a T-38 (personal opinion).
MikeD: what chu talkin' 'bout, Willis? The Beale jets haven't been "flat black since around '94. The attachment is me departing Oshkosh this past August. But, I must say,... the Oshkosh crowd loves our gloss black jets with the blood red letters, numbers,... and Maltese Crosses (not "iron crosses",... you've been hanging around the Luftwaffe too much). Those 4 Maltese Crosses represent the 4 major campaigns our unit fought in during WWI. And as a side note,... the jets are part of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron,... direct descendant of the 1st Aero Squadron, which was the first military flying squadron in the United States. In fact, if you look on a sectional, near Columbus NM (right on the Mexican border), you will see an airfield called "1st Aero Squadron". Reason: Columbus is where they staged from when they chased Pancho Villa around many moons ago.
And "silver" lettering on the HMN jets? Really? Everyone else would call that color "white".
Hacker nailed it, WRT prep/expectations for the flight.
As a Beale IP, when I give an orientation flight, I takeoff and depart VFR in a afterburner climb to 16,500'. We then head west toward the coast, drop down to "below 3000 feet", and go VFR down the coastline. Approaching San Fran's Class B, we cross the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz at 2000', getting a gorgeous view of the city. At that point, we turn north toward the Maxwell MOA.
At this point, the orientation flyer has had a good 40+ minutes of time to acclimate to the jet in a very benign G environment (less than 2G's). I'm not a fan of going to the MOA directly and G-ing it up in the first few minutes: the pilot gets sick, they are miserable, and the flight ends early.
Now, we hit the MOA, we have burned down fuel, and are able to rock and roll. I build up with a few turns of increasing G, then move into a barrel roll, and or lazy 8. If the ort flyer wants more, then we start pushing up the G load. By the time we hit recovery fuel, they are usually saying "I think that's all I want to do". Consider asking your IP to save the MOA work until late in the game, and go have a little fun flying VFR and/or low level (knowing AETC, they probably will freak out if you want to go low level, though).
Oh yeah: I also have them tell me throughout the flight how they are doing based on a scale of 1 to 10,... it keeps me in the loop on how their stomach is doing.
I also plan on 1 straight in, touch and go, closed pattern, full stop. Any more patterns than that and the ort flyer will usually get sick. By then, the cockpit is nasty-hot,... and while I might be having a good time, you won't be. On half of the ort sorties I do, we end up doing a straight in full stop anyways, since they are usually "done" by then.
Whatever you do, just enjoy it, and don't waste a bunch of time taking pictures... save those for after the flight, standing by the jet.
Area5150: if you want to go fly a T-38 or F-5, find a jet, get a loan, and call me! I have the FAA rating to fly them. That said, it would be much cheaper, easier,... and probably more fun,... to go fly the Alpha Jet. Overall more performance than a T-38 (personal opinion).
MikeD: what chu talkin' 'bout, Willis? The Beale jets haven't been "flat black since around '94. The attachment is me departing Oshkosh this past August. But, I must say,... the Oshkosh crowd loves our gloss black jets with the blood red letters, numbers,... and Maltese Crosses (not "iron crosses",... you've been hanging around the Luftwaffe too much). Those 4 Maltese Crosses represent the 4 major campaigns our unit fought in during WWI. And as a side note,... the jets are part of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron,... direct descendant of the 1st Aero Squadron, which was the first military flying squadron in the United States. In fact, if you look on a sectional, near Columbus NM (right on the Mexican border), you will see an airfield called "1st Aero Squadron". Reason: Columbus is where they staged from when they chased Pancho Villa around many moons ago.
And "silver" lettering on the HMN jets? Really? Everyone else would call that color "white".
