The latest and a F-15 Flight

Well, it has been a long time in between posts lately, but that is because there isn't really anything new and if there is, most of you are there to share it with me. However, there have been a few things in the past few weeks that none of you were with me, although several of you wish you would have been with me.

Three weeks ago I went to Holloman AFB for centrifuge training. It was a real joyride and I would recommend that if you don't know what it is, to Youtube it. I have my video of me, but I don't want to share for the fact that some people got in trouble for sharing "for official use only" information. Besides, it made my face look even uglier than it already is... and yes, I can see the comments coming in now, it can get even uglier than it already is... see how I beat you to the punch. Anyway, after taking almost 8Gs and not taking a nap (passing out would have been bad news for my career) and not throwing up, I thought I needed more of a motion sickness test.

I found the cure in an F-15 ride. The Oregon Air National Guard is out of Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, OR and they have been training at Gowen Field while their runway is being redone. After countless hours of telling them that I would be their best friend forever and telling them that I would let them hang out with me... those fighter pilots couldn't withstand the urge to be cool.

Because I was already a rated pilot, I did a little paper work and got to go as more of a student, than a sight seer. I went on a full up mission where we were the red air (bad guys) and we went up against the blue air (good guys). My pilot was a Lt. Col. Andrews, but as all fighter pilots, goes by his call sign of "Freak". I wasn't sure if the name was based off his personality, some weird tendency, or what... until I saw this 6'5"ish man that had to squish his shoulders together just to get the canopy on the cockpit to close. He was a freak of nature, but a great guy to fly with and he actually had C-130 time, as well as F-16 time.

People have said this is my best picture...when my face is completely covered up

Getting "armed" before takeoff

We took off using afterburners and it really doesn't take long to get off the ground or climb up to 10,000 feet. One the way out to the training area we formed up to go through some clouds and as the clouds go thicker, we got closer together. The picture can't do it justice, but I bet we were less than ten feet from his wingtip at times.

Candi's picture of the takeoff. We were the second of four.

In the clouds

Then we broke out and flew out to the area.

The view from the backseat.

Once out there, we played war when they would call out, "fights on!" I would then promptly get thrown around in my seat, my g-suit would inflate, and I would feel my face start to melt like it had done in the centrifuge.

If you have read any of these blogs back when I started this whole journey, you would remember how I fought the whole airsick thing... well, we were not back to square one, but it was still single digits. I was not feeling good after the first few engagements, but then I got to fly for awhile and that seemed to help. I did some high G turns, some aileron rolls, and a few other maneuvers. But, once I gave the jet back to Freak, I really felt sick. I managed to keep my breakfast with me through the rest of the engagement and through the following BFM or dogfights. The BFM (basic fighter maneuvers) was crazy. During the fight I was never for sure which way was right side up and what direction we were going. It was an intense time, but something I will never forget. In fact, once I get to IFF, I will see quite a bit more of all that we did up there.

After the fun was over we flew back with our lead and I was feeling pretty good about not spewing my breakfast like a garden sprinkler. We were about a mile from the airport and I decided to have a celebratory swig of water... and that is all my system needed. I threw that back up and then proceeded with about a minutes worth of dry heaves to make sure I didn't have anything left. I ALMOST MADE IT!

This was stinking close. The picture doesn't show it, but we were close.

We did went up initial, made the break, did a low approach and pulled closed for the final pattern. For you non-pilot types, that means we flew 1000 feet above the runway, turned real hard in a circle, descended down like we were going to land, sucked up the landing gear while speeding up, flew just off the runway until almost the end, then went straight up, rolled over and flew the opposite way, and then made one final turn and landed.

Well, that is about the extent of the flight. I gather my gear and Ziploc bag with my breakfast and headed in. All the F-15 guys were excited to see what I thought and my descriptions proved to them that I had just had the time of my life. It was a great time and something I will never forget. I did fail to mention that we went supersonic once (I think it was on accident, but it was at 30,000 feet). That was something new. Anyway that was my flight and the pictures were all stock pictures off the Internet since we weren't suppose to have cameras... must be coincidence that they had a name tag with a name just like mine.