There are four possibilities come April 1st. Two of which keep us here at Vance Air Force Base, and two of which move us away. The T-1 Jayhawk is a "heavy" trainer, which basically means those who train on it can go on to fly cargo planes, refuelers, and basically anything else with a crew. If Jon gets this plane, we will stay here in OK until September.
The other plane that would keep us here in good, old Oklahoma is the T-38 Talon. Those who train on this plane go on to fly fighter and bombers for the most part. It is the "jet" trainer for the Air Force.
Next up is the T-44 Pegasus is a training aircraft in Corpus Christy, TX. Yes, that means those who train on this aircraft train with the Navy. It is rare to get anything out of the T-44 other than a C-130.
And finally, there is the UH-1 Huey. It is a helicopter trainer, which produces (you guessed it) helicopter pilots. This aircraft flies out of Fort Rucker, Alabama. They train with the army.
So, come April 1st, we will know whether we are staying here with the Air Force, or going to Texas to fly with the Navy for 6 months, or to Alabama to fly with the Army for 6 months. I'll make sure to let you know!
In his final portion of Phase Two of UPT, J is learning to fly formation. And for those of you who don't realize what this is...
J flies 10 feet (or less) away from the wing of another student. Not just for a second, for 1.3 hours. He said he is so close, he can see if the other student in formation with him shaved that day or not (which I don't believe, because of those ridiculous helmets they wear). But it is CRAZY close. I'll try to get a few pictures of J flying this close.
Now for a poll: How many of you are jealous of what J gets to do for work, and how many of you are grateful that you will never have to be in command of an aircraft that close to someone else???
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4 comments:
I am not jealous whatsoever. I would never be able to handle that much pressure! Oh! But I am jealous that you have the possibility of moving again. Call me crazy, but I love moving. Bah haha.
I'm with you Amy. On both counts. I could NEVER fly an airplane like he does. Does not appeal to me in the least.
And I love moving :-)
I'm with Amy, I love moving too. What does he want to fly? I used to dream of becoming a pilot when I was a little girl (among circus acrobat, ballerina, etc.). I love flying. Personally, I think the "heavy" plane is the way to go, but it's not quite as glamorous or exciting as the fighters.
Anna, you're in good company, I love moving. It might be a pain at the time, but then you get a whole new house to decorate, and you get to make all sorts of new friends, and you get to get to know a new city!
J probably wants to go heavies. Most likely a C-130, but we'll see. He put it this way (to himself) "Would I rather fly and X-wing or the Millennium Falcon?" And decided he would much rather fly the MF (Star Wars reference. Nerd alert x100).
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