flynhigh

Air Force Suspends Training Jet Following 2nd Fatal Crash Thursday, May 01, 2008 WICHITA FALLS, Texas — The Air Force grounded all T-38C training jets on Thursday, following the second fatal crash involving the aircraft in eight days, officials said. Two airmen were killed when their T-38C Talon went down during a routine training mission about 7:55 a.m., according a statement issued by Sheppard Air Force Base. The two-seater, high-altitude supersonic plane was assigned to the 80th Flying Training Wing, a multinational organization that produces future combat pilots for NATO. The pilots' names were not immediately released. Two pilots died April 23 when their training jet crashed at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. Investigators are trying to determine what caused both crashes. "At this point we have no indication that there was any tie between the two," said Capt. John Severns, Chief of Media Relations for Air Education Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio. Nonetheless, the Air Force suspended all T-38 flights pending the investigation. The planes are used to prepare student pilots to fly fighters and bombers. "Until we have more complete understanding of the causes of both accidents, it's prudent to stand down the T-38s" said General William R. Looney III, the commander who issued the order. The Air Force has about 500 of the aircraft in its inventory. First deployed in 1959, the jet has been linked to 138 fatalities and some 189 crashes, according to the Air Force Safety Center. Of 16 fatalities related to crashes at Sheppard Air Force Base since 1967, all but six involved T-38s. Pilots from 13 NATO countries train through Sheppard's Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program. The T-38's crew normally consists of a student pilot and instructor seated in tandem. Student pilots learn aerobatics, formation flying, night and instrument flying, cross-country awareness, general maintenance awareness and supersonic techniques. All Thursday flights at Wichita Falls' Municipal Airport, which shares runways with Sheppard, were canceled. Wichita Falls is about 135 miles northwest of Dallas. Them Them

I've got a Great Planes PT-40 that was my first trainer. It's not an ARF (Almost Ready-to-Fly) so it requires a bit of work to get it in the air. I'd recommend getting hooked up with one of the R/C computer simulators (Great Planes Real Flight G3 or Hangar 9 FS One). It's a great way to learn, IMHO. No worries if you crash, you're not out $150 or whatever you spent. Obviously getting hooked up with someone who knows what they're doing would be ideal, but the simulators are definitely a way you can learn on your own. I flew on Real Flight for a year or so before I actually flew my PT-40, the sim and the real thing were amazingly similar. Now I've got a Hangar-9 Tribute .36. It'll hover at half throttle. Not bad for $175 with an engine and servos (already installed). Good luck.

Unfortunately, I was there. Sad day... It appeared they were landing in formation and the guy on the wing (Gerard S. Beck of Wahpeton, ND) didn't slow down in time, or the lead (Casey Odegaard) slowed too quickly. Beck then contacted the rear half of Odegaard's aircraft and then rolled and cartwheeled. Footage here... P-51 collision

It does get XM WX/Radio... Kinda nice for those flights across the wide open nothing. (plus I suppose it [XM WX] is a nice little "safety" feature)

Cirrus SR20/22 have a side stick. Way nicer compared to a standard yoke. It feels more natural. And yes, it does make it easier to get in/out of the cockpit, IMHO.

On a related note... Once separated, is there any way to confirm the status of your clearance? Not sure if it ever was completed, and it would be handy info to have for a resume'!

Sucked to say the least. It is purely a numbers game, of which I am one. There has been no apparent logic behind who stays and who goes, other than luck of the draw. I was among a board of ~10 of which all of us were INVOLUNTARILY separated. Not more than a month later another board of approximatley the same number went up, and everyone was retained? Talk about bad timing! I can deal with the separation, but as Bender said, it is a huge pain in the @ss to try and turn your life in a new direction, especially with a family. Hopefully these INVOLUNTARY separations prove to be beneficial to the AF and increase our war fighting capability.

SUPT Troopers

I can't speak from experience, but a buddy of mine is a flight test engineer out at Pax River on the V-22 and he has flown the sim a few times. He only has his private with like 100 hours and has said that the thing flies pretty easily... Take that as you will. Obviously the thing has it's "tricks" to flying safely.

Doubtful. This is straight off the Edwards website . "BS in Engineering, Mathematics or Physics (Some physical science degrees will be considered on a case-by-case basis)"

Just wondering if anyone here has done a DITY to Laughlin? I am trying to locate weigh stations/scales in the area. The internet seems to be of no help! Any help would be appreciated.

Penny Benjamin?

This is absolutely hilarious. Check this out. Gold Bond Powder - a breathmint for my b*lls [ 23. June 2006, 05:47: Message edited by: Toro ]

I think that sums up the post quite well. As you can probably tell, engineering is not for everyone. Or should I say Aerospace Engineering? Obviously there are some issues here. I guess my minor is coming in useful here... Any academic degree is what YOU make of it. There is going to be bull**** everywhere you go, learn to deal with it. But don't be the one dishing it out. As far as getting a pilot slot with an Aero degree, 3 of the last 5 guys at our det that graduated in Aero E got selected. I'm not sure if Reserves/National Guard is the topic of choice above but my point is that your degree has nothing to do with it. There is more to obtaining a pilot slot than just GPA, go look in the Pilot Selection Process forum. There have been some other good points brought up in the posts above. If you want to be an engineer around airplanes, then do Aero E, if you just want to be around airplanes, take daddy's advice! [ 14. December 2004, 08:11: Message edited by: flynhigh ]

What?, I had a summer internship at Cessna Aircraft during the summer of 2001 and got mixed comments from coworkers. I think it totally depends on what area you work in. I worked in the Production Support Engineering department and a lot of those guys seemed to have bigger goals, I guess it was more of an entry level type job. My roommate at the time worked in Product Engineering, or sustaining current products. He seemed to enjoy his work, worked a normal 8 hour day, and got along with his co-workers. He now is a flight test engineer on the V-22 out at NAVAIR in Patuxent River, MD, and loves his job. He travels alot, but for the most part I believe he works a normal 8 hour day. Hope that helps.

I'll second everything Sundowner said. I just graduated, in May, with an Aero E degree and as he said, you WILL have to sacrifice alot! Depending on your university that you attend, you probably will also have other "Technical Electives" that you can take to tailor your degree to your specific interests. Iowa State offered an occasional class on V/STOL, always had an Advanced Astrodynamics class (the basic Astro class was required for your degree), there was also Composites, Vibrations, etc... Keep in mind your area of interest will probably change throughout your years of college. You may think you want to get into Structures, but after you take one or maybe even two classes (two were required for us) your outlook may change. For me the hardest part of the process was studying every night of the week while my friends/roommates were partying it up. As far as the math, if you devote enough time to studying your Calc or Diff Eq then you'll be fine. Math is only hard if you don't study. Good luck! One more thing, when you earn your degree you can actually say that you're a rocket scientist... [ 13. December 2004, 08:20: Message edited by: flynhigh ]

I'll be heading to Laughlin for UPT in Feb and am married w/2 kids. My question is does anyone have any insight into whether or not a family of four would be able to get by with one vehicle while a UPT stud? I've been contemplating whether or not an extra payment of $350/month is really going to be worth it while at UPT. Any comments appreciated! Thanks!

I was curious about both. Although it sounds like my hometown will be way too far from Laughlin (LaCrosse, WI). Oh well, maybe Vegas is close enough? [ 17. November 2004, 15:00: Message edited by: flynhigh ]

Found this today and was wondering if anyone might be able to shed some light on it's validity. I thought that info was still classified? SR-71 Flight Manual Anyways, some pretty cool info in there.

Do XC stops need to be at AF bases, or can you fly into a public airport?

Actually, shocks inside the intake is SOMETIMES desirable. In MOST cases, like you said, the shock is outside of the intake. A shock is purposely introduced at the intake during supersonic flight to slow the airflow going into the intake to subsonic speeds. When supersonic flow enters a nozzle (i.e. intake) it becomes choked, or the air flow is unable to accelerate past Mach 1. The SR-71 intake cones were designed for just this. The pilot even had to adjust the position of the "spikes" while the airspeed changed to maintain the proper shock system, if he didn't the engine could unstart (where shocks inside the inlet cause a loss of airflow). Check this site out, Supersonic Engine Inlets, I know its not a well known source... but from what I know it seems to be accurate. And I thought all that stuff I learned in my propulsion class would be useless. I guess I was wrong?!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that also help control the shock wave system entering the intake during supersonic flight? I know the F-14 has a hydraulic ramp system inside the intake to accomplish this.

Since we're on the subject of ejections. Check out this amazing story of a guy who was accidentally partially ejected from an A-6 and survived! Lt. Keith Gallagher

AMEN!

Posted this clip once before, but I just have to show it off again! F-18 High Speed Pass