What was your biggest mistake in UPT or IFS?

[Buzzkillington]

Throughout my training for my PPL I made a variety of mistakes (most of them stupid) that caused me to receive a nice chewing out from my instructor. Most of them were just me not really thinking and doing something like trying to pull flaps out 20 knots over max flap speed. My most memorable one was during a simulated engine failure 2000 ft above a field, and I tried to fly a rectangular pattern all the way out and back rather than just circling to a lower altitude.

How often did you guys make mistakes like these during your flight training? Did it cause you to hook the ride? Maybe I have put AF pilots on too high a pedestal, but I have scared myself into thinking that, for the most part, UPT studs are the best of the best and rarely make mistakes (or at least the mistakes described above). Thanks for the responses!

[Learjetter]

Immel-spin. You'll know it if you ever do it.

[Toro]

Immel-spin. You'll know it if you ever do it.

Even better - Sheppard solo T-38 student managed to flame out both engines at the top of a loop 6-9 months ago. As one would imagine, he did not pass that ride.

[spaceman]

Immel-spin. You'll know it if you ever do it.

That sounds even worse than a baileron roll

[Steve Holt!]

Figuring out how many aileron rolls you can do before you go through the moa floor.

12

[bucky60k]

Student accomplishing the Before Taxi Checklist before the Engine Start Checklist and trying to figure out why the airplane won't move

[Karl Hungus]

Going active duty instead of direct to the guard/reserve.

[osulax05]

Even better - Sheppard solo T-38 student managed to flame out both engines at the top of a loop 6-9 months ago. As one would imagine, he did not pass that ride.

Let me guess... Out of smash at the top, tried to light the wicks and 2x compressor stall?

I climbed out of -38 and tried to unhook my leg straps on the chute and realized I never hooked them around my legs....

[Muscle2002]

Even better - Sheppard solo T-38 student managed to flame out both engines at the top of a loop 6-9 months ago. As one would imagine, he did not pass that ride.

A TPS student did the exact same thing, and he was a fighter pilot with prior experience in the jet.

There are no statutes of limitation for buffoonery.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Muscle2002

[Danger41]

Immel-spin reminds me of the "Nigerian 8". Heard about it from a bro at Vance that had Nigerian students in his class who were doing aero when a dude completed the first loop of the Cuban 8 when he then rolled inverted again while 45 degrees nose low and tried to pull through. IP saved it by over-g'ing the jet and blasting through the MOA floor by several thousand feet.

I had a buddy call up Denver Center and say "Can you say again? Sorry, we got the defog on up here".

My stupidest moment was probably in the T-38 when I forgot to adjust the heat on my 4-ship checkride (aka my last 38 UPT ride) and took off, put the gear up, burned myself, and then fogged up the canopy completely trying to adjust it. The fog turned the canopy into 0/0 while trying to rejoin so I went completely blind, overshot somewhere into the Gulf of Mexico from north Texas and then didn't get rejoined until 20,000ish feet. Good times.

[M2]

Read and heed...

[WeatherManC130]

During my Final Contact check, my nose low recovery turned into a split S. Needless to say, i did not pass :)

[Duck]

I was debriefing a T-38 sortie with my FLT/CC when I realized my pins were still in my G-Suit. Did the old "Forgot something out at the jet" routine on the bus driver and sheepishly put them back in.

Also did half of an instrument ride with pins in - I was back seat so IP never noticed.

Makes me wonder how the hell I made it through Phase III without hooking a ride!!!

[bbj77]

Throughout my training for my PPL I made a variety of mistakes (most of them stupid) that caused me to receive a nice chewing out from my instructor. Most of them were just me not really thinking and doing something like trying to pull flaps out 20 knots over max flap speed. My most memorable one was during a simulated engine failure 2000 ft above a field, and I tried to fly a rectangular pattern all the way out and back rather than just circling to a lower altitude.

How often did you guys make mistakes like these during your flight training? Did it cause you to hook the ride? Maybe I have put AF pilots on too high a pedestal, but I have scared myself into thinking that, for the most part, UPT studs are the best of the best and rarely make mistakes (or at least the mistakes described above). Thanks for the responses!

Don't put UPT students on a pedestal. Everyone makes mistakes, including the 3,000 hour ANG/AFR regional jet pilots who come through... Heck, you are not going to find any AF pilots out there that haven't made mistakes so don't worry about it. As a T-1 IP I've seen students not call for checklists, try to takeoff or land without clearance, try to land gear up, overspeed everything, get the plane in the stick shaker in the landing flare and more that I dont care to bring up. I've had classes where the 3000+ hour student is the worse pilot I have ever seen and I would never step foot on board an airliner they were flying at their regional job and I've had classes where the top students have 0 flight hours when they show up for UPT. Everyone has a pretty equal chance of doing well, being number 1 and receiving their top assignment, mistakes included.

Edited October 30, 2013 by bbj77

[JS]

I recaged the attitude indicator in the tweet (VFR only maneuver) during my instrument check ride while under the hood. Not sure what I was thinking at the time, but I seem to recall there being some kind of check you did before going home, and one of the items was to recage the attitude indicator, because it was usually all out of whack from doing maneuvers, etc. I guess it never really occurred to me that you cant' do that if you are in simulated IMC.

[Duck]

Had a classmate trying to tell other studs that during TP stalls you should step on the rudder to recover because it was more effective under G-loads.

[matmacwc]

?

Works good in T-38 under AOA.

Immel-spin reminds me of the "Nigerian 8". Heard about it from a bro at Vance that had Nigerian students in his class who were doing aero when a dude completed the first loop of the Cuban 8 when he then rolled inverted again while 45 degrees nose low and tried to pull through. IP saved it by over-g'ing the jet and blasting through the MOA floor by several thousand feet.

Never over g trying to save the MOA floor, only over g if you think your going to hit the ground. I used to brief my solo studs, " Will I know if you over g? (C model T-38)" (Yes). " Will I know if you go through the MOA by 1k? (Probably not)"

[Duck]

I remember the rudder effectiveness drills while load is on the jet. Little unsure of stomping on the rudder while stalled...

[SurelySerious]

Stomp, no, but light press is usually just about right to get wings level and way more effective when trying to minimize altitude loss since useful aileron requires reducing AOA by a bunch.

[Muscle2002]

I remember the rudder effectiveness drills while load is on the jet. Little unsure of stomping on the rudder while stalled...

Interesting sidenote (or not): the T-38 doesn't stall in the true aerodynamic sense at the AoA UPT teaches; nevertheless, it was good to give students something to use to keep from morting in the traffic pattern.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Muscle2002

[HiFlyer]

Initial solo in the T-41 at "Casa Grande International" (yeah, way back then...Jan, 1968; Willie's T-41 aux field). Took off, made 9 solo T&G patterns...things of beauty. Turning base for the full stop reached for the flap handle and suddenly recalled I hadn't done that on any of my other patterns. I flew 9 no-flap patterns without noticing and without getting a call from the RSU. IP patted me on the back and said "good job". Nobody had a clue. Needless to say, I sorta forgot to mention it while debriefing.

[Champ Kind]

I'm just glad the tweet didn't have a downloadable MX computer.

[sky_king]

Before I learned about "defensive posturing" as a FAIP, I saw some things that make you re-evaluate life. The primary of which being when my student had #2 in fingertip, gave the pitch out signal and then abruptly turned into her wingman. I'm just glad that #2 was sloppy and held a consistently aft position...

From that moment on, my hand was always on the side of the stick that presented danger.

[hispeed7721]

and then abruptly turned into her wingman.

Found the problem... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited November 19, 2013 by hispeed7721

[sky_king]

Found the problem...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, on the same sortie, she also attempted a turning rejoin with about 69 kts of excess closure and when directed to overshoot (twice), her response was to start a 1 ft/sec climb into lead. After those two events, several IP called KIOs, and severe quibbling, I cleared my wingman off and we flew home solo (the only time I've ever done that). I didn't want to be near another airplane with her any more. The flying bought her a hook, the quibbling bought her Mil Cap. She's now flying KC-135s so think about that next time you're in formation taking gas...

edit: the PTSD makes me a poor speller

Edited November 19, 2013 by sky_king