Undergraduate Pilot Training began with intensive academics prior to any flying. None of us had ever flown the T-37, and the era of being handed a flight manual with instructions to “Read this tonight and be ready for a dawn … Continue reading →
On 16 November, 1964, UPT Class 66-D began the process that in twelve months and twenty-two days would transform a group of mostly 2nd lieutenants into USAF pilots. Few (if any) of us had flown anything other than light aircraft … Continue reading →
On 15 November, 1964, I climb out of my Corvair in front of a long, two-story barracks-style building at Reese AFB, Texas, that looks exactly like the other buildings lined up on either side of it. All of the Undergraduate … Continue reading →
In the spring of 1964 I graduated from college with a reserve commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force and a report date of 15 November, 1964, to begin Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) and a four-year … Continue reading →
SOB trip concludes: You can guess what happens next, right? The temperature climbs to three degrees higher than the maximum I’d planned for. The charts don’t list each degree of change, so now it’s a matter of interpolating. Number-crunching completed, … Continue reading →
SOB Trip continues . . . Ilopango International Airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, sits on a bluff with deep ravines at both ends, volcanoes all around, beautiful but unfriendly terrain for landing a jet. Fortunately, the weather is clear. … Continue reading →
SOB Trip continues…… On checkout at 6 o’clock the next morning the desk clerk wants a credit card. Here we go again. I successfully arm-wrestle the guy for who is going to pay the bill, then endure another harrowing automobile … Continue reading →
SOB Trip continues…… Less than twenty-four hours prior to D-Day I receive a group of forwarded emails from the passengers’ company representatives in Austin and Central America and a frantic phone call from a security officer. “Why haven’t you coordinated … Continue reading →
I’m reluctant to answer the phone because I know. Something in my gut tells me there’s a trip coming up, and it’s going south of the border. I don’t even bother to glance at the caller ID, and in fact … Continue reading →
Beginnings continues……… No problem, at least until my failure to adjust the pattern creates one. I’m struggling to get the airplane down. Why am I so high? He lets me thrash around in confusion and frustration until he says the … Continue reading →
