It all started with a pre-brief from "PIG"(call sign) where all the basics of flight are covered. Things like ejecting, ground egress, dealing with bird strikes in the canopy, and a once over of every button that you should never ever touch. Some basics huh? Even though I wasn't the one flying I had to keep telling myself that "this will be fine, they have hundreds of flights per year and no incidents here in Misawa." Further, even though I'm a believer in odds...I do know that when something goes wrong it did so 100% of the time THAT time. Not sure what it is...but this part really struck me as it was such a casual once over of some very critical bits of life saving information.
After the brief Sandy suited up and then it was time to head out to the jet!
On the way out to the jet we met up with the other two flyers and pilots decided to try and go out as a 3 ship formation which would have given everyone the chance to see a little bit of what it's like to fly right next to another fighter...BUT...as is usually the case with aircraft, flexibility is truly the key. First Sandy's jet wouldn't start and then the 2 others couldn't afford to sit around burning fuel while they waited. So no cool formation flying for Sandy today.
The pre-flight routine is pretty neat to watch when you don't see it every day. The process is almost choreographed. The crew chiefs run their steps, the pilots run theirs, and in the moments where the two cross paths it's as if they've timed everything just right and the hand signals, words, and actions just flow. Based on what Sandy described of the radio traffic and the actions I saw standing out around the jet, it really is just like in the movies. A thumbs up here, a whirl of the hand there, and flaps begin to move, engines fire up the sound of freedom, and then it all culminates with a quick salute and off goes the jet. Here are some pictures leading up to taxiing and take off.
Within 10 minutes of takeoff PIG had given Sandy control of the aircraft and the first thing she did was try to maintain an altitude of 18K feet. Apparently that's much harder than it sounds. Then commenced the show and go portion of the flight. PIG would give a 5 second verbal instruction followed by the expected result of the input to the aircraft and then it was her turn. She performed barrel rolls, loops, split S, engaged in some cloud racing, and several climbs and dives between about 13K and 21K feet.Her favorite part of the entire flight was the feeling of zero gravity while performing the split S maneuver. Next was the loops and the actual take off. The worst part...pulling out of a split S and directly entering a barrel roll. This quickly induced a return delivery of every fluid consumed in the hours leading up to flight. Not to worry though...all that life support equipment comes with barf bags and she made good use of both of them.
After the 1 hour 15 minute flight they touched back down in Misawa where I was waiting along the taxiway to get some final pictures of a memorable day.
A big thanks to PIG for making this an awesome day which truly was the ride of a lifetime.
