Getting 2 two week dets to Key west during Spring break 04 and '05. Flying nothing but formation flights(T-2) and ACM (T-45) with about half the flights solo!!
ACM-3x.
It's Saturday, I've been in key west since wed night. Thursday morning I flew my OCF(out of control) flight, then Friday ACM 1 and 2, and now I have a checkride!! There have been 3 downs on det so far, all on ACM3X.
I'm flying ACM3 with the ACM stan officer(Hipower for all you VT-7 bubbas) in my trunk, a Marine and a hornet guy who knows his sh!t. The debrief is one of the Hipower specials where I feel like the only thing I did right was put my boots on the correct foot, but even that is in serious doubt. He averages me out and I pass the checkride, but maybe I'm not cut out for this ACM business.
ACM 4
I'm solo, hipower in the lead. We take off into a beautiful cloudless key west day. I Join up before he's past 5000 feet, he kicks me into cruise and I slide away. With no one in my backseat I'm relaxed and grinning happily, the oxygen seems to enhance my senses and I can see little specks swimming through the clear blue ocean.
We do our gwarm and snapshot drills. Then run through the different sets. The rollers go beautifully and on the flat scissors I'm at 120knots dropping to 115 in full rudder shakers with the jet buffeting like crazy getting an occasional snap shot, we fight down to bingo, join up and get home for the 380kias break.
When we land Hipower smacks me on the head. Stunned I turn to see him grinning. "Why the fvck couldn't you fly like that earlier, did you just need me to be out of your jet. That was a solid 2 above hop, but I'll only give you a bone coz your tacform sucked" oh well. but he is right I fly much better without anyone yapping away. That night I get seriously trashed on duvall street;-) I love this sh!t
ACM-12 solo
It's the following friday. Earlier this morning, I passed my last checkride. I have two solo flights to go and I'm a winged aviator. We are doing 2V1. My wingman, MadDog is a fellow Marine student and since he doesn't want to be lead, I'll lead 3 of the 4 flights.
Our basic sets done, we seperate to do the beyond visual range(BVR) set.
The bandit, a french exchange instructor goes outbound on the 090 radial while we go inbound at 300kias. Coming to the edge of the training area I call a cross turn which involves pulling to edge of buffet while nearly inverted. I know I should have used an inplace but cross turns are so much more fun.
Out of the turn, I climb to 15k and push MadDog up to 19K. I know that our IP will have to be below us at between 10-14K and that helps with trying to find him. In the meantime I push power up to get to 410kias, corner velocity, I want to be able to max turn the bastard. Maybe I should be at 300, but if you aint cheating....
"Eagle 1 request picture" I call.
"BRAA, single bandit, bearing 090, for 20 miles, low, hot" comes the call from our IP. Then within 10miles on the air to air tacan "Bandits in the block". "Fighters in the block I respond"
Suddenly I see a little speck rapidly approaching right between the section. "Tally, bandit between the section"I growl in my deepest vader voice,"Cross turn lead's low." "2's high" responds MadDog.
I roll 120 degrees with lift vector on the bandit and pull back on the stick carefully but aggressively(if that makes sense) I get 7.1g's and I see sparklies, squeeze my abs and thighs and they go away.
"Leads engaged offensive, 2 circle 14,000" I call. "2's free"says MadDog.
The bandit turns away from me and I rapidly bring my nose to bear for a sweet belly shot."Fox 2, defensive bandit"
"knock it off" Bandit responds. We've done less than 180degrees of turn.
The next day I fly one more solo at noon, get soft winged and by 5 I'm drunk on duvall. Dreaming about doing ACM all the time in the fleet
