After the Holiday break I was eager to return to flying because I was about to start the phase I had been most looking forward to...formation! Our flying resumed on 4 January, but due to a shortage of instructors (still being lazy on vacation), I didn't get to fly until the following Monday. I was scheduled to fly formation a few times and the schedule kept changing, but finally I got my first flight. A majority of the first flight is a demonstration, but I did get to fly a good piece of the sortie. Formation flying is unlike anything we had done up to this point. The entire time you are flying in the #2 (wing) position, your eyes are on the lead aircraft. While watching the other aircraft you have to make constant power and directional changes to maintain position...which is only 3 feet of wing spacing! Sure, it's not the Thunderbirds...but we all start somewhere ;) Since then I have flown 2 more formation sorties and improve quite a bit each time. There have been a few situations during these first couple rides that I scared myself a bit...but that's why there's an instructor sitting next to me. Learning to maneuver in 3-dimensional space is really interesting. There are only 15 total formation rides (including the check ride) to get proficient. It's a blast so far!
In addition to formation I have 10 advanced aerobatic rides left. These flights include pretty much every kind of loop and roll you can think of. Our challenge is to get proficient at the different maneuvers and then tie them together to fly as close to a continuous profile as possible...without pausing between each maneuver. It is pretty amusing for me to thing about the flying I did to get my private pilot license compared to what I'm doing here...AND I'm getting paid to do the stuff here instead of the other way around...wow!
Hard to believe there are only 6 weeks left in T-37s.
