Crew Solo

Pretty sure that's a student in the Front Seat.  Helmets didn't get camouflaged until you went to your operational squadron.

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So...There I was* ...A 2Lt, winged pilot about half way through F-4 Training at Luke AFB AZ.  One of the nice things about Luke (and Arizona at the time) was there was a lot of airspace and not many people.  Most of the Airspace was cleared for supersonic flight which while it sounds cool is really not that big a deal at least at altitude.  The altimeter gives a little fluctuation as the shock wave transits its probe and that other than the instruments is about all there is.  That having been said, it is very easy to GO supersonic in a modern (or even late 70's modern) fighter, and that IS a big deal if, say, you're over downtown Phoenix.  The shock wave when it hits the ground, in addition to a big boom, tends to have an adverse effect on plate glass.  Which can get expensive to replace, therefore...good to have wide open spaces with little to no people around.

But...I digress.

The F-4 being a two seat airplane that really can't be flown (employed as a fighter anyway) without both occupants.  So...The training program flights starts out with an Instructor pilot in the back seat for the first ride and then you fly with an Instructor Weapons System Operator for the next several flights.  

Technically, the guy in front, the 2LT, IS the aircraft commander.  However, during the first day's "how ya doin'? " briefing by the training squadron commander, he made it perfectly clear that the IWSO in the back seat was in charge and if you didn't do what you were told by him, in virtually all cases, your time in the F-4 would be extremely short.

To be honest, I learned more from the Back Seater about flying and fighting in the Phantom than I did from the IP's flying in the other Phantom's in the flight.  He's 6' behind you seeing/hearing/feeling every stupid thing that's going on instigated by you.

So for the first half of the program, there's a very competent aviator in the back seat doing his best to make sure you don't end up as a grease spot on some mountain peak.  But there comes a point, when you need to grow a bit.  That comes on the Crew Solo ride.  On this ride, the IP is in the other jet as usual, but the guy in your pit (the unofficial name for the back seat) is a student much like you.  The big difference is as the pilot, in pilot training, I've flown by myself several times.  It's a bit tense at times, but generally, if you're not prone to trying stupid things, a lot of fun and pretty confidence building.  

The student WSO, however, has never had this experience.  So...pretty sure the tension level is a bit higher in the back seat than in the front.

ANYHOW, Lead briefs the mission, and it's usually an offensive BFM mission for the solo crew.  Beans, that means it's the Students against the instructors in a 1 V 1 dogfight with the student's starting about 6000' behind and 30^o off the instructor's tail.  If it were "For Realsies", and the first time the instructors saw a bad guy was he was in that position, their probability of pumpkin soup on the menu that evening was likely the best outcome they could hope for.

This is a little closer than 6000' but this is what the attack looks like.

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One of the objectives of the mission is for the students to work on crew coordination.  Most of the weapons on the F-4 require actions by both occupants in order to have a successful launch (simulated of course in this case).  That is the training objective for the mission.

In any case, we get all set up in position, and call fight's on.  I turn towards Lead's tail as I'd like to employ a missile.  Back seater is trying to get a lock, I'm trying to get the switches positioned and lead is pulling 6+ g's in his turn.  As I glance up at the target, I notice he's no longer in my windscreen rather he's well above me and about 30 degrees off my nose and rolling his aircraft over me. 

I would be the guy in the foreground, the Instructors are transitioning my 3/9 line and getting behind me.

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He's flying a longer flight path than I.  Meaning, very shortly, I will be out front of him.

So...it is written so it shall be.  Now, the roles in my aircraft start to change, the WSO in my pit must gain sight, and direct my defensive actions to a large degree, as pilot visibility out the back is extremely limited.  I should be pulling maximum g at this point, but we're trying to establish roles and plan. 

Suffice it to say, during the debrief, the gun camera film made us movie stars.

This was pretty much the view in the video

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The second engagement went a little bit better in that we survived for about a minute longer.  And the third was about a minute longer than that.  

Ego's well holstered and thankful that we were low on gas and had to return to base, we rejoined with lead and did so.  Debrief was long and humbling, but extraordinarily educational.  We left the debrief to go to our afternoon academics with the others in our class all of whom had been scheduled for Offensive BFM 1, the ride we were on.

All of them had similar results. A little bit of humbling reality helps with the learning curve.

And this will set the stage for my next post.

* This is how ALL Fighter Pilot stories start...