Mohawk 1, Gear down, full stop.

Driving up "initial" at 200 knots, I rocked my wingman into the close formation position referred to as "fingertip." He moved his aircraft into a stable position about ten feet away from my wing. "Mohawk 1, initial, 441." I radioed the RSU. This was it, my last set of patterns in Phase II of UPT.

I was returning from my formation check ride.

Rewind about an hour and half and I was just taking off on the wing. Headed out to the area to perform a dynamic set of maneuvers and aerobatics in tandem with another aircraft, all the while getting graded and critiqued to seal my future as an Air Force aviator.

Only one word can describe it: EPIC.

As our aircraft passed the "initial" location, about two miles short of the approach end of the runway, I looked back to check on my wingman. I looked directly above me to see if any T-6s were in the high pattern and then to my left to see if there were any Texan's already in the break or on the perch.

It was clear. My wingman and I owned the runway. Then came my favorite part of every formation flight. The salute off.

Since I was lead, I would break before my wingman to create spacing. I looked at my wingman and he was in perfect position. I grabbed the stick with my left hand (ackward!) and gave him a smart salute. He responded with a large head nod and then I immediately rolled the aircraft into a 80 degree turn and racked up the G's to make a 180 degree turn. Success! I rolled out under 150 knots and configured my aircraft for landing.

"Three green, flaps take off." The check pilot responded with his mandatory response, "Checks."

Then came my radio call for all of outer space to echo: "Mohawk 1, Gear down, full stop."

The last radio call to tower I made in the T-6A Texan II.

Epic.

Deployment

1LT David Benning deployed this Sunday to Afghanistan as part of the 101st Airborne Division. He will be deployed for a year.

Be safe buddy!!!

Out and Back

Had my first cross country trip this week. I flew two legs (one there IFR and one back VFR) to Alexandria, Louisiana.

This airport had the nicest FBO (fixed base operator) I have ever seen!!! We stopped their for gas and food and went to a local BBQ joint (not the best we have ever had, sadly).

When we got back to the FBO to plan our return VFR leg my flight instructor started talking to a nice older lady who had just gotten dropped off by a very nice Gulfstream 4 private jet. Turns out she OWNED that jet and just got back from a week long vacation with her daughter (who isn't single). This old lady ended up being the OWNER of Murphy oil...kind of a big deal.

So the return leg was VFR, which means we navigated using our eye balls and large ground references. It was fun, as I had never really navigated VFR at 9,500 ft before (thus LARGE ground references). My flight instructor took me right over his hunting cabin and pointed it out after we descended to a more sporty 3,000 ft and took a scene tour of what I believe was the red river.

"Grumpy Check." "Two!"

Well had my first formation ride today. What a rush! Flying ten feet (yes...ten) from another T-6 going well over 200 knots.

It was pretty epic to say the least. Using a combination of hand signals and voice communications between the two aircraft we went out into the MOA (Military Operating Area) and messed around. The instructor pilots would help out a lot since this was our first time (self preservation comes to mind), but I did a lot of flying as well. It's crazy, scary, awesome, and exciting all at the same time.

Then we got to go into a formation called "fighting wing" where basically its a crazy game of follow the leader. The trailing aircraft (called: two) goes 500-1000 ft behind lead (one) and then lead is free to do whatever they want!!!

Our IP's demoed this and it was awesome! Immediately lead rolled 130 degrees and pulled down and right (I was in two) and my IP followed. We popped the speed break to slow down and dropped about eight thousand feet into a lower MOA. After a couple more barrel rolls and tight turns (about 4 G's) we knocked it off and my IP gave me the aircraft back.

From there it was a series of different wing work, turns, formations, etc. It's all tricky, the hardest for me was probably a fingertip turn (where I am only ten feet away) and lead turns so that I am on the outside of the turn. I need to keep the same position on his aircraft so that means I need to accelerate, climb, and roll to stay in the same place relative to his wing.

Anywho, off to bed! We are flying every weekend for the rest of the month.

Guess thats why you guys pay me the big bucks!