Chapter 29: Learning to Fly, Part II

28 December 2020 – Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Greene/Montgomery Counties, Ohio

Sabrina Knox-Jones strained against the force pressing down on her, practicing her ‘hick’ breathing while clenching her calf, thigh, and shoulder muscles. Together, these are known as anti-G straining maneuvers or AGSM. Fighter pilots use AGSM to try to prevent G-force loss of consciousness – G-LOC. There is a point at which the body can no longer compensate.

Sabrina could barely concentrate on the G meter on her panel as she fought to stay awake. She registered the tightness of the G-suit on her abdomen and down her legs as it tried to assist her. Her vision started to close in from the periphery, narrowing to a dark tunnel. Sabrina pressed harder, but resistance was futile.

After a short time, she heard voices calling to her from a distance. She was so tired, and she couldn’t open her eyes. The voices grew closer before she gathered the strength to pry her eyelids apart.

“Lieutenant? Can you hear me?”

Sabrina grunted in the affirmative.

“Breathe, Ma’am. Nice, relaxed breathing. G forces are almost back to normal, almost back to one point zero. The centrifuge will stop soon.”

As the centrifuge slowed, Sabrina felt like she was falling. The fluid shift caused by loss of motion and a drop in force was the cause. Two technical sergeants opened the chamber when it stopped.

“How ya doin’, Ma’am?” one asked gently.

“I don’t remember the last party that made me feel like this,” Sabrina replied. “It’s been a while.”

“Feel up to standing?”

Sabrina unbuckled the flight harness, firmly planted her feet, and climbed out of the seat. She stood slowly and steadied herself with one hand.

“Looking okay, Ma’am. Ready to head out?”

Sabrina nodded. The sergeants followed as she walked to the room where her classmates waited.

“How was it, Sabrina?” Alex Weiss asked.

“I want a refund...”

“Don’t sugar-coat it,” Deacon Ingram said. “Tell us how it really was.”

Sabrina felt better the longer she sat. She also made sure she didn’t turn her head quickly. She felt like herself after about twenty minutes.

“That G-LOC thing is no joke!”

“My sister has seizures, and she said the G-LOC videos reminded her of seizure videos,” Vic Alvarado said.

“Everything up to about nine point five was manageable, maybe ten, if tiring. But that G-LOC over ten point five hit me like a sledgehammer!”

Her American classmates sat waiting for everyone to finish. Personnel from the 711th Human Performance Wing drove them back to the Unaccompanied Officers Quarters building at the end of the training day.

“Definitely something I’ll keep up my workouts to avoid!” Kolby Vaughn commented at dinner.

“I think all of us agree, Kolby,” Sabrina said, speaking for her classmates.

“So, we start the T-7A training when we report back to Sheppard on 04 January,” Morgan Wade mentioned. “Like Darius did with the class patch, I’ve got an idea for our flight suit nameplates.” Classmates motioned for her to continue. “Use call signs instead of our names.”

“I’m okay with that,” Cameron James said, “but we’ll have to check with our foreign classmates. The only call signs I’ve heard, or seen for them, have come from us. They may have something more appropriate for their country or culture.”

“We could do first names in large text with the callsign underneath in smaller text.”

“That might work better, Morgan,” Vic agreed.

“Don’t think Kirk’s gonna like his callsign, though,” Morgan said under her breath while glancing at the classmate sitting by himself.

“Why’s that?”

“Sabrina, it’s ‘Church.’”

A glance over her shoulder.

“What?”

“Fergie told me before Phase 2 ended that ‘kirk’ means ‘church’ in Scottish Gaelic. And the boy’s a little uptight ... especially when it comes to you, by the way.”

ENJJPT restarted on 04 January 2021. Morgan presented her idea to their foreign friends. They jumped on board immediately. The cadre approved the class’ nameplate styling request, and Morgan placed the order. Skyler Kirk wanted no callsign stitched on his, party pooper that he was. Sabrina blinked at hers when the order came in two weeks later.

“Morgan?” she asked as she held hers up.

“Tell me you don’t like that better than ‘Fletch?’”

“I do ... I do.”

Sabrina’s nameplate read ‘Raikou’ – ‘Thunder God’ in Japanese.

“Where did you learn about raikou?”

“Google is your friend, Sabrina. So is reading that they take just about any animal form, including dragons. The sound of T-7 engines will bring that word to life.”

Reading classmates’ call signs brought peals of laughter. Stefan Wenzel was ‘E,’ as in ‘Stefan-E.’ Bernhard ‘Bear’ Schmid. Eirwen ‘Flake’ Biven. Gunnar ‘Khan’ Pohl. Cameron ‘Jesse’ James. Phillipe ‘Flip’ Schoonjans. Til ‘Later’ Hergenröther. Fritz ‘Nasty’ Hoehman. The list went on. With one exception, ENJJPT Class 20-06 was a team.

Skyler Kirk did what was required in class, but barely anything else. He did not help his fellow students unless the cadre asked. He performed well in the air under instruction, but didn’t push himself unless he flew lead.

Sabrina was a bit nervous the first time she strapped on the T-7. The T-7A Red Hawk replaced the venerable T-38C Talon in 2018. It quickly found fans among IPs and students alike. What made Sabrina nervous wasn’t the newness of the airframe but that everyone from students to IPs to Operations officers were still learning what the airframe could do.

The T-7 was as modern as a plane could be. Designed entirely online, with up-to-date avionics, life support systems, better visibility for the student pilot and IP behind them, Mach 1.1 or so (837 mph at sea level, and 726 mph at thirty-six thousand feet), as well as being agile and responsive. It was the best simulation of a fifth-generation fighter outside of an actual fighter.

Sabrina’s flight suit now displayed the 469th Flying Training Squadron patch, which replaced the one from the 89th FTS. The Air Education and Training Command, ENJJPT, and Class 20-06 patches competed for recognition there also. She verbalized the preflight checklist as she walked around the aircraft, her IP walking silently behind her.

Once her plane was ready, she climbed into the front of the cockpit. She began the ‘Before Startup’ checklist. Sabrina left the canopy open so she didn’t roast in the bright Texas sun, even in the winter.

She let out a deep breath before picking up the startup checklist. Sabrina flipped switches and pressed buttons in the specified order. She cross-checked displayed gauge values and screen displays against the list before moving to the next item. Sabrina did so in an orderly manner, but at a pace that wouldn’t put someone to sleep. Finally, she looked outside at the airman waiting on the tarmac. She gave a thumbs up.

The airman held up one finger and signaled Sabrina to start engine one, the left engine. Once the engine spooled up and the gauges read correctly, she did the same with the right – number two. Sabrina called ground control for permission to taxi.

The airman guided the aircraft toward the taxiway when Sabrina signaled readiness. She followed the airman’s commands until they reached it. The airman fired a salute at the taxiway and signaled her to proceed. Sabrina returned the salute.

Sabrina called ground control again once on the taxiway. She repeated – read back – ground control’s pre-takeoff instructions and stopped her plane at the edge of the active runway. This was familiar to Sabrina as a credentialed pilot, but things felt like they were moving too fast. Upon receiving clearance, she moved her T-7 onto the runway apron and made one last check.

The twin jet engines strained against the plane’s brakes. The Red Hawk bolted down the runway once the brakes were released. Sabrina watched in amazement as the speed indicator shot up and the runway blurred past. Rotational speed approached, and she began pulling back on the control stick. The Red Hawk leapt off the runway at a high angle of attack.