|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
In the mid ’70’s, I was a USAF T-38 instructor pilot (IP) in the 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance AFB (KEND) in Enid, Oklahoma. Two squadrons trained students in their journey to become Air Force pilots. They began training in the 8th Flying Training Squadron (FTS) flying the Cessna T-37 ‘Tweet’ for the first half of the Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) syllabus.
The venerable ‘Tweet’ A.K.A. ‘The 6000-pound dog-whistle’!
Upon finishing the T-37 portion of the syllabus, the students came to us in the 25th FTS where they completed UPT in the Northrop T-38 ‘Talon’, the Air Force’s supersonic advanced trainer, A.K.A. “The White Rocket”. Upon successful completion of this year-long training, they were awarded their wings.
In a class of 40-50 U.S. students at Vance, there was often a few international officers from Denmark, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and/or Iran (at the time, an ally).
As you might imagine, language presented a challenge when flying with international students. The Danes spoke and understood English quite well, but that wasn’t the case with all of our internationals. Additionally, IPs had to learn when and how to say something as well as how to explain an error a student had committed in a manner that fit with their norms of learning. When instructing international students, we IPs had to be careful to NOT use the three basic tenets of good instructing—you know, what every student believes are the trifecta of IP instructional techniques— fear, sarcasm, and ridicule (LOL!).
While training Iranian students, it was interesting to watch as they took notes during flight briefings/debriefings. Writing in their native language, Farsi, these students scrawled from right to left, but they also wrote some instructions in English, i.e., from left to right. For example, describing a Cuban eight maneuver would involve such writing as, ‘enter the’ (in Farsi, R-L), ‘Cuban eight’ (in English, L-R), ‘maneuver no lower than’ (in Farsi, R-L), 10,000’ AGL (in English, L-R), ‘at a minimum of’ (in Farsi, R-L), ‘450 knots’ (in English, L-R). Watching such scribbling could make one’s head spin!
As you might imagine, stories about flying with international students are plentiful. I previously wrote about flying with a Nigerian student who I gave one of the three check rides students had to pass during their T-38 training. I’ll leave it to the reader to learn about that adventure while I relate two others here.
The first incident happened when I was a new IP, in what was called ‘Buddy’ status. My ‘Buddy IP’ (Pat) was a highly experienced IP serving as my mentor, periodically flying with my students to see that they were progressing normally. During that time, I had Ali (Ah-Lee), an Iranian student, who I would not clear for his initial solo. Our flight commander decided Pat should fly with Ali to see if he could be signed off to go solo.
After Pat flew a dual sortie with Ali, I listened as they debriefed that flight and then briefed Ali for his initial solo. After Ali left the flight room, I turned my attention to my other students, as did Pat. About an hour later, the intercom in our flight room came alive. It was the squadron operations officer, and he simply stated, “Have Lt. Ali’s IP report to the Ops Desk, and bring his gradebook.” I picked up Ali’s gradebook, handed it to Pat, and wished him well as he trudged off to an unknown fate.
About 30 minutes later, Pat returned shaking his head. Ali was OK, but he had not fared well on his solo flight. As briefed, he had taken off and flown to one of our training areas to do some aerobatics and get ‘settled down’. He then returned to Vance to conduct landings from the T-38 overhead pattern on our westernmost runway (17R); that’s when “the wheels came off.”
SIDEBAR: The T-38 overhead traffic pattern is depicted below. Pattern altitude is 1500’ AGL and one enters the traffic pattern by flying the “Initial” leg upwind at 300 KIAS. Approximately half way down the runway, you execute a level, 60-degree bank, 180o turn while reducing power and lowering the speed-brakes to arrive on the inside downwind. The power reduction, the induced drag of the level turn (2 Gs necessary to maintain level flight), and the parasitic drag of the speed-brakes slows the aircraft below the gear-limiting speed of 240 knots. Once wings-level on the “Inside Downwind,” you lower the gear and flaps and, approximately one mile beyond the landing threshold, you reduce power at “The Perch.” You then execute a 180o descending “Final Turn” maintaining 175 knots to arrive wings-level one mile from the threshold on final approach at 500’ AGL. At that point, you slow to the final approach speed of 155 knots, which is held until crossing the approach-end overrun where you reduce power to touch down at 130 knots.
NOTE: Those speeds are the “basic” speeds when the fuel remaining onboard our T-38s was 1000 pounds or less. For every 100 pounds of fuel over 1000 pounds, one knot is added to each of the basic speeds. With gusting winds, one half of the gust factor is added to the final approach and touchdown speeds (e.g., add 5 knots for winds at 10 knots gusting to 20 knots). BTW, T-38 fuel gauges are calibrated in pounds, not gallons, THANK GOODNESS! – “OK, I have 261 gallons remaining, JP-4 weighs 6.5 pounds per gallon, 261 times 6.5… carry the three?…is π necessary? AAAAARGH!!”
The T-38 Overhead Pattern.
Ali entered the traffic pattern according to our local procedures and, on his first attempt at landing, the controller— a highly experienced T-38 IP in the Runway Supervisory Unit (RSU) sitting adjacent to the runway— directed him to “Go Around!” from an unsafe approach. Ali executed a normal go-around, closing the speed brakes, and raising the gear and flaps. At the departure end of the runway, he turned crosswind and continued to the outside downwind, approximately two miles west of the inside downwind. Coming around the pattern to once again turn onto Initial, he saw a conflict with another T-38 that had entered the pattern from the radar entry point; that T-38 had the right-of-way on Initial. Ali had to yield the right-of-way by performing a procedure we had practiced on earlier missions; it is called a “give-way.”
Give-ways consisted of climbing 1,000 feet above pattern altitude slightly offset to the west so the pilot giving-way could look down on both the runway and the aircraft to which he had yielded. Remaining at that altitude, the next step was to turn crosswind slightly beyond the normal point (traffic permitting), fly to a point about one mile west of the outside downwind and, in a clearing turn, let down to pattern altitude and enter the outside downwind (once again, traffic permitting). The normal ground track was then followed to turn onto the Initial leg.
However, Ali used a different terminology and procedure than what was called for, and what we had practiced. He started by stating, “Solo 47, Going Away!”—he conflated “going around” and “giving-way”— and then climbed and headed west (‘young man!’). The RSU controller immediately picked up the hot line to the Vance Radar Approach Control (RAPCON) to give them a head’s up. He said, “We’ve just had an initial solo break out of our pattern; he’s headed west and he’s probably not squawking and he may not be talking to you!” The RAPCON Bubba replied, “We’ve got a skin paint on someone out there who is neither squawking nor talking to us.” He then added, “It looks like he’s headed toward the VFR entry point for your pattern.” Shortly thereafter, Ali reported, “Solo 47, Initial.” The controller’s heart rate returned to near-normal, but not for long!
Ali soon came off the Perch to attempt another landing. The RSU controller was already on pins and needles, and it was a good thing he was—on this attempt, Ali got sent around again; he got into a wing rock (indicative of stall) over the overrun, and the controller yelled “Use burners!” (i.e., light the afterburners). This was repeated several times until the controller finally told Ali that he was going to talk him down, which he proceeded to do. It took several attempts, but the controller earned his pay that day; Ali made one OK landing. To say the least, he busted his initial solo.
After busting a major milestone in their training (the initial solo or any of the three checkrides they had to pass in the T-38 syllabus), students would get one or two extra flights with an experienced IP. They would then fly an “Initial Progress” check with a squadron supervisor. If they passed that check, they continued with the program. Failing the Initial Progress check meant they got additional flights with another experienced IP and then flew a “Final Progress” check. If they failed that flight, they would be eliminated from the program.
Ali failed both his Initial and Final Progress checks (i.e., he didn’t solo); so, he was sent home. However, his flying experience did not end there. The Iranian Air Force allowed those students who didn’t graduate from UPT to serve as a copilot in a ‘crewed’ airplane, such as a C-130, provided they had soloed in the T-38. Ali technically soloed (albeit unsuccessfully), so he was awarded his Iranian Air Force wings and started flying as a copilot.
But the story doesn’t end there. Another Iranian rule came into play; when a copilot showed progress in their flying abilities, they could be upgraded to fly fighters. Ali was soon flying F-5s.
An Iranian F-5.
Perhaps a year later, another Iranian student pilot in a later class at Vance, and knowing who I was, gave me some bad news. Ali and some others were flying their F-5s over the Persian Gulf, lowering their landing gear and skimming the surface to get their gear wet; they then returned to their home base to show off their feat. However, Ali went too low (one can only tie the low flying record) and dragged more than his gear in the water; his F-5 cartwheeled into the Gulf. Sadly, Ali did not survive.
Another international student I flew with was a Saudi Arabian named Bander (Bahn-der). He was an excellent student and a pleasure with whom to fly; he also looked like he was maybe 16 years old! However, his story is not about his flying, rather it involves his uniform and what happened one day when wearing it.
Saudi Air Force 2nd LT insignia vs. the sleeve-type rank on the shoulder ‘tongue’ of a USAF uniform shirt.
Saudi Air Force rank differs from that of US insignia. Bander was a 2nd Lieutenant and his rank—a single star made of bullion (right) was on a ‘sleeve’ that was normally slipped over a cloth “tongue” on the shoulder of a uniform shirt (not a flight suit), and that tongue was buttoned down.
However, U.S. flight suits, which Bander and other foreign students were issued when they entered training, had no such tongue on which to secure their rank. So, the base parachute shop sewed the Saudi “sleeve” directly onto the shoulders of his flight suits as they did the rank of U.S. students and IPs alike.
Bander had been at Vance for nearly a year and, having washed his uniforms regularly, his Saudi rank, which was not intended to be laundered, had deteriorated. So, one day he went to the Base Exchange and purchased what he thought was a suitable replacement. He took it to the parachute shop for them to sew it in place. Nobody noticed the change until the next day when Bander flew an instrument sortie with this new insignia in place.
Students flew their instrument training flights in the rear cockpit of the T-38 under the hood— a canvas screen suspended on bungee cords that was pulled forward and secured with Velcro to prevent the occupant from seeing outside. The IP in the front cockpit would do all ground-handling operations and make the takeoff. Shortly after takeoff, the student went under the hood and started flying while relying solely on the full complement of instruments in the rear cockpit. Students only came out from under the hood when the IP took control to land at the end of the sortie.
Taking off early in the day’s flying schedule, we would often fly what we called “out-and-back” sorties to nearby military airfields. This exposed students to both precision and non-precision instrument approaches they had never flown. After landing and refueling, we would then return to Vance and get some home-field instrument approaches with extra challenges, e.g., single-engine approaches. This was excellent training and good practice for the student’s final checkride, which was flown as an out-and-back sortie to an airfield they may have never before seen.
A T-38 with a student in the rear cockpit.
On this day, Bander flew an out-and-back with another IP to Carswell AFB (KNFW) in Ft Worth, Texas using the Vance cross-country callsign of “Duke”. Upon landing, they were given taxi directions to the transient ramp, which took them past the control tower. As they passed by with their cockpits open, an observer in the tower turned his binoculars on the taxiing T-38 and spotted something that caught their attention. The ground controller barked, “Duke 79, hold your position!” Needless to say, the IP quickly complied as he wondered what was happening.
The ground controller advised the IP a “Follow Me” (FM) truck would join him shortly. Pulling in front of the idling T-38, the FM truck led the T-38 back towards the tower. As they neared the tower, the IP noticed three “blue steelies” parked at the tower’s base.
NOTE: ‘Blue steelies’ were blue staff cars, which are normally driven by the Wing Commander (his had a white roof!), Operations Group Commander, and Combat Support Commander at each Air Force base, all of whom were full Colonels. The IP knew he hadn’t violated any flying regs, but his mind was racing!
As they were marshalled into a VIP parking spot directly in front of the tower, the IP noted that the ‘blue steelie’ drivers were standing at attention and rendering a salute (right). When the airplane was finally stopped and the chocks were in place, the IP shut down and the FM driver put a crew ladder at the rear cockpit first, allowing Bander to climb down. The IP waited his turn and, as soon as his feet hit the ground, there were three Colonels glaring at him.
One of them growled, “What the #*%$@! is going on with this foreign kid in a general’s uniform?” The IP explained who the Bander was, but he didn’t understand why they thought he was a general until one of the Colonels pointed at the rank on Bander’s shoulder. That’s when it became apparent what had happened. Bander had purchased a single star (right) at the Base Exchange, and that is the insignia for a USAF Brigadier General!
The IP apologized profusely and made a very quick turn at Carswell; just a pit-stop in the men’s room, i.e. no $100 burger! Upon returning to Vance, he let the squadron supervisors know what had happened. All international students were immediately rounded up and their flight suits inspected, especially their rank!
Following this incident, it became standard practice to periodically check for unauthorized changes to these students’ flight suits. Additionally, Vance T-38s landing at Carswell could expect ground control to ask if they had a “code” on board. A code is a required entry on a flight plan signifying that a flag-rank officer (a general) was aboard the aircraft. The Carswell blue steelie drivers didn’t want any unannounced— or any imitation— codes arriving at their base!
- Buffalo Hunting With Airplanes - March 28, 2025
- Teaching International Student Pilots - March 5, 2025
- Friday Photo: A-4 from a TA-4 - January 10, 2025
Interesting stories Colonel Hill. I was at Moody and Columbus. At Columbus I was ATC and worked both tower and RAPCON. Definitely interesting “events” occur at training bases. We also had Iranian controllers we were training in the RAPCON at Columbus. Very interesting!
I went to Vance for UPT, class 06-01. I was a late rated guy since I had been a navigator for a few years first. I remember the international students always had some funny stories following them around. As I read your story of Bander I knew where it was heading and kept laughing as the hijinks ensued. I’m sure that story became a legend that led to many laughs. Thanks for sharing.
I was in class 66D at Vance, finishing up the 38 program and remember one time when I was out in mobil with an instructor. One of the foreign students, I believe from the mid east somewhere, on touchdown, got a PIO going to the point where the instructor was yelling “go around, burners, go around” He went around and landed normally but it was a sight to behold. I think he was still there when we graduated and he was initially in a class ahead of us!