01 March, 2003

            Just another day in the life of a pilot at UPT.  We spent the majority of last week fighting the weather.  Winter weather patterns made flying the Tweet a risky endeavor.  The main problem being that the T-37 has no de-icing capabilities.  This makes winter flying very dangerous.  Therefore, we spent a lot of time on the ground last week.  No worries though, we get to work this Saturday, so we will catch up, hehehe.

            We were scheduled for our flight softball game today, but as it is raining, I am guessing it has been cancelled.  We will still party tonight though.  It was to be IP’s versus students, with basically bragging rights at stake (that, and a keg).  Oh well, I guess we will just have to play who can drink the most and retain your eyebrows kinda thing.

            On a sad note, we are going to lose another one of our class sometime this week, if things go according to plan.  This one really hits hard because the aforementioned is a good guy, a good pilot and has a good deal waiting for him at a Guard Unit.  Unfortunately, there are a few obstacles for this guy and very few options.  I am not going to go into detail, however, I will say that the Air Force, in my small opinion, is not handling this in his (our their) best interest.  You can tell when someone is a stand-up guy and bright enough to make it through the program (which this guy most definitely is) and usually, you see the USAF helping those kinds of people in everyway that they can.  It angers me to know that not only is someone giving up on their dream, but also that the USAF is losing a damn fine person.  With that said, I wish him and his family (new editions included) nothing but the best.  May happiness and success fill your lives, always.  We will miss you.

            I guess I’ll write a little bit about the Tweet itself.   It seems like everyone speaks of the T-37 affectionately and I think I’ve figured out why.  It is a very basic airplane, and it is what everyone learned to fly on.  I imagine that as I progress to newer, more advanced aircraft, I will still relate to the ease at which the tweet is flown.  No, I do not mean that you are going to find it easy to fly, but you should find it east to learn on.  The gauges are old and don’t always work (part of it’s charm, some would say), the engines take forever to provide thrust (fun in situations where you “need” power fast), and the general comfort of the jet is about like riding on a metal board while baking/freezing (comfort rating……3 on a scale of 1 – 100).   All these things considered, I’ve enjoyed it and so will you.  Now, if you’re a T-6 driver (or soon to be), I can’t tell you anything because you have the latest and greatest………but then again, I am part of a 50 year lineage of pilots and you, my friend, are just the new guy, hehehe, FNG.

What can I say, Tweet drivers, get precious few chances to make fun of someone else!