F-35 Construction

Ever wanted to know how to build a fighter?

Trains of thought...

After weeks of frantic preparation leading up to the carrier trials, I havent been flying a whole lot. Typically this time sitting around is typically wasted in short order. In one of my rare instances of using spare time productively I read two books: Freakonomics by Dubner & Levitt, and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

I read Freakonomics first as I had heard so much about it, and was ultimately disappointed. Basically it chronicles the studies of Steven Levitt, an economics professor at The University of Chicago, and runs through some of his more interesting findings. Among the chapters are discussions on the effect of abortion on the crime rate (it brings crime down), and the mathematical detection of cheating in sumo wrestling and other sports. The problem was that the book was 90% hype, 10% substance. I got the general impression that it was written to make money for the authors and to look good on the bookstore bookshelf rather than edify its readers.


Malcolm Gladwell's Blink on the other hand, was quite fascinating. He delves into the inner workings of the brain, specifically how many of our thoughts and actions are contolled by the subconcious. Of particular interest is his thesis that the best decisions are made by concentrating on small amounts of critical information, rather than considering all the facts.He writes about a war game, in which a retired Marine general playing the role of a low-tech rogue middle eastern dictator soundly defeated the Pentagons best and brightest. Gladwell (supported by the general in question Major General Paul van Riper) maintains that the Pentagon suffered because of information overload. Because of all the information technology avalaible to the Pentagons "blue" force, there decisions and movements were slowed down and hampered as a result of the leadership overanalyzing every single decision. MajGen van Riper on the other hand, used a loose command structure in which he pushed many of the critical decsions down to lower level commanders in his enemy "red" force. In the ensuing war game, the red force inflicts critical blows on the simulated Americans, including destroying an aircraft carrier.


All in all Blink is definitely a good read. It is a little thin on substance at times (to be expected of anything on the bestseller lists) but overall enjoyable with some interesting points.

CQ!

After nearly eight months, an update is long due. I apologize to all family and friends for the delay. Te recap the last several months, I selected the "Strike" pipeline, which means that Ill ultimately end up flying either an F/A-18 (C , E or F), or an E/A-18G. Practically it means that Ive spent the last few months learning the very basics of being a fighter pilot. Training in the strike pipeline started out with learning how to fly in formation at night (acutally not as bad as it sounds). Then it progressed with the WEPS phase where I learned how to drop dummy practice bombs. Initially in order to learn the basics of bombing, we try to hit the target without any sort of aid. Basically we have a fixed sight on the aircraft heads-up-display, and try to line the sight up with the target at precisely 450 knots and 3000 feet above the ground. Its harder than it sounds, and I wasnt very good at it. I am eternally grateful to who ever developed laser- and GPS-guided bombs because Id hate to have been a WW-II pilot and have some poor soldier on the ground depending on my dive bombing skills.

After weps I learned started gearing up to land on the carrier for the first time. After two solid weeks of touch-and-gos at home field practicing carrier style landings, on June 8th I did the real thing. I took off solo from Cecil Airport outside of Jacksonville,FL and trailed an instructor out the the "boat". After two touch and gos through the landing area (or "LA" in aviator parlance) I trapped on board the CVN 77, USS George HW Bush the Navy's newest aircraft carrier.

The first trap itself felt a little like a car crash. It was much more violent than I expected. Me and my little 12000-lb airplane were hauled to a stop from 140 mph in about two seconds. The first cat shot was even more intense. In order to launch from a carrier, you taxi onto a steam catapult. A small fitting called a shuttle hooks onto your nose landing gear. An enlisted man on the flight deck tells you to run your engine to full power, then the catapult flings your airplane off the bow of the ship, accelerating you from 0 to 150mph in about a second and a half.

Its the ride of your life.

I have two phases of flight school left, air combat manuvering (ACM) or dogfighting, and some low-level bombing flights. Hopefully Ill be done in a month or so and off to fly the Hornet.