Other than the high-Gs (which will talk about shortly), the craziest thing was watching the controls. This included a near-vertical straight drop towards the ground, shimmying the wings back and forth, and hard turns in all directions. Evading another plane was arguably even more exciting than chasing since the pilot does everything they can to stay out of the other’s line of sight. It’s all just a blur.Īfter “shooting down” the other plane, roles were reversed and they were trying to get away. ![]() You can’t tell when you’re right-side up, upside down, or anything. Chasing the other plane through the air required tight turns, near-vertical climbs and drops, and everything in between. The jet can go from cruising to high-speed, high-G turns and acceleration in an instant, and the fight was on. He and his pilot started off by being the aggressor, chasing the other plane and trying to shoot it down (with simulated ammunition of course). And the T-38 is actually pretty small so you can really feel every little movement the plane makes.īut once the dogfighting began, it was on a whole new level. The canopy offers 360-degree views of the world around you. You have a constant stream of fresh oxygen running into your mask to help you breathe. He was strapped into an ejection seat that would shoot him up into the sky just by pulling the right cable. Up until that point, he said even just cruising along in the fighter jet is different than anything else. After a few mishaps with poor weather, the two planes were cleared to practice dogfighting via air-to-air combat. The actual point of the flight was for training purposes, and our friend was just along for the ride. There was another T-38 flying with them with a second Instructor Pilot and a Student Pilot at the controls. Think of the biggest and fastest roller coaster you’ve ever been on and multiply that feeling by ten.ĭuring his flight in the T-38, he of course sat in the back seat with an Instructor Pilot flying from the front. The best way that he could describe it was by saying it was unlike anything else he’s ever felt. But what’s it like to actually fly in one?Īs someone who had never flown in anything other than single-engine aircraft and commercial airliners, our reader had no idea what to expect when getting into the T-38. I just wanted to give you an idea of what the jet can really do. I could go on and on about the T-38 and what it can do, but let’s leave that for another article. It can reach speeds of over 850+ mph and heights of over 50,000 feet. That’s right, the T-38s still being used today to train fighter pilots were all produced 50-60 years ago, but that goes to show just how incredible this aircraft is. It is a twin-jet supersonic fighter trainer produced by Northrop between 19. The T-38 Talon is (and has been for many years) the fighter jet trainer of choice for the US military. While he’s choosing to remain anonymous, this reader is a civilian employee at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi and recently got the chance to go up in a T-38 Talon with the 49th Fighter Training Squadron. Since very few people actually get the chance to fly in a fighter jet, we were excited to hear about one of our readers getting the opportunity to earlier this month and worked with him to recount his experience in this article. What’s it Like to Fly in a Fighter Jet? So you don’t have to worry about anything in this post is hypothetical or assumed, this is really what it’s like to fly in a fighter jet! Without further ado, let’s get right into one of the most exciting topics on SkyTough. We’ll talk about what it’s like in general, what high Gs feel like, the training required just to ride in one, and more.Īs I mentioned above, the information in this article comes first-hand from one of our readers who got the chance to fly in a fighter jet earlier this month. It’s hard to describe in words, but we’ll do the best that we can to immerse you in what it’s really like to experience. This is one of those topics that are more subjective than it is objective and requires a personal opinion to really write about it. You need to concentrate on staying conscious under high Gs. ![]() It’s exciting, scary, thrilling, violent, and more. The speed, acceleration, forces, and maneuvers the jet can make. So what’s it really like to fly in a fighter jet?įlying in a fighter jet is an experience like no other. Like most people out there, I haven’t actually had the chance to myself, but one of our avid readers recently got to fly in a Northrop T-38 Talon and is kind enough to share his experience in this post. Have you ever thought about being a fighter pilot or at least what it would be like to fly in a fighter jet? As we’re all aviation enthusiasts here, I would guess just about every single one of us has. Read about what it’s really like in this first-hand account. Flying in a fighter jet is arguably one of the most exciting things you could do in the world.
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