Sim Time in T-38

H.-P. demonstrated an air show. Four minutes long and fascinating for those of us who enjoy aviation. 

Please allow for some time to upload.

        The instructors at Sheppard Air Force Base honored me by allowing me some time in the simulators (sim time) for the T-6 and the T-38. I found it a unique experience that helped me know more about what our aviators see when they are slicing through the sky at 400 mph. The complexities of flying those amazing aircraft, the T-6 and the T-38, gave me greater appreciation for aviation and for my own plane, the 180- horsepower Cherokee I call The Scissortail. But I noted simplicities about them, too, such as the ease with which I could handle the power settings and let the plane glide toward the runway, which deepened my understanding to the power settings in my plane. All that I learned in the simulator, including all that I cannot yet articulate and continue to assimilate, I can employ now during my flying.

The control station for one of the simulators. The instructors can input weather conditions, emergency situations -- including the image of a burning truck in the middle of the runway -- place the aircraft anywhere on the globe and at any altitude, or pause the simulations.

Bud took off and right away did a couple of aileron turns. Here he is upside-down.

H.-P. tossed in a few surprising glitches into the flights, such as a thunderstorm that he kept moving in front of the aircraft, or severe meteorological conditions for landing. 

(Note the mischievous smirk upon his lips!)

H.-P. demonstrates flying alongside another T-38.

Bud took this image from above me. 

The purple gloves Ily gave me for Christmas kept me warm during my sim time.

We took all these images with the Nikon V 1 and did zero post processing in the digital darkroom.