There is a certain stillness on the runway, everything serene, tranquil, placid and undisturbed. Seconds before this beast of a fighter awakens and roars with power and authority.
Nose wheel brakes – Engaged
Check heading – Coincide with runway orientation
Open Full Power – N1-100%, EGT- Above 600
After Burner – Engaged
Up and Ahead Clear – Release brakes
These five checks are part of the general procedure a fighter pilot performs after lining up on the runway. More precisely, just before take off. The incident that transpires after releasing brakes is a pure rush of adrenaline and excitement. After all those years of blood, sweat and thrilled anticipation, finally getting airborne in a fighter jet was a sensational mix of emotions. It was a surreal moment where everything I had ever dreamt of was unfolding right before my very eyes. It was REAL, RAW, TANGIBLE and finally within my reach. The explosion-like sound heard once the afterburner is engaged and the thrust you feel when the fighter jet moves forward is enough to give any person chills, so imagine what a man who dreamt of this moment all his life would possible feel and experience.
The first take off with Afterburner
You could hear your instructor call out the rolling checks, “Needles alive…. Engine Guages Green…. Speed 150…..”, but you can hardly follow what he is referring to. Speed hits 200kmh within the blink of an eye and the instructor pulls back the stick. Since this was a familiarization sortie, I was only allowed to observe what’s going on and get accustomed to the speed of this supersonic fighter jet and how it behaves during this take-off. You speed through and the world around you becomes blur. All you see are lines, like in a photograph of a moving car taken from a camera, set with slow shutter speed. That is the very moment I whispered to myself, “This is speed”. However, the real deal of flying your first supersonic fighter jet sortie was yet to come.
Speed 250kmh and you feel the nose of this mighty machine come up progressively and in a moment you are at 320kmh, and the aircraft graciously lifts off. In an instant, that blur which was mostly brown and greens of nature is replaced by the blue of the sky and the white of the clouds. Three seconds into the flight, instructor asks me to retract landing gears, and I reach to it promptly and pull the landing gear lever up. I dare to waste a single second looking inside the cockpit because all I wanted was to absorb what was happening around me and to look at the ground disappearing below me in awe.
Climbing fast
This fighter jet, propelled by raw turbo jet engine power producing 13 800 pounds of force, muscles up and away from the realities and takes you ever more close to the heavens in a matter of seconds. Climbing at almost 15 meters per second and at 600 kmh, you feel like never stopping and to just keep going and going . Just as I was getting carried away with my imagination, I was brought back to my seat with the voice of the instructor breaking the silence.
Eager for controls
Once the aircraft settled on a climb, I was eager to take controls and feel how this magical beast felt under my charge. Just as that thought occurred to me, my instructor does me a favor by saying the magical words, “You have controls”. I finally got to hold the control stick and fly by myself. To be honest, I was surprised by how smooth it felt to control and maintain. But, then it struck me; my instructor had perfectly trimmed the aircraft to a level that the aircraft could possibly sustain the heading and speed on its own. After reaching the training sector, I levelled off at 5000m at speed 600kmh and carried out several level turns with an angle of bank 45 degrees and 60 degrees to both left and right. By this time, I had gotten comfortable with controlling the fighter jet in the air, hence my instructor took over control and demonstrated several manoeuvres like maximum rate turns and Lazy 8 (Rest assure, all these jargons will be explained in detail in my upcoming blogs. So bear with me for now.)
Split-S Descent to hit 900kmh!
After completing the upper air exercises, the instructor requested air traffic to return to base. Once approved, the instructor did a nerve wrecking manoeuvre, a “Split-S descent”, where you put the aircraft into a steep inverted descent. Although this wasn’t something totally novel to me; having done it many times before, including solo flights on other aircraft – it felt different this time. It was much more exhilarating and surreal mainly because that was the first instance I hit 900kmh on a fighter jet and the speed felt like I was on a missile. We initiated descent from 5000 meters and seconds later, we were level at 1000 meters ready to call initials over the runway.
Final Approach - 400kmh
Instructor wanted me to observe the procedures and follow the landing process thoroughly as it is critical to understand the chemistry of the aircraft during the landing approach and final phase. Hence, I was determined to follow all actions closely. The instructor demonstrated how to maintain speed and height during the circuit pattern and showed me the ground features. During the final approach, I found it to be quite challenging as the time to make decisions is very limited and the window for error is minimal. Approaching the ground at 400kmh felt like rolling down a steep slope with roller skates without brakes.
Everything happened so quickly and within the blink of an eye, we were touching down on the runway at 360kmh. Instructor asked me to deploy the drag-chute, which I did very carefully, and I felt the aircraft decelerate with a sudden jerk and I felt my body get thrown forward as well. Then instructor applied wheel brakes and we came to a taxiing speed. My instructor wanted me to try taxiing on ground since taxiing can take some time getting used to. I did struggle initially but after some invaluable advice on control of brake pressure and maintaining momentum during turns, I managed to get the hang of it.
Only a glimpse of its capabilities
I taxied to the apron and shut down the aircraft and got out of the cockpit so happy and content like a kid who has just finished a small roller coaster ride during summer festivals. My instructor carried out a detailed debrief and pointed out very important aspects that I need to keep in mind in my upcoming sorties. During the debrief, I inquired about the reason to opt for a “Split-S Descent” during rejoin, and he answered, “I wanted to give you a glimpse of what this aircraft is capable of”, with a smirk. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Personal reflections
All in all, this was one of the best experiences in my life so far and it has opened my eyes into the broader horizon of fighter jet flying. It was definitely one of the most inspirational missions I’ve ever flown and made me realize that if you are patient, perseverant and work hard towards your goals, you will reach it one fine day. It also made me realize that my years of hardworking is far from over and to be qualified in this fighter jet and maintain my flying currency, I will have to put way more effort and practice for the years to come.
So, here’s a glimpse into what I experienced flying a fighter jet for the very first time. If you have similar experiences to share or would like to know more details about it, please feel free to leave a comment below.
I like that part “ the approach”. It’s true, in my case I had few sorties to learn to land. I wanted to grab it very quickly and focused on landing from the first sortie. But I could imagine what happened. I have only few key point on my head still. I saw speed 400kmph on top of final then I saw a green grass patch and then suddenly I was on ground. Those are only parts I can remember. TBH this reflected my first sortie in the jet and I appreciate the writing. Keep it up. Thanks.
Thanks alot for the genuine comment. I know exactly how you felt and glad that there are others that can relate to my experience. The reaction time is so little and the window for error is minimum. I hope you are flying fighter jets more confidently now. Cheers! God Speed!