THE THIRDCLASS SUMMER 

The summer is divided into three three-week-long blocks. During one section the new thirdclassmen will have leave, another block they will have Combat Survival Training (CST), and one they will take either free-fall parachuting or soaring. I happened to have leave first, soaring, then Combat Survival Training. 

AM-251 SOARING

I took soaring during the second block in the summer. It involves learning how to fly sailplanes, and the ultimate goal is to solo and earn your wings. The sailplane, the TG-7A (pictured above), is a two seat aircraft, one seat behind the other. The front seat is for the student, with the instructor pilot in the back seat. A single engine prop plane, a Bellanca Scout, is used to tow the glider to altitude. The Academy also has a couple motor-gliders, the TG-4A, which can turn itself from a powered aircraft to a glider. Students usually get one or two flights in the TG-4A, which gives them much more practice than a regular sailplane flight, since after doing several manuevers, the instructor pilot can turn the engine back on and climb back up so that the student can try again. 

A student's first flight is mainly an orientation flight, with the instructor pilot controlling most of the flight. However, the stundent gets to attempt his/her first takeoff and landing on the next flight, a skill that usually takes about five flights before they are able to do it unassisted. A normal flight involves the student attempting takeoff and trying to maintain a good flight path behind the tow plane as they get towed up to about 2,000 feet above the ground. Aerotow flight is probably the most difficult skill the master, since the sailplane must perfectly match the movements of the tow plane or you can pull both planes out of position, produce slack in the tow line, or cause other problems. The sailplane then will release the tow line upon reaching the proper altitude.  As they slowly glide back down at an average speed of 50mph, the student is usually taken through a series of maneuvers, such as practicing steep turns, stalls, or spin recoveries.  

After a few maneuvers it is time to think about landing, since a glider can only take one shot at it. They will enter the pattern at 1,800 feet and fly an oval shape pattern for a landing in a grass field next to the runway they took off from.  Every student has a grade card and is graded on over twenty different aspects of the flight, such as turns, checklist use, emergency procedures, etc. They are given either a "lacking" if the instructor pilot had to take over; a "marginal" if the student maintained control, but had to be talked through it; and a "proficient" if they can do it completely on their own. Once a student earns all proficient ratings, they get a final pre-solo ride to make sure they are ready, take a written test, and then take their solo flight. It usually takes about twelve flights for a student to be ready to solo. During my block, we were hampered by bad weather, so I only had six flights and did not solo. However, there are programs where those who did not get to solo can go to the airfield in their free time until they finally get good enough to solo. So by the end of the year, I had soloed, and earned my glider wings!

AM-490 FREE FALL PARACHUTING

Free-fall parachuting is what some cadets elect to participate in instead of soaring. Since I took soaring during the summer, I took AM-490 during the fall as an extra class.  AM-490 is the world's only first-jump-solo program.  There are no static lines or jump masters going with you - the first time you jump you are on your own.  Thus, it begins with a very intensive ground school, with a huge focus on emergency procedures (obviously). 

Below: an instructor checks a student's free fall body position.

In these pictures instructors test the student's response to a simulated collision with another jumper

After five jumps the students earn their jump wings. Students who take jump in the summer have the opportunity to try and upgrade to instructors and make The Wings of Blue demonstration team, which performs for all home football games and competes in numerous competitions throughout the year. 

This is me after my 5th jump, ready to pin on my jump wings!!! 

I still jump on my own through civilian channels... here is the view under canopy from about 4,000 feet.

COMBAT SURVIVAL TRAINING

As the name implies, this is training on how to survive in combat situations. It is mandatory training for all cadets, and those who do not perform well enough must take it again the next year.  Those cadets who go on to pilot training, however, must still go to Fairchild and participate in SERE training (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape). Our CST begins with a solid week of classroom briefings on how to survive and evade. Then there is a week of base training, where we practiced what we learned in the classroom, such as vectoring helicopters to our location, navigating, etc. Then it was off to Sailor Park, a nearby national park, for the real thing. 

This is me when we got back from the woods

Once we got to Sailor Park, we went to our respective camp locations.  You are placed in groups of 10 students and 2 instructors.  The first four days were for survival training, focusing on how to survive if you were not worried about capture, such as if you were shot down in friendly territory and simply needed to survive until getting rescued. We were given three rabbits to split between the ten of us, one Meal Ready To Eat (MRE - a prepackaged meal), and two K-ration boxes.  Each box contains five bars about 1" X 5". Each bar has the consistency of and tastes like compressed sawdust. These have a shelf life of many years and are designed for survival situations. This was all we would get for a week, so everything else we had to scavenge on our own.  I ate a lot of local plants, and sampled a few ants.  Our primary water source was a hole in the ground that was created by a fallen tree. We learned a way of placing sticks to help remove the surface scum, and we had iodine tablets to purify the water. 

The four days of survival are spent learning many different survival techniques, such as building shelters out of your parachute, how to set snares, build fires, and navigate.  On the fourth day, called demo day, we had the opportunity to practice using many types of rescue signaling devices, such as flares.  After the four days of survival you enter the evasion phase.  You are split into groups of 3 or 4 students, and now the object is to evade capture.  You would be given the coordinates of the location you were at as well as the coordinates of the point you need to get to.  The instructions were very simple: leave your point at 8pm, and arrive at your destination between 5 and 7 am.  How you get there is up to you.  The whole way the upperclassmen are hunting you, and if you get caught you have a grade card that is marked accordingly.  Too many captures and you may have to repeat CST.  At the end of evasion, those students who excelled (i.e. didn't get caught) were "rescued" by helicopter. The rest ride the bus back. Then it was off to the shower, a luxury we had been without for the whole week, and the a good meal. I lost seventeen pounds during that week.

THE THIRDCLASS (Sophomore) YEAR 

The thirdclass year essentially flips the role you had the year before. Now you are the primary instructor for the freshmen. You inspect their rooms and uniforms every week, and are assigned a specific freshmen who is your personal instructee for the semester. You also are given limited roles in the squadron, assisting the juniors and seniors, basically like mandatory student government. During my three degree year I was the Informational Management (IM) Clerk, which basically deals with helping the IM Officer (a senior) and IM NCO (a junior) with keeping everything electronic functioning.  This is typically the toughest academic year, in both course load and material, since you are still in core classes and haven't started with your major's classes yet.  Even though I was a Biology Major, I still was required to take courses like Thermodynamics and Engineering Mechanics. 

Last Updated: May 18, 2003