What a Ride!

It was Good Friday. April 6, 2007. And I got to do something pretty fun. Something I will probably never get to do again. I got to hitch a ride in an F-16!

Every once in awhile, they let people ride in the back seat of the jet. It's usually given as a reward for good performance. My name got put in for a ride almost a year ago after I won a quarterly award.

My name was on a waiting list for about 8-10 months. To be honest, I wouldn't have been surprised if it never happened.



But near the end of March, I got an e mail asking if I was available for a ride on April 6.

The day before the ride, I had to go through a flight physical where I sat down with a doc and he talked to me about the upcoming flight. He asked me things like if I felt generally healthy, if I normally get motion sickness, and stuff like that. Then he gave me tips on what to eat prior to the flight, and how to deal with the effects of pulling Gs. Apparently, when the force of gravity is multiplied by doing these maneuvers, the blood in your body tends to rush to the bottom half of your body. And as it turns out this is not really a good thing. The lack of blood in your head can cause you to black out. And lots of people, even people that don't normally experience motion sickness, will get nauseous during flights.

So I started mentally preparing myself for vomiting. I really hate vomiting. And luckily I don't do it that often! My flight was scheduled for Friday at 1300, (1pm for you non-military types). But on Friday morning I went through about 3 hours of "Worst-case scenario" training. I call it that because it was training on all these things that could go wrong when we're in the air.

Everything they showed me started out with the phrase, "Hopefully you won't have to do this, but...", or "If you have to do this, it's already a bad day...".

What kind of stuff did they show me? Well, first I got to sit in a simulated F-16 cockpit. All the controls were there and I was told "Don't touch this switch unless...", and "Never ever touch this button, but only touch this one if...," There are few controls that I needed to know about even just as a passenger.

But the craziest thing to me was the one big, bright yellow, handle that was right in between my knees. I was told to hold onto this handle if we have to eject during the flight. So I asked, "Oh okay, so then it's just a handle?"

"No, if you pull that during flight, it will eject you."

Right. Got it. Don't touch the yellow handle.

I still can't believe that they would let the passengers have the ability to jettison the canopy, risk the lives of both himself and the pilot, and crash a multi-million dollar jet. But yep, they do.

After the cockpit orientation, I moved on to ejection training. This is where they train you on how to fall if you do have to eject during flight. Again, another thing that hopefully, you never have to do.

But these guys who gave me the training were cool and very helpful. Props & thanks to MSgt Hudson and TSgt Hayes!

So by the time this was all done I had enough time for a quick bite to eat - which according to the doc should consist of something dry and bland, nothing greasy. So I had a few crackers and a piece of bread. Just enough so my stomach wasn't empty.

Back to the fighter squadron building for the fitting of my flight suit and G-Suit. The G-suit is like leggings that go around your legs and around your stomach. There's a little cord that attaches to an air tank in the plane and it inflates when you pull Gs, to help keep the blood from pooling in your legs.

Me & Major Koch

The pilot I flew with was Major Koch, call-sign "Jeckyll". A really cool guy. He introduced himself and showed me a few of the systems they use prior to flight. Then he talked to me again about some of the things we'd be doing in the air. He promised me he wouldn't try to make me puke. What a nice guy!

That's me in the back!

By 1230 I was sitting in the backseat of the jet. Pictures from the cockpit were not allowed! Sorry!



We took off on time at 1300. A low takeoff, and then the jet shot straight up into the air. My first experience pulling Gs right off the bat. I think he said that was about 4 Gs. 4 times the normal force of gravity. I felt the G-suit inflate around my legs and compress my abdomen. Like the doc said, a good way to describe the feeling is like "the finger of God trying to crush you like a bug."

No nausea yet, and no tunnel vision or light-headedness yet either. So far so good.

We started out by flying around the area. We saw our house and had fun seeing the little targeting cross hairs on it! Then we flew up over the mountains. Incredible views from up there around 12000-15000 feet. At some points, we were lower than some of the peaks.

We did some cool maneuvers. We did some barrel rolls and some loops. We even flew upside down for a few minutes. To say it was incredibly cool is a huge understatement. The ride of the jet is so smooth. Not bumpy at all. Even when we were doing the crazy tricks, it was smooth.

We did a few other maneuvers and pulled more Gs. 4 Gs several times, 5 Gs once or twice. And I started to notice my stomach feeling kind of weird. I actually pulled out one of the barf bags they gave me and totally thought those crackers were making a return trip. But luckily they didn't. I held it together but the rest of the time my stomach was pretty queasy.

Major Koch asked if I was allright and after I told him I was close to puking, but after a few minutes I told him that I was okay. So we did a few more tricks and then he let me take control of the jet. I actually got to fly the jet for 5 - 10 minutes.

He took the controls again and we had time for a few more tricks. I don't remember exactly what we did, but the Gs we pulled were more than what we'd been pulling. I think we were shooting upwards at an angle and for the first time I started to get tunnel vision. This maneuver probably lasted at least 5-7 seconds. It was pretty intense. I think a little longer and I might have started to lose consciousness. But he pulled out of it and everything was okay. Whew! But that really didn't help my unsettled stomach!

After about a 45 minutes to an hour, it was time for the ride to be over. After we landed, I felt queasy for the rest of the afternoon. I also felt strangely tired. Not really physically tired, but sort of a weird lethargical feeling.

Getting ready to climb out

We talked to Major Koch and the life support people again, thanked them and drove home. And then I fell asleep on the couch for about two hours!

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in getting me this ride: Lt Anderson, SSgt Self, TSgt Veale. And to those who got me trained and ready: MSgt Hudson, TSgt Hayes, A1C Speis, and of course to Maj Koch for letting me fly with you. And finally to Susan for being there to take some pics! It was truly the experience of a lifetime.