A day that will live in infamy
Author: Bert Booth
May 10, 1984, Laughlin AFB 85-02
Okay, maybe not that bad, but he might have felt that way.
Ninth ride with my secondary IP, Capt. Jack Mohr—ex T-39 and MPC assignments, soon to be Major and a Section leader in T-37s.
Logbook: two months into Tweets, 1.5 months to go. Last ride before Contact check. I'd forgotten this detail as I'd thought it was a vanilla Contact ride. We're flying the Contact check profile—2 spins, stalls, chandelle, Cuban 8, barrel roll, nose high/low (check ride added inverted) recoveries, 3 overheads and landings.
T-37s going fine. So Jack and I are out in the practice area and I'm doing my thing.
The grand finale: pointing northwest towards DLF/LAFB and do an Immelmann, finishing facing southeast. Dive towards the southeast to start the Cuban 8 (always thought it was a loop—the fact that it was a Cuban 8 gets even better). We're above a cloud deck that's a couple thousand feet thick below the practice area, so area management is on needles.
First reversal of the Cuban 8 has us facing northwest, second reversal has us facing southeast. Somewhere on the dive I switch to radar control and ask for a recovery... while still doing the Cuban 8.
Approved. Descend and maintain 4, squawk xxxx.
I put the squawk in, pull the nose to level and say "maneuvers over" and BAM—roll past 90 degrees, pulling Gs, and slice back towards the west/northwest for the recovery. Just before exiting the area I get the bank angle to less than 30 degrees and pull the nose up (to -10, -5?). Shortly thereafter we're IMC. Pop out the bottom, call the Rio Grande in sight, and we're cleared the VFR recovery.
Jack: "I'VE GOT THE AIRPLANE."
He's got the forward hunched position IPs take when they're pissed. Hmmm, brain's going back over the flight—"what did I do wrong?" I'd thought it had gone well and I'd wasted ZERO time getting the recovery clearance just prior to pulling out of the Cuban 8 dive. That was bang/bang flying.
Jack flies back to the overhead... and announces full stop. Huh, not practice overheads or landings before the check ride?
We shutdown and he's gone. Get to the parachute shop and he's gone. Guess he doesn't want a drink and a snack?
I walk into the A flight room and my IP Randy Worrall was at the first desk. Jack's in the IP chair rocking back and forth. Not happy. I'm not that smart but I pick up on that.
"I'm of a mind to hook you!"
Huh. One of the questions was 'how far can you get into the program before you hook?' Well, today might be the day.
"Would you do that in the Dash 7 you were flying?"
Do what?
"Aerobatics, then slicing back, then entering the clouds like that?"
No.
"Why not!"
Uh, because we carried passengers?
"No! Why NOT!"
Uh, because it wasn't stressed for Gs? (I'm puzzled, this is crazy stuff, no one's doing that in a transport category aircraft).
"No! Why NOT!"
We don't have a 360 degree aerobatic attitude indicator?
"NO! WHY NOT!"
I don't know.
"Because we fly IFR just like we do in airliners! 51-37 tells us how to fly IFR/IMC!" (I'm still puzzled) I reduced the bank angle to 30 maximum and reduced the pitch attitude right before we went IMC...
LOL. I pass and go on to my Contact check the next day—Outstanding. First of 3.
Later the assistant scheduler Curt Anders (my buddy—his student Colly Stickel and I hung out with him a couple of times) tells me: "We're in the flight commander's room chilling and Jack walks in, slams the door, and FIRES his checklist across the room. 'It's always the G.D. good ones that are going to kill you!' We knew you'd flown with him and were checking the next day... so it's an 'uh oh' moment for me as the scheduler. You scared the shit out of Jack. He doesn't like all the high G and upside down stuff and coming out of the aerobatics he wasn't ready for the high G diving turn to get turned back (probably expected a nice 30 degree banked turn but we were still in the practice area...). Then you popped into the cloud and he had total vertigo. No clue which way was up. So he was pissed. You can't do that to him..."
We never flew together again. 🙂
The assistant flight CC Ray Hanley became my secondary IP.
Within the next 1.5 months, before we finished Tweets, Capt Mohr had been promoted to Major and was a Section Commander. Fewer opportunities for the studs to kill him.
