Rejoin to 1

Author: Eric Meyn

Rejoin to.... 1 - I was pretty well known for my aggressive rejoins when I was a FAIP. I loved doing turning rejoins and slamming it into fingertip at a speed that made me see the other pilots' eyes get bigger. But one day, I created a new challenge. I was dual with a pretty good student who was going to fighters and I had a solo student who always struggled with formation on my wing. It was his last formation solo, and he was going to a non-FAR assignment.

We were lead and pitched for a turning rejoin. My solo got on a terrible line, was coming in too fast, and at the last moment rolled too much to kill his closure and pulled hard away from us. I took the plane and said to my student, "Watch this..." (Yes, I know, not great words to say to a student in an aircraft, but I was young, dumb, and bulletproof at the time.) I yanked the plane towards my solo, who was in a steep bank and still in the process of sorting things out.

The solo was now in an even worse position to execute the rejoin, but he was trying to make it work. I could see the big question mark in a bubble over his canopy as he wobbled and pulled and tried to find the right angle. While he struggled, I flew our jet right into the lead position on him. I heard my student chuckle over the intercom. I smirked in my oxygen mask and gave the solo a thumbs up.

When we got back to the flight for the debrief, my solo had a little spring in his step. He popped himself into a chair next to my dual student cheerfully, and when I sat down, I could tell he couldn't wait to ask me, "Sir, did you see that awesome rejoin! It was just like your demos!" (I didn't do the aggressive ones as demos; they probably just seemed that way to him.) My dual student looked straight ahead at me with a small smile. I said, "Man, you nailed it!" If he ever joins this group and reads this, it will probably crush his soul over losing a very proud memory.