First Flight

Here is a post from Peter that he sent me to add to the blog:

I had my first flight today in the Alpha Jet. It is a subsonic ground fighter that has alot of power, but can only structurally hold 6g. The weather wasn't all that great, kinda cloudy with some rain starting to come in from Ireland. We took off and did some mid level (2000 ft) recognition of some ground navigation queues' (there's a little town, a power plant etc.) Then we went up into the pea soup at 22,000 ft. We did some perception stuff. I would close my eyes and the pilot would bank the aircraft and I would see if Icould feel it. I could feel it when he did sharp banks, but not soft ones. Then I did some banking of my own (2g 60 degree bank), t was fun. It was to the point where the g-suit was activating to make sure the blood was still going to my head. We then did some instrument approaches, some with flaps out, some with flaps in. Finally we landed for real, the flight was a little disappointing in some ways. We didn't get to do any of the aerobatics we were supposed to do (I was supposed to try my own rolls and loops), but that'll come on the next flight. Other than that one flight, its just been groundschool which goes at about 2-3 times the speed of University. Quite exhausting. Hope everyone is well and that you are making plans to come visit us. Alpha Jet specs and pics: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/alpha-jet.htm
Team PM