Ride of My Life!

This week, I have decided to begin sharing some of the cool experiences I've had in my life-time. They won't be in chronological order, but I want to document them for my memories and for your enjoyment.

The picture you see above was one of the coolest experiences I've had. In 2006 I was named Airman of the Year for my unit for 2005. There was a perk to that award. In early 2006 I was sent with my unit to an air show in Tucson, AZ at Davis Monthan Air Force Base.
While there, I was slated to get an "incentive ride" in a jet.

The day before the flight, we went for parachute harness training in case of an emergency ejection. The day of the ride, we went for a flight physical to be approved for the strenuous activity. Finally the time came for the ride. I was very nervous primarily because I get motion sick in a car. I knew for sure I would get sick in the jet during the ride.


Me and the other troop that were scheduled for the rides that day were supposed to get flights in F-16's, the Vipers. However, one of the Vipers was experiencing a maintenance issue. As the afternoon wore on it became apparent that only one of us was going to get a flight. We were already in our flight suits and harnesses. The other troop outranked me but kindly offered to let me have the ride. I didn't feel right about that because He had been in the Air Force a good while longer than I had and had never received a ride. So, I deferred to his rank and insisted he take the flight.

He left to get his preflight briefing with his pilot and I disappointedly headed back to ops to get out of my gear. I was disappointed but not angry. As a maintainer I understood that issues happen and safety and mission capability always take priority. When I walked back in, the Major who was running the scheduling for the day's flying, said, "Wait a minute. Don't get out of your suit yet. There's got to be an aircraft around here somewhere that you can get a ride in." He began to sort through his board and make phone calls. Finally, he said, "There is only one pilot that hasn't flown today: the General. And, there is an F-15 on the ramp that is ready to go." He picked up the phone again and called to where the General was. "Tell major so-and-so that when he lands he is supposed to go take the General's place because the General needs to come down here and give Airman Alexander his ride!"

Wow! I was amazed! About 25 minutes later, in walked the two-star general who was Director of Air Combat Command Operations. He strode over, shook my hand, asked my first name and went to get suited up for the flight. We had our safety briefing and headed to the jet. Now let me take a moment to say that I was now elated that the other Viper had been unable to sortie! You see, I used to be an F-15 crew chief and the F-15 is a twin-engined jet with a lot more power than the F-16. We got into the jet and the demo crew chiefs strapped us in. They gave us a full-up comm-out precision launch and we taxied toward the runway.

We were cleared for take off. He asked, "Are you ready?" I gave my assent and he rammed the throttles forward. We hurtled down the runway. He yanked the stick back and we were airborne in a max climb. We pulled about 4Gs as we went from the ground to 16000 feet in four seconds. What a rush! There is no feeling like feeling that kind of power smash into you as the machine does what it is designed to do.

We flew for over an hour. The General put the jet through its paces. He even let me fly, doing some barrel rolls, etc. I must admit though, I am no pilot and probably never ever will be. It takes focused dedicated people in top form to do that every day. Finally, he said it was about time to head back.

He asked me if I was ready to pull some serious Gs. I said I guessed I was. (I expected to pass out so I wanted to wait until the end of the sortie to do that.) He said "Ok" and cranked it into an hard turn. Boy did it hurt! This guy was not in shape for that! However, though it hurt, it didn't hurt quite as bad as I expected, and I didn't pass out. I asked, "How many did we pull?" He said, "About 7.6Gs." I said, "Can we do more?" Surprised, he agreed and cranked it into a hard Immelman. Boy did that hurt...but I still didn't pass out! We pulled 8.8Gs that time and he said that was enough. :-)

We headed back to the air field. All told, we were up for over an hour, he made me sick twice (especially during the negative Gs), I pulled 8.8 Gs and survived, I didn't pass out, and I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience I'll never forget. I will always be grateful to the folks who made that day possible for me.