kiessig@idi.UUCP (Rick Kiessig) (10/04/84)
I've learned of an interesting jet fighter training
program which is open to anyone with the $$. I
understand there was an article about the company
that sponsors it in a recent issue of Playboy, but
I haven't seen it. I talked with the guy who runs
the program, and here's how it works: You
show up in Midland, TX on Friday night, and are
met by the pilots and taken to your hotel room
where a jump suit and a bottle of Champagne await.
The next morning you go over the basics of the
AT-6, including parachute operation, etc. The
pilots will talk with you to see how much flying
experience you have (none is required for the
two-day course). You then have a 30 minute
orientation flight, where the pilot gets a
chance to check out how you react to being in
a fighter going 500+ mph. Then you have lunch
with the pilots, followed by another 30 minute
flight where the plane gets turned over to you.
What you do with it is up to the individual. You
can zip up to 10,000ft. and do some simple aileron
rolls, or go for some low altitude high speed
aerobatics, if you prefer. The only limitation
is that the jet not be operated at full throttle
for the whole time. Then you have dinner with the
pilots, and pick up some books covering the T-33.
The next day is different depending on how many
people are there at the same time. If it's just
you, you do this days flying all at once. Otherwise,
if there are 4 people, your flying is broken into
two flights, like the day before. With 4 people
you will also get to do some formation flying.
The total flight time in the T-33 is 60 minutes.
Your plane back home departs in the mid afternoon.
These planes are rated at .8mach, -8.5g +12g, or
so. Used T-33's such as they're flying cost in
the area of $250-350K, and drink 190-490 gallons
of fuel an hour, at an average cost of $1.75/gal.
Cost for the two-day course, including 2 hours
of flight time, is $2500. Additional aircraft
time is available at $1500/hr. once you've
completed the two-day course.
If anyone's interested in more info, send me mail.
--
Rick Kiessig
{decvax, ucbvax}!sun!idi!kiessig
{akgua, allegra, amd, burl, cbosgd, decwrl, dual, ihnp4}!idi!kiessig
Phone: 408-996-2399irwin@uiucdcs.UUCP (10/05/84)
I saw an item on CBS TV, on the PM Magazine program, relating to this. They showed a little house wife who had never flown before, going through this jet training session. Believe it or not, she did really well, they had her doing rolls in the T-33 before she was done.