T-38 over our capital approaching our capitol

Image Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

T-38 Aircraft Fly Over Washington

A NASA T-38 training jet is seen as it flies over Washington, DC, Thursday, April 5, 2012. NASA, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration, conducted training and photographic flights over the DC metropolitan area. T-38 aircraft have been used for astronaut training for more than 30 years as they allow pilots and mission specialists to think quickly in changing situations, mental experiences the astronauts say are critical to practicing for the rigors of spaceflight.

Awww...who do they think they are kidding?! It's just plain fun to fly a T-38 (or so I'm told!)

Comments

[M.E.]

Maybe they're fun to fly, but this scares me. You don't have to be paranoid to live here, but it helps!

[Cop Car]

ME--I'm missing something. Why does it (maybe I don't understand what "it" is) scare you?

[Ole Phat Stu]

Unterwegs nach Virginia Beach?

[janeywan]

Cool Photo!

[Cop Car]

Stu--A 90-degree turn to starboard. The posting was bad timing on my part, wasn't it?

Janeywan--That's what I thought!

[Ole Phat Stu]

Sorry I posted in German there; the trouble with being multilingually fluent is that you can't tell what language you are using sometimes. Sorry, my bad :-(

[Cop Car]

Not complaining, Stu, as you give me practice. Note that I don't attempt to reply in kind. It would be entirely too embarrassing to expose my lack of anything approaching fluency.

While I'm at it, I see that I became confused. East was the direction in which the photo was taken (roughly) - not the heading of the T-38. My bad. I should have replied, "Ja".

[Ole Phat Stu]

"The posting was bad timing on my part, wasn't it?"

No you are just prescient - perhaps dangerously so? - But it's a pooer memory that doesn't work both ways ;-)

[Cop Car]

Touche, Stu!

[joared]

The T-38 may be fun to fly, but I would think it also makes good sense for pilots to keep their skills sharp in the various aircraft they might be flying-- ultimately preferable to simulators. Maybe they should do all their flights over non-populated areas. Guess that would mean either re-locating a few landing strips/airports/military bases, or moving some cities. Yeah, there is that risk factor (like VA.) with all kinds of aircraft everywhere.

[Cop Car]

Joared--I read the blurb to mean that the "exercise" sharpens the skills that will be needed in space, rather than on another aircraft. Of course, the pictured training flight doesn't fit in that category, does it?

I don't recall whether you are a pilot, yourself. If you are, I don't know how you trained. It is probably much cheaper to start training in T-38s before moving a pilot up to a more complicated aircraft.

Me? I operate (physically and mentally) at such a slow speed that I was doing well to keep ahead when flying an aircraft with a top speed of 220 mph...but, I would surely go along for the ride!

It is difficult to keep airports/airbases and cities apart, as I'm sure you know.

When we moved to Derby in 1960, the city limit was a few miles south of the fence line of McConnell Air Force Base (IAB), and a mile from the fence line of a small dirt strip, Hamilton. Hamilton has been engulfed and closed while the city limit is now much closer to IAB.

Mid-Continent Airport (ICT) was built several miles west of Wichita. The city now completely surrounds ICT.

[Ole Phat Stu]

@Joared,
Having been a flying instructor for over a quarter century, let me point you to this summary :-
http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/proficiency/pilot-skills/the-10-dumbest-things-pilots-do

@CC,
quoting an SR71 blackbird pilot :-
"You ain't been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3" ;-)