|
I had about 10 hours in the T-37;
I'm just about the hottest thing in the sky! I return one day from solo, and
my instructor is a little upset: I was airborne 2 plus 05. He tells me
1 plus 50 is a good time to be on the ground.
I apologize for my ignorance, and promise to never be up that long again.
The next day, I'm doing my power letdown over broken clouds, spinning,
looking for MIG's, Me-109's, anything that looks like a target. I come out
below the overcast, and...nothing looks familiar...I assume I
overshot, and turn south...too stupid to tune in the Bartow VOR…things are
familiar, but only from the T-34 days...my low fuel light comes on, I ask for
a "Practice" DF steer…no answer...I ask for an "Emergency DF
steer, and Bartow tower answers...turn North, they instruct...
I do, and as my fuel gauge dips below Empty, I'm on Initial, 200 knots, if I
can make the "pitch", I'll make the field…well, Cessna must have
known about dick-heads like me, so I made the field okay.
Airborne time?? 2 hours, twenty minutes…maybe a record in the T-37!!!
My dear old Swedish instructor, Sven Olson, just shook his head as I reported
for post-flight instruction!!! He probably thought, "It's a miracle this
idiot is still alive!!"
Mike Larkin
|
