AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2018 - 26

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT

When something's
not quite right

BY RICHARD MCSPADDEN
Executive Director
AOPA Air Safety Institute

A closer look saved one pilot's career-and improved an organization

RICHARD MCSPADDEN

went on to win
multiple Top Gun
competitions in
the F-15.

I SAT IN THE DESERT TWILIGHT, at the end of Runway
34 at Holloman Air Force Base, watching F-15s land,
wondering how things had derailed so quickly. The
next day, I faced an "89 ride" in the U.S. Air Force's
Lead-In Fighter Training (LIFT) course, an introduction to fighter-flying fundamentals in the AT-38
aircraft. Eighty-nine rides had a pass rate of less than
10 percent; they were a formality, a chance for the Air
Force to cover its bases by putting the student with a
senior officer to verify that the student could not meet
minimum standards. Once you failed the 89 ride, you
were out of LIFT, disqualified to fly fighters-and,
based on the needs of the Air Force, you could be out
of Air Force flying altogether. To get to an 89 ride, a
student had to "bust" (fail) multiple rides in a phase
of training. For me, the struggle was Defensive Basic
Fighter Maneuvers (DBFM). Flying DBFM involved
shaking a bandit off of your tail, who began the simulated dogfight at your five or seven o'clock position,
just out of valid missile shot parameters.
Facing an 89 ride was a surprising and humbling
place to be and was a rare event for the LIFT program, which had a reputation as a "cake walk." To earn
the opportunity to fly fighters, I had graduated pilot
training in the top 10 percent of the class and through
some good fortune, was assigned the only F-15 allocated to our class of about 50 graduates. At LIFT, I
breezed through offensive BFM. On OBFM you start
at the bandit's five or seven o'clock, just out of weapons parameters, and you maneuver into parameters
for a valid shot. Then I was assigned a new instructor
to begin DBFM. I struggled from the very first DBFM
flight and never progressed, resulting in an 89 ride.
I flew the 89 ride with the colonel in charge of flying operations. After a few G-force warm-up turns,
we went right into DBFM maneuvers. At the "fight's
on" call, I immediately pulled into a high-G turn and
soon began some random, aggressive maneuvering.
"Flailing" would be a kind description. The bandit
moved to my six o'clock, called a missile kill, and we
stopped the maneuvering. The colonel, quiet throughout, asked to "see that one again." We set up for a
similar engagement, and at the fight's on, as I started
similar flailing, the colonel called to cease maneuvering, took the airplane, and said, "Lieutenant, you don't

26 | AOPA PILOT February 2018

have a clue what you're doing." Silence except heavy,
exhausted breathing over the intercom on my part. He
radioed the other airplane, "Let's go home."
Back in the squadron, the colonel held private conversations with our squadron commander, thumbing
through my gradebook. When he finally joined the
debrief, he mused: "It doesn't makes sense. A distinguished graduate in pilot training; earned the only F-15
in the class; breezes through OBFM here at LIFT; and
then, suddenly, probably the worst DBFM student
I've ever seen." Silence. I held his stare. He continued, "I cannot pass you, but I'm not going to fail you. I
think the problem may actually be your instruction."
Perusing my grade book, the colonel noticed my primary DBFM instructors were from a ground-attack
airplane that did not fly BFM. They were inexperienced in BFM instruction. He directed two more
training flights with experienced DBFM instructors,
and another 89 ride.
The instructor changes made a difference. I performed decently on the first sortie, well on the second
sortie, and passed the 89 ride with the same colonel.
The experience had a lasting impact on me, in several
ways. First, the colonel saved my flying career. Second,
I learned the criticality of good instruction. Good flight
instruction is invaluable and can make the difference in
creating a good pilot or a precarious one. It's important
to spend the time and extra money to find someone
with experience in what they are teaching, whom you
connect with, and who can explain flight concepts in
a way that you can understand. Finally, the event had
an impact on me as a leader. The colonel could have
shrugged the ride off after my poor performance, but
something didn't seem right and he took the time to
try and understand it. In doing so, he didn't just "save"
a student, he unearthed problems in his organization,
which allowed him to implement meaningful changes
that made the group better. That's leadership. Perhaps
it's something for chief flight instructors to consider
as they evaluate struggling students.
Go fly-and when you need instruction, consider
that added time and expense for quality instruction is
usually a good investment.
AOPA
EMAIL richard.mcspadden@aopa.org

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2018

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