Back in UPT 29 years later....

[RV8Squaz]

Sort of.

Let me explain myself. While I fly my airplane often, about 140 hours year, I don't usually fly it every day. This week I had the pleasure of flying my airplane every single day.

Monday

I flew a Contact sortie. I took an old UPT buddy of mine for an aerobatic ride. We must have done 3 or 4 of everything: loops, rolls, Immelman, split-s, cloverleaf, barrel rolls, hammerheads, Cuban eights, and spins. Then off to Milledgeville (MLJ) for bbq and back to Falcon Field (FFC) for patternwork.

Tuesday

Formation sortie with a buddy of mine, a former T-38. instructor. I was a T-37, T-1, and T-6 instructor back in the day. I lead out, flew a full profile to include wing work, echelon turns, cross-unders, close trail, extended trail, and pitchouts and rejoins. I lead back to a formation approach and landing. Taxi back and swapped leads at the hammerhead and repeated the profile.

Wednesday

Instrument sortie. I flew to Pine Mountain PIM, and did radar vectors for the VOR-A cirlcle to land. I flew the missed approach procedure and entered holding. On the way back to FFC I went direct to the procedure turn fix, flew the PT to the ILS and again executed the missed approach and entered holding.

Thursday

Night sortie. Flew to Coweta County (CCO) to drop off a friend before sunset. After SS I took off and flew to Fulton County-Brown Field (FTY), did 3 stop & go's, then flew back to FFC and did three more.

Friday

Formation out & back sortie. Flew with another buddy of mine. We flew a similar profile as Tuesday's sortie, except we dialed up the intensity and instead of landing back at FFC, we flew north to Pickens County airport JZP for more BBQ.

Saturday

Just flew back and forth shuttling my family to 91GA a small 1800' grass strip for some fun and games, R/C flying, rides, skeet shooting, 4 wheelin', dirtbike riding, and grilling.

Sunday

Flew a 0.7 practicing some aerobatics, the Humpty-Bump, loops, slow-roll, and half Cuban 8's in an aerobatic box.

So Monday through Friday was a throwback to my UPT days. The entire week was so much fun. I logged a total of 9.1 hours this week. I'm looking forward to another week like this soon. But next weekend I'm going cross-country. I guess I better break out an AF Form 70 and my whiz wheel!

[DonFromTX]

Sounds like a wonderful week indeed! Now for us with lesser knowledge - what the heck is a UPT?

[seward747]

Sounds like fun! Is that what they call "livin' the dream"?

Doug
-4, Seattle area

[SmilingJack]

Originally Posted by DonFromTX

Sounds like a wonderful week indeed! Now for us with lesser knowledge - what the heck is a UPT?

USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training

[RV8Squaz]

Yes, definitely living the dream!

John already answered what UPT means. But throughout the years, the AF has been adding letters to it. First they put an "S" in front and called it SUPT which is Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training. That's when they added the T-1A to the fleet and went with a two track training system. Then they put a "J" in front of it and called it JSUPT, Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training. That is when the T-6A was coming on board and began doing joint training with the Navy and others. I don't know what they call it these days; I retired from the AF 9 years ago.

The reason I made a reference to UPT is because Contact, Instrument, Formation, and Navigation were the four phases of training. We also had a night week and a weekend cross-country. And, depending on what phase you were in, it wasn't uncommon to be coming up on a Contact check ride, be part way through Instrument training, and get "thrown" into a formation sortie if a seat suddenly became available all in the same week! You had to be prepared for everything and anything!

[N733JJ]

Hey, Squaz
Haven't seen or heard from you in a long time.
Last time was when I was on a trip to SAT, going to b there this week.
Good to see one of the old timers still at it.
Good to see yore still flying the 8, reliving the UPT days.
Up to anything else or are you "fully retired".

Scott A Jordan
N733JJ

[RV8iator]

Boy what good memories you dredged up. 42 years later it's still one of my best years..

I just finished reading "If You Ain't a Pilot" by Ray Wright. I went through UPT at Willie in 74 and was about the only non-zoomie and it was like seeing my class from above... pretty funny reading..

Thanks for stirring up fond memories..

[RV8Squaz]

Originally Posted by N733JJ

Hey, Squaz
Haven't seen or heard from you in a long time.
Last time was when I was on a trip to SAT, going to b there this week.
Good to see one of the old timers still at it.
Good to see yore still flying the 8, reliving the UPT days.
Up to anything else or are you "fully retired".

Scott A Jordan
N733JJ

Hey Scott,

Great to hear from you! I've been here, posting once in a while.

I'm not in San Antonio any longer. From there, I moved to Valdosta GA, had my first flight there and retired in 2007. I'm not "fully retired", just partially! I fly for a major airline headquartered in Atlanta. I have to give up my RV for the week to fly the A330 to Europe back and forth!

A couple of days ago, I ran across an old IAC article of yours on a chapter website. Pretty cool. Take care and keep in touch!

[RV8Squaz]

Originally Posted by RV8iator

Boy what good memories you dredged up. 42 years later it's still one of my best years..

I just finished reading "If You Ain't a Pilot" by Ray Wright. I went through UPT at Willie in 74 and was about the only non-zoomie and it was like seeing my class from above... pretty funny reading..

Thanks for stirring up fond memories..

You're welcome! Yeah, I got half way through the week and I thought, "this is a lot like UPT!" It was some of the most fun flying. UPT at times was tough, but like you said, fond memories indeed.

I heard about that book, great things. I should get a copy.

Take care and I'll see you around N. Georgia on my next BBQ outing!