Thursday I completed my mission checkride that had begun on Tuesday. Tuesday was the standard emergency procedures simulator, and we covered a lot of stuff, so much that it took 20 minutes longer than normal. My flight examiner du jour was Trigger, a good friend, and like a good friend in this business of war, he didn’t take it easy on me at all. The flying portion on Thursday was actually a SAT ride instead of a SEAD ride. I think it was the first time I’d taken a mission check with a LANTIRN pod. Anyway, we took off with Torch as the lead/SEFE, me as #2, Gordo as #3, and FNG T as #4. FNG K provided a Red Air look. After the battle, Torch and I flew back to Misawa to try to knock out the mandatory SFO, only to find nothing but weather directly over the field between high key and base key. We transitioned to a straight-in SFO, something I hadn’t done (even in the simulator) since the TX course back in June, and definitely not at Misawa! Normally you don’t want to do things like that for the first time on a checkride, but then, it was a valid option, so I tried (and succeeded). All told, though, it was probably one of the most fun checkrides I’ve ever flown!
Welcome to the world of the multi-role fighter! My mission readiness for a SEAD/DEAD squadron was determined by a day SAT ride with an archaic targeting pod by a bunch of guys getting ready to deploy to the desert and flying primarily CAS!
It’s nice to finally get the checkride out of the way. The problem is, I enter the zone for my instrument check next month!
Plus, it’s nice to be a Wild Weasel for the first time since 2002!