Good news for eardrums everywhere

[Murph]

http://www.enidnews.com/localnews/local_st...=secondarystory

Tweet tough, forgiving but uncomfortable, pilots say

By Jeff Mullin Senior Writer

A nearly 50-year-old automobile is considered a classic, a vehicle to be coveted, lovingly polished, put on display and driven only on special occasions.

But nearly 50-year-old airplanes have, until recently, been used to train a new generation of military pilots.

The T-37 “Tweet,†a fixture at Vance Air Force Base since the early 1960s, will take off from the base for the final time later this month to be replaced by the T-6A Texan II. The last student flight in a T-37 at Vance took place last month.

A ceremony officially retiring the T-37 will be held Oct. 27 at Vance. One of the pilots flying the Tweet for the final time will be Maj. Russ Morton, full-time Air Force Reserve member and instructor with the 5th Flying Training Squadron.

Morton, who has more than 2,500 hours in the T-37, recently flew a T-37 built in 1959, the same year he was born. Both Morton and fellow reserve instructor with the 5th FTS, Maj. Keith Dahlgren, agree it is time for a change.

“Most of these aircraft were made before we were born,†said Dahlgren, who has more than 3,400 hours in the Tweet. “The technology has changed so much, and we need to have the students now get into the new technology, because that is what they are going to be flying when they get out of here.â€

The T-37s were given life extension upgrades in 1989 to help stretch their working life spans, but the cockpit technology is straight out of the post World War II era. The T-6, on the other hand, has 21st century computer technology that rivals that of front-line fighters.

“Even though they were built in the 1950s, that is 1940s technology that we have there,†said Dahlgren. “For the advancement of the avionics, the new trainer is just fantastic.

“We’re excited about the new trainer being here, we’re a little nostalgic about the Tweet leaving, but it’s definitely time for it to go.â€

One advantage the Tweet has over the T-6, Morton said, is its cockpit configuration, in which the pilots sit side by side, instead of one behind the other.

“It’s nice sitting beside the student,†said Morton, “especially when he’s never flown before and you can see exactly what he’s doing. In the T-6, you don’t see anything.

“(In the T-37) You can actually go, ‘See that thing right there,’ and you can point to it. Where on the T-6 you’ve got to talk their eyes into it.â€

“That’s one thing that instructors that have transitioned from the T-37 to the T-6 were concerned about,†said Dahlgren. “But the guys who have flown it said it’s not as big a deal as they thought it was.

“Students are students, they still make the exact same mistakes, even though it’s a different aircraft, that they’ve done for the past 50 years.â€

The T-6 is much more fuel efficient than the T-37, thus saving the Air Force money each year. But having an abundance of fuel can work against a student’s training, said Morton.

“The Tweet students had to plan for fuel,†he said. “Now it’s more of a timed thing, and they aren’t worried about fuel. You get into a combat situation, you’re worried about gas. With the Tweet students you really had to teach fuel maintenance. Now it’s no big deal.â€

The T-6s’ advanced instruments are a great help to students, said Dahlgren, but can be a hindrance, as well.

“You’ve got a lot more visuals to tell you where you are, but you can rely on that too much, though, and not know the basics of instrumentation,†he said. “If you rely on it too much and you don’t have it (because of a malfunction), then you can’t revert to the basics because you don’t really know how to do the basics, whereas in the T-37 it’s all basic.â€

The T-37 is a good aircraft to teach beginning students, both pilots agreed, because it is forgiving and tough.

“It’s all manual controls, there’s no hydraulics on the flight controls, so it has a good feel to the aircraft,†said Dahlgren.

“It takes a lot of punishment on landings, too,†said Morton.

The T-37 is slower than the T-6, said Dahlgren, another advantage for beginning students.

“It gives beginning students time to think,†he said, “time to stay with the aircraft.â€

The T-6s ejection system is “zero-zero,†meaning it is designed to enable a pilot to survive an ejection with zero airspeed and zero altitude, sitting still on the ground. The T-37’s ejection system is much more primitive, said Morton.

“It’s like Wile E. Coyote,†he said.

The T-6 is more comfortable for both students and instructors, since its cockpit is pressurized and it has a good air conditioning system, which is especially important during the scorching Oklahoma summers.

T-37 students have to wear 40-pound parachutes, full flight suits, gloves and helmets, inside a cockpit in which temperatures can quickly reach 130 degrees, Dahlgren said.

“Then when you get, maybe, 10,000 feet, it will start to cool off,†he said.

The T-37 also has the highest G-onset rate of any aircraft the Air Force flies, meaning it will reach its operating limit of 61⁄2 Gs, or a force that many times the normal pull of gravity, quickly.

“That is very hard on the students that aren’t used to that environment,†said Dahlgren.

When the T-37 exits Vance, Morton will join fellow Tweet instructors in taking instructor pilot training in the T-6. That won’t be the case for Dahlgren, a part-time reservist who works as a first officer for Southwest Airlines. He will instead take a ground-based reserve job near his home in Missouri.

The last training aircraft to leave Vance was the single engine, propeller driven T-41 Mescalero, in 1973.

The first T-6 was delivered to Vance in March 2005. The other aircraft in the Vance fleet — T-38 Talon and T-1 Jayhawk — have been at the base since 1963 and 1994, respectively.

[BAM'n'IVM]

My three-year-old is convinced that this T-37 was a really big toy airplane someone left sitting around at the airshow...

Now I can tell him it's really an endangered bird...

Edited October 10, 2006 by BAM'n'IVM

[jmel]

Wow, those would be great to release to the civilian population. I bet they'd be a blast to fly.

Jake

[Murph]

If the AF was smart, they'd sell off the Tweet to the civilian market. They cant be too difficult to maintain and the spares should be plentiful. The only question would be to ensure you get one of the jets with the lower hours, within reason.

Jeff

Jeff,

If the USAF was really smart they would put them on a target range and charge people to shoot at them. I'd pay good money for the pleasure of putting a few rounds into that noisy little POS. By the way, I plan on starting at least another half dozen threads over the next few weeks bemoaning the Tweet retirement. :D

Regards,

Murph

[Keith Diamond]

I was actually wondering about the exact retirement day the night before. I even went to the AMARC site to see if the jet I got an orientation flight in had retired yet, but it wasn't in the online system yet I guess.

I went on a PDT trip to Randolph AFB the summer after my freshmen year and I was lucky to get an orientation flight. I got a ride in one of the "newer" airframes, 67-2257.

Some moments I remember:

The T-37 pilot that was unfortunate enough to have a ROTC cadet on his tail had to go somewhere, so he dropped me off with a T-6 pilot. So, the Texan pilot took me and his ROTC cadet out to the flightline to show us the training aircraft. We walk out to the only T-6 with a tent over it. It looked all nice and new with it's "99" airframe number on the tail. Also, the wheel chocks were painted red with 4 stars on it. He took us to see Gen Cook's (AETC Commander) jet. He showed us all the brand new features of the aircraft, let us check out the cockpit and such, and then he took us to a Tweet. It was a '57 model with the standard chipped paint and old crusty look in the cockpit. "Where's the back seat cushion?" I asked. "You're wearing it," the pilot said. I had no idea that pilots still wore the parachute sometimes. Wow, talk about seeing one of end of the spectrum to the other.

My flight went well, the only problem I had was that once I put my mask on, I wasn't breathing well. I told the pilot "I can't breathe." He just turned his head to look at me for a sec, then looked back straight ahead. Probably figured I'd just get used to it. It was nice in the Tweet though, that after making a few turns, the pilot said "Ah, you're getting more aggressive with it now." Which was good since I naturally get more and more comfortable with something after a while. It was much better than when I flew a Cessna 150 a few times and the pilots told me to ease up a little when I was making turns.

There were about a dozen cadets with me that week, and all but one us got an orientation ride. Three of use got rides in Tweets. Well, you know how they tell you not to eat certain foods before a flight? Well, this one guy with us decides to do the opposite. He figured that he was going to throw up no matter what, so he might as well get it over with early in the flight and then he'll feel better for the rest of it. Good plan, but it didn't work out to well. First, he didn't get his mask off quick enough, then he didn't get the air sickness bag out of his cargo pocket fast enough, and so he puked inside his mask and all over the cockpit floor. We gave him a hard time after that. We had cadets get rides in the T-6, T-37, T-38 and T-1. Nobody puked in the T-6, one cadet out of 3 puked in the 37, one out of 2 in the 38, but all of the cadets puked in the T-1.

Well, I'll miss seeing the Tweet at airshows and such. It was a good airframe and it's had its day, so I guess it's time to retire. Maybe I'll eventually see 2257 on the online AMARC listing.

[jmel]

I plan on starting at least another half dozen threads over the next few weeks bemoaning the Tweet retirement. :unsure:

Regards,

Murph

You also have to complain about how unworthy the T-6 is as the successor.

Jake

[Murph]

You also have to complain about how unworthy the T-6 is as the successor.

Yep,

It couldn't hold a candle compared to the Tweet 21 proposal.

Regards,

Murph

[Trigger]

Especially since the T-6 can't perform the cobra like the ol' Tweet could!

[airjiml2]

Now the real question is Fouga vs. Tweet. Exposure to which caused more hearing loss?

Jim

Edited April 10, 2007 by airjiml2

[Mark S.]

Murph:

Will you propose a T-37 Sunset Group Build? The logo a dog whistle?

Mark

[Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy]

Murph:

Will you propose a T-37 Sunset Group Build? The logo a dog whistle?

Mark

Could do a what-if F/A-37 SuperTweet fighter!

[Mark S.]

Andrew:

The ol A-37B's carried more fuel tanks than weapons.

Mark

[Fuji]

Yep, It couldn't hold a candle compared to the Tweet 21 proposal.

Afterburning engines, sweepback wings (think Cougar), APG-68 RADAR, integrated FLIR and LASER designator, NVG Cockpit - Pretty cool concept - everything a growing boy or girl needs to cut their teeth on before going on to a real airplane if Gore hadn't killed it. Something about the noise level not being friendly to the environment or disrupting spotted owl mating habits... who knows. I think Greenpeace did the study.

[Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy]

Afterburning engines, sweepback wings (think Cougar), APG-68 RADAR, integrated FLIR and LASER designator, NVG Cockpit - Pretty cool concept - everything a growing boy or girl needs to cut their teeth on before going on to a real airplane if Gore hadn't killed it. Something about the noise level not being friendly to the environment or disrupting spotted owl mating habits... who knows. I think Greenpeace did the study.

[Fuji]

Its a Joke Andrew - Jeez....

Edited October 10, 2006 by Fuji

[jai5w4]

Moving to Vance this weekend. Can't say I'm sad I won't get to fly the tweet, though. B)

[Vliegenier]

Now the real question is Fouga vs. Tweet. Exposure to which caused more hearing loss?

Jim

That might make a nice study :huh:

Too bad about the Tweet . Guess it served it's time . Classic to us, old noisy thing to today's young ones . And the world keeps turning ...

B)

Stef

[Murph]

Moving to Vance this weekend.

Better you than me; I was happy to put it in the rear view mirror.

Regards,

Murph

Edited October 10, 2006 by Murph

[Keith Diamond]

Alright people, we need photographers there! Any idea what the last tail number is? Which museums are getting the last aircraft! Wally, we need you there at AMARC to video tape the last landing!!!

j/k, j/k, j/k guys....

[Trigger]

Could do a what-if F/A-37 SuperTweet fighter! B)

F/A-37 Tweet21 would have been something special if Congress didn't kill it off when they did.

Edited October 10, 2006 by Trigger74

[Keith Diamond]

F/A-37 Tweet21 would have been something special if Congress didn't kill it off when they did.

You mean a horrible sci fi action film that I'm glad I didn't spend $6.50 on?

[Trigger]

Hey, the Tomcatters have Top Gun, Viper groupies have Iron Eagle... Why can't the Tweeters have their own lame movie?

[singeri]

Does anyone have an approx total count of the number of pilots trained on the tweet?

[BAM'n'IVM]

Alright people, we need photographers there! Any idea what the last tail number is? Which museums are getting the last aircraft! Wally, we need you there at AMARC to video tape the last landing!!!

j/k, j/k, j/k guys....

All kidding aside, my photo in the second post is one of the final Tweets - it was taken about 5 months ago. How many airframes are left? Anyone know?

[Trigger]

Others may be curious about this as well... I know Monogram released a 1:48 A-37B, and Academy & Hasegawa had some 1:72 A-37B releases, but was there ever an actual "T-37" kit? One that included AETC decals and didn't require surgery to convert it from an A-37B to T-37A?

Edited October 10, 2006 by Trigger74