I really miss those G's.........

LOW FLIGHT

by Anonymous

For the F4 jocks, their time is past,
yet the 'pig' did what it had to.

Oh! I've slipped through the swirling clouds of dust,
a few feet from the dirt,
I've flown the Phantom low enough,
to make my bottom hurt.
I've TFO'd the deserts, hills, valleys
and mountains too,
Frolicked in the trees,
where only flying squirrels flew.
Chased the frightened cows along,
disturbed the ram and ewe,
And done a hundred other things,
that you'd not care to do.
I've smacked the tiny sparrow,
bluebird, robin, all the rest,
I've ingested baby eaglets,
simply sucked them from their nest!
I've streaked through total darkness,
just the other guy and me,
And spent the night in terror of
things I could not see.
I've turned my eyes to heaven,
as I sweated through the flight,
Put out my hand and touched,
the master caution light...

My name is Thomas Kraft.

Do you like the poem. Flying is universal. Pilots think the same way all over the world.
The F-4 pilot above talks about every pilots dream, a fighter pilots life and nightmare at the same time. Things really get interesting above 500 kts. Fly safely! T.K.

I started flying gliders at the age of 14. I soloed with 15 and went on to planes that get pulled foward by propellers. Our privat pilot syllabus includet aerobatics. You will see why. There was no general aviation in East Germany. I was allowed to fly, because I passed the air force medical test when I was almost 16. Virtually all flying was done in the GST (A paramilitary youth organiszation for recruiting career military personnel). Almost every flight cadet in the Air Firce had flight experience. The guys who made it through basic training and the flight simulator selection process were all to solo in L-39 jet trainers after 6 months of flight school. I was still 18 then. After two year we continued on to the Mig-21. The rest of my life is down below.

Flight Qualifications

Flight Time
Total 2389
PIC 2105
Jet 760
Multi 328
Instrument 473
Actual 286
Instructor 870

Certificates
ATP Multi-Engine Land
Commercial Pilot Single-Engine Land
Flight Instructor-Instrument Single and Multi-Engine Land
Flight Engineer Written FEX
German CPL-II

Aircraft Flown
MiG-21 BIS / Fishbed N
L-39 ZO Albatros (Jet trainer)
BE-55, CE-310, PA-34, PA-23
Z-42/43, BO-209, 0ther Singles

Education

BS Degree in Aeronautical Engineering - Air Force Academy "Franz Mehring", Germany.
Graduated 8/85. Course concentration on advanced aerodynamics and turbo jet power plants

Employment History

06/95 - ..........., MD - Self Employed... Flight instructor; Construction of a full-size two-seat home-built helicopter

04/94 - 05/95 ..... Engineering, Inc., ....., AZ - Process Engineer...Facility Manager, was responsible for incorporation of aerospace technologies into the production of state of the art raw composite materials used for sails on America's Cup sailboats

10/91 - 09/93 Pegasus Flight Center, Fort Worth, TX - Senior Flight Instructor...Job responsibilities included flight and classroom instruction.
Also managed daily flight schedule until company bankruptcy in 8/93

01/91 - 09/91 Aeroclub Berlin-Johannesthal, Germany - Co-founded club as an organization to facilitate the retraining and transition of East German flight personnel to West German civilian aviation activities.

09/85 - 12/90 Fighter Wing JG 8, Marxwalde, Germany - Fighter Pilot...Flight Leader on MiG 21 BIS, Quick Reaction Unit (88-90),
responsibilities included technical and tactical evaluation of adversary aircraft and to conduct lectures for squadron personnel