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On May 8th, I get to be a fighter pilot for a day (hopefully a taste of the rest of my life, of course).  I'll dogfight my dad and surely whoop his ass!

These guys call themselves "Air Combat USA", and operate out of an airfield in Lancaster, PA.  They take you up in these two seater, little Italian props.  The person flying with you is a former fighter pilot, and they walk you through everything.  It all starts with two hours of ground school, then they give you a G-suit, and you get to it!

This will probably be the most fun thing I'll ever do in my pre-college years.  I'll post back about how it went later on.

Kind of odd-this was my mom's birthday present to my dad, and it ended up being scheduled on mothers day.

Nice one Beefy. Hope you enjoy it. With any luck they'll be nice with the G and keep it less than 6, and your neck won't hurt too much!!!

Mind you I'm not sure what the SF.260 g-limits are, +6, -3 I suspect.  [edit] just looked, and they are[/edit]

BTW, do you have the Real Air Sim SF260 to practice on...

Ill bet that costs a lot. Sound like fun though.

BTW, do you have the Real Air Sim SF260 to practice on...

Will have to pick it up, thanks

Ill bet that costs a lot. Sound like fun though.

It was only $995 (per person) with the $5 coupon we got in the mail

There's also a freeware version of the plane out as well..

Not sure where though...

Will have to pick it up, thanks

It also has the Air Combat USA aircraft in the package... Just been flying it!

Holy Crap.  I've wanted to do that all my life.

Ohhhhh, you're so lucky.  

Enjoy it, take pictures of your dad in the crosshairs.

It was AWESOME!  Never had more fun in my life.

The day was perfectly clear, but a bit bumpy and gusty.  However, I was already used to this from my 172 stick time, so even when I was flying formation on the way to the combat zone I did it nearly flawlessly.  I flew with an old Navy F-4 pilot, Bludo.  My dad flew with another old Navy guy, Worm, an A-4/MD-80 pilot.  Both of them were extraordinarily nice guys, who were dedicated to giving you a safe and fun time.  They really were a joy to fly with.

The "official" final score was 3-3, after 6 dogfights.  In reality, I shot him down 3 times and he got me twice-we busted the hard deck at 4,000' once, and that counted as their kill. I mention this because I had my dad right in my gunsights, and pulled the trigger JUST as I descended through 4,000.  The only other kill I'll make excuses for they got when we were coming off of a split-s, and I lost sight of my dad.  They have a saying-"lose sight, lose fight" that is absolutely 100% true.  The only times I lost were the times I lost sight.  It took a little bit to break out of my Cessna instincts, and really yank her around, but I adjusted quickly.

I discovered quickly that nothing can really prepare you for what 5 Gs actually feels like.  I had a full blackout once, and came close two times more.

The coolest part of the day though, was being told by Bludo that I was a natural stick, and that if I did in fact decide to go the fighter track, I'd make a great fighter pilot.

The most surprising part?  I almost got airsick! WHAT?! I DON'T GET AIRSICK!  I was starting to feel just a might bit of unease after the third dogfight-I now think that this was caused because I was uncomfortable; I played 8 games of paintball yesterday and MAN was I sore.  Well, now I know how to avoid it.

If you ever are able to get the cash together, I would absolutely recommend it.  That's the only downside, the price, which is about $1,000.  Any questions, go ahead and post them or PM me.

[quote]It was AWESOME!

Sounds great. Glad you enjoyed it Beefy.

Well we can't call you "Ace" yet....but am right glad you and your father had a great day.

Did they supply you with the video of your flight?

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Sounds amazing .  Once I'm out of college and have a job, I hope to make something like that or one of those spec-ops training camps or something an annual trip.  

Glad you had a good time.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Yup, they sure did supply us with a video.  It looks great

Glad you had fun!! I bet after this flying a C-130 sounds boring!

Wow, that sounds like a blast! You should post some caps from the video sometime.
As for the nausea, if you pulled enough Gs to black out, I'm not surprised you got a little queasy. Worst I've done is about 3 Gs doing mild aerobatics, and that feeling- like your guts are being rammed down into your pelvis- was what had me just a little green around the gills on that flight.
 It's sure worth it, though!!
 ;D