Page 28 - Never Fly Solo

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Push It Up!

Attitude Plus Action
Determines Altitude

The briefing room hums with the nervous chatter of thirty-
three trainees awaiting their official in-briefing. We’re newly
commissioned second lieutenants, stationed at Williams Air
Force Base in the scorching heat of a Phoenix summer. The
next twelve months are known as UPT—undergraduate pilot
training—and the only thing any of us can think about is
jumping into the Cessna T-37 “Tweet” twin-engine jet trainer
and pushing up the throttles. The future is finally beginning.
Maj. Jerry Free, the flight commander of “Scat Pack”
flight (part of the 98th Flying Training Squadron), walks in the
door. Capt. R. J. Stuermer, our assigned student liaison, calls
the room to attention. We stand rigid and tense as Major Free
slowly walks around the room and inspects each of us up and
down. He stands at the center of the room and pauses.
Eyes dart around the room. Thirty-three dreams traveling
on a single flight path. Sweat trickles down my back. What’s
he up to?

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