Replacing an icon

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Jeff Szczechowski
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  For those who have heard the shrill cry of a T-37 Tweet as it plies the Sheppard flightline - the same high-pitched sound that has pierced the ears of so many since the first T-37 went into service with the Air Force 50 years ago - the time is not so far away when that distinctive whistle will be no more than a memory.

A veritable icon in the 80th Flying Training Wing's Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program, the Tweet will be phased out over the next couple of years to make way for the program's new and more advanced trainer aircraft, the T-6A Texan II.

Capt. Bill Johnson, a T-37 instructor pilot at the 89th Flying Training Squadron, said the T-37, which has been here since ENJJPT's beginning in 1981, has been a time-tested asset for pilot training at the 80th FTW. He said besides teaching the basic "stick and rudder" fundamentals of flying, the T-37 offers a couple of advantages that have helped make it such an enduring trainer aircraft here.

"The T-37 is very robust - it's been flying for almost 50 years. It's proven over time," he said, adding that, quite simply, "it works. We produce wonderful fighter pilots with it."
Another positive quality is that the T-37 can provide "spin" training.

"The T-37 is the only aircraft that provides this," he said, before explaining the procedure. "A student puts himself into a spin and gets out of it with regulated procedures. This is never done on purpose in any other aircraft. This type of training breeds both confidence and proficiency."

The captain said that considering its mission, the T-37 has been "right on."

"Our goal is to take student pilots with very limited flying experience and get them proficient in four different phases of flying with one particular aircraft. The Tweet is very good for this purpose."

He said the T-37 allows for ample training in each of those phases, which include the contact phase, or visual flying; instrument flying; low-level flying; and the Capstone phase, which encompasses all of the phases while training the student pilots to fly in formation.

The aircraft can fly at speeds up to 360 mph, with a ceiling of 35,000 feet.

While the T-37 has been a stalwart piece of the flying training landscape at the 80th FTW since, seemingly, the beginning of time, its replacement, the T-6, will be an excellent upgrade, Captain Johnson said.

"We'll be able to do everything we do now, but with a digital atmosphere," he said, explaining that the austere "round dials" of the T-37 will be replaced with digital displays in the T-6 cockpit, providing the capability to present much more information in a smaller space, minimizing distraction.

Captain Johnson said that the mission of ENJJPT is to prepare students to fly fighter aircraft, and that the T-6 will offer more of a feel toward that end. He said it will better prepare them for their next level of training in the T-38 Talon and for whichever fighter aircraft they might pilot in the future.

The T-6 offers "longer legs," said the captain, with a range of 1,035 miles, compared to 460 miles for the T-37. It can reach speeds of 320 mph with a ceiling of 31,000 feet.

"The T-6 can fly longer and farther. This extends our training space, so that we can fly in areas further away from Sheppard," he said.

He also said the Texan II is more efficiently designed for maintenance purposes.
According to the aircraft's fact sheet, the T-6A is "fully aerobatic and features a pressurized cockpit with an anti-G system, ejection seat and an advanced avionics package with sunlight-readable liquid crystal displays."

It goes on to state that "because of its excellent thrust-to-weight ratio, the T-6 can perform an initial climb of 3,100 feet-per-minute and can reach 18,000 feet in less than six minutes."

Bottom line, the T-6 offers a "more advanced training environment, both inside and outside the cockpit," Capt. Johnson said.

"It provides longer range, longer duration of flying, more efficiency, specifically with fuel, all while fostering the same digital environment inside the cockpit as the modern fighter," he said.