What It’s Like to FLY In A Fighter Jet (PUKE WARNING!)

My name is 2nd Lieutenant Sam, and although I'm in the Air Force, I've never had the chance to fly in the backseat of one of the Air Force's fighter jets. So today I'm standing outside the 71st Fighter Training Squadron at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia, to show you what it's like to fly in one of the Air Force's most widely used fighter training aircraft, the T-38. The T-38 Talon is one of my favorite jets still in the Air Force inventory today. It was built and developed in the 60s, is a dual-engine fighter, and is actually capable of going over the speed of sound. As you can see on the tail flash, this one's from 1967, tail number 939. My dad actually flew T-38s back in pilot training in the late 80s, early 90s, and so it's very possible that he flew this exact same jet. The T-38 is primarily used to train fighter pilots on what it's like to fly in a supersonic jet. However, here at Langley Air Force Base, they're actually part of the Langley Adversary Squadron, which is used to fly against that thing right there, the F-22 Raptor. So in the mission I'll be flying in today, we're going to simulate an enemy aircraft, today the T-38, flying against the Raptor in a dogfighting mission. Now before I was ready for my flight, I had to go in a day before to receive some pretty extensive training on a variety of topics, ranging from the systems of the T-38, emergency procedures, how to eject, and what to do should we go down in various environments. At one point, they even put us in a fake parachute harness and let us simulate how to steer and land should we find ourselves in that situation. When I made it into the squadron the next morning, I met up with First Lieutenant Josh Burge, who would be my pilot for our flight. He briefed me on our mission, objectives, and reinforced all emergency procedures should we experience any today. For stick interference, it's pretty cramped, so if you touch the stick or the rudder pedals at all, go ahead and just speak up so I know it's you and not the jet, all right? From there, it was off to aircrew flight equipment to gear up for the sortie. All right, I'm gearing up right now in the aircrew flight equipment room of the 71st Fighter Training Squadron. As you can see, there's a bunch of different gear that goes into flying one of these missions. Got a parachute on my back in case we have to eject. Got an anti-G garment on the bottom, so essentially it will inflate as we pull multiple Gs, so hopefully I don't black out. An LPU around my neck that will hopefully keep me above water should we go down, but there's just a bunch of different equipment that all goes into making sure that what we're doing is as safe as possible. All right, this is definitely the most uncomfortable part right here. Gotta cinch these bad boys down to make sure I stay in the seat. They told me that you want to do it so hard that you can't really stand up straight. I think I did that. I think I did that too much. Oh my god. It was now finally time to step. I walked down on the flight line next to Lieutenant Burge, and to be honest, it was something I'll never forget. This was a day I had been dreaming of for my entire life, and to be just moments away from the ride of a lifetime felt pretty incredible. When we got to the jet, I followed Lieutenant Burge on the walk around, which is a requirement before every flight that makes sure the aircraft is in the proper condition to fly. The next thing I knew, it was time to climb up the ladder into the cockpit, and yeah, I did almost trip and fall while on my way in. As we began to roll out, the weather started to clear up, meaning we could taxi out with our canopies open. Now there's one thing I haven't mentioned yet. I actually get pretty motion sick, so besides focusing on trying not to puke, having one last chance to take in some fresh air was pretty nice. Lieutenant Burge gave me the go-ahead to lower the canopy, and after hitting my head on the glass on the way down, I was finally all locked in and ready for takeoff. When I finally had a chance to catch my breath, all I could say was wow. An unrestricted climb to 10,000 feet on takeoff, in addition to feeling the g-forces pushing down on me, I had definitely never felt anything like that before. When we reached our cruising altitude, I decided to pull out my phone and grab a few pictures and videos. It was crazy how high we got in so little time, and being able to look out and see up and down the coast of Virginia was pretty awesome. As we made our way to the MOAA, or Military Operations Area, we flew through a few clouds, which really gives you a feel for just how fast we were going. I even got the chance to fly the jet by myself for a while, which you can see I was pretty excited about. After about 20 minutes of flying, Lieutenant Burge told me we were getting close to our target area. In other words, masks on, strap in, because here come the G's. As you can see, I started to feel a bit lightheaded and nauseous. My hands were getting tingly, and I'm not gonna lie, that ejection handle was looking pretty nice. Lieutenant Burge told me it was time to head back to base, and recommended I switch to taking in 100% oxygen and try to just breathe naturally. That was definitely easier said than done, and at this point I was really not feeling well at all. But I could see that runway in the distance and kept telling myself, I made it this far, don't throw up now. As we made the turn to our final approach, Lieutenant Burge decided to surprise me with one more taste of the T-38. And let's just say, no matter how hard I tried, I knew I wasn't keeping it down. But let's not dwell on that, because at the end of the day, this was an experience I don't think I'll ever forget. When we taxied back to Chalks and everything finally caught up to me, it was pretty cool to think, wow, I just flew in the back seat of an Air Force fighter jet. All right, we're finally back on the ground. That was definitely one of the craziest things I've ever done in my life. I was feeling good most of the flight, right until the very end where I started to get a little motion sick. Definitely puked a little bit, but hey, no regrets at all. Definitely enjoyed the time. Josh, thanks so much for flying me, man. Pleasure. So to anyone out there who dreams of becoming a fighter pilot, after my experience, I'll leave you with this. It's a job that requires constant dedication, an unbelievable work ethic, and quite the stomach. If you think you have what it takes, you can visit airforce.com to find out how to get started. Thanks for tuning in, everyone, and I'll catch you next time. So did Sam make it? He actually kind of died and came back to life when we got back in the pattern. I was resurrected. You were resurrected.