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10/07 - The Dollar Ride: Things a pilot will do for a dollar

By Maj. Jill Long, USAF
Maj. Long is a T-37 Instructor Pilot for the Air Force stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. On her "days off" she is an accomplished air show pilot flying a Pitts Special S2B, named The Ragged Edge.

One of the great things about being a pilot is you can always “re-experience” the awesome adventures from your aviation career. Like your first flight, your first solo, or your first victory roll. (Well, not everyone gets to experience that last example, but we all can recall the first two.) As a full-time flight instructor for the Air Force and part-time air show pilot, I get many opportunities to relive those awesome flight experiences. In fact, here’s one that happened not too long ago.

We just started a new class of “youts” at work. (“Yout” is “Jersey speak” for youth or young person, popularized by Joe Pesci in the movie, My Cousin Vinny.) Each instructor pilot (IP) is assigned a couple of youts, who receive what is commonly known as the “dollar ride.” The dollar ride is how we launch each fledgling aviator into the skies. (Non-military fliers would refer to this as an “orientation flight,” which unfortunately, costs far more than a dollar. Then again, military aviators pay their dues both up front, at an academy or ROTC program, and again by spending their prime years living in plywood palaces and soaring the skies of exotic foreign countries…so I guess a dollar is about right after all. But I digress.) Back to the dollar ride…

Each IP has a different tack in conducting the dollar ride. I prefer the hands-on method, where my youts find out that not only can they fly an airplane, but they can do it upside-down!

On one dollar ride I was flying with a seasoned navigator. This particular yout had already been living the dream of plywood palaces and exotic places but had been doing it from the back seat. This day was his “big day,” moving into the front seat and getting to “slip the surly bonds of earth” in proper fashion.

The day was hot. Africa hot. No, worse, Texas hot - 100 degrees plus, and over 80 percent humidity. As good aviators, we prepared for the flight by drinking enough water to drain Lake Michigan. But it was a good call, because we ended up sitting in the hammerhead (also called EOR or end of runway) for over 20 minutes waiting for departure sequencing. I tried to keep things interesting while we were sitting there by pointing out all the ground references, with which my yout would become intimately familiar during his time with us. Wind socks, landing light system, blue lights, green lights, taxi lines, airport signage, traffic pattern references, the runway supervisory unit (RSU), lawn mowers, birds, cloud layers, dry blades of grass...anything to keep his mind on the task at hand and away from the anxiety some experience the first time they “strap on an aircraft.” Just as I was running out of inanimate objects to point out we were blessed with a takeoff clearance. Yes!

I demonstrated the takeoff and as soon as we were safely airborne, I transferred control of our mighty craft to the yout. “Me?” he asked.

“Yes, you,” I responded. He hesitantly took control and to his surprise, it flew! I could sense the cheesy grin behind his oxygen mask and visor. I’m sure I had the same cheesy grin pasted on my face when I first experienced the thrill of having control of an aircraft.

Just as he thought he was getting the hang of this thing called flight, I introduced him to what, in my opinion, is the greatest view of the world (having not been to space…yet), the view of the earth from inverted flight. To do this I demonstrated the world’s oldest aerobatic maneuver, the “victory roll” (aka, aileron roll). He instantly concurred with my assessment that this was the way the world should be viewed. He threw his hands in the air and yelled, “YES!” so loudly I had to turn down my intercom.

Again the cheesy grin spread across my face as I thought back to the first time I did a victory roll. I remember having the time of my life discovering that with wings you can not only soar, but you can loop, roll and flip. The mighty forces of gravity just look up at you and nod, as if saying, “You go girl.” Now that’s flying! That was more than 20 years ago. (Did I say 20, no I mean 15… wait if I’m only 32 then it must have been just 10, yeah that’s it…10 years ago. OK, whenever.) But the point is, here on a hot Texas day I was able to relive that thrill all over again.

Then it was my yout’s turn to find out that flying was more then take offs and landings…it’s freedom. “OK, your turn.” I said.

“Really?” he asked with excited anticipation before uttering hesitantly, “OK.” And even though he sensed his life was about to change completely and forever, he didn’t step back. He took the controls, raised the nose as I had demonstrated and, as he shifted the ailerons and the aircraft rolled about its longitudinal axis, started yelling, “Wooohooo!” Yep, the old victory roll does it every time. As he completed a perfect roll and returned to level flight, my yout threw his fists over his head and let out another bellowing, “Yes!”

I smiled and looked across the cockpit at him and calmly said, “Dude, who’s flying the airplane?” He quickly brought his arms down and firmly grasped the controls, but the cheesy grin was still there. Transformation complete: What was once a sideward-riding, back-seating navigator was now on his way to slipping the surly bonds of earth on laughter’s silver wings.

Upon landing, my yout presented me with a token of gratitude…his dollar. Now this wasn’t the standard US Department of the Treasury, run-of-the-mill dollar, but rather one carefully modified prominently featuring my two favorite aircraft: A smoke-trailing Pitts S2B, and the mighty A-10 Warthog complete with guns blazing.

So when people ask, “Do you like your job?” or “Don’t you find training new pilots boring after being in combat?” I just smile that same cheesy smile and say, “Love it.”

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