Stand up!

Emergencies in an airplane are different than if you were driving in your car. As many of you have experienced during your civilian flying, training for these is crucial in making correct decisions. Luckily in most civil aircraft the glide ratio is significant and buys you a lot of time and flexibility, however in a fighter we are luckily to get a 1-to-1. Obviously it is different per type but the Air Force trains you in a way at UPT that helps break through the stress. When you get selected you’ll get the opportunity to participate in a “stand up” during UPT. These happen daily in the early stages of training and are still prevalent throughout. Your instructors give you a situation that happens airborne, they’ll show slides of what the cockpit looks like, and different readings in your gauges. After they give the situation they randomly select one person to stand up in front of everyone and go through analyzing the situation and making the correct decision. It is fun, not! But it makes a non-stressful situation into a stressful one. It is great learning for all and makes better pilots.