Daughter got her wings in a T-38 in December. She got FAIP (first assignment instructor pilot) and is currently TDY in San Antone doing PIT (pilot instructor training) to instruct in the T-6 Texan II.

So this part of her training is to fly from the back seat with the instructors in the front seat. They are currently doing cross country, and are headed to Shepperd AFB today. But she managed to wrangle a lunch stop in Amarillo, and we got to see her fly in and out.

May post another photo or two, but for now....


going around by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 4/11/2013 8:00a).]

IMG_4051 by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 4/11/2013 8:01a).]

Awesome.

Congrats Canyon, that's awesome!

I can't lie, I'll miss that T-38 and I'll never have step foot in one. Good for your daughter, she's living the dream!

Outstanding!

Reminds me of my time as a Butter Bar weather weenie at Cannon AFB in the early 70's. Back then, Webb AFB (Big Spring) and Reese AFB (Lubbock) were still active, so we got a lot T-37s amd T-38s from those bases plus Sheppard (Wichita Falls) and Randolph.

But every Tuesday, our ramp was full to the gills with UPT folks. It was Mexican Food day at the Cannon AFB Base Ops snack bar!

I got to know the manager and asked him why it was such a huge deal. He told me that a lot of his staff were hispanic gals from nearby Clovis.

They came up with the idea to throw out the AAFES recipes for "mexican food", bring in ingredients from Clovis markets, and cook REAL Mexican food. The lines were always out the door on Mexican Food Day at Cannon.

Also, at that time, Coors Beer was very popular but not available east of the Mississippi. (See Smokey and the Bandit, circa 1977).

Well, our Cannon Class 6 store was just a short walk from Base Ops and we got a LOT of "visitors" from bases east of the Mississippi who would fly in and leave with as many cases of Coors as they could fit in their travel pods, cockpits, etc.

True stories. Cannon AFB was a very popular "out and back" destination back in the early 70's.

Norman,

Read in a book years ago that P-38 pilots in the South Pacific would sometimes load beer into the cargo pods in the tail boom. Then they'd fly as high as they could, stay up there until the beer was chilled, then dive back to base as quickly as possible.

Great way to reward your ground crew with a cold one or two.

The cargo door on the 130 is another great spot to chill beer. The crew chiefs love it.

Canyon - great pics and glad you got to see Ms Canyon!

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The cargo door on the 130 is another great spot to chill beer. The crew chiefs love it.

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Yep

Nice "proud papa" story you shared, Canyon.

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The cargo door on the 130 is another great spot to chill beer.

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Speaking of cold, I remember coming home from Germany in 1979 on a C-141 (all civilian DC 10's had been grounded at that time so their were no military commercial flights) and freezing my butt off. It was in July and I was in my "Summer" greens and all of the married with dependants got the front seating (with the heater) and all of us single guys were stuck being seated in the back with the cargo. That was on long, miserable flight.

Got thrown out of officers club at cannon afb the first time I stepped into the club as a 2 lt
During f-111 rtu

Good stuff, Canyon. Congrats

Sorry, don't know what happened with the original pics, have re-posted them.

Hey canyon, how long is a FAIP tour? Does she know her follow on A/C?

I believe 3 years in the FAIP assignment. She should get a fighter at the end of FAIP (she went T-38 track in SUPT) but there's no way of knowing which one.

And in the real world of budget cuts, "needs of the Air Force" etc. etc. there's really no guarantee she'll get a plane of any kind in 3 years, right?

Sad, but true.

Well we gotta save money so the commander in chief can keep taking his exotic vacations

Yea for Miss Canyon - and her father!!!!!!!!!!!

FAIP tour is 3 years

Cool deal!

Outstanding. You must be one proud poppa right now!

Very cool!

Outstanding!

That's fantastic!

Congrats to her and your family.

Was this her first choice?

Yea Again !

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Was this her first choice?

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Yes and no. She really wanted Vipers, but an F-22 drop was available, so she ranked it #1. Because, why not go for the hottest thing?

But a Viper is a damn good fall back.

Congrats!

Outstanding.

Canyon - tell Ms Canyon congrats. ADjr being deployed this fall as the weapons maint officer for a fighter wing. He has been dealing with bombers is whole career so he is excited about the change.

Thanks! The best to AD jr. Lots of dedicated officers out there, glad he is one.

Congrats!