- My name is Second Lieutenant Sam. And although I'm in the Air Force, I've never had the chance
to fly in the back seat 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. (high energy music) (jet engine roaring) 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 as 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 till 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. (elated music) 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 gonna simulate an enemy aircraft, today the T-38 flying against the Raptor in a dog fighting mission. (elated music) 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. (elated music) When I made it into the
squadron the next morning, I met up with First Lieutenant Josh Burdge 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. - See there and I'll talk to you about operationally but for stick interference, it's pretty cramped. So if you touch the stick
or the rudder pedals at all, go 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 soaring. (elated music) 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. (elated music) All right, this is definitely the most uncomfortable part right here. Got to cinch these bad
boys down and make sure I stay in the seat. They told me that you wanna do it so hard that you can't really stand up straight. I think I did that. Woo, 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 Burdge 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. (elated music) When we got to the jet, I followed Lieutenant
Burdge on the walk around, which is a requirement before every flight to make 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. (indistinct) (elated music) (jet engine roaring) 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. (elated music) Lieutenant Burdge 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. (jet engine roaring) (inspired music) When I finally had a
chance to catch my breath, all I could say was, wow. In 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. (inspired music) 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. (inspired music) As we made our way to the MOA
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 awhile which you can see, I was
pretty excited about. After about 20 minutes of flying Lieutenant Burdge told
me we were getting close to our target area, in
other words, masks on, strap in because here come the Gs. (inspired music) (jet engine roaring) 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 Burdge told me it
was time to head back to base and recommended I switch to taking in a hundred percent 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 Burdge 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. (jet engine roaring) (slow music) When we taxied back to chocks 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. (slow music) 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. - [Man] So did Sam make it? - He actually kind of
died and came back to life when we got back into the pattern. - [Sam] I was resurrected. - [Man] Your resurrected. - That last (indistinct).
