Hawk and there’s someone else with you.”
While stepping to the Typhoon may be a
natural progression from the Hawk, clearly its
power is a massive advance and the first flight
is a major milestone. “You’re 100% focused,”
adds Craig. “The first time you apply full power
for the take-off you leave your capacity behind
on the threshold as you hurtle at 170mph down
the runway. In fact, the first time I really realised
I was in a Typhoon was when we were about
40 minutes into the flight and I had time to look
out and actually absorb it; that’s when you
realise that it has all been worth it. Of course,
it’s a big deal. You get a Typhoon badge at
the end of the flight and you’re welcomed onto
the squadron as an active flying member – you
can legitimately call yourself a Typhoon pilot.”
Starting air combat
Ultimately, the early conversion exercise
(convex) phase – learning how to actually fly the
Typhoon – is relatively brief. Unlike the Hawk,
which requires manual control trimming, for
example, the Typhoon pilot can literally point-
and-go. There’s a lot of automation when it
comes to the actual flying. “Compared with
the Hawk T2, where you’re pushing and pulling
it around the sky, your inputs here are telling
the jet what you want,” says Craig. “There’s
still a few more basics to do before you start
the mission side of things,” he continues.
“You cover formation and night flying to
prepare you for operating as a formation.
“As new things are introduced you ‘fly’
them in the simulator first. This means that
if you don’t grasp something you can pause,
go through it again by yourself or with your
instructor, then repeat it without incurring
the high cost associated with flying. Once
you understand the principle and you’re
safe, you go and fly it in the aircraft. That’s
how it runs, building up trip by trip.”
It’s a steep learning curve on the OCU. After
a short formation flying section, the new pilots
are thrust into learning air combat in their big
and powerful new mount. “After the first few
sorties, you are fighting in the Typhoon, not
flying it. As soon as the wheels are in the wells
the Typhoon’s radar is working, so you need
to be happy with manipulating your sensors to
build situational awareness,” comments Craig.
“Today I flew my fourth airborne sortie, and it
was my first ‘combat’ trip,” adds Flt Lt Phil. “It
was certainly eye opening!” In keeping withthe squadron’s teaching methods, this started
in the simulator, enabling Phil to get a feel for
how the aerial set-ups worked, the aspects
to watch for and the head-up display (HUD)
symbology. “For this first combat mission
my flight lead [instructor] was ‘hostile’ and
I was flying offensively versus him, which is
designed to give me sight pictures on him to
learn about my weaponeering. Of course,
unlike in the sim, today I was up at 9g for some
of it, with plenty of sustained 5-6g. It was my
first time pulling 9g, so I had to work hard.”
These first ‘combat’ trips are all flown as
visual engagements and carefully scripted with
training aims in mind. Having taken off from
Coningsby with the instructor leading the two-
ship, they press out over the North Sea for
the exercise. This starts with the instructor
moving out into ‘battle’ formation and calling
for a ‘g-warm’. This sees both pilots flying two
180-degree turns at high g to prepare their
bodies for what’s to come. Then it’s a ‘bubble
check’. From ‘battle’ they both ‘shackle’ – a
45-degree level turn in to swap sides – and
get an assessment on each other regarding
the 1,000ft visually judged training avoidance
bubble around each aircraft. Now it’s into the
set-ups. Flt Lt Phil takes up the story. “We
started in ‘battle’ and the idea of the exercise
was for the instructor to present me with a
picture to react to, so he calls ‘fight’s on’ and
turns into me; I have to get onto his turning
circle. I’ve practised it in the sim, but this
was the first time I’ve used the HOTAS [hands
on throttle and stick] controls for real and
there was a lot of button mashing in anger.”
Students know what lies ahead for them
on the course and they get to see the flying
programme the day before. “My next event is
defensive combat in the simulator,” explains
Phil. “That will teach me the mechanics and
set-ups for the sortie, [as well as] how to
use all the HUD symbology, but of course
without the g forces. It’ll be much harder asA lot of the early
live fl ying sees the
student fl ying as
wingman to the
instructor.
Pilots build their experience of
handling the jet in the circuit by
bookending combat trips with
some of the more routine work
around the airfi eld.
72 // APRIL 2018 #361 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com