By Kaelan Jungmeyer
I had an amazing and unique
experience at the National Flight
Academy. It looked like a real
aircraft carrier inside. There were
sounds of planes taking off. I felt
immediately welcomed. The
camp had a very inviting feel.
We were separated into “CAGs”
which is like the big overall groups.
There were three CAGs, a CAG
with the older kids, a CAG with
the freshmen in high school, and
a CAG with anyone younger than
them. Within these CAGs there
were three different squads.
I was a part of the “Rough
Raiders”, and in my CAG there
were also the “Yellow Jackets” and
the “Scorpions”. When I showed
up they put me at a table that
had my squad all sitting at it. They
had us remotely take a test over
naval terms and flight basics, then
the camp started immediately.
The first thing that you noticed
was the look. From the outside it
looks like a big gray box with the
occasional fake porthole on the
sides. When you walk through the
hallways, there are things like AFFF,
or fire fighting material, hoses, and
different items along the walls.
We went and did our first rounds.
We flew, ran comms, and planned
missions. We flew experimental triad
jet simulators, with hover capabilities
which are capable of mach 3 and
reaching 90,000 ft. in altitude. We ran
comms in the JOK. Running comms
meant giving the planes headings,
clearing them to take off and land,
and helping them when needed.
Planning missions happened in the
JIK. We would find the speed that
we needed to go, the fuel required,
the true course on how to get there.
We did those three just in the first
day. While one squad was running
comms, one would be flying and
the other would be planning the
missions. We flew in the simulators the
first day through a obstacle course.
We got a late start, so we were
working until around ten o’clock.
The flight simulators were amazing.
There were three screens across
the front like a cockpit window.
There was a joystick in the center
and throttle, rudder control and
flaps on the left. On the right there
was the co-pilots seat with a mouse
that you could turn on comms
to talk to the tower. In the center
there two touch screens that would
show your horizon, speed, altitude,
bearing, heading, would allow you
to control the burner, which is like
turbo, and the fuel indication. We
then had thirty minutes of “hygiene
time”. After that we settled into our
rooms that had three bunks. Most
of my squad members were in my
room. Lights out were at ten thirty,
and that was just the first day.
The second day we woke up to
yelling RA’s at 06:30. We met in the
lounge until 07:30 when we headed
down to breakfast. The food was
amazing. Between burgers, tacos
and pasta, we rarely left food
untouched. We would do our rounds
of the JIK, JOK and flying usually
twice a day. The second day we
only did it once because we were
still having things explained to us.
That day we planned missions,
ran comms and flew in a hover
obstacle course. This was the first
day that we met our morning Squad
Chief. She looked somewhat like
Emma Stone and was awesome.
Our Night Chief was equally, if not
more, awesome. We did evening
games with him that included ninja,
invisible ball and face off. Face
off was fun because you asked
the person that you were facing
off against random questions and
it made you think on your feet. In
categories, one member of a squad
would often go against another
member of another squad. The ref
would call out a category, like a fruit,
and the first one to say something
in this category would win and
face the next challenger. Before
we flew or ran comms, we would
meet in a briefing room with one
other squad. That night we played
games and had “hygiene time ”.
The third day we woke up bright
and early to one of the most intense
days. We ran one of our first true
missions. We searched for illegal
planes. There was a 180 degree
field that was 120 nautical miles
across. Each group within a squad
(a pilot and a co-pilot) would
cover a sixth of the semi-circle.
It was difficult because you had
to fly low to the water in a zig-zag
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