“Gators, check forty five right.”

First Lieutenant Cal Martin’s heart was racing as he maneuvered his F-16 into position behind his flight lead. It was his first flight with his new squadron, and he wanted to make a good impression. A Reservist, Martin was the first Gator hired off the street to make it through the training pipeline in over ten years. Aside from the active duty pilots assigned to the 39^th Fighter Squadron, Martin was the most inexperienced pilot in a squadron full of thousand plus hour combat veterans.

“One point nine,” Martin called over the radio as he took a radar lock. They were doing an Offensive 9K perch setup as part of his first Mission Qualification Training upgrade flight. His flight lead would give him the initial advantage and Martin’s job was to maneuver his F-16 from a mile and a half behind his flight lead into a position to get a guns kill.

His flight lead reversed the direction of the turn to set up the appropriate angle between the two fighters for Martin. With perch setups, Martin had been taught that the initial parameters were the most important. It was essential for both aircraft to be at the same airspeed, altitude, and angle off tail to ensure the right sight picture for follow on maneuvering. It was part of a building block approach to move from canned, controlled setups to more dynamic high aspect dogfighting where the student could then apply the sight pictures he had seen before.

“One point eight,” Martin said as he watched the range count down in his Head Up Display. Martin was nervous. He was flying with the squadron’s Weapons Officer, Major “Magic” Manny. A good gradesheet from Magic would set the tone for the rest of his Mission Qualification Upgrade Training. A busted flight or “Below Average” grade would set him up for more scrutiny from other Instructor Pilots. It was time to show off what he had learned in the F-16 Basic Course at Luke AFB.

“One point seven.” He wiggled his fingers and toes, trying to relax and concentrate on keeping his flight lead’s F-16 under the boresight cross in the HUD. At a range of a mile and a half, he was starting the fight outside the imaginary “turn circle” the turning adversary’s aircraft traced across the sky. He would have to roll out, recognize the turn circle entry cues he had been taught, and then successfully align with the adversary aircraft’s flight path without over or undershooting. Enter too early, and his attacker would create too many angles for him to solve and eventually neutralize him. Enter too late, and he would go from offensive to neutral or even defensive as the attacker reversed.

“One point six.”

“Fight’s on!” Martin said as the range reached 1.5nm in the HUD.

Martin rolled wings level and selected full afterburner as he watched Magic’s F-16 enter its defensive break turn and pop out flares. Martin drove straight ahead as he looked for his turn circle entry cues – at first Magic’s jet would look like it was just rotating in space, and then it would suddenly go from rotational to translational motion as it zipped past his canopy. Just before that, his instructors had told him, he needed to be rolling and pulling while starting his Anti-G Straining Maneuver.