Northrop T-38 Talon

Aircraft Information
> Aircraft Make: Northrop. Model: T-38. Nickname: Talon
> Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Tactical Jet
> FAA Category and Class: Airplane Multi-engine Land
> Engine Description: Twin jet

Aircraft Experience
> As of: 10/30/2024
> Number of Hours Flown: 600
> Number of Times Flown: 491
> Other Aircraft Models Associated: F-5

First Flown Information
> Sequence First Flown: 20
> Date First Flown: 2/24/1986
> Location First Flown: NAS Patuxent River, MD (KNHK)
> Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: US Naval Test Pilot School, Ken Carlton

Recollections: The T-38 Talon.  WHAT AN AIRPLANE!  Fuel flow while taxiing almost same as going Mach 0.9 at altitude (what?!).  Doesn’t carry much fuel, though (the first time I took it on a cross country, when I got to cruise altitude and noticed I had used over a quarter of my fuel, I considered declaring min fuel…until I did the math and realized that the airplane’s cruise fuel flow was ridiculously low for how fast it was going).  This airplane is my favorite jet.  12,500 lb, supersonic, the designers were geniuses.  I credit this airplane with teaching me efficiency in flight test…you had to be prepared, think through your test points, combining fuel efficiency (using “energy paper, a pre-set piece of paper which combines potential and kinectic energy into one plot, to help you transition from one point to the next in the most efficient manner) with safety.  After detailed planning, I “chair flew” every flight in the airplane, so I wouldn’t waste a second…you just didn’t have fuel to waste.  I flew it every chance I got (53 times alone during my 11 month course as a TPS student) and then flew it another 400+ times as an instructor.  The airplane was perfect for TPS and is one of the reasons it’s been there for 50+ years.  Why is it perfect? Well, the efficiency thing, for one.  But is also has–at least for Navy pilots–very different flying qualities than a Navy jet.  It’s a “front side” airplane, meaning you’re on the front side of the drag polar (most of the time) and this requires different pilot technique. 

It’s also an airplane that brought tragedy to USNTPS when, in July of 2000, we lost Gareth Rietz and Ray O’Hare.  A day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about these two and those they left behind.