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Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility.” The F-16 can make you arrogant – honest.
Not Vaccinated
It’s normal to finish a high-G flight wet with sweat, which I am. As I get undressed, I see the G-measles on the inside of my arms. Not something most people are vaccinated for. You get them from pulling Gs. The capillaries on the inside of your forearms and your butt a couple of inches below the beltline show them the most because that’s where the blood pools, more capillaries are close to the surface, and the blood pressure seems to be the highest. They show up
as hundreds of small red dots (petechiae) – like pin pricks. You can’t feel them, but everyone that pulls Gs gets them. General Yeager once said to me, “Maybe you’ll get higher than me.” He was talking about the altitude records he set and my just-beginning Air Force career. By the time I left Edwards Air Force base for OTS, I was convinced I wanted to be a Test Pilot. Each time I did an FCF takeoff, I thought of his words to me. I never made it to Test Pilot School and I never set any altitude records, but as the General was quoted in The Right Stuff as having said, “I had a ball!” John Gillespie Magee, Jr. said, as pilots, you and I “have done a hundred things” others have not dreamed of. Remember to look out the window while you’re flying and appreciate
those hundred things.
Isn’t it magical where making a paper airplane can lead?
Don’t be afraid to make paper airplanes, and don’t be afraid to throw them in class.
Kevin Dingman has been flying for more than 40 years. He’s an ATP typed in the B737, DC9 and CE-650 with 25,000 hours in his logbook. A retired Air Force major, he flew the F-16 and later performed as an USAF Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer. He flies volunteer missions for the Christian organi- zation Wings of Mercy, is retired from a major airline, flies the Cessna Citation for RAI Jets, and owns and operates a Beechcraft Duke.Contact Kevin at dinger10d@gmail.com.
24 • TWIN & TURBINE / June 2022
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