Page 27 - Volume 19 Number 11

The first hint this would be a difficult departure was our takeoff clearance: runway heading to 3,000. Yikes! 350 knots at 2,500 AGL!The general executed a textbook takeoff, accelerated to 300 before deselecting AB, leveled off at 3,000 feet and 350 knots, and finally called Departure. I had my notepad and pencil ready.Sure enough, Departure immediately gave us a climb to 5,000 feet and a heading change. I wrote them down as the general read them back and promptly complied. Departure then gave us a new squawk, which I noted. Preparing to hand us off to Center, I thought. The general acknowledged and dialed it in.Departure then told us to climb and maintain 7,000, contact Kansas City Center on 368.3, and squawk 4165. Again, I wrote the numbers down as the general acknowledged the instructions and read back the altitude. I noticed the squawk they gave us was the same as the previous code assigned and, because ATC normally only assigns two number changes at a time, that meant we weren’t squawking the right code.“General,” I said, “Check your squawk. Should be 4165. They gave it to us twice.” We were established in a climb as the general read back the correct code.He called up Kansas City Center on the new freq, but all we heard was static. “What frequency are you on?” I asked. “Two sixty-eight three.” I looked at my notepad. “It’s supposed to be three sixty-eight three,” I said. When I looked up at the altimeter I saw we were passing 8,000 feet, still climbing.“Where are you going? Get back down to seven thousand!” I don’t normally raise my voice to generals. “They cleared us up to eleven thousand,” he said. “No! They cleared us to seven thousand! Eleven thousand would have been ‘one-one thousand’!”He hesitated a moment, digesting what I’d just told him. I shook the stick and declared, “I have the aircraft.” I rolled the F-15 upside down and pulled the nose down aggressively, rolling right side up at 7,000 feet.As soon as the general corrected the radio frequency, we caught the last of KC Center’s discussion with an outbound commuter plane: “. . . at seven thousand now but he’s not talking to me.” I still had the aircraft. “Kansas City Center, this is Cobra 01, seven thousand.”“Cobra 01, I showed you at eight thousand three hundred a minute ago. Traffic is a Bombardier now passing well behind at eight thousand.” “Roger, Cobra 01,” I answered. Never acknowledge a violation over the radio – or telephone.“Cobra 01, call me on the ground at the following number when ready to copy.” Crap! Busted! I copied the number and said I would call him, but I had no intention to do so.The driver brought the sedan to the jet as we shut down. While I did the postflight, the general ducked into his car and got on the phone. I’d cautioned him not to call that number before talking to our wing’s ATC Liaison Officer. Generals rarely take advice from captains.With no skin in the game – the general had no civilian certificates and zero experience with FAA tyranny – he offered up both our names, ranks, and SSNs (had to call the squadron for mine), violating long-standing DoD regulations along with the Privacy Act of 1974. I made my report to our ATC Liaison, who investigated the violation in accordance with USAF regs.Within weeks, I received several FAA letters threatening my civilian certificates. I turned them all over to the investigating officer, who patiently reminded the feds that military operations are not subject to FAA investigations, and that all the personal information the general had improperly provided must be stricken from their records, according to U.S. code.The Air Force investigation eventually found me partially negligent for the incident. I agree. I should have placed priority on watching our altitude and let the general sort out his own misdialed numbers. I should have offered to handle the radios for him on departure, but I doubt the general would have let me. I received no punishment from the Air Force, however, and the FAA has no record of the violation. I checked.The report laid the primary fault on the general. I doubt there were any consequences, though; he retired the following year with his two stars intact.If you’ve ever been an Air Force pilot since 1990, you’ve had to sign off a particularly strong-worded Operations Read File item, reissued annually, that warns pilots not to provide any personal data on flight plans, to the FAA, or to ATC. Yeah, that was me. You’re welcome.To this day, I hold the general in very high esteem, which is why I’ve chosen not to reveal his name. He was one of my high school heroes, scoring two MiG kills over North Vietnam before I even turned sixteen. And, God bless him, he’s still my hero. T&T•Gary Peppers is a 15,000-hour ATP who holds CFI, CFII, helicopter, and B-737 type ratings. He served 29 years on active duty from 1971, flying Army UH-1 and OH-58 helicopters and Air Force F-15s and OV-10s. Recalled to active duty in 2009, he flew MQ-1B Predators in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Retired in 2013 to Cape Coral, Florida, he owns a Piper PA-31 Navajo and a PA-24 Comanche.NOVEMBER 2015TWIN & TURBINE • 25