Great memories, thank you for doing this. Inboard flap bearings might only be checked by the maintenance guys. At least that was part of our checklist back in 1986- 😂
Ex F-15 crew chief here. Bubbles in hydro are typically bad. Expansion is a concept for oil. Also, if brake line finger tight, you don't want that jet. The TO will also state the acceptable drops per sec on hydro leakage under flight control load. Great walkaround vid COL! She's a pretty bird, but I prefer the F-15. I'm partial though.
RUclips thought that I might need to remember how to do a T38 walkaround this morning and low and behold they show me a video by Thor! Hope all is well with you and yours. Cheers, Yama
My home base was KCAE SC and NASA flew in all the time. These T-38s are basically their company cars. What was odd is that they were always blowing tires on landing and would fly in 2 mechanics all the way from Mississippi to change out the tire.
So is that why the 14th Flying Training Wing's 14th Maintenance Group at Columbus AFB Mississippi lost maintenance crews each week? We were sending them to fix planes abused by NASA astronauts? I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The battles over TDY maintenance back in the 1986 to 1989 time frame were legendary.
@@MattH-wg7ou , We sometimes were reduced to having our Maintenance Colonel beg Operations to maximize weekend cross country flying to bases that could handle T38 maintenance by themselves. Every once in awhile I simultaneously lost a few maintenance crews to very long TDYs to bases that could barely manage to refuel the Talon. Too many crews on TDY and it impacted regular support. It's nicer now that with the T1 Jayhawks you can sometimes put in some seats, add some mechanics, tools, and parts and fly to where the troubled aircraft is. The sim might have been using an earlier model for the tire that represented the poor quality of tires when the T38 was introduced. Later on perhaps the USAF procured better tires, but saw no reason to change the simulator's tire model. More than once the transient aircraft services people would tell us about USMC and US Navy F-4s that came in with red tire cords showing. Would the crew wait for a tire change team from the nearest base that could change the worn F-4 tire? Heck no! Gas and go.
David Hoffman Was there actually a MXG with active duty maintainers in the 14th FTW back then? We only have contractor maintenance at all UPT bases now, I’m guessing it’s because they’re cheaper to have.
I bet you pilots like the covered parking. I remember when we use to have these parked in the open and had to put covers on the wings and flaps anytime there was a chance of hail when a storm approached. I also remember changing flame holders in the afterburners before the AB's had ceramics in them and now you cannot crawl into them.
The T-38 taught me to strongly dislike honeycomb construction. Depot was always six months behind in parts supply for anything on the Talon that was made of honeycomb. I had been taught that honeycomb construction was miraculous. Yes it miraculously consumed large amounts of maintenance time. The darn boatail was another goofy feature. The Mighty Tweet, T-37, by comparison seemed to shrug off all kinds of idiodacy. We had one serious over G on a Tweet and had to do the entire over G inspection. Nothing was found to be damaged or out of alignment. Over Gs on Talons always resulted in some damage. The best time was watching the T-38 weather flight takeoff at the start of sunrise. Beautiful blue afterburner flame coming out of the J-85s.
1986 to 1989 Columbus AFB 14 FTW Maintenance Group. T-38 wheels were in short supply which made for legendary squabbles about which aircraft got full tread depth tires and which ones were getting the ones closer to red cord.
@@sanfranciscobay , If operations insisted that the pilots of a particular flight were not going to fly to other ATC bases or other DoD bases that did a lot of T-38 maintenance then those aircraft got new or nearly new tires. The flights that went to bases with increasing levels of T-38 maintenance got tires with increasing levels of wear. Local flights usually got the most worn down tires. Landing at a US Navy or US Army airfield that never did T-38 maintenance and needing a wheel-tire combination change was a surefire way to generate an expensive maintenance TDY. Landing at Randolph AFB, Texas with the same condition generated grumbling by Randolph AFB maintenance, but they could repair the aircraft. It might take a long time if they didn't have any replacement wheel-tire combinations ready to use. That would mean actually removing the bad tire from the wheel, doing a full inspection of the wheel for defects, mounting a new tire on the old wheel, and then putting it back on the aircraft. The Mighty T-37 Tweet did not generate as much acrimony about tire condition as the T-38 Talon did.
We had these birds at Beale in the mid seventies mostly for the SR-71 pilots to keep up their hours. Seemed like toys after working on the B-52s and KC-135s, but they are awesome mach two airplanes!
Mach 2.0? How? Did someone find a way to mount a cluster AIM-54 rocket motors to the center pylon? Mach 1.35 maybe. On a perfect day. In a dive. At almost minimum usable fuel weight.
Sir, when did AETC stop following the checklist for the walk-a-round? 'Willie' Class 72-03, we had to use the checklist when flying the T-38 (all phases of operations)! Of course it was ATC back then. The 'Stan Eval' Pilot is 'busting' you for not following the checklist! :)
He went the WRONG WAY! Back in my day as a T-38 IP the walkaround proceeded the opposite direction from the left inlet to left wing ,finishing at the nose gear. When did that change? Who re-invented the wheel? Who made general on that change?
in stall checks, when you encounter a problem that at clean configuration aircraft do uncommended roll almost 90 degress to left or right side what do you do firstly to control surface.
why are the air intakes seperated from the fuselage? is it because of the boundary layer? what happens if both intakes aren`t seperated from the fuselage?
@@kevinmoses5906 , Not exactly the same. The F-5 has engines with more thrust, increased structural strength in some areas, larger wheels, tires, and brakes, and weapons capabilities.
Great memories, thank you for doing this. Inboard flap bearings might only be checked by the maintenance guys. At least that was part of our checklist back in 1986- 😂
I worked on this aircraft for 4 years at Edwards A.F.B. I love this plane.
so did i
Man, to fly one of these would be a dream come true. Sexiest jet ever!
Ex F-15 crew chief here. Bubbles in hydro are typically bad. Expansion is a concept for oil. Also, if brake line finger tight, you don't want that jet. The TO will also state the acceptable drops per sec on hydro leakage under flight control load. Great walkaround vid COL! She's a pretty bird, but I prefer the F-15. I'm partial though.
What a great airplane. I would love to get the opportunity to fly one some day.
RUclips thought that I might need to remember how to do a T38 walkaround this morning and low and behold they show me a video by Thor! Hope all is well with you and yours. Cheers, Yama
Fascinating! Definitely one of the most beautiful aircraft ever designed. Thank You!
I loved working on those birds. Had your flight controls and your brakes working good!
lets see if you really did work on the t-38 haha what did the very center set of cables operate?? i'm a 38 APG so dont try to fake me out haha
@@frankenfoamrc5489 rudder cables are there 😊
@@emrahceylan6427 hey you knew it!!!! hahaha good job!!
My home base was KCAE SC and NASA flew in all the time. These T-38s are basically their company cars. What was odd is that they were always blowing tires on landing and would fly in 2 mechanics all the way from Mississippi to change out the tire.
So is that why the 14th Flying Training Wing's 14th Maintenance Group at Columbus AFB Mississippi lost maintenance crews each week? We were sending them to fix planes abused by NASA astronauts? I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The battles over TDY maintenance back in the 1986 to 1989 time frame were legendary.
Its really easy to blow the T38s main tires especially when braking. I blew tires in the sims more than I should admit lol. But never in the jet!
@@MattH-wg7ou ,
We sometimes were reduced to having our Maintenance Colonel beg Operations to maximize weekend cross country flying to bases that could handle T38 maintenance by themselves. Every once in awhile I simultaneously lost a few maintenance crews to very long TDYs to bases that could barely manage to refuel the Talon. Too many crews on TDY and it impacted regular support.
It's nicer now that with the T1 Jayhawks you can sometimes put in some seats, add some mechanics, tools, and parts and fly to where the troubled aircraft is.
The sim might have been using an earlier model for the tire that represented the poor quality of tires when the T38 was introduced. Later on perhaps the USAF procured better tires, but saw no reason to change the simulator's tire model.
More than once the transient aircraft services people would tell us about USMC and US Navy F-4s that came in with red tire cords showing. Would the crew wait for a tire change team from the nearest base that could change the worn F-4 tire? Heck no! Gas and go.
David Hoffman Was there actually a MXG with active duty maintainers in the 14th FTW back then? We only have contractor maintenance at all UPT bases now, I’m guessing it’s because they’re cheaper to have.
lol this is probably why there is a policy letter on the requirements for Out and Backs now. 2 cords on a goodyear tire and NONE on a Michelin
The finest trainer ever, over.
Woody Chadwick Sure is! Was lucky to have about 700 hours flying her.
I bet you pilots like the covered parking. I remember when we use to have these parked in the open and had to put covers on the wings and flaps anytime there was a chance of hail when a storm approached. I also remember changing flame holders in the afterburners before the AB's had ceramics in them and now you cannot crawl into them.
Better story: Those wing pads are for 2ndLTs learning to fly close formation.
You must of been at WEBB AFB!
The T-38 taught me to strongly dislike honeycomb construction. Depot was always six months behind in parts supply for anything on the Talon that was made of honeycomb. I had been taught that honeycomb construction was miraculous. Yes it miraculously consumed large amounts of maintenance time.
The darn boatail was another goofy feature.
The Mighty Tweet, T-37, by comparison seemed to shrug off all kinds of idiodacy. We had one serious over G on a Tweet and had to do the entire over G inspection. Nothing was found to be damaged or out of alignment. Over Gs on Talons always resulted in some damage.
The best time was watching the T-38 weather flight takeoff at the start of sunrise. Beautiful blue afterburner flame coming out of the J-85s.
A great aircraft to work on. 1963-1966 USAF, NASA 1966-1968
God I wish I could chat with the 38 pilots that come into MSP. I love seeing this aircraft any chance that I get..
1986 to 1989 Columbus AFB 14 FTW Maintenance Group.
T-38 wheels were in short supply which made for legendary squabbles about which aircraft got full tread depth tires and which ones were getting the ones closer to red cord.
So how was the decision made on which planes got the new tires? The newer the plane got new tires? Or the plane making the most landings?
@@sanfranciscobay ,
If operations insisted that the pilots of a particular flight were not going to fly to other ATC bases or other DoD bases that did a lot of T-38 maintenance then those aircraft got new or nearly new tires. The flights that went to bases with increasing levels of T-38 maintenance got tires with increasing levels of wear. Local flights usually got the most worn down tires. Landing at a US Navy or US Army airfield that never did T-38 maintenance and needing a wheel-tire combination change was a surefire way to generate an expensive maintenance TDY. Landing at Randolph AFB, Texas with the same condition generated grumbling by Randolph AFB maintenance, but they could repair the aircraft. It might take a long time if they didn't have any replacement wheel-tire combinations ready to use. That would mean actually removing the bad tire from the wheel, doing a full inspection of the wheel for defects, mounting a new tire on the old wheel, and then putting it back on the aircraft.
The Mighty T-37 Tweet did not generate as much acrimony about tire condition as the T-38 Talon did.
David Hoffman Haha, yes, but the speeds were a lot different.
We had these birds at Beale in the mid seventies mostly for the SR-71 pilots to keep up their hours. Seemed like toys after working on the B-52s and KC-135s, but they are awesome mach two airplanes!
Mach 2.0?
How? Did someone find a way to mount a cluster AIM-54 rocket motors to the center pylon?
Mach 1.35 maybe. On a perfect day. In a dive. At almost minimum usable fuel weight.
Mach 2? I wish..., when I flew them we could scarcely bust mach and we needed to be going downhill to do that...
I see them all the time flying the beach out of Tyndall afb , sexy ass bird.
Sir, when did AETC stop following the checklist for the walk-a-round? 'Willie' Class 72-03, we had to use the checklist when flying the T-38 (all phases of operations)! Of course it was ATC back then. The 'Stan Eval' Pilot is 'busting' you for not following the checklist! :)
Good looking aircraft. Thanks for posting.
I worked these for 5 years, loved them. Is this a C model?
If an engine was replaced, there are two hydraulic lines that are interconnected by seals only. Bow tail installers know this well!
old T-38 crew chief and i've done hundreds of pre and post flight insp.
He went the WRONG WAY! Back in my day as a T-38 IP the walkaround proceeded the opposite direction from the left inlet to left wing ,finishing at the nose gear. When did that change? Who re-invented the wheel? Who made general on that change?
We arways went the same way he did back in the early 70’s.
T38 is a powerful beauty 💪✈️
I wish you could know how Jealous I am right now...The Talon is as least to me the sexyest Jet aircraft we ever had in our line up ..
126 hours in UPT. Columbus AFB 1972. Actually logged a 1.8 hour solo flight at L/D max a/s.
I always looked for leakage hydraulic in the back mount for the engine install. Bow section. 2 hydraulic couplings that slide.
I always worry about the hours on the T38s airframes
A credit to the crews that maintain them
Josh H they’re redoing most of them. you can tell the new ones because they have yellow painting on the ribs
They need to be replaced BADLY, amazing plane but it’s way overdue. The T-7s can’t come fast enough.
Just over 20,000 hrs on the Jets at Beale AFB
somthing i do everyday before going to work
pretty cool plane
Interesting, when did they modify the two intakes? I don't remember them looking like that
in stall checks, when you encounter a problem that at clean configuration aircraft do uncommended roll almost 90 degress to left or right side what do you do firstly to control surface.
Thank you for posting.
Very nicely done :)
Work on this aircraft in Lubbock Texas Reese Air Force Base quite the jet 77-78
That's a bad technique at 6:09 to check for slab bearing pop. Don't apply more than light finger force on the slab.
T-45 next time?
5 year phase mechanic on these!
Finger-tight brake line???
David Ryder absolutely not lmao as a crew chief that would never make it off the ground being finger tight
why are the air intakes seperated from the fuselage? is it because of the boundary layer? what happens if both intakes aren`t seperated from the fuselage?
I believe it's to ensure boundary-layer air along the fuselage that's turbulent doesn't get sucked into the engines
thats not why you tap on the underside of the wing
sorry sir, that fluid leak is operator level.
this like first flight advance jet training with an IP .. do everything right he might fail you
When did "the aircraft" become "the jet"?
it looks like an F5
Edwin Marquez the T-38 and F-5 are the same airplane.....
@@kevinmoses5906 ,
Not exactly the same.
The F-5 has engines with more thrust, increased structural strength in some areas, larger wheels, tires, and brakes, and weapons capabilities.
Yes, both came from the same basic concept.
Yes, the F-5 is the fighter version of the T-38 trainer by Northrop.
Base ?
Randolf I guess from the RA on the vertical fin.
@@davidhoffman1278
Yep
Just kick the tires and light the fires.
subscribed :) thanks for the info :D and for the great video man it really is awesome more videos like this please