Opinion: Using Air Force ‘boldface’ to ease the opioid crisis
It's far easier to abort a takeoff and deal with problems early than wait until things are spinning out of control.
When I was training to be an Air Force Pilot in 1987, one of the many things I was required to commit to memory — verbatim — and to practice religiously in a T37 aircraft was how to pull an out-of-control plane out of a spin. Thirty years later, I can still see the steps in my mind’s eye and recite them:
- THROTTLES – IDLE.
- RUDDER AND AILERONS – NEUTRAL.
- STICK – ABRUPTLY FULL AFT AND HOLD.
- RUDDER – ABRUPTLY APPLY FULL RUDDER OPPOSITE SPIN DIRECTION (OPPOSITE TURN NEEDLE) AND HOLD.
- STICK – ABRUPTLY FULL FORWARD ONE TURN AFTER APPLYING RUDDER.
- CONTROLS – NEUTRAL AFTER SPINNING STOPS AND RECOVER FROM DIVE.
