The Great Banana Skin

Strapped into the ejection seat of the Mig-21 fighter, late in the month of August, was a minuscule part of living a long-cherished dream. But commencing combat training late in the sultry summer was just the beginning of yet another dream. This phase of my flying training was one of the most interesting ones and in more than one way truly a learning experience.

This dream had been nourished by stories told in books and brought to life in movies about the world of the blue yonder. The overdose of excitement had clouded and yet challenged the mind. Throwing the aeroplane around in vibrantly coloured skies and pitching yourself against another human being in an alien environment is the ultimate test of skills, knowledge & may be in the real world of guts as well.
To be able to understand the exact frame of mind that I was in as the "trainee" learning the ropes of air combat, I have to introduce the manner in which the fighter pilot is trained. I will try and keep it simple.
A pilot would begin his flying training on a basic aeroplane for the majority on a prop, which would be slow and forgiving. He would first learn to take off and land his aeroplane safely and then gradually learn to throw it about before graduating onto a jet engine aeroplane. He would then learn to do the same on the jet, before being introduced to different concepts on how to use the aeroplane as a weapon.
This whole process would take about a year after which the triumphant would finally get to be a part of those who flew where no eagle or lark had ever flown.... to fly the Mig-21.
In learning to use the aeroplane as a weapon platform, the training was divided into phases. This particular phase of training was called the "one versus one". The first part of the training commenced with the briefing on the phase, a long session that defied all the rules of optimized learning since it extended for nearly four hours. It was a test of concentration, with all the training in the form of classroom lectures using boards, charts and aircraft models.
The second part included another detailed brief by the individual Instructor who would be the mentor through the phase. My Instructor was the Commanding Officer of the Squadron who had a million other matters on his mind to keep the Squadron war worthy, apart from having to attend to one trainee among the many and teach him the very basics of air-to-air combat.
To be honest I was worried about the kind of attention that I was going to get, from this extremely busy man.
What I learnt in the next few days was more than a just lesson in air combat. They were lessons that I would use in every sphere of my life.
Being a training mission, we would go up as a two-aircraft formation, and the leader of the formation would simulate being the enemy.
To commence the combat manoeuvring, we would use the phrase "combat-combat go". With that, we would turn into each other and then I as the attacker would attempt to stay behind the simulated enemy. I would then be taught a series of manoeuvres that I would use to stay behind him. I was expecting the manoeuvring to last as in my books and movies; for some length of time. I was expecting it to be fun.
At 3000 meters above mother earth, I positioned as the attacker, in a position of advantage over the leader of the formation.
But what I did after that was just a turn and pitched the nose of the aeroplane into the sky and after that the simulated combat was called off with the phrase "Stop-stop combat Stop".
This was a total disaster. The first experience was nothing close to what I had expected.
We did about five more of these "total disappointments" of what they called combat manoeuvres and headed back home.
The walk back from the tarmac lacked the "josh" that was perhaps evident in the rookie that had walked to the aeroplane, just an hour back. My instructor just said "Debrief in my office at four in the evening", nearly two hours from now. He also added, "come prepared". That I already was, or so I thought. We had just done a couple of turns and came back and we called it air combat.
That was just the start of a true learning experience.
The debrief lasted for four "short" hours for that twenty-minute sortie. Analysis of the air combat situation on the ground, drawing references from the radio calls, drawing to scale graphical representations of the combat situations, learning to draw inferences from the Flight data recorders of both the aeroplanes, and all the rest of it had been reduced to nothing compared to the most important lesson in my life. As I prepared to wind up he said to remember " Fighter Pilot is an attitude in life"
When I went back home that night I tried to define what the "fighter pilot attitude" was. I drew help from the poem "IF" by Rudyard Kipling.
It was about keeping my head, about trusting myself, that I had indeed in my preparation for flying, filled the minute with sixty minutes worth of distance run, and despite having done that I would need to force my heart, nerve and sinew, to serve my turn long after they are gone.
It was about air-to-air combat, but it turned out to be a lesson in life.
Lesson one:
Nothing pays like plain simple dedication when it comes to learning.
I was at the beginning of a great learning curve.
Lesson two:
There is no replacement for a dedicated & experienced teacher.
I was guided to it by a man who had been matured by thousands of hours of flying. I had been trained by a time-tested method of chalk & talk, with no Computer-based Training, no Learning Management Systems or Modern teaching management principles. Just plain & simple care for me as a student.
Lesson three:
There is always a banana skin waiting around the corner.
What you expect may not happen always. I had expectations, they were dashed in a turn and a pitch of the nose, but then the thrill was in getting the understanding right.
The fact that I worked nearly twice as hard after that and was able to get to where I wanted, was more than a testimony to the fact that banana skins may not always be bad after all.
There are many “banana skin" experiences in life. This was one of the banana skins that sent me a couple of flights of stairs down.
But from where I stand today many flights down, I think it is time to draw upon this lesson & realise that I am the teacher, and I am the student too.

In Pursoot....