A recent get-together with an Air Force trainee from Beale AFB who was training to fly in the U-2 reconnaissance plane brought back some memories from my own training days.

If you’ve read Future Ace, you about the story of my very first training flight. It didn’t go too well.

I had a really hard time just keeping my little Cessna straight and level, the instructor had to do the landing for me, and something else that’s a little embarrassing for me to admit; I even got sick!

That’s okay though, because three short years later, I was having no trouble whatsoever flying the F/A-18 Hornet in aerial combat training maneuvers.

If you’ve already taken flying lessons, you know that it can be a jarring experience in the beginning. But there are ways to combat those fears.

You can remind yourself that this is what you have always wanted.

You can look outside and appreciate the wondrous view of God’s creation and feel thankful that you live in an age where the airplane exists and you can enjoy that view.

You can even (yes, you CAN actually do this!) ask your instructor for help when you’re unsure of what to do in the cockpit.

One Afterburner Club member told me some time ago about how he overcame his fear of “falling out of the sky” in slow flight mode.

He would pretend that he was flying in the U-2. The U-2 is a high-altitude reconnaissance plane that’s not only designed to fly really high, but also really s-l-o-w.

That’s part of the reason for its incredibly long wings.

Talking with the young Air Force lieutenant who was now training in that very same airplane brought it back to me and made me think of how I went from being shaky and crazy flying straight and level in a Cessna to Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM) in an F/A-18.

What fears do you have about you ability as a pilot? Do your fears have to do with flying or with hacking it in an intense fighter pilot training program? How has your Afterburner Club membership helped in this regard?