Put It In the Sick Sack

Mikey was a T-37, ‘Tweet,’ IP at Vance in the mid-70’s.  The Tweet was the first airplane the kids flew when they came to UPT in those days.

One summer, just after a new class arrived, Mikey briefed a kid for his first flight in the Tweet.   As they were about to step out the door, Mikey asked the kid if he had a ‘sick sack.’

“No Sir,” the kid replied, “I was a cadet instructor pilot in the flying program at the Air Force Academy – I don’t need one, Sir.”  And off they went.

In Oklahoma the hot summer sun generates significant thermals – heat waves rising from  the ground.  As the Earth warms during the day, different sections of surface heat at different rates, and temperatures.  This is what essentially creates the thermals.  These thermals tend to be more prevalent at lower altitudes.

The Tweet was real prone to being bounced around by these thermals when at low altitude.  That, coupled with the lousy air conditioning system in the Tweet – well, it could just be a lousy ride at low altitude.  So, on that day as they returned to base, as they were being bounced around, the kid looked over at Mikey and said, “Sir, I think I am going to be sick.”

Mikey told him to just drop his mask, and use his sick sack.  The kid then reminded him that he didn’t bring a sick sack, and asked him what he should do.

“Use your (flying) glove,” Mikey replied.

And so the kid dropped his mask and let it go!  When he finished “ralphing” in his glove, he looked at Mikey, somewhat teary-eye, and asked what he should do with the glove filled with his lunch.  Without skipping a beat, Mikey reached down and pulled a sick sack out of his lower flight suit pocket and handed it to the kid.  “Here,” he said, “put it in here…”

Things like this really ‘build character!’