Philippine Cadet on Japanese Soil (Part 3)

View From Above

Imagine riding a super-fast rollercoaster without feeling the wind blow in your face, without the raising-on-top-of-your-voice and waving-of-the-hands thing. Can you imagine that?

Now triple it, with a mask on your face which blows a mix of oxygen and nitrogen gas, your G-suit (the one pilots wear while flying) sqeezing air on your legs, thigh and abdomen to prevent blood from going down your feet while maneuvering, a lot of switches in front of you and a stick like in the games.

Imagine flying sideways, seeing the blue sky on your left and at the same time, seeing the also blue sea on your right. You are starting to appreciate the magnificent view of the wide sky when suddenly, the plane suddenly sways 90degrees sideward and you notice the joystick being pulled back fully. The dogfight starts.

Feeling the pressure in all the parts of your body, you struggle to breath normally (which is virtually impossible coz the pressure suddenly drops and the air becomes thin). Thanks to the capability of the mask, it forces air into your nose when this happens. I tried to lift up my right hand while maneuvering but it was so heavy, and as I looked at the G-meter, we were having, on the average, of about 4Gs with the maximum of 8.6Gs (1G means your own weight, 2Gs mean 2 times your weight).

Imagine not knowing anymore where's right or where's left, where's up or where's down. Your hands moving the joystick trying to catch up with your eyes stuck at the enemy plane it maneuvers. You hear beeping sounds everywhere, the heavy breathing of the pilot in front of you, shouting, and shouting, and shouting at each other.

Then suddenly, everything just levels off...you can breathe normally again but still trying to catch your breath which was lost for a while. You can see the horizon parallel to the wings beside you, the clouds covering the very strong rays of the sun. Then you hear a voice which says, "Training's over, let's go home."

A feeling of comfort and sadness, thanking that everything's over and at the same time wanting some more. Taking some pictures of the still water, the clouds, the aircraft beside you with the pilot waving at you, you waving back at him.

Then you see the landing strip... landing gears down, then touchdown.

It was over.