Impressive videos show why U-2 pilots have balls of steel

‘I think I can speak for every U-2 pilot when I say that the experience of the first takeoff on the Dragon Lady is one of the most memorable experiences in your life. Shortly after that is the terror of the first landing,’ Ross Franquemont, U-2 Pilot.

Brought to my attention by Andrea Arlotti, a reader of The Aviation Geek Club, the cool videos in this post were taken by famous U-2 pilot Ross Franquemont (be sure to check out his Facebook page Extreme Ross Dragon Lady Photography as well as his website ExtremeRoss.com).

Franquemont explains how to become a Dragon Lady pilot.

‘How does someone become a U-2 pilot?

‘To begin with, nobody is forced to be a U-2 pilot. It is one of the few airframes in the military which is 100% flown by volunteers (yes I know that just being in the military is a volunteer service but you get the idea). Every single U-2 pilot had to put in the work to apply, study, interview, fly their ass off, and ultimately get accepted into the community.

‘To start with, the U-2 takes applicants from virtually any airframe, in (almost) any service. Anybody can Google U-2 pilot application and get the most recent requirements. If you put in an application, the U-2 recruiter, along with all the other pilots, will vet the applicants, and choose the ones that we felt would be a good fit.

‘Then comes the interview…Most people dread interviews, especially if they last a few hours. The U-2 interview is 2 weeks. Interviewees travel to Beale for a fun filled 2 week paid vacation. A vacation that culminates in 3 of the most brutal flights you’ve ever been put through.

‘The first week involves some of the formal interviews with the U-2 leadership. You get to wear your dress uniform and stand out like a sore thumb as you walk around and have others gawk. You do lots of mobile rides and do some medical tests. Then there’s the dreaded “claustrophobia check”. A suit technician suits you up in a space suit and teaches you how to eat and drink while you sit in it for a couple hours. It’s really to gauge how you respond to the space suit. At the end of week 1, if you haven’t gotten yourself kicked off the island, you meet your assigned instructor pilot who’s going to guide you through three ball buster Acceptance Flights ((we shorten them to AF-1, AF-2, & AF-3).

‘The goal of the acceptance flights is simple, can we teach you to do what is done in the following videos, in the extremely short time we have you. It’s a steep learning curve but those that rise to the challenge, are offered a slot among the community.

‘There is a small group of instructors inside the U-2 training squadron, 1st RS, who take on the role of AF Instructors. It is a separate upgrade for instructors and at any given time, there are only 4-6 AF instructors in the world.

‘Each interview always uses 2 AF qualified instructors, one is the primary and the other the mobile instructor. The Friday of the first week, the primary instructor takes the interviewee for the entire day and goes through various training to prepare for the first flight. There’s cockpit familiarization, hours of PowerPoint, hours of white board instruction, watching videos, using the cockpit procedures training, and doing everything possible to mentally prepare the interviewee.

‘Morning of flight, the primary instructor, the interviewee, and the mobile instructor brief and then head out to the plane. Physiological support technicians help the interviewee get into his seat. They take the rear seat in the two-seater TU-2S because some essential systems can only be manipulated from the front seat.

‘I think I can speak for every U-2 pilot when I say that the experience of the first takeoff on AF-1, which is flown by the instructor, is one of the most memorable experiences in your life. Shortly after that is the terror of the first landing. It’s just as terrifying for the instructor (been there). No matter how many hours of flying you have, you have never experienced anything like the Dragon Lady. The primary instructor spends AF-1 and 2 pushing the student to pick up the landings. Each flight tests mental and physical endurance (just physically flying almost 50 touch and goes is demanding). On AF-3, the primary and mobile instructor switch seats and see what the student has learned.

‘The flights aren’t pretty, but we do get an idea if they are going to be able to pick it up. After some deliberation, an interviewee we agree to accept will be granted a position in the community.’