Title: My Struggle To Tame The Mighty F-14A Tomcat  | The Drive
Headings: A Tomcat Pilot's Early Struggles to Tame the Mighty F-14
A Tomcat Pilot's Early Struggles to Tame the Mighty F-14
The F-14 proved to be a handful for many pilots, but for fighter pilot-in-training Paul Nickell, landing the huge fighter became an elusive skill to master—and one that would end his dream if he didn't succeed.
Mastering the Skyhawk
Teething Tomcat
Wrestling the Turkey Bird to the Ground
Old Habits Die Hard
Even "Basic" Tomcat Training Can be Deadly
Learning to Fight in the F-14
Landing on an Island in the Pacific Before a Carrier in the Pacific
Time to Head to the Boat
The Night is Dark and Full of Surprises
Contact the editor: Tyler@thedrive.com

Content: After weeks of ground school and simulators for this complex aircraft, it was finally time to man up an actual F-14 and go fly. Even though the F-14 was a two seat aircraft, there were no trainer versions. No F-14s had flight controls in the back seat, only weapons system controllers. So your first flight in the jet was essentially a solo. For your first two flights you were scheduled with an F-14 instructor pilot in the back seat, but he could only talk to you, he could not fly the aircraft from there. But not to worry, statistically the odds were good that nothing would go wrong on that first flight or two. I’ll never forget walking out to the jet for my first F-14 flight. Compared to anything I had flown before, it was huge, and it was awesome looking! We preflighted the aircraft, manned up, and after starting the engines, completed about 10 minutes of systems and control checks. After that it was a short five minute taxi to Runway 24 Right and we were ready to go.