A Story I Wrote about the Hornet

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I go to bed after playing Digital Combat Simulator-my flight simulator-on my desktop computer for most of the day-likely after doing lots of guns only dogfighting-like I've done on so many days for the past two years. I fall asleep. I wake up. It seems like I've been asleep for a long time and during that time I traveled a long distance. I don’t know where I am. My vision is blurry. I feel weird-like I’ve been drugged. My vision comes back a moment later. The sun is bright above me. It looks like it's about noon. Deep blue sky all around me. There isn't a cloud in sight. A beautiful day to die. I start connecting the dots and realize I’m in a cockpit. I have full flight gear and the Joint Helmet Mounted Cuing System on. It’s a Legacy Hornet cockpit. I can tell by the Upfront Control-a panel with a cluster of various buttons on a trapezoid that protrudes from the main instrument panel under the heads up display, the most distinguished are numbered 0-9-and 3 multifunction digital display indicators-screens with buttons around them, one between your legs that's color and two to the left and right higher on the main instrument panel which only display 3 colors: black, yellow, or green. The drugged feeling wears off instantly, now replaced with a massive and pure adrenaline rush. I look out the canopy to the left and realize I’m airborne. I think to myself, “This is surreal.”. I grab the stick with my right hand and put my left hand on the throttle then start checking the instruments. 9.0 on fuel. 10,000ft. 350 knots. Heading 270 over the ocean. I try rolling the jet to the left a bit to see if I have control. The jet rolls left slightly then resists my input. The autopilot is on-the only time the Hornet fights you. I pull the nose wheel steering/autopilot disengage lever on the joystick with my right pinky. I set the jet up-configuring it for potential combat. I throttle up to mach 0.8-about 500 knots, arm the jet by flicking the master arm switch on the far left side of the main instrument panel up, hit the AA master mode button above the master arm, set the dispenser to bypass by flicking the switch on the console between my legs under the DDI up, and turn the nob for the helmet mounted cuing system on the far right side of the main instrument panel all the way to the right. I press the bottom middle menu button under the left DDI, backing out of the checklist. This brings up the tactical menu. I press the top button to the left of the left DDI and bring up the stores page. I have two AIM-120’s, 2 AIM-9X’s, and I assume a full magazine of gun rounds. Trying to get my bearings about me I press the top button to the right of the right DDI-which automatically began showing the radar display once the AA mastermode was selected-three times to increase the range of the radar. Starting at 20, 40, 60, then I settle on 80 miles. On the left DDI I change from the stores page back to the tac menu then press the first button to the right of the menu button to bring up the the early warning page-a circle within a circle that displays radar emitters based on their threat level. Ten seconds later I have an unknown radar contact at 60 miles. Fumbling around a bit I find the circular target designator cursor controller on the throttle with my left index finger. On the radar display I move the TDC brackets so they are around the yellow square representing the bogey and lock him by depressing the TDC controller. A diamond appears on the HUD-the HUD's representation of the target designator that gives a visual cue indicating where a radar contact is in space. The radar display shows he’s head to head with me, co-altitude, going mach 0.7. I mentally prepare for a fight. I hit the weapon select switch on the joystick with my thumb cycling through the weapons to see what's what. I select the AIM-120’s. A thin ring shows up that cover's most of the HUD-it's part of the representation of the AIM-120's firing parameters. I maneuver the jet putting the diamond in the center of the circle. The bogey is flying right at me so the dot representing where I need to point the jet for target lead is centered in the ring. Range to the bogey is now 35 miles. I get an AI warning-a high pitched beeboopbeeboop tone-it sounds like a poorly made electronic song you never want to hear-that is loud in my helmet. The EW page shows 29 in the outer circle. A capable fighter in well trained hands and he knows where I am. I pull the trigger on the pistol grip joystick and fire an AIM-120. The missile tracks and looks good in its loft. The time to missile going active is 20 seconds. 2 seconds later I get a missile warning-a high pitched warbling tone. I firewall the throttles and crank left simultaneously pushing the countermeasure dispense switch on the throttle forward a few times with my middle finger to eject 5 chaff. I tense all the muscles in my body, straining against the five G turn while taking truncated breathes in my oxygen max. I wind up pointing about sixty five degrees left of my original course while keeping the Mig locked. Looking at the contact on the radar display I can tell he’s turned cold-turned away from me-and is now defensive. I take a guess that the missile he shot was of the semi active variety because the missile warning dropped when he turned away from me. Now going mach 0.95 I crank as hard as I can, turning back in on him, hitting the G limiter at 7.5. I fight hard to keep my head up against the multiplied force of gravity. The Mig has throttled up and is now going mach 1 headed away from me. Velocity of closure negative. The Mig turns back in and notches me. Last radar contact was showing him turning hot 20 miles out. I throttle back and dive. I think to myself, “I’m in danger.” in Ralph’s voice. I look at EW page on the left DDI. There's nothing for a second then 29 pops up off my nose. This guy is still using his radar. Good for me. A questionable decision for him. I assume he’s above me because I’m now at 1000 feet over the water going 500 knots. I look forward and up scanning the sky expecting to be in visual range at any second. I don't see him and look in the cockpit at the radar display. The Mig pops up on radar. I lock him. The radar display shows he’s head to head with me and he’s come down to my level. I look to the HUD and see the diamond where the MIG should be. Nothing there yet. I think to myself, "Shoot 'em if you got 'em." then fire my second and last AIM-120. It goes active the moment it’s launched and doesn't loft. I look to my radar display and see he’s turned cold again. I firewall the throttles and try to close on him. I wait what seems like forever. I’m looking for smoke or fire now. Something signifying my missile hit. I wait a few seconds more that seem like an eternity. Still no smoke or fire. I have visual on the Mig now though. I feel like I’m forgetting something and check my fuel state. 5.7. Not the end of the world. My jet is fast and agile at this weight. A performance monster capable of amazing things. I've closed further and now am staring at the Mig’s rear quarter 4 miles away. He starts to turn back to re-engage. I assume because he doesn’t have a choice and is getting low on fuel. For him it’s either fight or bail out. I put the velocity vector in front of the Mig's flight path, pull lead, and close to 2 miles. I select AIM-9X's. I hear a tone that sounds like feedback on an amplifier-the tone you get when you are within firing parameters. I fire a Sidewinder. He flares. Effectively decoyed, the missile explodes short of the Mig. I still have radar lock, but I’m not paying attention to velocity of closure which is now showing 350, the Hornet going about 500 knots following my lead turn. Then it hits me, I’m making a rookie mistake, I'm closing too fast. The Mig starts to get big in my windscreen and then pulls up hard. Just before it's too late I chop the throttles and pull as hard as I can up into the vertical hitting the G limiter at 7.5 again. I lose sight of the Mig in my climb. I subconsciously hear the vortex rumble making a loud WOOOOOSH sound from air passing over the leading edge root extensions and know I’m getting slow. The airspeed indicator on the helmet mounted cuing system to the left in my peripheral vision plummets in an instant from 500 to 200. An area of the envelope where the Hornet is better than most except for maybe the Super Hornet, Raptor, or one of the many insane modern Flanker variants with canards or thrust vectoring. Rolling inverted while pulling hard, I gain sight of the Mig again. He’s below me maybe 800 feet and slightly in front of my jet. The Mig looks slow. It's wallowing a little. Lucky for me, not quite parameters for an Archer shot-the first high off boresight missile that was used with a helmet mounted sight. I’m at 2800 feet. I firewall the throttles and pull as hard as I can attempting to get in lag pursuit. Alpha-angle of attack, the angle of the jet in relation to it's flight path-builds to 30 degrees. All I can hear is the vortex rumble. The distance between our jets closes down in an instant to something very dangerous. We both add some rudder and roll mirroring each other in a corkscrew to see who winds up behind who. Looking up out of my canopy at the Mig, I see the pilot looking at me through his tinted visor. The airspeed indicator in my peripheral vision bottoming out at 100 knots. The Hornet and it’s fly-by-wire wins out gaining a good position behind the Mig. The corkscrew ends transitioning back to level flight. I hear a DEEDLE DEEDLE in my helmet indicating I have an advisory. I assume it's home fuel but don't look at the DDIs. The Mig tries to run. I’m confident I can kill him, now 500 feet behind the Mig with the airspeed indicator making huge jumps upward. I switch to guns, but hold off, afraid of foreign object debris from the damaged Mig. The Mig gains a little distance in front of me because I was cautious in my throttle manipulation and maneuvering behind him. He starts jinking in good guns D, rolling and yawing unpredictably. The gun acq automatically picks the Mig up a split second later. On the HUD the lead computing optical sight or funnel turns to a circle with a small plus sign in the center. I anticipate him crossing through the pipper. I think I have a shot. I pull the trigger for a half second. The rotary cannon in the nose of the Hornet makes a BRRRRRT sound and the whole jet vibrates. An line of tracers shoots out in front of my jet in an arc and smoke obstructs my view for a second. I watch the tracers fly. They miss high. Simultaneously the Mig pilot unloads his jet going slight nose down to gain more airspeed. I realize what's happened and do the same but he gains a little more distance ahead of me because my view was obstructed from the gun smoke. He's now about 1200 feet in front. He climbs into the vertical. I think to myself, what a stupid mistake. I pull lead in the transition to the vertical and gain ground to 1000 feet behind the Mig. I put the pipper on him and fire a second long burst. A good portion of the rounds hit, impacting the top side of the Mig with little explosions and puffs of black smoke. A good burst that tears off a wing. As I fly by the carcass of the Mig further into the vertical I see the pilot eject above his jet which has begun to tumble out of the sky trailing black smoke. I wake up. It was all a dream. I roll to the side of my twin long bed into a sitting position, rub my tear ducts with my right thumb and index finger, then say to myself in the dark of my bedroom, "Man, that would be the ultimate test and man, would it be fun.".

Paragraphs , man , paragraphs ! That is one daunting wall of text that discourages anyone from reading your story :)

Paragraphs , man , paragraphs ! That is one daunting wall of text that discourages anyone from reading your story :)

Yeah sorry it's not in paragraphs. It was originally written as a Facebook status so hitting tab wasn't really an option.

Line spaces . Use "enter" key to put a line space between text you want to delineate as a paragraph...