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T-6A worthy of more respect

The T-6A Texan II is a success story that hasn’t been told much.

The joint Air Force-Navy primary trainer is a schoolhouse in the sky for fledgling pilots — and has been since October 2001 — but it doesn’t enjoy the cult following of its Air Force predecessor, the T-37B Tweet.

The last Tweet, otherwise called the “6,000-pound dog whistle” because of its shrill exhaust sound, flew to the boneyard July 31.

It had flaws, to be sure. In a nation that trains pilots in the hot South and Southwest, for instance, the T-37B was the plane with an air conditioner that never seemed to work. And it had a high rate of mishaps caused by gravity-induced loss of consciousness because instructors and students performed maneuvers but didn’t wear G-suits.

Still, the Tweet holds a special place in the hearts of 78,000 student pilots and 9,000 instructors who occupied its side-by-side ejection seats over 53 years.

The T-6A doesn’t feel that love. The Texan II hasn’t been perfect either, but it’s a model of smoothness and timeliness compared with other current aircraft acquisition programs. The Navy never liked the program — still doesn’t — and was dragged into it reluctantly, but Air Force officials wanted the T-6A and are glad to have it.

Many with flying know-how think a jet Air Force should have a jet trainer. The Tweet had turbojet engines, but they perform differently from the turbofan engines on Air Force jets. The Texan II has a turboprop engine, the 1,708-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68, with a good record for safety and reliability.

“A turboprop gives you something that is very nice to have when instructing landings — instant power,” a T-6A instructor said. “No jet can match the power onset rate of a variable pitch propeller on a constant speed gearbox. If you get into trouble in the airfield pattern, you can get out of trouble quickly.”

The stepped, tandem-seating arrangement of the T-6A isn’t as cozy as the Tweet’s side-by-side configuration and means the instructor can’t intervene if a student freezes at the controls. But tandem seating is preferred for flight training in air forces around the world because it keeps the student on the centerline of the aircraft, avoiding the distraction of feeling slightly off-kilter while learning basics.

Finally, instead of the round, steam-gauge dials of the Tweet, the Texan II has “glass cockpit” digital instruments similar to those on aircraft that the student pilot eventually will fly.

By next year, the Air Force expects to buy nearly 500 Texan IIs, considerably fewer than the more than 1,200 Tweets built for the service. Even though its numbers are relatively small, the T-6A and the civilian and service members who maintain, support and fly it deserve praise.

Perhaps, one day, the T-6A will win the same affection as the Tweet.

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Robert F. Dorr, an Air Force veteran, lives in Oakton, Va. His e-mail address is robert.f.dorr@cox.net.

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