U.S agreed to give 20 T-37 Aircrafts

[triston]

@ Triston

Well, it’s a gradual process that will take few years…Heres a short and quick update :-

About the recently acquired T-37s, well half will be maintained in flying status while other half for spare support and parts cannibalisation...

Right now we have around 25 T-37s (other than those recently inducted…) and roughly, PAF will continue to operate them until 2015, while gradually shifting to K-8s.

At the moment we have 20 K-8s with 8 more coming in few weeks, 10 more would come next year to make a total of 38…PAF will order more as and when required..

Some K-8s would replace T-37s at Risalpur while remaining would go to Mianwali to replace FT-5s...

Except few initial years, K-8s is doing fine …Easy to fly and un-complicated to maintain….Pilots respect it and Engineers admire it...Everyone seems to get along well, I guess…

x_man I know its not overnight, but if I recall correctly the process started in 1993. And that point in time the plan was to phase out t-37's bu 2000. Guess its way past that. we had a big problem keeping the T-37s airworthy cause of the embargo at that time.

 

[Imran Khan]

These T-37,s are our from now

frame is new then paf T-37's

 

[Imran Khan]

Tweet complete: T-37 retires after 39 years of service



The final T-37 Tweet student training sortie lands March 31 at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss. After serving the Air Force for more than 50 years, the T-37 is being replaced by the T-6 Texan II. The T-37 was officially retired from Columbus AFB Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training during a ceremony April 3.

by Senior Airman John Parie
14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs

4/8/2008 - COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) -- The T-37 Tweet formally retired April 3 from Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training here after 39 years of service as the gateway to the sky for more than 10,000 Air Force aviators.

Columbus Air Force Base was the last Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training base flying the T-37, but the T-37 will continue to be used at Sheppard AFB, Texas, in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program.

Vance AFB, Okla., and Laughlin AFB, Texas, phased out the T-37 from their pilot training programs in 2007.

"If you are a flier or a maintainer of any airplane, there is an emotional attachment," said Maj. Gen. Irving L. Halter Jr., the 19th Air Force commander. "The T-37 is a part of the fabric of Air Force aviation as well as American aviation."

The first T-37 arrived at Columbus AFB in 1969 in preparation for the base's realignment from Strategic Air Command to Air Training Command in 1970.

In 1970, Columbus AFB officials undertook the undergraduate pilot training mission, usng the T-37 for its primary training, and the T-38 talon for advanced training.

T-37 tail number 68-8068 arrived at Columbus AFB from the Cessna factory in Wichita, Kan., Sept. 25, 1969, with a grand total of 9.1 flight hours to its credit.

Thirty-nine years later, on March 31, 68-8068 was flown for the last student training sortie in the T-37 at Columbus AFB. Maj. Robert McGrath, an instructor pilot, and Capt. Jay Labrum, a student pilot, flew the aircraft's 10,351st sortie. The trainer jet ended its service to Columbus AFB with 16,637.6 flying hours.

With the completion of his training sortie, Captain Labrum was the last Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training student to utter the time honored words of "Tweet complete," signifying his completion of Phase II of the Air Force Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training program and the T-37.

"The T-37 has been a symbol of Air Force pilot training for half a century," said Lt. Col. David Johnson, the 37th Flying Training Squadron commander. "While getting newer aircraft is always a good thing, the Tweet was a living, breathing piece of pilot training heritage being used on a daily basis to train our young men and women."

The retirement ceremony culminated with a four-ship T-37 fly over by members of the 37th Flying Training Squadron.

"Goodbye, old girl. We are going to miss you," General Halter said. "You have done much for this nation and have made dreams come true."

 

[Imran Khan]

 

[Kharian_Beast]

I hope these birds weren't refurbished at NSA division headquarters....Apart from that it's a decent trainer, good job on the cheap price and getting them refurbished. But a very low commodity, we are a front line nation against the war on terror, and they give us decades old trainers? Lol....cheap ********

 

[IceCold]

I hope these birds weren't refurbished at NSA division headquarters....Apart from that it's a decent trainer, good job on the cheap price and getting them refurbished. But a very low commodity, we are a front line nation against the war on terror, and they give us decades old trainers? Lol....cheap ********

Well with a friend as cheap *** as the US, one can expect such things to happen, but then again our top brass seems to be in love with it and as long as it serves the intended purpose, we shouldnt have a problem with it being a low commodity.

 

[xinhui]

ref K-8 and T-37

here is from someone who wrote a book on this topic in the USAF



Maybe not, if they're using them for different things. These are almost
certainly T-37B models, which have a basic "round gauge" cockpit and no
external load carrying capability. They may be planning a mix in which
they use T-37s for primary/basic jet training and K-8s for advanced,
instrument and/or weapons training. They seem to be already doing
something like that: for many years they've operated a mix of T-37Bs &
T-37Cs, the latter of which DO have external load-carrying capability
and are commonly used for weapons training. My guess is that they're
replacing their old airplanes (had them since 1962) with newer ones, and
rationalizing their fleet.

 

[blain2]

Well with a friend as cheap *** as the US, one can expect such things to happen, but then again our top brass seems to be in love with it and as long as it serves the intended purpose, we shouldnt have a problem with it being a low commodity.

Yaar Ice,

Americans certainly are not cheap. They have helped out Pakistan a lot. The T-37 is a great aircraft and if PAF can maintain it for a few years, it is not a bad deal at all to get excess aircraft.

 

[IceCold]

Yaar Ice,

Americans certainly are not cheap. They have helped out Pakistan a lot. The T-37 is a great aircraft and if PAF can maintain it for a few years, it is not a bad deal at all to get excess aircraft.

Lol Sir! i'll differ from the cheap and helping part on basis of certain grounds but as regards to its use in PAF, like i mentioned in my post if the purpose is full filled we should have no problem with that.

 

[blain2]

Lol Sir! i'll differ from the cheap and helping part on basis of certain grounds but as regards to its use in PAF, like i mentioned in my post if the purpose is full filled we should have no problem with that.

Well the question to be asked is, are all the PAF K-8s equipped with the Garret Turbofan engines? One reason for the PAF to stick with additional T-37s maybe that the aircraft offers quite a bit of life out of its American powerplant. The problem with Chinese engines (and Russian ones) is the low MTBO (Mean time b/w Overhaul) and overall life. PAF may think that T-37s still offer a pretty reliable and decent jet platform.

 

[Munir]

>>>Well the question to be asked is, are all the PAF K-8s equipped with the Garret Turbofan engines?

affirmative.

The performance is a lot better then the chinese engined versions...

 

[fatman17]

ref K-8 and T-37

here is from someone who wrote a book on this topic in the USAF



Maybe not, if they're using them for different things. These are almost
certainly T-37B models, which have a basic "round gauge" cockpit and no
external load carrying capability. They may be planning a mix in which
they use T-37s for primary/basic jet training and K-8s for advanced,
instrument and/or weapons training. They seem to be already doing
something like that: for many years they've operated a mix of T-37Bs &
T-37Cs, the latter of which DO have external load-carrying capability
and are commonly used for weapons training. My guess is that they're
replacing their old airplanes (had them since 1962) with newer ones, and
rationalizing their fleet.

can u pls provide title of the book and name of the author or the link.
thx

 

[Munir]

If most nations dump US/UK planes (look at Indonesia: dumping Hawks for maybe ftc-2000 a la mig21 version) or move to more efficient and better trainers (lots of examples) I deplore PAF is still flying antique. The move towards K8 should have be done faster and more resolute.

 

[xinhui]

can u pls provide title of the book and name of the author or the link.
thx

Name is Mike little, a capt of the USAF.

 

[fatman17]

Name is Mike little, a capt of the USAF.

thanks for the name of the author - what is the title of the book.?