Air Combat Maneuvering
Flight Procedures
Maintain sight of the bogey throughout the maneuver. If the bogey’s flight path during his high yo-yo
(Figure 20) takes him significantly outside of your flight path, reverse to keep the bogey in sight and
continue to unload. Your goal here is to gain enough separation so that you can disengage or have
enough room to execute a pitchback.
For distances of 1-1/4 nautical miles or greater with lateral separation and the bogey on or below the
horizon, execute a lateral pitchback by using a nose-low hard turn with your lift vector on or slightly below
the bogey. For distances less than 1 mile or if the bogey is high and/or at your dead six, execute a vertical
pitchback by pulling vertically 60 degrees nose-high at 17 units AOA. Continue pulling back stick while
applying aileron and rudder in an attempt to meet the bogey head-on with minimum lateral separation.
1
2
2
2
3
1
3
1
Defender
1
3
3
Attacker
2
Figure 20: DEFENSIVE COUNTER TO THE HIGH YO-YO
If the bogey continues to press and you cannot execute a pitchback, continue your hard turn to force an
in-close overshoot, in which case you would execute a nose-high reversal. If the bogey does not
overshoot and executes another high yo-yo, continue your counters in an attempt to force any type of
overshoot. In any case, remember there are four basic defensive rules: 1) oppose the nose, 2) keep your
lift vector on the bogey, 3) take out the lateral separation, and 4) remain unpredictable.
Page 29
T-45C Revision 1
Previous Page
