On the ground this involved taxying the aircraft. Aircraft are controlled in yaw by using the rudder, this being connected to foot pedals on a rudder bar in the cockpit. By pressing on the appropriate foot pedal the pilot can yaw the aircraft; press the left pedal and the aircraft yaws left, press the right pedal and it yaws right. However, at low speeds the rudder is ineffective so each pedal has a toe operated section which applies the brake on the corresponding main wheel. Unlike a car brake pedal the toe pedals had hardly any travel and required a much harder press. They each acted independently so that you could steer but that meant that balancing them out to slow the aircraft was also the pilot’s job.
    For my first attempt at taxying I wasn’t given control until we were in the wide expanse of the main runway - which very quickly didn’t seem that wide anymore! We progressed along the runway in a series of erratic zig-zags as I strove to keep the jet away from the grass and as near to the centreline of the concrete as I could. These excursions gradually became smoother and more controlled as I got used to the feel of the brakes. Once at the end of the runway the jet needed to be turned through 180 degrees, adding judicious use of the throttle in order to make the tight turn. Once I had the jet lined up pointing (sort of) along the centreline of the runway Jim took back control so that we could get on with the job in hand. Subsequent attempts improved the precision of control until I was taxying the jet from, and back to, its parking spot on the flight line, managing to keep the wing tips a safe distance from the expensive hardware parked in the adjacent spots.
    In the air the first skill to master was getting the jet trimmed in straight and level flight. As the Hawk has hydraulically powered pitch (tailplane) and roll (aileron) controls the pilot does not feel the aerodynamic force on the control surfaces through the stick. Without any ‘feel’ control of the aircraft would be very difficult. In order to provide an artificial ‘feel’ a spring system is incorporated which biases the stick to the central position. The spring system provides a force which increases as the stick is deflected away from the central (zero force) position. This enables the pilot to ‘feel’ the deflection of the stick (and therefore control surface movement) that is being demanded for manoeuvre. Feeling zero force indicates that the stick has been returned to its initial, stable flight, position. The tailplane angle required for stable flight however varies depending upon the speed / height / aircraft configuration combination at the time. The system therefore also incorporates a mechanism by which the zero force point can be adjusted to ‘trim’ out the force across the range of stable flight conditions. It was therefore necessary for me to get used to keeping the jet in trim as flight conditions changed, practise making it progressively become more intuitive and automatic. Straight and level flight quickly gave way to holding speed in a climb or descent and to more dynamic manoeuvres such as turns, initially level but then also during climbs and descents.
    It was not long before I had to start putting some of these skills together and so one day Jim announced “You can do the take-off today”, and then proceeded to brief me through all the sequence. Once in the jet with the engine fired up and all the systems checked Jim got taxi clearance from Air Traffic Control and then handed control of the Hawk to me. The taxi out I’d done a few times but once I had the jet lined up pointing down the runway I was entering new territory. With the ‘voice up front’ talking me through the procedure I checked from left to right across the cockpit that all the systems and settings were as they should be. With take-off clearance obtained, and a reminder to keep my feet on the brakes, I opened the throttle and checked that the engine rpm and turbine gas temperature (TGT) rose normally and that the engine control amplifier (ECA) held them to their limiting values. Then I released the brakes. And we were off …. accelerating down the runway at a rate that suddenly seemed a lot more rapid than when someone else was in control! First job keep the jet pointing down the runway, initially using the brakes but, as soon as there was enough draught over the rudder for it to be effective (about 40 knots), using that alone. In no time at all (or so it seemed) the speed was approaching 90 knots and it was time to gently move the stick slightly back to raise the nose wheel clear of the ground so that at around 130 knots only a very gentle further pressure was needed for the jet to get airborne.
    Once I had established the briefed pitch attitude and a positive climb rate a quick dab on the brakes stopped the wheels rotating so that the undercarriage could then be retracted, along with the flaps, before reaching their limiting speed of 200 knots. By this time the jet was heading upwards quite rapidly so I needed to level off before we blundered into controlled airspace above us, turn slightly right onto a westerly heading for the transit to the test area and allow the airspeed to build to around 350 knots, then throttle back to hold that speed.……. Oh yes, and breathe! That first take-off all seemed to come in something of a rush but, after further take-offs, I progressively started to feel that I was gaining control and no longer just desperately trying to keep up with the jet.
    So much for getting off the ground; the next, more delicate, challenge was to get the jet back on it. On a suitable flight, following completion of our test schedule and heading back to Dunsfold, I was given control at a safe height to practice decelerating the jet to circuit speed, trimming the jet as the undercarriage and take-off flap were lowered (hardly any change) and then again as full flap was lowered (quite a significant change). I also had to practise the recovery action if I let the landing approach speed get too slow. It was then a question of repeating these when we returned to Dunsfold (but not, intentionally, the ‘too slow’ bit!), only this time doing so at the appropriate points in the circuit. We entered the downwind leg, parallel to the main runway, and once the speed was below 200 knots the undercarriage and take-off flap were lowered and the speed allowed to decrease to around 160 knots. Then, with the downwind end of the runway behind the left wingtip, a left turn was commenced during which full flap was lowered, the extra drag starting the descent towards the runway. The aim was to roll out of the turn lined up into wind and pointing along the line of the runway at a speed of 130 knots and adjusting the throttle to give a rate of descent that would see us reach the runway before we contacted the ground. Sounds simple written like that, but felt more like a one-armed paper-hanger job at the time! As we crossed the runway threshold I raised the nose slightly to reduce the rate of descent and bleed off a bit more speed and then pulled the power back a bit to allow the jet to settle onto the runway. Once I felt the bump of the main wheels touching down I lowered the nose wheel onto the runway and started braking. It was just starting to sink in that I’d actually managed to land the jet when I began to get the feeling that all was not quite as it should be – we didn’t seem to be slowing down quickly enough. Co-incidentally the ‘voice up front’ said “It’s all right Trevor, we’re on the runway, you can close the throttle now”.……… B****r!!
    More take-offs and landings followed as opportunity allowed, all building towards the original objective of this training, a check of which was not long in coming. Again flying with Jim Hawkins, as we finished that particular test schedule at 2000 feet just off the south coast, Jim announced that he had just gone unconscious and that I would have to get us home. After which he went silent. Not just a landing then, first get back to Dunsfold. As this was an area we commonly used for test flying I was quite familiar with it. Selsey Bill was just north of and behind us, so I headed east along the coast past Bognor Regis to Littlehampton. Having double-checked that it really was Littlehampton I then turned north to cross the South Downs above the ‘Arundel Gap’. While keeping a wary eye out for light aircraft from Goodwood I called Dunsfold air traffic to tell them that we were returning to the field and where we were. Then, with Pulborough below us and Cranleigh up ahead, I was able to identify Dunsfold aerodrome. I prepared to join the circuit for landing remembering to tell Dunsfold Tower when we were positioned downwind to land and again when on final approach (and with a gentle reminder from air traffic) to confirm ‘three greens’ i.e. the undercarriage was down and locked. I managed not to make too much of a meal of the landing and then taxied in and parked the jet on the flight line where, as I shut the engine down, Jim made a miraculous recovery!
    Having confirmed that all the training had achieved its objective I continued to be given opportunities to fly the Hawk, as circumstances allowed, to keep the skills I had learned practised and also to expand on them. During the time I spent flying at Dunsfold I got to fly the Hawk through most of its flight envelope: take-offs, landings, stalling, spinning, supersonic dives, aerobatics, formation flying.  Apart from achieving the original objective of the training, from a professional perspective the practical insights that I gained from this training were of great benefit to the ground-based elements of my work planning flight tests and analysing the data from them. From a personal perspective it was an incredibly satisfying experience and I will be forever grateful to Jim Hawkins and all the other Dunsfold pilots involved for having had this opportunity.