YOUR CALLSIGN IS ‘DOZEN’ – WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND IT AND HOW DOES TIMING FACTOR INTO HIGH-STAKES FLYING?

My callsign is Dozen, and the story behind it is one that’s usually shared over a pint, but I’ll tell it anyway. I was flying the F-15 out in Okinawa, Japan, my first flight in the Pacific after getting qualified on the aircraft. We were conducting training, manoeuvring against each other, and my flight lead was defensive. As soon as I called the engagement, he flew straight into a cloud. I wasn’t quite sure if that was just how things were done in this unit, so I carried on, expecting him to call a terminate. But he didn’t. I kept going, and just as he was about to call it, he suddenly popped out of the cloud. The problem? I’d been in maximum afterburner the entire time, so instead of sitting at a comfortable 400 knots, I was pushing over 500. The second I saw his aircraft’s movement, I realised I was late in the manoeuvre, really late. I needed to pull hard if I had any chance of saving the engagement.

So I rolled, I pulled, and in that moment, I exceeded the aircraft’s limit. The F-15 is only rated for 9Gs, but I pulled 12. That’s well beyond what’s acceptable, especially on your first flight in a new unit. And just to make sure I never forgot that moment, they gave me the callsign Dozen. Timing, of course, is absolutely critical in high-stakes flying. Whether it’s combat manoeuvres, formation flying, or air displays, split-second accuracy makes all the difference. In the Thunderbirds, for instance, we had a manoeuvre where we’d split into four aircraft, climb vertically, separate for miles, and then return to cross at the exact same moment, all within 100 feet of each other. With a closure rate of nearly 1,000 knots, even the slightest timing error could be catastrophic. Precision isn’t optional, it’s everything.

"Aviation was my path to freedom, but now it’s my entire life. Every time I fly, I know I’m where I’m meant to be."

TREVOR ‘DOZEN’ ALDRIDGE