On our first flight in the TB-58 two-pilot trainer version we were guided by an instructor pilot occupying the second seat. My pilot was in the front seat and I flew in the aft seat. We took off and flew around the sky Northwest of Fort Worth for a while. The instructor pilot demonstrated several flight characteristics of the B-58 and then my pilot took the controls to try his hand. He did quite well.

When it was time to come back to the area of the runway we went through our checklist procedures to configure the airplane for pattern and landing maneuvers. The instructor pilot made a few low passes over the runway and even a touch-and-go landing to familiarize us (my pilot, mainly) with how the airplane reacted at various speeds, rates of descent and other landing conditions. Soon my pilot was ready to try his hand at a landing, under the watchful eye of the instructor.

One feature of the B-58 which was also new to us was the intercommunication system. That airplane was equipped with an intercom system which didn't require us to 'key' our microphones to talk to one another. That feature was called the 'hot mike' and we not only heard each other's speech readily, we also heard breathing or coughing or other sounds made into the microphones in our oxygen masks.

Well, we came around the traffic pattern and turned onto the final approach. All was set to configure the airplane for landing. Our fuel panel was set. The gear was down. And the flight control system was in the manual mode with full elevator authority permitted.

We were on short final, perhaps a mile from the end of the runway, and lined up properly. My pilot was beginning to breath a bit heavier as he struggled to keep us on the proper glide path. The tower had cleared us for landing. We began to go a little low and a few knots faster than desired. The instructor calmly remarked that my pilot should correct the approach. "Bring her up a little .... that's it." he said. " Watch the airspeed."

Closer we came to the runway. My pilot's breathing got faster and faster. He huffed and puffed and even moaned a little as he intently approached touchdown. He sounded a little like he was making serious love with a beautiful woman. His breathing was dominating all intercom sounds. His acknowledgements of the instructors guiding words were mere grunts interspersed with pants and puffs of rapid breathing.