Riddller

eh, probably not. I don't know if anyone would be all that interested in my life at Altus for 4 months. From what I hear, it's fairly relaxed compared to UPT, more of a "big boy program". We'll see!

Thanks all!

Hey all, sorry I didn't post more details before this, they've had me flying my butt off since assignment night. The way it works after after your Nav check is this: 4 Formation flights 2 <Simulated> Air Drop flights 2 <Simulated> Air Refueling flights 1 Co-pilot flight Then you have assignment night. If you assign to a plane which does air drop, then you have 3 more air drop flights, another co-pilot ride, and an air drop checkride. If you track to a tanker, it's the same except you do 3 air refueling rides and an air refueling checkride. If you FAIP or track to a plane which does neither (UAV, U-28, MC-12, C-21, etc...) then they just pick which track you finish out on. I did air drop since I'm going to the C-17, and let me tell you, air refueling flights are WAY easier to plan and fly! Anyway, I had my checkride today, did very well, and now I'm done! Next Friday is graduation, where we actually get our wings, but for all intents and purposes, I'm done with UPT!! Woohoo!

Thanks all!

The drop list the IP's gave us was a fraud! C-17's to CHS wasn't listed, but they knew that was my first choice, and me and another guy who wanted it got it!!! Woohoo! Going to Charleston baby!!!

So we only get 4 "actual" formation flights, by which I mean only four flights where you work just on formation flying. After that, we do simulated airdrop and air-refueling flights, all of which are done as a formation. We're also in the process of filling out our drop requests at the moment. Should be interesting to see what happens!

Funny story... I was told after I left a certain unnamed B-2 squadron, the new casual who took over my exec job was told to order some more zaps. Instead of finding out the company they normally go through, he finds some fly-by-night company on the internet. Long story short, he sends $400 of squadron money (and gets nothing) to some company in Pakistan... probably to support Al Qaida... from a B-2 squadron! Define irony...

"2" to everything above. I wear my aircrew wings in my flightsuit right now, and have been since the start of UPT. I got a little crap in T-6's because the place they ordered the cloth nametags for the studs didn't have my wings "on file" and the place that did (Mardon Co.) didn't have the little picture they put next to your name on the tag "on file". Therefore, I wore my leather nametag with my wings all the way through T-6's. Sorry, but I worked my butt off for those wings (school was even harder than UPT) so I'm going to wear them. It wasn't a problem in T-1's because they used Mardon Co. for their cloth nametags. As soon as I get my pilot wings, though, I'll only wear them in my flight suit. Like others said, I've seen guys with two sets of wings on their patch in flightsuits (including jump wings), and I think it's gay too. I've got jump wings so technically I could have had them on my flight suit patch too, but no thanks. Right now in Blues I'll wear both wings, but as soon as I'm done with UPT, I won't wear the jump wings, just the Pilot and Aircrew wings.

My Dad dropped USAA after 40 years. They built/moved into their retirement house in NC and USAA wanted $5,000 a year to insure it. Nationwide wanted $600 for the exact same coverage. It had to do with how far away the fire-station was. It was a bit far, but Nationwide had driven the route and knew it was all highways and that it would take no time at all for the trucks to get there. USAA refused to do the same. I've got USAA and am generally happy, except for the fact that their "overdraft protection" won't let me draw on my savings account funds when my checking is empty and I'm using my check-card. Something EVERY other bank allows you to do... I know, my wife has worked for most of them.

Finally go my Nav check out of the way before the holiday break last week. I did extremely well and am very happy, hopefully that will make up for my dumb mistakes on my Trans check! When we get back from the break, it will be straight into formation and Mission Fam (simulated air-refueling and air-drop flights). Only 4 weeks to Assignment night on Jan 29th!

2!! My fav's: The Carousel Bar (don't get too drunk or you'll fall off) and the Jan Bar. Both in Pattaya.

One week until I Nav check. I was flying only once a week for the last few, which sucks because you lose a lot in that week. Checklists don't go as fast, your not as smooth on the landings, etc... but I've flown twice this week so far and will probably fly on Thursday and Friday as well. That's good, because the flying in general goes a lot better, but bad in that it can be draining. Regardless, I'd rather be flying than not. I should two-check on Monday then do the Nav check on Wednesday. Lot's of stress! The days are still about the same, show up at 0800 or so if your not flying and hang out until 1300 or so, or show anywhere from 0700 to 1200 if you are flying. Back to it!

2nd generation Dad was a C-118 pilot for 11 years in the Navy... all his stories gave me my love love for traveling!

LSI are the sim/academic instructors in the blue suits. Mostly retired pilots who want to talk about whatever plane they used to fly and 'how it was in their day' when you're sitting in a classroom at 2000 on Friday. Maybe I'm overstating it, this has happened to me, but for they most part they're good dudes who really want to teach you.

Best advice I got prior to UPT: Study NOTHING ahead of time except for Boldface/Ops limits. You'll be given time to study and and know everything you need to know after UPT starts, and studying ahead of time will in no way minimize the number of late nights spent studying stuff for the first month of T-6's. Enjoy your time on casual!

So I'm about 3-quarters of the way through the Nav phase of T-1's now, which, they say, is the "meat and potatoes" of T-1 training. Had my first low-level flight yesterday, it was fun flying 230 kts at 500 feet, but the completely flat terrain of northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas doesn't exactly inspire youtube videos of yanking-and-banking through canyons... not that the T-1 ever would anyway! There's a number of guys in the "senior class" of my flight who are now Nav-check complete, and are happy to have it over with. It sucks that you have the pressure of your ENTIRE flying career come down to one checkride, but what can you do? I should be there in a few weeks. I can honestly say I'm still having fun... when I'm in the air. It still makes the rest of the a$$-pain worthwhile! Later!

A dude who started in my class (he got rolled back a couple, but is still flying and doing well) is 6'11". He couldn't go to IFS at Pueblo because he couldn't fit in the DA-20, so did IFS in a Cessna near Vance. There were two guys in my IFS class who were 6'5" or 6'6" and both graduated. The 6'11" dude had to get an extra check-out from the flight-doc at the beginning of T-6's, and was told if he ejected, he'd probably lose his knee-caps. He's currently about a third of the way through T-1's. If he can do it, anybody can!!

Just got back from my cross country. We only get one while we're in T-1's and more than likely it will just be a one-nighter during the week. Some people get to do them over a weekend, by not many. The other student I was with and I went to Omaha then spent the night in Denver. On the way back, we stopped in Rapid City then came home. It was cool getting out of the local area and doing mission planning on the road. I'm now finished with the first half of the Nav phase of training. I, as well as most of my class, am WAY ahead of schedule because the weather has been mostly good and our flights have been going as planned. At this rate, pretty much everyone should be Nav-check complete well before Christmas, which is cool. Supposedly only our flights through the Nav check count towards our class standing, so it will take a load off of us for the Christmas break if we're done before then. However, we've also been told that some people have been slacking off after their Nav check and have actually been kicked out of pilot training because of it! I guess the last 3 people to be dropped out of T-1's have made it all the way to the Mission Fam phase! Therefore, I'm definitely going to be staying in the books even after I'm Nav-check complete. Back to it!

Had three rides in the "Nav" phase of training now. Good times! Pretty much every ride in the Nav block is an Out and Back, so now I've had lunch in Lubbock and Ft. Worth with the T-1. I'm planning on going to Abilene on Tuesday 'cuz I hear there's a fantastic steak place open in the evenings called the Beehive. We'll see! The flights are usually two hours out then 2 hours back. You fly someplace about 30 min away, do a bunch of approaches, then continue on to your "outbase" another 30-45 minutes away, do another approach or two, then land and get lunch. One student takes the trip out, then the other student takes the trip back, unless only one student, then you get both legs. Still having fun! (when flying)

Nobody has had a problem with it for me. I've had senior IPs even ask me when my next post is gonna be.

Doh!!! Had a great flight, only 4 downgrades, and I hook for ground stuff!! I'm a dummy, it was my own stupid fault, but I'm not going into specifics. I just need a swift kick to the jimmy. All my flights have been great up to now, and hopefully that will continue. It just sucks that I get the hook on a check ride! Oh well, guess I have to take my lumps and move on. Ground-88 tomorrow. The days are still the same. Show at 0530, start briefing between 0600 and 0700, takeoff between 0800 and 0900, fly for 3.2 hours or so, spend an hour debriefing, then grab lunch and study until 1730. Airshow at Vance this weekend, I'll be selling burgers or something on Saturday morning, come say hi! Later!

ECP's are gay. Case in point: I was in Guam, crew on a -130 there for an exercise. I need to grab something from the plane, so the Load and I, in our civvies, go to base ops and request transpo. Transpo picks us up, takes us out to our plane, which is roped off. We go through the opening in the ropes, but realize the plane is locked and neither of us has the key. So we proceed tp break into our own plane through the emergency escape hatch. I grab my stuff, and close the hatch behind me, all while the transpo guy is waiting. He gives us a ride back to baseops. AT NO POINT did ANYONE ask either me or the Load to show them ANY form of ID, but we walked through the ECP's, so we were OK. Yeah, great security.

I'm up to 9 flights now, still doing good. I need 4 more flights before my first checkride, the "Transition Check". I went to Amarillo today to do touch-and-goes. Nice, place! LONG runway, but lot's of birds. Which reminds me, I hit a bird a couple flights back, and didn't even know it! We got on the ground and did a walk-around after the flight, and had a big bloody smear across the right of the nose! It didn't do any damage (to us anyway) so it was no big deal. These 0530 show times every day are getting REALLY old though. We're usually done flying by 1230 or so, but then have to sit around "studying" until 1730. There's only so many hours a day you can spend staring at the Dash-1 before you you just want to stab yourself in the eye! Oh well, I keep telling myself I'm "living the dream". The flying is still a blast, it's the rest of the stuff that's getting old. I guess there's still no place I'd rather be though! Later!

Had my fifth ride today, went really well. I needed to do a "pattern only" flight, so this was it. I got like 10 landings in. The aircraft control is pretty much there, and my SA is definitely bigger than most with my prior Nav time, but it's also definitely not where it needs to be. I'm starting to get to the point where I don't have to worry as much about my aircraft control and can start concentrating more on expanding my SA bubble. I missed some stuff today, but it was good training. Last week we were in at 0730 or so because it was a night week, but now we're back to 0530. It's rough getting back to the go-to-bed-early-so-you're-not-dead-the-next-day routine. We also had our Enroute Nav academics test last Friday, supposedly the hardest class of them all. Everybody passed though. We're doing Systems 6 now, which is all about the weather radar, autopilot, etc... It's not bad, mostly CAI's, which I like. Back to it!

Flying is going well, but I've only had two flights so far. My third will be tomorrow. I'm actually really surprised at how much better I did on my second flight than I did the first. I think it was just not flying for a month that did it. I was by no means perfect, and made some mistakes, but did some of the landings, maneuvers, etc... really well too. I'm not the only one in my class to make these comments either. The days are long, again. Last week we were in at 0500 every day and usually didn't leave until 1700. Lot's of studying, stand-ups, and shotgun questions. They start you out fairly easy, though, plus my class got to see what the senior class was being asked, so we pretty much know what's coming. The guys who were Navy trained down in Pensacola are having a bit of a rougher time than those of us who went through T-6's too. It almost makes me glad I didn't go through Pensacola myself! It's not the flying itself they're having problems with, it's learning all the Airforce publications, how to do stand-ups, what kinds of questions will be asked on the tests, etc... This weeks work hours are bit nicer because it's a "night week" for the base, meaning all the T-6/T-38/T-1 guys who need night flying time can get it in, and it happens once every three weeks. We're not doing night flights yet, but we don't have to come in until 0700, which is nice. Bad part is we don't leave until 1900. Oh well.