Riddller

Thank god. There was a good guy in charge of that squadron, and I would have hated to see his career take a nose dive for someone else screwing up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but because it was something wrong with the design and never seen before, nothing adverse should happen to the leadership, right?

Was supposed to do an out and back last Thursday and broke in Arkansas! My IP and I had to drive back to Vance... 4 hours!! That sucked. My cross country started on Friday. We were supposed to go to Amarillo to get gas, then on to Albuquerque for the night. On to Denver on Saturday, then back to Vance on Sunday. Turns out that my plane had an inspection due so we had to come back to Vance on Friday. They had a plane for us on Saturday, so I made it out to Denver on Saturday night. 2 flights a day for 4 days including over a weekend, another flight today, two more tomorrow... I'm beat!!!

Sorry no post for a week, but I've only had one flight since my check ride, and that was last Monday. The weather was crappy after my check ride, so that's why no flights last week. This week its 'cuz I've been double-turning in the simulator every day. My 88 ride went good, I just had to fill out a boldface sheet and tell the IP how the engine worked. He was very happy. I'm supposed to go cross-country this weekend, but I needed to have all my navigation simulator rides done, which is why I've been doing so many sims. My instrument and navigation flight/sims have been going REALLY good. I'm way better at those compared to my contact rides, and I'm enjoying them more too. I'm doing my first "out and back" tomorrow too. We're probably going to Amarillo, shoot a bunch of approaches, stop and get a big steak for lunch, then come back via a bunch more approaches. Should be fun! Still no place I'd rather be right now...

(This goes for IFS and UPT) I won't go into where the number 88 and 89 comes from, you'll see it when you get here. If you hook a bunch of rides in a row OR hook a checkride, they give you what they call a "Progress Check", otherwise known as an 88 ride. If you hook that, you go to an 89 ride with the squadron commander, and he determines whether or not you'll stay in the program. On a checkride, though, you only have to do the 88 ride for whatever you hooked for. So if you busted an altitude on departure, you just go back up and fly a departure. If you hook for something on the ground, then you only have to repeat that ground item, hence the term "Ground 88", which is what I had. The caveat: you're only allowed a limited number of 88 rides, normally only one. So you don't want to use it up!

Yup, first flight I hook, and it's a check ride! I did fine in the air, screwed up some aerobatics, but no big deal. Had some crazy dealings with ATC, but handled them very well and my IP said he was very impressed. The problem came after the flight during the table-top Emergency Procedure. They give you a situation after every flight you do, and you have to talk through how you would get through it. It's the same with check rides. Anyway, if there's a boldface involved, you have to say it verbatim. One of the boldface I had to state was "ZOOM/GLIDE - 125 KNOTS (MINIMUM)" and I said "ZOOM/CLIMB - 125 KNOTS (MINIMUM)". I didn't even know I said it until he told me 15 minutes later! Anyway, mis-stating a boldface is an automatic hook. I have to do another table-top EP tomorrow on a "Ground 88 ride" and I'll be good.

This sucks. When they first told me I was doing my Final Contact checkride I was like, "Crap! That's too soon! I need more time!!". However, the winds were way out of limits all day on Friday, so nobody flew. AND we are having a "safety day" on Monday because of all those crashing T-38's, so now I'm not checking until Tuesday. I just want to hurry up and get it over with now! Oh well. Navigation test at 0650 tomorrow, guess I'll go study...

So it happened anyway, final contact checkride tomorrow. I'll be the first in my class to do it. I went from the 6th or 7th to do my midphase to the first on final contact. Oh well! Back to studying!

Busy busy... I've been flying and simming along with more classes pretty much non-stop since my mid-phase. We started doing our navigation classes which are fairly long. I actually did my 3rd area solo today too, which is unusual because we're only supposed to have two. They ran out of instructors this afternoon though, so it was either give me the flight or lose it. I'm now technically only two flights away from my Final Contact checkride, but I'm doing a night flight tomorrow which doesn't count. We're also doing night flying this week, which is nice because we don't have to go in until 1100, but sucks because we don't leave until 2200 or 2300. Oh well. Back to crew rest!

Had my Midphase Checkride today. I passed with a 'Good' but am mad at myself for messing up what I messed up. It was a crappy day all together. My check IP got changed 5 min before the brief so I had studied all the gouge for the wrong guy, then the weather was crappy and the IP had to take the controls at one point, and the field I was supposed to do my pattern work at was closed so I had to come back to Vance... and land on a runway I'd only flown to once before! Oh well, at least I passed. I did my first area solo this afternoon. It was a bit boring because normally they give you a flight after your midphase check to intro all the "advanced aerobatics", but I didn't get that, so I did a bunch of loops, aileron rolls, and split-S's, which I'd done a bunch of before. I did realize out there that I was darn happy they gave me the keys to a $4M plane to go practice whatever I wanted (almost), so that put it into perspective for me. There's still no place else I'd rather be right now.

So they "turned on the beer light" for my flight for the first time this afternoon. It just means you can drink beer in the flight room and tell funny stories about each other. A lot of other flights get it way earlier than we did, but with 5 guys on P-CAP they didn't want to. I also delivered our flight gift -- a kegerator me and some flight-mates built -- to the flight room today, so that probably helped! I had my first flight since my double-turn today too. Dental appointment on Wednesday and crappy weather on Thursday made today my first chance to go. 0600 brief... suck! Did pretty good but totally screwed up one of the visual references on the ground at one point and had us going in exactly the wrong direction! The IP said it wasn't the first time a student had done that and good thing it wasn't my check ride! I didn't hook the flight or anything, it was just a dumb move that was a good learning experience. After the flight I had another instrument sim, just a bunch of instrument approaches, not a big deal. I'm scheduled for my last flight in the block on Monday, which means I should be doing my mid-phase check ride on Tuesday. Pray for good weather!!

We had some of our guys on P-CAP not do so hot on their test this morning, so they couldn't fly today. I was scheduled for just one flight originally, in the afternoon, but after that test, I got thrown on a flight this morning with 4 minutes to plan. Luckily I already prepared two flights in advance, so I was ready to go. By the time I finished my debrief for my first flight, I was already late for my second one, so no time to rest. Before you solo, they aren't allowed to double-turn you on flights (they can on simulator missions though), but now that I'm done with my solo, they threw me right into it. It was cool, I got to do my first "official" aerobatics (I'd done some before, but couldn't log it). We did a bunch of aileron rolls, split-S's, and loops, along with all the other "basic" flying maneuvers (slow flight, stalls, etc...). I'm beat though! Another 12 hour day... You only get 4 flights after you solo until your mid-phase check-ride, and I'm already halfway there! We had the first guy in our flight do his mid-phase check today, and he passed. He said, "I found out out you (and your normal IPs) grade you way harder than the check-flight guys", so that made me feel good. Something else I learned, out of 12 guys in the flight, there's only 2 of us who haven't hooked a flight yet, so if you do hook a ride early on, don't let it get to you, it happens more than not. And just FYI, "hooking" a ride means you got an "Unsatisfactory" or "U", hence the "hook". It's also called a "taco" for obvious reasons.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the support, good luck to you both!!

Yeah! Solo today! Weather was great! I hadn't flown in ten days, so my pre-solo check was a bit rough the first 10 to 15 minutes, but then I figured it out and did fine. There was a bunch of people in the pattern so I had to do a bunch of go-arounds and low approaches, but whatever. For those of you not in the know, after your initial solo, your classmates grab you and throw you into the "solo tank" which is just a big tank of water. IF you can make it back to your flight room before they get you, then everyone in your flight owes you a case of beer. I made it back to the flight room, then they grabbed me and dunked me! Good times! On a not so good note, we had our first casualty at the end of last week. He was having problems with his basic aircraft control and so was finally let go. We wish him all the best!!

Still no solo, I'm scheduled for Monday. 10 days of no flying! Ughh!!! Everyone not on P-CAP had to take the stan test on Friday and everyone passed,so that was good. I actually aced my first one, woohoo! Hopefully the winds will be in limits and not too many clouds on Monday so I can solo. Cross your fingers!!

It's now Wednesday,and still the weather sucks, so no solo. I got some sims out of the way, but I'm done with everything I can do now, so it's just a lot of sitting around the flight room. I passed the stan test, but was one of only like 5 in the whole class who did so. Some failed the retest too, so now we've got 5 in my flight alone on P-CAP, which means they are on the Commander's Awareness Program for academics. Not a big deal, just lot's more tests and studying. Everybody did pass the weather test on Monday, though, which is good because normally it has a 30% fail rate. Back to studying!

Short post: I was supposed to solo today, but the weather was crap, so I'm on the schedule for it for tomorrow. We have our Friday Standards Test tomorrow, though, which is a huge pain. We've had like a 50% pass rate so far, if that. Now that the 15 day program is over, everything counts, so if I don't pass, I can't fly! Therefore... back to studying!

Most detachment commander's will rank a person with a decent gpa in engineering higher than someone with a fantastic gpa in underwater basket weaving, all other things being equal. I was Mech E, didn't really participate more than I had to until after FT, which then I had leadership positions, so I had to. I did have a good gpa (3.6), but it wasn't the best. I focused on my schoolwork though, and it showed in my gpa. I was still ranked very well and am now 2 months into pilot training. I will tell you right now, now matter much those 18 hour days in college suck, no matter how much the 12 hour days here at UPT suck, that first time you grease a touch-and-go, jam the throttle forward and pull up into a 30 degree nose high, 80 degree angle of bank, 3 G pull for downwind on a cloudless day to do it all over again, it's all worth it, and I'm sure those with more experience than me will tell you it just gets better. How much do you want it?

Jeez it's hard to catch a free minute in this place! Last Friday, yesterday and today were all 11 hour and 59 minute days. We haven't gotten out on a Friday before 1930 for 3 weeks! I didn't fly Friday but did two sims, and did a sim and flight both yesterday and today. The day started at 0630 with our Instruments 2 exam. I and most people did well, but we did have two failures. They'll have to get extra training and retest tomorrow. To show you have fluid the schedule can be, when I left yesterday I thought I was doing a sim in the morning and a flight in the afternoon, so that's what I prepared for. This morning I come in and find I'm just doing two sims, so I prepared for those. An hour later I was thrown onto a flight and then had to go straight to a sim after that without even debriefing the flight! Everything went well though. Some advice from someone who's doing pretty OK right now: Obviously you need to study the stuff they tell you to study, and chair-fly all your maneuvers and radio calls, and have basic aircraft control (heading, altitude, airspeed). You'll get the aircraft control stuff down pretty quick. What the IPs really want to see after that is that you have a plan before you take off for what maneuvers you're going to do and when you're going to do them, and then just tell him what's going on during the whole flight. If he doesn't say a thing the ENTIRE flight (AND it's not a check ride, those guys just write down what you f-up) then you know you did good. This is exactly what you'll do at IFS, so take that stuff to heart. That's it for now!

So if it's in Airman's magazine, do you you think anybody would mind if I'm packing my 1911 on the T-6?

Showed at 0730, got let loose at 1920, and I'm still studying for Stan Test #3 which is tomorrow. I was just supposed to have a sim today, but halfway through the formal brief this morning the scheduler IP threw my name on the schedule for the first takeoff. We didn't even have time to do stand-up or shotgun questions this morning after the brief because people had to go fly, me included. I had about 3 minutes to prep before sitting in front of an IP I'd never flown with before and telling him how the flight was going to go today. Goes to show all you future UPT'ers, always be ready ahead of time! Anyway, flight went great, I had about an hour of down-time afterwords, then I was briefing for my sim! Same thing tomorrow, sim in the morning then another flight. Except the weather is supposed to be crappy tomorrow, so I probably won't fly. And with academics, we probably won't get out until 1930... again. Oh well... nothing to do but keep going...

Flying went good today, significantly less wind then my last few flights. Get used to flying high cross-wind landings if you're coming to Vance, it's almost always windy. I completed the first block of training last Monday (6 rides) then started the second one today. We went up to 19,000 ft and did a bunch of spins. You can see a T-6 spin video somewhere on T-6 Driver.com if you don't know what one is. Anyway, it was a blast. Came back to Vance and did a bunch of patterns after that. My landings were WAY better than Monday (very little wind today). The day started at 0800 and we got let go at 1930. Long day again, oh well. Back to studying!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. We've still been crazy busy on the flightline. Flying, simulator missions, academics, studying for stand-up and shotgun questions, it just doesn't stop! Top that all with the fact that I got food poisoning last Thursday night! I was up all night with that (I'll spare you the details) then got put on quarters for Friday. I crawled back into bed at 0800 on Friday and didn't leave it until 1100 Saturday! I think I'm finally back to normal today. So I flew yesterday (didn't yack, which I thought I might) and did ok. The rudder is kicking my ass in this plane. We're in the middle of Instruments 2 academics too, which can get a bit tedious. I forgot to mention, everyone passed the Instruments 1 test, which I guess hasn't happened in a while. I'm a bit behind on my flights because of being sick and then having to make up all my academics classes, but it's not a big deal. We are actually going to have like 6 or 7 people in my class soloing by the end of the week, which is pretty cool. I probably won't be there until the end of next week. Tomorrow is pretty light on required studying (for a first) so I'm relaxing a bit tonight. Later!!

Thanks!

Oh man I'm tired. The last bunch of days has been non-stop! We're on the flightline at least 10 hours a day and it's still not enough! At least a couple hours a night is the minimum for studying right now, and we still don't know enough! We had our first weekly stan test on Friday (Standards test) and only one guy in the whole flight passed! Most missed 5 to 8 questions out of 20, and we studied!! So we had to take another test today but the IPs basically went over it first so everyone passed the second time. The weather was crappy today, so my flight was canceled but I did do another simulator ride. That brings me up to 4 flights and 2 sims since I got to the flightline. I keep getting told I'm doing "above average", so I'm happy with that, but I'm still working my butt off to do better. This week is a night-flying week (we're not night flying, but others are) so all the flights start later. Our show time was 0915 this morning and probably would have gone until 1900 or 2000 but we got to go early because of the weather. That was good though because we have our Instruments 1 test tomorrow morning that I had to study for. So all that and I've been renovating my guest bathroom since Saturday, I've been a busy man!! Back to relaxing for a few minutes...

So what, are you trying to start a flame war? Who cares? It wasn't a "4 or 5" striper. "Oh jeez, would we be having this discussion if Little Orphan Annie released this information?? Just a thought..." Useless post.