1 Aug 07-
Well, to add on to my story for the picture above.....
I shot it! I could not stand the thought of my grandfather owning a Compaq any longer, so we took out a gun and shot it! I want everyone on the face of the earth to know that any HP or Compaq product is just not worth it... please, let me prove a point. I have been working on this compaq for the last seven or eight hours and have gone no where but in circles. I ran the Windows 2000 installation, but it would not boot up. I installed Windows XP, but it would not boot up. I even went back to the old days and installed Windows 98 SE, but it would not finish the boot. So then I stuck the hard drive in my personal case with an ABIT mother board and NVidia video card (home built) and everything worked just fine on the first install. I could probably do a little more investigation into why the Compaq machine was not completing the install, but I ask you: is it worth it? NO... big fat NO! I figure I'll give my grandfather my old home built set that I know will last rather than let him have this Compaq POS that may not work on any given day. Why you ask? Well... that just gives me an excuse to build a new one :) Nuf Said.
27 June 07-
Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I just got the GUESTBOOK back up and running. It was down for a while and I didn't know why. Must have done something wrong in the code. But since I re-did it, I got the email option up and running which means if you think I don't have your email address, you can put it in there and I can email you back. Marge, if you read this, please leave me yours because the last one I had for you was Nellis and I can't get ahold of you :( So please, everyone, leave some comments if you're up for it.
23 Jun 07-
Well here we are, almost five and a half months after we got to Little Rock, we're almost done. This will be our last weekend here at the Rock so our friends are throwing us a huge BBQ tomrrow afternoon to say "see ya later". I think they're happy to get rid of me because I am a better pilot than all of them, so now they will finally have a chance to shine.... I'm just kidding! but not really :) Anyway, it should be a nice farewell thing. We also went out to a place last night called the Electric Cowboy. I know Nicole would have loved it! I even got to ride a mechanical bull. I stayed on at least eight seconds, so go me! It hurts though. Your inner thighs are shot after.
As far as flying goes, it was an unnecessarily hard transition from academics on the "hill" to going down to the flight line. I didn't feel like they prepared me at all as far as general knowledge goes, so it was a pretty rough transition. I actually received a conditional (not quite pass, not quite fail) on the first GK session (class) down there. And it wasn't because I was a slacker, it was because the program is flawed which sux. But I wrestled through that and after the next couple of rides, I was up to speed. I basically just have to do an Emergency Procedures Exam (EPE) on Monday and take a Check Ride on Wednesday and I'll be done. It's going to be sad, leaving here and not being able to fly the Herc again for a few months. But the great thing is that when I start training at Kirtland, we are going to be doing some extremely exciting stuff that should be a lot of fun. So I have some great things to look forward to. And it means that I am that much closer to being operational at Moody, which is what I have been waiting for since I started the journey over two years ago! So please keep praying for Em and I. If you have a chance, check out the video by clicking here, and pictures on the "photos" link to the left. We'll be home soon. Can't wait to see everyone!
4 Jun 07-
It's been about four or five weeks since I got checked out as a Herc pilot so we've started learning all of the fun tactical stuff that this aircraft can do. It's a blast. Believe it or not, for such a heavy aircraft, she acts like a little single engine. We do takeoffs and landings on 3000 foot runways, and to get on them, we spiral down with our nose pointed at the ground. Pretty amazing stuff! All of this I have done in sims so far, but I hit the flight line on the 15th to do it in the actual plane. Should be a lot of fun. Shortly after that, we will be done here and will be headed on our way back to Corpus. We should have some time off there, so if anyone wants a vacation this summer, give me a call and we'll head out to the beach on the boat.
26 Apr 07-
Holy Crapolla!!! Could it be real? As of Tuesday morning, I am a fully quallified C-130 Hercules pilot! It's absolutely a dream come true for me. I told you earlier about the two checkrides that we had leading to the flight line. Well I got a perfect score on those... so what better idea than to follow it up with a perfect score on the flightline? So I did. I got a Q1, no downgrades on what they call a landing checkride. I was, needless to say, pretty damn happy about it.
The first time I got into the actual plane, it felt like I was strapping into a Boeing 747 or something because it was so huge compared to the planes we had been flying. The T-6, if I remember correctly, weighed in at about 5 or 6 thousand pounds. The T-44 weighed in at just below 10 grand. This baby weighs in at a hefty empty weight of 110 thousand pounds, and we usually take off with around 130 or more for training. So holy Cow! It took a bit of getting used to. But after the third flight, it felt like she was a part of me and like I was flying our old Cessnas again. My SA grew and the plane got smaller, which is of course what we want. And I guess it shows because I didn't have any problems on the checkride.
So that's the latest in a nutshell. Emily and I have about a week off because we finished early, so we are going to head down to New Orleans to see the family. It's my mom's birthday this sunday, so my sister and I are going to surprise her by having all three kids in town at the same time to see her. I think she'll be pleased. I just hope she doesn't read this before Sunday :) But I'll take the chance so that I can update everyone else. So that's about it from here. Be on the lookout for some pictures of huge Bass soon!
11 Apr 07-
What a spectacular light show outside. The pictures posted above were taken by em and I last week around midnight, although due to the lightning it looks like it could be at dawn. Then tonight, another storm just rolled through that was twice as amazing. I love being back on the east side of the country. In the desert and in Texas (basically the desert), there were no shows like the ones I have seen this past week. I am so attracted to God's creation and I know soon or later, I'll just have to walk outside (again) to see it and I'll get struck :) mark my words. But I just figured I would share it with you since it was so beautiful.
On the business side of the house, I just had my Instrument check ride today. The instructors here truely do a great job at teaching us what we need to know because I was so confortable in the brief, and we had an almost flawless flight. I say almost because there is always some thing that you can do better... no matter what. It looks like I am off to a pretty good start with my flying career. My first two checkrides were both Q1's with no downgrades. The grading scale goes Q1 no downgrades, then Q1 with downgrades. Both are good scores. Then there's Q2 which means you will need more instruction before you can move on. And finally, there's the dreaded Q3 which meand you failed and need instruction and another checkride. So needless to say, I'm very proud and happy about my score. My partner got the same.
So now that two out of the three checkrides are done, the only thing left is to hit the flightline and land this puppy. Incidently, that's the last checkride. It's called a landing check, which I'm sure would make everyone feel better if we are fully quallified to land. We meet at the flight planning room tomorrow afternoon to get an orientation, and will probably be in the air on Friday. So wish me luck and please continue to keep all of us in your prayers.
1 Apr 07 -
Well, it's april fools and normally I would tell my mom that we're pregnant. But she's been wanting grand kids so much lately that I think it would be cruel. Instead, I will report that everything is normal and things are good here in Little Rock. I hit the flight line in about a week and a half and can't wait. I have two check rides coming up next week. One we call an EPE which is an emergency procedures evaluation. They basically make sure we can do everything right if the ---t hits the fan. After that, I have an instruemnt checkride. We'll be doing some instrument approaches either here at the base, at the Little Rock Municipal, or up at Fort Smith. Did I mention these will all be in the sims. They are so realistic that we have official Air Force checkrides in them. Pretty impressive. So after that, we'll hit the flight line and practice for the third and final checkride which is our landing check. They have to make sure we can actually land this huge plane without breaking anything. Landing in real life is much different than in the sims. People don't really get hurt in the sims :)
Other than that, we've found a great hang out place in downtown little rock. It's called the flying saucer. It's got about 250 beers on tap and there is usually a live band on weekends. During the week, they do some fun stuff like trivia night and mug night where you get to keep the beer much that it came in. They also have a UFO club where if you drink all of the 250 beers, you get your name in a book and get a gold saucer put on the wall. I don't think I can do it in the short time that I'm here, but plenty of my friends have been up for the challenge.
So that's about it right now. I've added a guestbook to the bottom of the page so please feel free to drop a line.
17 Mar 07 -
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
wow, it's been a long time since I have written on this thing. I went from having absolutely nothing to do, to having no time :) definately not a bad thing. We stated here at Little Rock on Feb 12. I got here a day prior and checked into a hotel on base. That is where I was supposed to stay, but since Emily and I decided that she would be here with me while I was training, I wanted something a little better than a hotel room. So we decided to see if we could get a house on base. I didn't think it was possible because we are only going to be here for about five months, but turns out it was possible. We actually got a three bedroom, two bath with a yard (and fence for Guinness) that is fully furnished. We are spending a little bit out of pocket (i.e. they won't pay us back for it) but I think it's worth every penny. Especially because we get to have our dog while we're here.
So after all that, I got hot and heavy into my classes. For the first four weeks, we had academics during the week. We had Engine/Powerplant and Bleed Air the first week. Then Hydraulics and Landing Gear the second week. Then the third week was pretty hard because we learned a whole lot of stuff in two days for a test on the third day (three day week). We also had our first cockpit procedures trainer sim that week which made for a very busy week. Then our last week of academics was crazy too because we had more sims and had to learn Performance, which is reading a bunch of charts. I don't particularly like performance, which is probably why I just barely passed the test. But I passed and that's what matters when you don't like something.
So then this week has been chocked full of sims. We had three WST's which is the full up motion/visuals simulator with all the bells and whistles. We also had two CPT's which teaches us emergency proceedures by showing us what we would see on the indicators if someting were to happen. With all of that, we have a couple hours of briefs before and after each sim where we talk about the aircraft systems and emergencies, as well as just how to fly the airplane, which is pretty important too :)
So that's basically it for now. Things are going well here and Em and I are both very happy. I look forward to hitting the flight line next month and actually taking one of the Herks up in the air! Should be a lot of fun. Take care, everyone. I'll try and update this thing more often, but I'm sure it's going to stay pretty busy here till about June.
3 Jan 07 -
Hey everybody, there's not too much to write about again. We've basically just been sitting around since Christmas waititng to move to Little Rock. the movers are coming on Monday and we're very excited about that. Ready to give away this house. It's not a bad house, but they don't keep it up too well. Definately ain't worth $1500/month! It'll be nice to start flying again too. Especially now that we'll be flying the Herc!!! It's been my dream since I can't even remember and it'll now be time to do it! I bet that I'll have a lot to write next month. for any pilot's following this web site, I'll try to include as many details about the Herc as I can.
So anyway, like I said, there's not too much to write right now so come back in a couple weeks and see whats up. See ya later!
15 Jan 07 -
Well, it's been a while since I've written in this blog, mostly because I haven't been home to do it. After I got my wings, I basically was in limbo waiting for orders to do other things. In early December, I headed to some servival training where we lived in the woods for a while, not eating much and hiking for miles up snowy hills. After that, I headed home to New Orleans where Em and I were able to take a MUCH needed break from life. We spent Christmas with her family and mine and I was able to sit around and let my body heal from the weeks before. Now it's kind of more of the same thing. I am waiting around for orders to go to Little Rock AFB where I will learn how to fly the C-130 Hercules. After that, Em and I will be back here in Corpus where we will wait for another five to eight months. Sometime in October, November, or December, we'll get orders to go to Kirtland AFB in New Mexico where I will learn to fly the HC-130 which is the Search and Rescue platform. After that, we'll finally get to go to Moody AFB, Georgia where we will be able to settle down for about three or four years. It has been a crazy year, and we still have another one ahead of us that will be just as crazy. It's basically going to be moving five times in two years, which is an extremely hard task and takes it's toll on us. But we're definately up for the task. I think the end game of it all will be worth all that we've gone through. We will be at Moody AFB, GA for four years doing Combat Search and Rescue, the noblest of missions. Please wish us luck in our travels. May they be short and uneventful!
9 Nov 06 -
2 Nov 06 -
I forgot to write on my blog that I was finished the program. I flew my last flight on Tuesday of last week so that Emily and I could go on leave to Las Vegas for six days. We went there for a wedding of two of our close friends and had a blast! So now that Iam finished, the only two things to do is find out where we are going next and put on my wings. One of the two we found out today. Obviously it's up top on the page. It's a great location for us near many major cities and close to most of our family. So I think we are going to have a wonderful three years there. It's been one hell of a year and it's almost done! Can you believe it? I know we can't.
19 Oct 96 -
Wow, these last few rides are taking forever! Will it never end? The weather went to absolute crap these past two weeks and now I have cancelled five flights because of it. Obviously, I can't control the weather, but it's sort of crunch time right now to get done because if I can get done by this Tuesday, I get granted leave to go to a wedding in Vegas. It's an important trip for me because not only do I get to see two of my dearest friends get married to eachother, I get to see my aunt who will not be able to make it to my graduation. So needless to say, I am going to pull all of the strings I can to get these flights done.
But lets talk about the flights :) They are absolutely awesome. What we are simulating is that we are C-130s flying on a very specific route at 500 feet above the ground to drop off supplies, food, or people to what we call a drop zone. That is, of course, the official description of these flight. But what we are really doing is enjoying the hell out of these last few flights we have in the T-44. I brought my camera yesterday and took some awesome pictures and videos that I'll post on here soon. It's all VFR flying, so we can basically go anywhere and do anything around south Texas. I have to say, you feel pretty bad ass when you can just take a military aircraft anywhere around south texas and have some fun. The landing is one of the most fun parts of the flight, though. We call it a tactical highspeed overhead. Basically, we overfly the field at 1000 feet and 200 knots and do a 270 degrees turn for a landing. It comes pretty fast and furious which gets the blood pumping. Pretty awesome stuff!
Well Lou and Falecia, I'm doing everything I can to be there for your day. I hope and pray that I can make it. If I can't, please know that I want nothing more than to be there and there was nothing I could do. Good luck in the future... and enjoy the luvy dubby part of the marriage. It's the best part :)
13 Oct 06 -
Hey everybody. It's almost time for me to be done this pilot training thing. I am down to my last five flights in a military training aircraft and boy are they glorious! These last seven are what we call low level flights. We fly at 500 feet and pick out points on the ground based on a map that we have in our hands. Before the flight, we do a little planning to hit a certain point about 70 miles away within five minutes of what we planned. The best thing about it, though, is that they consider us done at this point. We are military instrument rated pilots, so these flights are all about us learning what will happen when we are operational. All the hazing is over and now we're out to have a little fun. In a couple of weeks, we're going to go into an office and find out where we will be flying for the next few years. My plan is to get either Little Rock AR, Valdosta GA, or Ramstein Germany so wish me luck. Some of the other places we can be assigned are Tucson AZ, Abelline TX, or Yakota Japan so we're basically ready for anything...but hopefully we get our first choice :)
Here's some of the recap of what happened after 21 Sep. I did pretty well to say the least. After that first instrument checkride, I went into the more advanced instrument stuff with a lot of precision work and lost engines on approaches. They started giving me a bunch of problems in the air like lost generators and fuel problems that I had to figure out what was going on and fix it, or make the decision to go home and land quickly. These rides included four of the hardest rides I'll probably ever see that they call Review Rides, and anything goes. They call it review because anything that we've seen in the past six months can be brought up in these flights. After I got through those, I did a solo cross country flight with one of the other students. It was awesome because we got to choose where we were going to go. We decided to go back to Laughlin where I did my first bit of training. I saw all of my old instructors and the students that I flew with over there. It was pretty cool to be able to fly into there with no instructor and tell everyone that I was doing pretty well in Corpus.
So the next step is to find out where we are going, and then to get my WINGS on 9 November! Should be a blast. Just about the whole family is coming in to see it, including my Uncle who is just about the busiest man in the world. It's a pretty huge accomplishment for me and it's going to be nice to spend it with all the people who helped me get here.
Please keep up the prayers and wish me luck on these last few flights. Should be a lot of fun! See you all soon.
21 Sep 06 -
Hey, guess what... I did it again! I have been very busy since that check ride on 15 Aug, in fact, I had another one a couple of weeks back. It was my first instrument checkride. We basically did all non-precision approaches and they made sure that I could navigate on a map using instruments. It wasn't too difficult. The worst one is yet to come though. We are going to have four flights in a row that count for a lot in this program. They are called "review stage rides" and basically involve everything that we have learned up to this point. Anything that we have seen thus far we can be asked about. Everyone talks it up as extremely difficult which is good because thats usually the way that we go into the rides thinking that we have to do everything perfectly to pass. The truth is, if you show that you know what you are supposed to know and don't screw things up too badly, you'll pass. In any case, keep up the prayers because these flights will be the hardest rides that I ever see!
15 Aug 06 -
I DID IT... son of a bitch, I did it! I just had my T-44 contact checkride today. I have never been so nervous about a checkride in my life! I have to admit, I let my nerves get the best of me but it doesn't matter because as soon as we did our last checkride landing at Cabinis Field, he got out and let us two students solo. The solo was a bit anti-climactic but it was nun the less fun. For the checkride, we basically went out to the area and did some turn patterns, slow flight, approach stall, and dynamic engine cut (which I had to do twice because I got slow). Then I took us back to Cabinis field where we each did about eight patterns consisting of engine fires, high prop readings, flaps not working and chip lights. You have to handle each case in a specific way and that's what they are looking for. Because I was so nervous, my hands couldn't tweek the power to where it needed to be, so I was a bit fast on a couple of patterns. We are supposed to fly them at 120 and at one point I looked down and I was at 140! Which is not good in the pattern because it screws all of the other planes up. Anyway, other than letting my nerves get the best of me, I flew a pretty good plane. Now it's on to what we call "RI's" which is Radio Instruments. Basically instrument approaches and flight plans. No more VFR and contact sorties, which is a good thing. Just one step closer to my wings!
8 Aug 06 -
Time to talk about Corpus! If you read any of my blogs from when I was at Laughlin, you'll know that I never had any time over there! I was either flying, studying or sleeping. Here is a completely different story. I am now in and settled at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, TX and this is honestly the best kept secret in the Air Force. Since I have been here, I have basically either been in a plane or on the shoreline of the bay doing some fishing. This program is so much different than how the Air Force does it. At Laughlin AFB, we basically had a 12 hour day no matter what. We would go to the flight room in the morning and leave when everyone was finished everything for the day. Here is a freakin' dream come true! We go into work to brief about 1 hour or so before we fly and go home after we de-brief the flight. Which means we basically have a 5 hour day. Not just that, but when we aren't scheduled to fly, we don't go in at all! So we have days off all of the time. How cool is that!!??
As I mentioned in my last blog, I am now flying the T-44 which is a multi-engine turbo prop kingair. It's a lot of fun to fly and is actually easier to fly than the T-6. It's kind of interesting too how easy it was to learn and understand this aircraft. I think it's because it's the second one where I've had to learn all of the systems and procedures, so it comes a lot easier the second time around. I'll try to get some pictures on here before long. It looks like we are scheduled to finish the program on 9 November for anyone who needs to plan ahead. Just note that if we have any sort of significant weather that holds us back, the date could change.
Along the same lines as when I was at Laughlin, we went through academics and then hit the flight line. Only difference is that the academics were 2.5 weeks instead of 2 months. You can imagine how much I liked that! Plus, the Navy has a little modow of "live by the gouge, die by the gouge" which basically means talk to the people ahead of you and get all of their notes from the tests they have taken. You can imagine that after about 20 years of this program, the gouge is down to a science. So that's another reason this program kicks ass! The flight line here is basically the same as it was at Laughlin. Get your plane and go fly it. Right now we are doing contact maneuvers and will be shortly moving on to instrument stuff. The contact stuff isn't nearly as exciting as the T-6 because we aren't doing any aerobatics, however it is pretty damn cool when you completely shut off an engine while you are flying just to show the student how she handles with one engine. I have to say it's a pretty humbling site when your prop is not moving at all and you're only at about six thousand feet. But don't worry, we just start it up again and are on our way.
I mentioned fishing in the beginning of the entry. That's something we have been doing a lot of. I am going to try to take more pictures of what I catch, but to sum it up, I have caught over 50 fish since I've been here including a sting ray, flounders, a 6 pound black drum, and a 4 pound spotted trout. The water here is extremely healthy which makes for some very energetic fish. Talk about a fight! So if anyone has some extra time, just give me a call and come on down and we'll do some good fishing!
So that's the summary of how it's been here since we moved. I'm just going at it one day at a time and enjoying the free time. I can't wait till the day when I don't have to worry about this formal training environment any more but there's still some time before that happens. Please keep up the prayers. If you're ever curious, just send me an email to see how things are going.
27 Apr 06-
Well, not too much to report. We are basically on standy to standy till we get more information about going to Corpus. So what am I doing in this time you might ask? Well...... click here to find out! Yep, catching up on all of the %hi% I never had time to do before!
The latest word we have heard is that my start date for T-44/UC-12's is 30 May, but I still have to go to water survival training in Pensacola before then.
Now it's off to do the dishes :)
21 Apr 06-
We did it!! I am T-6 complete and just got assigned to Corpus Cristi Naval Air Station to train for the Mighty C-130 Hercules. I will have to train on the T-44A or the UC-12B for six months before I go to the C-130, but I am basically half way there! Em has some pictures of the track select so as soon as I can get my hands on them, I'll put them on here. I will have to go to water servival school before we move down to Corpus, but from what I hear, that is a pretty fun course and I can't wait. I will probably be here at Laughlin for another three weeks before we move, so I can catch up on some things that I didn't have time for before. Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts and please keep them us because I am only half way to my wings.
T - 44 A
UC - 12 B
9 Apr 06-
It's nice to finally be at a part of the training where we are not worried about the grade we are getting or what we are screwing up. We are finally on the Formation phase of T-6s and it is a blast. We all know how to fly the jet now and we are just going out there and having fun. I am scheduled for a solo flight tomorrow where I will be on another student's wing and I have no IP in the back to tell me how it is. It's actually kind of funny because some of the IPs prefer to be further away from the other aircraft, and some will tell you to keep getting closer all day... usually the fighter guys. But we continue to learn every time we go up and now we actually have time to enjoy it too.
We are finally off of what we call "Formal Release" which means that when we are not flying, we can leave. Before, we just had to stay in the flight room till the end of the day which is usually about 12 hours. It's wierd because I am so used to being in the books and chairflying all the time that when I go home in the middle of the day, I don't know what to do with myself. Last Friday, me and a couple of other guys went out the lake fishing. we caught about 11 bass and it felt like a three day weekend...GLORIOUS!
Emily and I just bought a dog :) it's a miniature daschund. We got it because we want to freak out our cat when it sees a dog that is the same size as it. It gets here on Thursday with my mom. I thinik we are going to name it Guiness becasuse it is black and tan... it only makes sense. Pictures to follow soon.
Our track select day is going to be on the 20th now instead of the 21st because our Wing CC is having a change of command that day. So we will do it one day earlier... none of us are complaining.
That's all I have for now. I'll be posting what I get in the track, so come around the website sometime after the 20th if you're interested.
13 Mar 06-
I have to premise this blog entry by saying that I am extremely proud of myself for what I have done in this instrument phase. As far as flying goes, I have done the ultimate come back and have taught myself a whole lot in the process.
Basically, this has been the hardest block of training for me. When I was at Nellis, I flew a lot of visual flights that were basically point your nose and go. That may be why I did pretty well in the contact phase of this training. With this instrument block, I got into something I have never done before and it was pretty difficult to pick up and took a whole lot of work.
That being said, here’s how it went. Before we started instruments, we did our cross-country flights which showed us a lot about how to fly outside of this canned environment we call Laughlin. We shot a whole lot of approaches and didn’t have much time to make errors. Here, it’s different because the same profiles are flown every day and therefore it’s very easy to recognize when you are not doing something right… or very easy for the IP’s to recognize rather. So after the cross countries were done, we were all feeling pretty good about what we had done, but unfortunately we had to get our minds back on the training environment here.
I started off with a very bad ride. We flew to Rock Springs, about 50 miles north of here and my head was literally in my ass so of course I couldn’t see anything I was doing. And after all was said and done, I hooked the ride. Then came my next ride after that. This time, my head wasn’t so far up my ass that I couldn’t see, but I did some stupid things that earned me a fair (fair is bad) on that ride. And the ride after that pretty much went the same way.
Now the weird thing was that I was flying these exact same profiles in the simulator and was getting goods and excellents on them. So I know the steps and procedures for this instrument stuff, but I wasn’t able to apply it in the plane. So obviously it was time to kick my own ass into gear which would maybe get my head out of there in the process. Last week, I spent all of my time learning the general knowledge (GK) for instruments and chair flying the profiles so that there was no question that I could grab this check ride by the horns. And I accomplished just that. I had what we call my 2check (the ride right before your check ride) last Friday and got an excellent on that one. Then I flew very well today for my actual check ride. My GK was right on too. I did it all right, up until the point where he told me that I hooked my check ride for my pubs. We have to carry and update our aircraft manuals and checklists and I had overlooked one simple thing that cost me my check ride. How much does that suck.
To be honest, yes, I was extremely pissed that I hooked the ride for my pubs… but there is something that in my mind somewhat makes up for that. Or at least lets me know that it’s all going to be okay. I am extremely proud of myself for what I have accomplished in this instrument block as far as not being able to do a thing with instruments in the first three rides, and progressing to feeling comfortable with any profile that they give me. I think I learned more in instruments than in any other phase. But don’t get me wrong, I am very glad to me moving forward to formation… which is our last phase of training for T-6’s!
3 Mar 06 -
Hey, just to let you know, things got better since the day I hit my head on the canopy. I had a couple of rough rides right after it happened... just couldn't get my head in the game, but I was reassured that I could still get the job done today. I had a couple of simulators this morning and this afternoon and I flew the shit out of them. I got an excellent on the first one and got a good on the second one only because I didn't pull back my throttle in time to enter holding at 150 knots. But the approaches that I shot were spot on and all of my in flight checks were right where they needed to be. So I am confident that I am going to ace the checkride next week. I still have a lot more studying to do because there is a whole lot of knowlege in this one, but I think I am back on track. Anyway, it's Friday night and I don't have a beer in my hand yet, so that's all I'm going to write about now. Hopefully I will be coherent enought tomorrow to maybe write some more. Hope everyone's doing well out there. Keep up the prayers.
2 Mar 06 -
Hey everybody... sorry I haven't written anything in a couple of weeks... but it's been a Crazy two weeks! Then again, when it is not crazy here? Anyway, all last week they were trying to get us ready for our cross country flights that we did this past weekend, which meant non-stop simulators every day. It kind of wears you out after a while :) but thats alright, they're fun. so Friday, we left for our cross country flights around 4. the planning for this was funny because the IPs told us to show up with nothing but the cloths that we needed and our checklists... basically not to plan at all. So that day, all the IPs had a basic plan for what we were going to do and where we were going to go, but the weather rolled in right when we were planning, therefore we came up with like three different plans depending on what the weather was doing. We basically had thunderstorms and icing conditions covering all of west texas up to almost Oklahoma. So we talked to the weather guys and figured out what altitude we could fly at to avoid them. We ended up flying at 14,000 feet which was about a 2000 foot block in between the low clouds and the high clouds. So that worked out pretty well. We went to Lubbock first and shot about three instrument approaches (very cool!). There we got gassed up (the plane, not our colon) and flew to Tinker AFB, Ok where we stayed the night. That was fun because Will Rogers airport is only a few miles from Tinker so as soon as we finished shooting our approach there, we were already set up for our approaches to Tinker.
So Friday night I sayed with my fried (best man in my wedding) Jeff and we just had a few beers and shot the shit for a while... well, till two AM. But that's cool because I don't get to see him very often.
The next day, we headed over to Amarillo to shoot some more approaches, but we went VFR instead (totally visual). Just before we got to Amarillo, however, we ran into some more clouds, so we went arrived IFR into there. In Amarillo, we went to lunch at a place called "The Big Texan" where if you can eat a 72oz steak in an hour, you get it free. None of us did that because we had a flight after, but I'm sure a couple of the guys would have tried if we had enough time. After Amarillo, we headed back to Lubbock to stay the night. That was cool because I had already seen the approaches there and was familiar with the area, so I could fine tune my approach checklists and what not. That night we just chilled out at the hotel and got ready for our flights the next morning.
Then we went through Waco on our way back home on Sunday where I met my IP's parents (that's where he's from). The ride back to Laughlin was a pretty short one because we both wanted to get back home to see our wives.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a break and went right back into our normal weekly routine on Monday. So needless to say, we are all pretty well worn out by today! My ride/sims went fine on Tuesday, but shit hit the fan on Wednesday and today. My first ride on Wendsday was an excellent and my ground eval went well too. But when I went to fly for the second time on Wednesday, I slammed my head on the canopy while I was getting in and had a piss poor ride after that. Even this morning, I couldn't get my head in the game. So my Flt/CC let me have the rest of today to study my general instrument knowlege, and suggested that I do all of my sim work, and save the rest of the instrument rides till next week... I think that is going to be a life saver. I have full confidence that I am going to ace my checkride next week, but I am definately going to need this weekend to get my bearings back on track.
So wish me luck for next week. My checkride will most likely be on Thursday or Friday and I'll be ready!
Keep praying for the whole class because we are all basically going through the same thing right now. Some guys are doing awesome and some still have quite a bit of work.
15 Feb 06 -
ACADEMIC COMPLETE!!!!
And I rounded out the last test with 100%... Go Me!
So now all I have is the flying. Just instruments, navigation (low level) and formation for a total of less than thirty flights left. Wish me luck on the rest.
15 Feb 06 -
Sweet! I had my Final Contact check ride yesterday and it went very well. I got a 10G, which for the moms out there equates to roughly a 95%. There were a couple little mistakes here and there, but that happens to even the best pilots.
Today my big alligator to fight is going to be a formation test. Luckily it is at two this afternoon, so I have all day to ensure that I won't mess it up. My buddy Andy has a hard day ahead of him. He not only has to take the test this afternoon, but has to do his checkride this morning at eight AM. Which alligator do you fight first since they're both very important? So I feel bad for him, but he will get through it.
The great thing about this test is that once we are done, we will be academic COMPLETE!!! Which means no more formal tests!!
Only two more months remaining in the T-6 program... then we'll find out if we go heavies, fighters, hellicopters, or C-130s.
10 Feb 06-
There's not much I have to say about this past week except this:
It's bad enough to hit a car in the parking lot of the place you work.......
But what about if you hit your Check Ride Pilot's car??!!??
3 Feb 06 –
There’s not too much to report this week. We are doing night flights next week and one of them will be a low level for me which should be fun. I was supposed to fly solo to the practice area today, but the winds were crazy so I just stayed in the pattern for an hour and a half. But it was still fun. There are only supposed to be 12 planes max in the pattern but I guarantee there were more today because it got absolutely crazy, which made it very fun!
We are also planning our day low level navigation rides too, which takes a long time to plan. We have to plot our maps and write all over them and then calculate our heading and airspeeds. Luckily when we get into the real Air Force we won’t have to do too much of these computations, but for now we’ll just have to deal with it.
Anyway, should be a pretty interesting week next week so I’ll try to write more. Not too much happenin’ right now.
22 Jan 06 -
Wow, what a week! Talk about some peeks and valleys. Started off a couple of Fridays ago when we had some insane winds here. I was performing a (simulated) emergency landing pattern and couldn't get to the runway for anything. I did all the other maneuvers well, but hooked the ride because of that. Then we had our weather test on Monday which I got an 80% on (passing is 85), so I hooked that as well. So here I am come Tuesday sitting on two hooks (my first two ever) and still trying to get my head out of my ass to remedy the situation. So of course, Monday night, I studied like never before and flew like an actual pilot and got a 98% on the make up weather test. So I was feeling a lot better by Wednesday. I was supposed to do my first check ride on Thursday but because of the test, I got pushed back by a day. So Wednesday and Thursday, I flew great and fealt confident about the checkride on Friday and aced it. I got a 13 which isn't too bad at all for your first check. A zero is perfect and average is about 15 to 20. So needless to say, I'm glad that week is over. Now I get to no only go to the practice area by myself, I also get to beging advanced acro which are things like lazy eight, immelman, cloverleafs and so on. So that should be extremely fun. We are also supposed to night fly later this week, so that will be quite a change of pace. After these next couple of tests, I will be academic complete! That is a great thing because academics is what worried me about pilot training in the first place. My only tests left are Navigation and Formation, which don't entail nearly as much as the past tests that we have had. Then we actually get to go out and fly nav and form which needless to say is going to be awesome! (I was going to say blast, but that's not really a good choice of words for flying). So wish me luck for these upcoming weeks. We should be done the T-6 program by April 20 when we track.
10 Jan 06 -
Yeeee Haaawwww! Finally, I flew my initial T-6 solo (all in the pattern) for a total of 1.5 hours. it was great! There were only six of us in the pattern which included four other initial solo (Pogo) guys, so I couldn't have asked for a better time to fly this sortie. Here are some pics. More pics and videos to follow when I can round them all up.
I don't have too many war stories for this one other than the flock of buzzards that I came about 50 feet from (twice!), and the time that I went break point straight through and thought that I did that sooo well, that I forgot to turn crosswind. The RSU came up real quick and reminded me to turn. It sux because not one hour before that, we were briefing how none of us remember to turn crosswind at the departure end so I swore to my flight commander that I wouldn't (he solo'd me out)... but low and behold, I was that guy. Ohh well, live and learn, right?
7 Jan 06 -
Hey everybody! again, it's been a while since I have written on here so I appologize for that. A lot has happened since then, so I'll try to sum it all up for you. But first, you may have noticed that below this entry is blank. I moved all of the old entries to the link above that says "view robert's previous..." and if you click that, you should be able to see them. Em and I are also going to try to make the site look and feel a lot different and easier to navigate, so be looking for that.
So now onto the fun stuff. I think the last time I wrote was on 4 December after we took the instruments one test. After that, we took the instruments two test which was supposed to be the worst test thus far. So we studied our asses off for it and Andy (my study wingman) and I both got 98.8%. So no complaints here. We have also taken three more EPQ tests where we got one wrong, so academics is going pretty good. Our next academic challenge is the weather test, which is the most notorious of all the tests because we don't learn from computers like we have been doing. Instead, we have an actual instructor (immagine that!) who we get lectures from. So we'll see what happens.
As far as flying goes, the cockpit sure has shrunk a whole lot and my tunnel vision has gotten much better! It's amazing what a few hours of training does for your situational awareness. Instead of being nurvous as hell to step to the jet, now I can't wait! I am going to have my end of block ride on Monday and then Solo on Tuesday (pictures to follow). So I am looking EXTREMELY forward to that! It's going to be awesome, and I'm definately ready... we all are. so pray for me on that one to make sure my number of landings equals my number of takeoffs.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. It was great seeing you at home. We should have some pictures on here soon of the trip.
4 Dec 05 -
I guess it's been a little too long since I've updated this thing. The only reason I have is that I don't have any time, which sux :) we have been flying and doing simulators non-stop since we hit the flight line. and then on the side, we are still doing academics and tests...so whenever I get ANY free time, I am either spending it with emily, or sleeping. so for that I apologise.
But on the up side, everything is going pretty well. it looks like the last test I mentioned was flying fundamentals, which was a while ago, so for an update, we have had Aerodynamics (94%), an EPQ (90%), and Instraments 1 (94%). Those of you that know me know that academics is definately my nemisis, so all in all I am very happy with my progress. we have a total of 10 tests in the T-6 program and we have already done six of them, and although I can not get comfortable about it, I am very relieved that I was able to take on that challenge and kick it's ass. the three hardest tests (instruments 2, navigation, and weather) are yet to come (sts), however, so I am going to need to study more than I ever have for these.
The flying is great. it's a lot of fun and I definately have the knack for it (with the exception of my last flight). My main IP says I am above average for this portion of training, so that's cool... but I didn't chairfly like I was supposed to on this last one, so I looked like a total mess! I'll never do that again!! I am just about to start chairflying for tomorrow because I need to make up for Friday.
Everyone please continue to pray for me because it only gets harder from here.
24 Nov 05 -
Grandpa, I made this for you. When I get more pictures of the T-6, I will put them in this spot. Enjoy! Click Here go get to the T-6 pictures.
19 Nov 05 -
YEEE HAW!! I got it up to fourteen thousand feet for an hour and a half! Em loves me!
I fley my first T-6 yesterday and needless to say, it was awesome. I had been waiting for that since I first got my pilot slot on March 11th 2005 at 11:13 am! We spent all of the night before preparing for it and I kno that it helped. I knew just about all of the general knowlege (GK) that my IP asked me, and the stuff I didn't know, I had backup from alother Lt flying right after me. This plane actually flys a lot easier than I anticipated. Trim was a bit of a hastle (till I get used to it), but all in all, it was easier to fly than a Cessna. Probably because I have 1100 worth of horsepower rather than 160. The engine was beautiful too. When I turned it on, it was so quiet...like a small fan spinning in the background. it's a turbo prop, which means it is basically a jet engine with a propeller strapped to the front. but since you don't have all of those cylendars firing all the time and since you can move the angle of the prop, it's a dream compared to what I learned to fly on.
So what happened in the air? Well, we took off and went VFR to Wizzard (our auxiliary field where we practice all of our landings) where we did two overhead patterns. Then we departed there and headed out to the practice area, which we call MOAs. I was in nine low, which meant that I needed to stay between seven and twelve thousand feet while maintaining a certain distance from the base. In the area, we did a couple of tight turns to practice our anti-G maneuver, then a couple of stalls, then a loop (which was a bit anti-climactic in my opinion). after that, we had to head home so we requested what is called the Rio-One arrival into the base. We basically pitched nose low to get 200 knots from fourteen thousand feet and headed straight down (in the clouds) to three thousand feet. Talk about a rush... it's what I remember most about the flight! From there, we were basically out of time in the air, so we just did a straight-in, landed and taxi'd to parking. The whole thing lasted about an hour and a half. I couldn't stop thinking about it all day and now I have the fever. I can see why my old boss used to get soooo grumpy when he couldn't fly that week! Unfortunately I can't fly till Tuesday because I have what we call RSU duty on Monday. I get to go out to the runway and count all of the mistakes that the people make. My brother-in-law said it's like being a woman :) he got hit by Em. Anyway, that should be good too because I get to listen to the radios all day and learn a lot from it. So I'm looking forward to that too.
4 Nov 05 -
well, I had my first scare on a test :) I think it was because me and my wing man stayed up ALL NIGHT studying for this thing. We only had three days to memorize everything about flying fundamentals, i.e. airspeeds, pattern, flight computer, and much more. But it was all good. We have it all down verbatim. It was mostly the math stuff that I couldn't focus on. I learned my lesson though, we need to be more efficient with studying especially if we don't have all that much time for it. I ended up walking out with an 88%. Ohh well, off to the next thing...
25 Oct 05 -
K, I guess it's about time to give everyone an update on whats been going on here. Things are going very well. We are about three weeks into the program and have already done a crap load. All the pics and videos are on www.xl0701.com if you want to see them. Other than the stuff on there, w've been doing a whole lot of academics, which if you know me, that's what I'm weak in :) Here are the tests we have taken so far :
Aerospace Physiology exam - 96%
Survival exam - 100%
FACT Test - 224 / 225
Systems 1 exam - 96%
Systems 2 exan - 94%
PFT - Passed
But the really important thing is how do we fly! Academics is only 10% of our total score in the class. We will hit the flight line in approx two and a half weeks and of cours, we all can't wait for that!!
18 Oct 05 -
Sorry that the site has not been updated in a while. I have been working on our class site which is listed just to the right. Please take some time to check it out because there's a lot of cool stuff that we have been doing.
Oct 05 -
One thing I didn't expect of Del Rio is this crazy weather. I thought it was going to be one thing... hot! But low and behold, we had a cold front come through last week that brought the tempatures below 60 and carried a hell of a lot of rain with it. As I type this, there is a crazy thunderstorm passing by. I know it was stupid of me, but I had to go by the flight line and get some pictures of it. Absolutely amazing.
4 Oct 05 -
To all of my Nellis friends, yep, it's happening. I bet you didn't think it was going to happen so quickly, but it has. My mouth is running away saying stupid shit and I just have not been able to catch it. And I'm not talking about in the bar either... the classroom! We have a pregnant assistant flight commander who finally mentioned that she was pregnant today in class. So what do I say? "Man I'm glad you said that because I wasn't going to say anything." I didn't realize at first that it was not the thing to say till someone leans over and tells me "man you should just shut the hangar door because you are done." So I just snickered a little and thought to my self here we go. Then later on in the day, after about eight hours of briefs, our last briefer came to finish us off (so to speak) who was in charge of safety and just happened to be one of our IPs. She asked me if everyone was there for the brief so I told her that one was at an appointment and he will be here any time and she could begin if she wanted to. That was not so much of a good thing to say because then she said "well where is he and when does he get back?" to which I replied, "well, when you are done about half of your brief, he will probably open the door and walk in." She didn't like that one too much. Again, I didn't realize that that was some what of an ass thing to say, but thats what I do, right? NO... NOT ANY MORE! Or at least I need to teach myself that!
What did Slider say?... "They're going to LOVE you at pilot traning!"
29 Sep 05 -
I don't have any pics to share this time, but I have a bit of an update. At the last minute they added a 1LT to the class that has about 2 months on me, so he is going to be the SRo now. Not so much of a bad thing though. Yea, I was excited about having the job and leading as we were all taught to do, but now I can concentrate on just studying and helping the others in the class and will probably do better than I would have. All in all, the class (07-01) is great. We have all been hanging out together at the various parties and movie nights and having a blast before we have to start. For anyone that knows about the four phases of a group (forming, storming, norming, performing), I think we are going to hit the storming phase before long because it didn't take us long at all to know eachother and things just seem like they are going too well. But we'll see. It would be good if that were the case though because that would bring us to performing that much sooner. Anyway, just a theory of mine. So thats the latest.
26 Sep 05 -
Hey everybody, I'm sorry that I haven't beeb able to update you till now. We just got internet and cable this morning so I obviously couldn't do anything till now. It's been interesting over here in Del Rio. When I first got here, things were pretty wierd because we didn't know anybody and we were staying in the base hotel for three weeks which gets old. We got the keys to our home on the 20th and the movers got here the next day. Emily thought I was crazy but I invited some of the married folks from the class over last Sunday for some BBQ. It turned out to be great because it forced us to get our home together in about three days, which was not easy. The pictures will be up shortly.
So what have I been doing at work? Well, the answer is basically nothing. We do roll call every morning at 0730 for accountability but after that, we all just go home. There are about 25 people from my class and about 15 more from other classes that haven't started yet. The only other thing that happens is we do a PT morning on Thursdays. I need to get in as much of that now that I can because after we start, there will be none. Turns out that I am the class leader or SRO (senior ranking officer) so everyone goes to me for info and to figure out where they need to be. I was hoping while I was at Nellis that I would be, so thats cool. There is a chance though that we may get a captain in our class as a last minute thing, so he would take the SRO position if we did. But we'll see.
As for the hurricanes, everyone is doing fine. My mom's house at home didn't get any water damage (luckily) but apparently a very small tornado ripped through their back yard so there is some damage in the back of the house. Em's mom's house is a different story though. Here are some updated pics for you... there are a bunch of them. In the pics you will see Chuck (Em's brother), Stacy (Em's sister), and Devlin (Stacy's man). You can basically look through the front door and see the back of the house. They had to gut it completely because all of the mold. Here are also some pics of Emily's aunt's house which was completely submurged in water. How sad! Everything was lost. A couple of her cousins had the same situation too. I'll keep posting the pics as they come in.
Well, thats basically all I've got for now. I'll try to update the BLOG again next week when we actually start classes.
10 Sep 05 -
We came to San Antonio for 9 days to get away from Del Rio. When we drove through the city for the first time, we almost cried because we have been so used to Vegas and all of the conveniences. All we have there is an Applebee's and a Chilie's and we don't want to go there too often because we don't want to ruin it for the next year. I don't have so much of a problem with it because I will be flying 75% of the time, but I worry for Emily.
San Antonio is pretty cool. We (Chuck, Ms Kathy, Em and me) are staying in a Residence Inn (Marriott) that has two rooms and a living area. There is also a trolly that will bring us anywhere in the city that we want to go. We plan on doing sea-world and Six-Flags as well as the local attractions. Should be a good week.
As I promised you in the email, I will start updating this often as soon as we get our house on the 20th. I have pics of that too. Till then, enjoy the rest of the site. By the way, we just got some pictures of Em's house back in Metairie, LA (New Orleans). Here is the link. It's not nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be, but it's still pretty bad. You can see the line where the water was and all of the mold that has grown since we couldn't clean it right away. It ain't pritty. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts because it's going to take a long time to fix.
