Another pilot training update

When I last posted on this blog I had just started the instrument phase of flight so that is where I will pick up with this post.

My class, 13-05

Instrument flying is how pilots fly in bad weather, at night, when visibility is limited, etc. This is done solely by looking at and relying on your flight instruments and not using any external references at all. In order to simulate this we wear a funny looking hood on our helmets that keeps us from seeing all outside references and forces us to focus on the instruments. Instrument flying is very slow, very methodical, and almost completely opposite from contact flying. This is, in many ways, extremely boring and is based on lots of procedures and step by step lists to follow. While the flying itself is pretty boring, the instrument phase is when we actually got to leave the confines of the Sheppard AFB bubble and fly out-and-backs to other airfields.

A large part of the Instrument phase is cross-country where we take the weekend and fly somewhere about 600 miles away from Sheppard for the weekend. For my cross-country I went with 4 flightmates up to Denver, Colorado. On Friday we flew to Denver via Lubbock, TX and we flew back on Sunday via Amarillo, TX. On Saturday we got to fly VFR (basically just navigating from point to point with no set flight plan or directions and not under the control of any air traffic control authority) through the mountains of Colorado. For those who know the area, we flew from Denver, down south past Castle Rock and Monument, past the Air Force Academy, around Pikes Peak, through the Royal Gorge, around past Buena Vista and Breckenridge, and landed at Eagle County Airport in Vail. It was the coolest flying I had done thus far.

 My jet at Centennial Airport, CO

 Eagle County Airport, Vail, CO

Cross-country Crew

 

After the Instrument phase we move on to Advanced Contact (where we get to do loads more aerobatics) and Low Level. The Advanced Contact phase includes area solos, where we get to go out and practice our aerobatic maneuvers by ourselves with no IP in the back seat. That was really cool and super exciting; I still can't believe I get to do this and get paid for it.

Low Level is designed for us to practice point to point navigation by flying prescribed routes at 500 feet above the ground and 210 knots. It was really cool flying that low and that fast and it was fun to get to dodge towers and birds and aim for reaching our "target" as close as we could to the planned target time.


Today was my first Formation ride. In T-6 we do 2-ship formations and fly, at the closest, a mere 10 feet from the other aircraft! It was pretty terrifying but absolutely amazing!! I'm told that formation gets easier really quickly, which I hope is true because staying in the proper "fingertip" position for even a few seconds was pretty difficult, but I guess thats what practice is for! Within only 7 or so more rides I'll be doing my formation solo, taking the jet out in formation by myself!! Craziness.....

I'll probably not update again until after T-6 is over (which is going to be super soon which blows my mind) but if you have any questions about what I'm up to, don't hesitate to ask!

Pilot training update

So, to say that I've been busy these past few months would be a bit of an understatement.... Its been a WILD ride so far but despite the long hours and loads of studying and tons of hard work, I have loved just about every minute of it!

So, pilot training:

We started out with Aerospace Physiology. Essentially learning all about what flying does to your body and how to take care of your body so that it can survive the rigors of flight. Also included in the Aerospace Phys was egress training where we learned what to do if we ever had an emergency that required us to get out of the aircraft immediately, either on the ground or in the air. We learned about our ejection seat, about how to handle the parachute should you have to eject, and what to do once you landed after an ejection. Not something we necessarily want to think about too much, but important to know if you ever needed it...

After that we started academics where we had lessons in systems (learning about the T-6 and how it works), aeronautics (basics of flight and the science and physics behind flying), contact (the initial phase of flight training where you fly based on outside references), flying fundamentals, weather, instruments (how you fly when the weather is bad and can't see outside), and navigation. This was pretty boring but I guess we needed to learn it in order to start flying!!

Your first ride in any new aircraft is called your "dollar ride." This dates back to the barnstorming days during which you could go to a county fair and pay a dollar to take a ride in the backseat of a barnstorming aircraft. This began the tradition of giving your Instructor Pilot (IP) a dollar after taking you up and down safely in one piece. My dollar ride was with our Flight Commander and apart from the fact that it was exciting to finally be flying, it was pretty non-cosmic compared to pretty much any flight afterwards. My IP did most of the flying and we didn't really do anything fun or exciting so it was basically just going up, fly around in circles for a bit, then come back down.

After the dollar ride, it was on to business with all our contact rides. There are only 14 rides between when you start flying and we you do your first solo and there is tons to learn in those first flights. I had some trouble getting the hang of landings but I figured it out eventually and got to go solo! This was ridiculously exciting and nerve wracking and terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. I waked out to the plane with my IP, he watched me strap into the plane after doing the walk around inspection, gave me a high five and wished me luck, then sent me on my merry way alone! Being up in the plane by yourself is quite the experience. Its so quiet and almost peaceful when there isn't an instructor in the back seat harping on you and constantly telling you everything you're doing wrong. It was so cool just being up there, flying around, taking off and landing. I absolutely loved it and can't wait to go up solo again!

 Another tradition in the Air Force is that of the Solo Tank. Tradition is that after your initial solo your goal is to make it back to your flight room without being seen by any of your flight mates. If you do, they all owe you a case of beer. If you don't they throw you into a big tank of water (and anything else that happens to have made its way into the tank) fully clothed. The water was pretty nasty and disgusting, but it was brutally hot and the cooler water felt good and, considering the fun of the tradition, it was pretty awesome to be thrown into the tank!

After solo we got into aerobatics. I learned first and foremost that "clowns do acrobatics, pilots do aerobatics" and in addition to practicing all the maneuvers and procedures we learned thus far we added several new ones: aileron roll, split-s, loop. To be honest, I was a bit nervous about doing the aerobatics but as soon as we started doing it, it was awesome! That led into our first check ride, the midphase contact check. Check rides are essentially "exams" where they are flights in which every event is graded on a strict standard and it includes a ground eval. Its an extremely important ride that requires lots of prep and is a huge step in the pilot training progression. I had the midphase check yesterday and passed it which was a HUGE load off my shoulders and a huge relief.

Today I began my Instrument phase of flight. We started out with flying solely off the instruments but when we had done a bit of work out in the area my IP decided that a) since it was Friday and b) I had just passed my midphase check, we were going to blow off the rest of the instrument stuff for the day and just do some cloud chasing. So basically, we put the power in the jet up to max and just started flying in and around and over and through and under clouds. Loops and rolls and figure-8s and just basically screwing around in the plane. It was AWESOME! What an amazing way to spend a Friday afternoon!!

For those of you trying to get an idea of what exactly I'm doing over the course of this year, this video made by the graduating class of 12-05 does a pretty good job of explaining pilot training here at ENJJPT. Enjoy!

My life a year ago and today

A lot has changed in my life in the past year...

This is what "pubs" meant to me in May of 2011:

 This is what "pubs" mean to me in May of 2012:

These were my surroundings when I watched the Champions League final in May of 2011:

These were my surroundings when I watched the Champions League final in May of 2012:

This is where I lived in May of 2011:

This is where I live in May of 2012:

This is what my house looked like in May of 2011:

This is what my house looks like in May of 2012: Keep in mind, this is all a single room.

This was the weather on 3 May 2011:

This was the weather on 17 May 2012:

This is where I would run in May 2011:

 This is where I run in May 2012:

This is how I would dress up fancy in May 2011:

This is how I dress up fancy in May 2012: (just change the rank to 1st LT rank)

This is where I went to work in May 2011:

This is where I go to work in May 2012:

A lot as changed in a year, for better or for worse, but looking at those two photos, I'd say life is pretty good!

PS This will be where I will go to work in May 2013. Onwards and upwards!!