Just a quick update, they have been double turning me like crazy this week an already have 5 events done and have another 2 flights tomorrow. One of the flights is my second to last instrument ride before my instrument check ride, the other flight is my first "low level" flight that is only 500 ft above the ground at 210 knots. It's supposed to simulate going under the radar if you needed to sneak in somewhere undetected.
Today I had my last T-6 simulator which I feel like is a pretty big deal since I'm also done with academics so the only events I have left are flights, 23 of them as of the end of today. If both of my scheduled flights happen tomorrow, I'll be down to 21! I feel like a little kid counting down the days till his birthday.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Washbacks, Birthday, Cross-Country flight and Instrument Checkride
Well I think I'm over due for an update for my dear readers. Here's whats new...
The first thing is that I'm no longer in Irish flight and no longer in class 10-15. I'm now in 11-01 (which means I'm the first class of fiscal year 2011 to graduate). So basically my whole time line gets pushed back 3 weeks which is just about perfect because I was about 20 days behind due to the weather. Now I'm about a week ahead of the time line which takes a little stress off if I don't do an event everyday.
Back on the 19th, it was my birthday and two of my best friends from the college days in Davis came out from California as well as my brother Nate, and my girlfriend Saima came out to Austin for the weekend. We also met up with our friends Kamni, Karan, and Vinni, who live in Austin. They did an awesome job of showing Nate, Ben, and Javier a great time, Austin-style, before I came out. My roommate Matt came up along with another Matt from my class and his girlfriend Stephanie. Luckily the weather wasn't that great... I say that because it was scheduled to be a flying Saturday and I wouldn't have been able to make the drive out to see everyone that had flown out till late Saturday night. Leadership had decided that with the wash back system and the forecast of bad weather, they had just decided to cancel it. I had a great time seeing everyone and showing the Californians the Texas lifestyle. Here's a few of the photos of Nate and I(for Mom)...
After that weekend, I had my cross-country trip. Although I would have liked to fly out to Santa Barbra to meet up with my Mom and Dad, weather pretty much kept us socked in the South West so I just decided to do a Texas Tour. On the 26th of February we flew out north to Abilene regional to get some of Susan's Texan BBQ for a late lunch. Then my instructor and I flew back at night out to San Antonio International and got some sushi on the River Walk downtown and stayed at the Marriott there as well. The next morning we took off, climbed up to flight level 240 (24,000 ft MSL) and flew out east to Lake Charles Louisiana for some Po' Boy sandwiches and red beans and rice. After that we flew using visual flight rules at 4,500 ft over the Gulf just hugging the coast down till we got to Corpus Christi and got some great seafood and stayed at the Omni hotel downtown there. We woke up early that day to fly out to College Station, home of Texas A and M, where we got a famous 'Freebirds' burrito. They actually gave the the food for free when we gave them our flight patches. I guess many of the places collect them for discounts, or in this case, free food :)
The trip was a lot of fun, but for as much fun as we had, it was about four times the amount of work. My IP told me after the trip he appreciated me being professional and treating it like a business trip, and not a vacation. There are countless stories of students getting in a lot of trouble... mostly with alcohol incidents. Here's a photo from Corpus Christi...
With the busy weekend in Austin and a super busy weekend flying around having this weekend to just lounge around, change the oil, get some groceries back in the fridge, and watch a couple movies was exactly what I wanted.
This week I have two simulators and three flights to get done before going to my third of the four check rides in the T-6. This is going to be my instrument check ride where I fly out to a local airfield and shoot an instrument approach blindfolded only being able to use my gauges to safely position the plane for a safe landing.
After this check ride, I'll be moving on to the final stage of Phase Two, formation where we fly about 10 feet away from each other. In fact its so close to the other plane you can feel the vibrations coming from the other airplane right next to you.
Right now I've got 35 working days left with 28 events left, meaning if I did one perday for the rest next 28 days, I'll be done about a week early!
That's all for now hope to update this next weekend and let you know how the check ride is looking.
The first thing is that I'm no longer in Irish flight and no longer in class 10-15. I'm now in 11-01 (which means I'm the first class of fiscal year 2011 to graduate). So basically my whole time line gets pushed back 3 weeks which is just about perfect because I was about 20 days behind due to the weather. Now I'm about a week ahead of the time line which takes a little stress off if I don't do an event everyday.
Back on the 19th, it was my birthday and two of my best friends from the college days in Davis came out from California as well as my brother Nate, and my girlfriend Saima came out to Austin for the weekend. We also met up with our friends Kamni, Karan, and Vinni, who live in Austin. They did an awesome job of showing Nate, Ben, and Javier a great time, Austin-style, before I came out. My roommate Matt came up along with another Matt from my class and his girlfriend Stephanie. Luckily the weather wasn't that great... I say that because it was scheduled to be a flying Saturday and I wouldn't have been able to make the drive out to see everyone that had flown out till late Saturday night. Leadership had decided that with the wash back system and the forecast of bad weather, they had just decided to cancel it. I had a great time seeing everyone and showing the Californians the Texas lifestyle. Here's a few of the photos of Nate and I(for Mom)...
After that weekend, I had my cross-country trip. Although I would have liked to fly out to Santa Barbra to meet up with my Mom and Dad, weather pretty much kept us socked in the South West so I just decided to do a Texas Tour. On the 26th of February we flew out north to Abilene regional to get some of Susan's Texan BBQ for a late lunch. Then my instructor and I flew back at night out to San Antonio International and got some sushi on the River Walk downtown and stayed at the Marriott there as well. The next morning we took off, climbed up to flight level 240 (24,000 ft MSL) and flew out east to Lake Charles Louisiana for some Po' Boy sandwiches and red beans and rice. After that we flew using visual flight rules at 4,500 ft over the Gulf just hugging the coast down till we got to Corpus Christi and got some great seafood and stayed at the Omni hotel downtown there. We woke up early that day to fly out to College Station, home of Texas A and M, where we got a famous 'Freebirds' burrito. They actually gave the the food for free when we gave them our flight patches. I guess many of the places collect them for discounts, or in this case, free food :)
The trip was a lot of fun, but for as much fun as we had, it was about four times the amount of work. My IP told me after the trip he appreciated me being professional and treating it like a business trip, and not a vacation. There are countless stories of students getting in a lot of trouble... mostly with alcohol incidents. Here's a photo from Corpus Christi...
With the busy weekend in Austin and a super busy weekend flying around having this weekend to just lounge around, change the oil, get some groceries back in the fridge, and watch a couple movies was exactly what I wanted.
This week I have two simulators and three flights to get done before going to my third of the four check rides in the T-6. This is going to be my instrument check ride where I fly out to a local airfield and shoot an instrument approach blindfolded only being able to use my gauges to safely position the plane for a safe landing.
After this check ride, I'll be moving on to the final stage of Phase Two, formation where we fly about 10 feet away from each other. In fact its so close to the other plane you can feel the vibrations coming from the other airplane right next to you.
Right now I've got 35 working days left with 28 events left, meaning if I did one perday for the rest next 28 days, I'll be done about a week early!
That's all for now hope to update this next weekend and let you know how the check ride is looking.
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