Well, today I finally had my recommendation ride, which is the flight before my big checkride. After successful completion of this checkride, I will finally remove the "U" in front of my current title of "UP", or unqualified pilot and will be mission qualified. As of today, it is scheduled to take place Thursday night, right before the big four day weekend.
In other news, I've had my hands full making last preparations for heading out to Okinawa. The movers are also coming Thursday morning to pack up the last of my belongings here in Altus. My OLD (faithful) Chevy was totaled last week in one of the longest hail storms ever recorded. It was at least 45 minutes in duration and the hail was about golf ball sized, it was pretty brutal. It ended up being a mixed blessing because, even though I didn't even realize it till I called the insurance company a week later, I did have comprehensive insurance and they are giving me some very good options for ways to get rid of the car before I leave for the island, were they don't allow cars to be imported to.
If all goes well, I should be in San Francisco for the 4th, with my family and friends. However, worse case scenario I'll be visiting my good buddy in Austin, Josh, who just returned from Iraq.
I can't wait to be done with Altus... I didn't actually think a town could be worse than Del Rio. I sure do miss floating down the creek on the weekends...
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Things are coming along...
So the two flights I spoke of in the last post went well. The instructors have been great and the learning curve is very steep, the flying portion is coming back to me quite quickly. Yesterday I flew formation with another tanker and we refueled another C-17. Tonight I have one more simulator and then Friday we will be flying at night to get our night currency and what not. The final checkride is scheduled for the 24th and then I'll be done with Altus. The movers are coming on the 28th to pack everything up and then I'll be heading back home hopefully around the 29th and will be there till the 6th of July.
Friday, June 3, 2011
One more thing...
I forgot to post yesterday that I will be flying twice (weather permitting) next week! Monday will be a normal refueling flight and Wednesday will be a formation flight! Pretty excited about that... off to go brief for Monday's flight, then off to Dallas to see my old roommate and neighbor one last time before going to Japan.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Instrument Quailification Check Ride AND a trip back home!
Hope all of you are doing well. Last Thursday I had my first checkride in the KC-135. After 4 months of studying and simulators and about two weeks of stressing over it, I passed with a Q1, no downgrades. You can only get a Q1,Q2, or Q3 with Q3 being a fail and Q2 meaning you passed, but additional training is required. This is arguably the most important check ride I've had so far due to the fact that I am no longer a student and this checkride is the first that included a Form 8, which stays with you for the remainder of your air force career and is looked at by the airlines if you ever apply there. From what I've been told, one Q3 on a checkride and that will keep you from getting an airline job. Although I don't have any plans to join the airlines at this moment, I would like to keep my options open and keep my squadron in Japan from thinking I'm a slack-nasty before I even get out there, so a Q1 was a great way to start my non-student pilot career.
The checkride was very big picture and the check pilot told us so. In the simulator, he acted as a neutral copilot, who needed some prompting but just wanted you to be directive so that he knew that you knew you need to perform whatever the action you needed to do was.
After the debrief, I went and had a beer with my Chilean co-workers and went a laid out at the pool across the street for an hour to let it all soak in with a little sunshine on top:) I went back to my room and packed my bags for the flight I had booked right before going to bed Wednesday night back to the Bay Area to see my mama who was recovering from a procedure and was in a lot of pain. Friday morning I took the first flight to SFO from DFW. I had originally planned to drive down to Austin to see some good friends one last time before I left the country, but Mom comes first!
It was very good to be home, Mom quickly recovered and felt so good that she insists that she made one of her famous chocolate cakes, from scratch of course.... Who was I to refuse!?! My two best buddy's from college came up and we had a great dinner at my old work, Central Market on Saturday night. The menu always features the freshest local ingredients and service was wonderful. Of course, I also had to go in for my Super Burrito from the local Mexican restaurant, Mi Pueblo. And no visit home is complete without a trip to Hallie's Dinner for breakfast, I went twice! Now that I think of it, I sure did do a lot of eating this trip.... better go running.
Sunday I went to church with the family and the friends that stayed for the night after dinner downtown. Dad's sermons are the best. After they departed, I went to Pt Reyes National Seashore. The drive was almost as good as the destination, all I needed was a convertible and I would have just kept driving up and down the coast.
Mi Pueblo's Super Burrito
Small vineyard on the way North from San Fran
The best backyard in town!
Some guys working in the garden
Mom, Nate, and I at grandpa's place
Grandpa and I... I got him to smile!
Drive out to the coast
Pt Reyes National Seashore
The light house at Pt Reyes. You can see whales migrate from here
The checkride was very big picture and the check pilot told us so. In the simulator, he acted as a neutral copilot, who needed some prompting but just wanted you to be directive so that he knew that you knew you need to perform whatever the action you needed to do was.
After the debrief, I went and had a beer with my Chilean co-workers and went a laid out at the pool across the street for an hour to let it all soak in with a little sunshine on top:) I went back to my room and packed my bags for the flight I had booked right before going to bed Wednesday night back to the Bay Area to see my mama who was recovering from a procedure and was in a lot of pain. Friday morning I took the first flight to SFO from DFW. I had originally planned to drive down to Austin to see some good friends one last time before I left the country, but Mom comes first!
It was very good to be home, Mom quickly recovered and felt so good that she insists that she made one of her famous chocolate cakes, from scratch of course.... Who was I to refuse!?! My two best buddy's from college came up and we had a great dinner at my old work, Central Market on Saturday night. The menu always features the freshest local ingredients and service was wonderful. Of course, I also had to go in for my Super Burrito from the local Mexican restaurant, Mi Pueblo. And no visit home is complete without a trip to Hallie's Dinner for breakfast, I went twice! Now that I think of it, I sure did do a lot of eating this trip.... better go running.
Sunday I went to church with the family and the friends that stayed for the night after dinner downtown. Dad's sermons are the best. After they departed, I went to Pt Reyes National Seashore. The drive was almost as good as the destination, all I needed was a convertible and I would have just kept driving up and down the coast.
Mi Pueblo's Super Burrito
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