A Force That Gives Us Meaning: 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