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Riddller's IFS & UPT Blog

A blog by Riddller in General

  • Entries

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About this blog

IFS first, now my fun at UPT!

Entries in this blog

TD-11

Didn't get to fly today. There were two separate engine failures during touch-and-go's (they pushed up power to takeoff and the engines died) this morning, so they grounded the fleet for the day. Oh well. We were done at 1230, had PT at 1500 (circuit training, then dodgeball), and now it's time to grill some burgers and tap the keg!! Later!

First Formation Flight

Yup, instrument complete, now straight into Form. I'm not going to lie, the first flight scared the crap out of me. Flying 10 feet off the guys wing with 90 degrees of bank just doesn't seem right (at least not when I'm the guy doing it!). Overall I had fun though, it should be a good time. Was supposed to have my second Form flight today, but due to the "mishap" we might not be flying for a bit, I don't know. Unfortunately, all we're allowed to say is that both pilots are OK, and the MIB

More Form, Shorter Days

Done with 6 form flights now, and it is getting easier to stay in position. I only flew once last week because I messed up my back working on the house last weekend. I wasn't hydrated enough before flying on Friday and we were doing formation aerobatics. All those G's about made me puke! I didn't though, just kept flying. If you puke on any flights after you solo, it's an automatic hook, and we have had two guys in my flight blow chunks on formation flights because you're always looking aro

Day 2

More of the same. Showed at 0645, 0700 brief, lot's of shotgun questions were missed and like 4 people got sat down during the stand-up. I didn't take off until 1240, so I spent the morning taking care of queep (paperwork crap), doing another CAI, and studying for my flights. Flight went very well according to my grades but I felt like I wasn't sure what was going on a bunch of the time. It was fun though, so that's all that matters. After that, more studying until we were released at 1

TD-7

Didn't fly on Friday, but I'm on the schedule Tuesday. Studied a bunch during the day, sat in on some briefs and debriefs, watched others pre-flight the aircraft, and helped some people learn their radio calls. The senior class had their solo party in the afternoon. They basically sat in their flight room drinking beer with their IPs and having funny stories told about them. Some of our class sat in on it (we were all invited, but most were busy, and we couldn't have any of their beer).

Day 2...

So 0800 at the OSS, in short sleeve blues, began the day. The head civilian instructor started us off with a brief about both what the civilian instructors do here (everything except flying) as well as how to survive UPT (don't get in trouble, study a lot). Then we had briefings from our Asst. Flight/CC, and a Government Travel Card brief. After an hour for lunch, we came back and got issued like 50 lbs. of publications (literally, 50 lbs, try stacking about 8 reams of paper [at least] on to

In-processing day

Made it to IFS today. Got here about 1300. The website says be here between 1200 and 1800 in one spot, and between 1200 and 1500 in another. There's nothing bad or good about showing up early or late. I guess I wold reccomend early. Showed up in blues after my short trip from C-Springs (I DEFINITELY reccomend staying the night somewhere close by before driving in in your blues). The people were very nice, and the one officer I've met, our MTO (Military Training Officer), was very cool and hel

Solo!

Yeah! Solo today! Weather was great! I hadn't flown in ten days, so my pre-solo check was a bit rough the first 10 to 15 minutes, but then I figured it out and did fine. There was a bunch of people in the pattern so I had to do a bunch of go-arounds and low approaches, but whatever. For those of you not in the know, after your initial solo, your classmates grab you and throw you into the "solo tank" which is just a big tank of water. IF you can make it back to your flight room before they

Systems 2 Test

So we had a long weekend, which was nice, but now back to the books. We had our Systems 2 test today (Electrical, Fuel, Propulsion, Environmental, Canopy, and Ejection systems). 47 questions and it was way easier than I thought it was going to be, but maybe that's because I spent an extra 5 hours studying yesterday. Did very well again, as did the rest of the class (don't know what the average was yet) but we did have one fail. He retakes it tomorrow morning and should be fine after that. You're

Info from BTDT

So, I've changed my plans a bit. A friend of mine told me that if I get a hotel room in Pueblo, then I will have zero chance of getting reimbursed because I "arrived" at my destination. So, I'm going to get a room in C-Springs Tuesday night. On a similar note, I talked to another friend who went through IFS recently. He said him and a friend drove the 9 hours to get there, showed up in there civies w/ their blues in hand, expecting the IFS people to allow them the use of a restroom to chan

Been a while...

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. We've still been crazy busy on the flightline. Flying, simulator missions, academics, studying for stand-up and shotgun questions, it just doesn't stop! Top that all with the fact that I got food poisoning last Thursday night! I was up all night with that (I'll spare you the details) then got put on quarters for Friday. I crawled back into bed at 0800 on Friday and didn't leave it until 1100 Saturday! I think I'm finally back to normal today.

First double turn

We had some of our guys on P-CAP not do so hot on their test this morning, so they couldn't fly today. I was scheduled for just one flight originally, in the afternoon, but after that test, I got thrown on a flight this morning with 4 minutes to plan. Luckily I already prepared two flights in advance, so I was ready to go. By the time I finished my debrief for my first flight, I was already late for my second one, so no time to rest. Before you solo, they aren't allowed to double-turn yo

08-05 graduation

So like I said, we all went to 08-05's graduation yesterday. It was cool, I'm glad I went, gives me something to look forward to. After that I hung out in the computer lab for 4 and a half hours studying for our systems 2 test on Tuesday. The simulator mission after that was cool, we went through all the buttons and switches and stuff more in depth, then got to fly around a bit. I did a loop or two and the guy I was with practiced his prohibited maneuvers (where else can we do them?).

Final Contact on Tuesday now...

This sucks. When they first told me I was doing my Final Contact checkride I was like, "Crap! That's too soon! I need more time!!". However, the winds were way out of limits all day on Friday, so nobody flew. AND we are having a "safety day" on Monday because of all those crashing T-38's, so now I'm not checking until Tuesday. I just want to hurry up and get it over with now! Oh well. Navigation test at 0650 tomorrow, guess I'll go study...

Back to Aerospace Phys.

More classes today, this time on managing stress, etc... Then after lunch we took the FACT (Fighter Aircrew Conditioning Test). It's basically just a weight-lifting and endurance (push-ups, crunches) test and EVERYBODY said it was harder than they thought it would be and were wore out afterwords. Unfortunately, my tubby butt failed miserably (well... maybe not that bad, but still a fail). It just means my chances of getting a fighter went down (I want heavies anyway), but you can retake it as of

TD-13

No flying again. They say the soonest we'll start again is Friday, but it might not be until next week. So, I guess I'll wait to make another post until then. If it's past Wednesday and this is still the latest post, then that's why. We did lose another student today. Same as before, flying just didn't do it for him, so he said "No thanks". He's a great guy too, and everyone in the class wishes him the best of luck. Down to 26 now... And counting... The next class shows up on Sund

Sorry, I been sick...

Wow, we've been busy the last few days. A sim on Monday (more checklists) plus a test (almost everyone did fine, one fail again but passed the 2nd time). We then started a new section, Flying Fundamentals. It's all about how to fly a pattern, approaches, landings, etc... There's actually a ton of different stuff involved so it's supposed to be one of the harder tests. The test is actually tomorrow afternoon, after another sim mission. And on top of all this, my head has felt like it was

Flightline is coming up!

We're pretty much done with Phase I but it's not "official" until Monday. We all showed up at our Phase II flight room on the flightline today at 0800 and studied for our sims and did publications updates to all our pubs. My sim didn't brief until 1100, so I got all my pubs up to date and studied a bit. The sim was another Emergency Procedure (EP) ride, so it was pretty much one malfunction after another. I did have a good time flying around when I wasn't taking care of EP's though. The

Some good advice...

So I was saying "Later!" to some of the people at my squadron today and I got what I thought was some good advice from a Maj that I work for/with whom I respect quite a bit. He said, "The AF doesn't care if you've got zero hours or 10,000 at any of their pilot training courses. They care if you learn to do exactly what they say, exactly how they tell you to do it. They don't want to hear, 'Well, I learned to do it this way from my instructor.'" It made sense to me, and while I never in

Sim on brother!

Sorry no post for a week, but I've only had one flight since my check ride, and that was last Monday. The weather was crappy after my check ride, so that's why no flights last week. This week its 'cuz I've been double-turning in the simulator every day. My 88 ride went good, I just had to fill out a boldface sheet and tell the IP how the engine worked. He was very happy. I'm supposed to go cross-country this weekend, but I needed to have all my navigation simulator rides done, which is wh

Midphase Checkride

Had my Midphase Checkride today. I passed with a 'Good' but am mad at myself for messing up what I messed up. It was a crappy day all together. My check IP got changed 5 min before the brief so I had studied all the gouge for the wrong guy, then the weather was crappy and the IP had to take the controls at one point, and the field I was supposed to do my pattern work at was closed so I had to come back to Vance... and land on a runway I'd only flown to once before! Oh well, at least I passed

Same same

Still no solo, I'm scheduled for Monday. 10 days of no flying! Ughh!!! Everyone not on P-CAP had to take the stan test on Friday and everyone passed,so that was good. I actually aced my first one, woohoo! Hopefully the winds will be in limits and not too many clouds on Monday so I can solo. Cross your fingers!!

More flights...

Busy busy... I've been flying and simming along with more classes pretty much non-stop since my mid-phase. We started doing our navigation classes which are fairly long. I actually did my 3rd area solo today too, which is unusual because we're only supposed to have two. They ran out of instructors this afternoon though, so it was either give me the flight or lose it. I'm now technically only two flights away from my Final Contact checkride, but I'm doing a night flight tomorrow which doesn'

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