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Geoff's Blog

A blog by spectre56 in General

  • Entries

    110

  • Comments

    93

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    40,693

About this blog

Fun times at IFS, UPT and Airfield Ops

Entries in this blog

A few days left

Well, I'm taking a cue from Riddller and doing a blog about IFS (and hopefully UPT). I know he put a lot of great information in his so i'll try to do the same. Hopefully I'll be adding a different perspective on things. So far, everything Riddller has in his opening remarks of his IFS blog holds true...i'll find out for sure when I get there. Also, my supervisor and a Major in my squadron have been trying to help prepare me for this by imitating standup EPs...I am given a situation and I hav

Ifs Lessons Learned

Alright, well, I expected to have more lessons learned, but I don't. Feel free to add on to this as necessary. In no particular order... - Relax: I was super nervous going there. Don't be. Everyone is very helpful and friendly especially while checking in, but also throughout the whole time I was there. Everyone is really there to help you make it through. - If you don't like really hard or fluffy pillows, bring your own. - Bring some electronic entertainment: XBox, PS, Wii, etc goes a

Finally!

Weather cleared up around noonish today and got to do my dollar ride this afternoon! Pretty cool, but I need to put my nose in the books that much more now. That was my only free ride in T-6s and we just went out to the aux field and then to the area to tool around some. Came back after an hour flight and called it a day. End of week 1 in phase II and so far so good! We get paid to do this stuff?!?!?! What a deal! Have a great weekend!

Still Hangin On

Ok, sorry i've been absent for the last few days...my head's been elsewhere. Had my 88 ground eval on thursday: didn't pass. Had 89 ground eval yesterday: passed. I have been having my doubts about this lately, but thanks to some dedicated family and friends and at least one reader on here, i'm back in the game. I get in a funk sometimes (like everyone else in pilot training at some point, I would suspect) and it takes a lot of poking and prodding to get me out of it. But my attitude is muc

Wouldn't ya know it

Well, took the instruments 2 test this morning and, due to carelessness (bad math, marking the wrong answer, etc) I hooked it. That sends me to commander's review. So i'll be in limbo while the wing commander decides my fate. I'm expecting the worst and hoping for the best. All I really know right now is that i've done my best.

Finally

Well, the man has decided that it would be best if I not continue in pilot training. My new assignment, however, will be airfield operations which, from what i've read, doesn't sound too bad. It sucks that I won't be able to be a military pilot anymore, but I did try my hardest and gave it my best shot, and it just wasn't in the cards for me. I thank everyone who has been reading this and supporting me along the way. I'll still be around on Baseops about as much as I normally am, but proba

Here we go again

Well, got my RIP this past friday and looks like i'll be heading up to Oregon in June. I'm still super excited about it and can't wait to start. Otherwise, things are going well. I got to be a pecker checker the other day which was no bueno, but I got through it. That's about the most work i've done in the past week or so (knock on wood). Also, out of all the other folks that were on CR, 3 or 4 have gotten the boot and, surprisingly, one guy just got reinstated! I'm pretty happy for hi

Moving!

Well, I haven't been updating this lately (for the few who are still reading this) because there hasn't been anything worth mentioning going on. I've just been biding my time waiting to either move or go take that FAA test in OK City. I guess the move came first! I'm not sure what's going to happen with that test, but i'll definitely keep you updated on that. The movers came and packed our stuff yesterday and took it away today, off to California. We're going to stay a week or so with som

Colorado Springs

Me and my buddy got to Colorado Springs a little bit ago. We're staying here tonight so we don't have to wear our blues for that long when we actually get to IFS. Not too much to post for today...pretty much just driving the whole day (came from Texas). Tomorrow is day 1, so i'm sure i'll have much more to post then.

EPQs

So, did I mention that I really dislike EPQs? Well, I do...why? I busted another one; this time by one question. But I guess that's all it takes. These things are killing me! I understand the material, but i'm just not recalling all the info that we have to read. Ugh, I'll make it...it's going to be tough, but i'll get it! Other than that, not much going on today. It's night week so we don't go in until 9ish (am for those who didn't catch that). We don't have many flights this week be

Change of plans

Ya knew it was going to happen! Well, dates are still the same, but we'll be moving up to Travis AFB instead of Oregon. Still pretty excited about the move; even a little moreso now that we'll be at an actual base with all the amenities therein. I will be sent to Oklahoma City for a day or so to take an ATC aptitude test to see if i'm "worthy" to be an ATC dude. I guess a lot of people have been washing out of the program so the AF wants to implement this test to nip these things in the bud.

First Monday

Well, I had a great weekend...didn't really do anything! Went up to Colorado Springs and visited the Academy and Peterson AFB. I'm sure our free weekends are numbered since all the classes are a little behind schedule, though. This morning we had a boldface/ops limits test and only 3 of us messed it up...yep, I was one of em. I simply skipped over one of the blanks on the ops limits. We then went over the aircraft systems, aerodynamics, performance, airspace and radio communication. Oh,

Wed May 7

Well, didn't fly again today. I think a few flights got out this morning, but the weather came in late morning and all flights were cancelled for the rest of the day. Good news was that our flight commander bumped another guy off the flight schedule who was supposed to do his 2nd or 3rd ride to put me on there. I was going to be one of the last flights of the day, but, as I mentioned before, the weather rolled in and it started raining. I just studied all day, went out to one of the planes

Pre UPT update

Just a little update for those still reading this. I made it through ASBC and got back home to be on casual for about a month before heading down to Laughlin this weekend. I'm nervous and excited all at the same...I finally get a shot at doing something I've wanted to do since I was little. I'll get there this weekend and report next week, so I'll have something else to put on here then. Wish me luck that none of my crap gets broken/stolen/etc on the way down there!

Pre UPT

I checked in today and it turned out to be pretty uneventful. Pretty much your typical base inprocessing stuff. I got a couple lengthy checklists that I need to complete by next week, but that should be easy. I also got a house on base - those who have been here know - the place we got was, well, less than exceptional. I have a queen size bed and it barely fits in my bedroom. They told me I have a floorplan with one of the most square feet, but it's all in the kitchen...the living room and

Day 4

Day 1 of Aerospace Physiology...sweet. Not too much done today; although, we do get to wear flight suits for most of this, so that's a big plus. We did a bunch of Aero Phys inprocessing and got more briefs from various people (Health and Wellness Center and various instructors). Had some classes over local area survival and learned basic SABC (self aid buddy care), what plants you can and cannot eat, how to protect yourself in a survival situation and signaling. We went out to practice with

Day 15

Busy day, sort of. Had a couple CAIs in the morning. I got done with those fairly quickly so I was able to go home for about 45 minutes, then had to go back up to work for a review class, then had a few hours of free time before we took our boldface/ops limits test. Hopefully we all passed it! Did a couple more CAIs after that and headed home.

Day 17

It's friday! We had a review lesson this morning and then I had a couple hours of free time before our sim. I don't know if i've mentioned it yet, but these first 2 sims that we have done is basically a show and tell type thing; the LSI instructors show us stuff in the cockpit and how they work, etc. Had to go directly to Commander's Call after that and get our holiday safety briefing. He was also talking about how he was trying to get the different MWSs to come and have a "fly in" type deal

Day 19

Once again, lots of CAIs and lots of classes. Took our boldface/ops limits today...did we pass? Guess we probably won't find out until after thanksgiving. Again, not much to write about today. Sorry.

Back to the suck!

Back to the grind! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! Well, had EPQ 2 today...not so bueno. So, academics aren't going so well overall and now I'm on procedural and academic CAP. I'm understanding the material, I guess i'm just not retaining all of it that I need to. We didn't do anything today besides the EPQ. Supposed to go to the OG/CC call this morning, but I guess there were too many people and all the studs were told to go back to the flight rooms. So we took the

Last minute flight, anyone?

So, there I was, sitting around the table, studying when one of our guys calls the flight room and says that he's sick in quarters (or whatever the AF calls it). Well, our scheduler and flight commander are scrambling around trying to fill the slot (see where this is going?) and they come up with me. Fantastic! Fortunately I had about 30 minutes to get my data card ready so that was sweet. I get to the brief and I had forgotten to put winds, fuels, and weather on the card. That didn't go

Another week

Well, my flight last friday didn't go as well as it could have, and I got a fair on it. Oh well, I know what to work on. Besides that, I had a study day today with an hour of extra instruction thrown in there with one of the sim IPs. I've got the instruments 2 test tomorrow morning. I'm pretty confident about it, but I know there's going to be a couple obscure questions thrown in there that will attempt to trip me up. I'll let ya know how it goes. Have a good night!

Free Agent

So the commander's review process begins and I am what they refer to as a "free agent". I'm not actively in pilot training, but i'm not out yet either, so I just hang out everyday like the guys on casual, but I have to stay up at work all day to study and stuff like that. Not too bad, I guess. I'm staying positive and hoping for the best.

Still Waiting

Just letting everyone know that i'm still waiting on the word from the man. I've had to make up a dream sheet just in case he says no, and I know I would enjoy just about anything that I put down: there just wasn't all that much that I qualified for (no tech degree or anything like that). Have a great LONG weekend and maybe i'll have news on tuesday or wednesday.

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