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Geoff's Blog

A blog by spectre56 in General

  • Entries

    110

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About this blog

Fun times at IFS, UPT and Airfield Ops

Entries in this blog

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

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.

Donuts anyone?

Well, still waiting on word on where and when i'll be going. Little bit of good news today, though: learned that i'll find out when and/or where i'll be heading either friday or next week sometime. Bad news about that is that, since the school is 2 years long or so, and each of the 10 guard bases where the training occurs can only accommodate 4 trainees each, i'll be sticking around here for another 2-3 months. Not bad in the grand scheme of things, but it would be nice to leave sooner rather

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.

A new chapter

So, we got here to Travis this morning at 1 AM...ugh, what a drive. We left monday and made it to Albuquerque in about 9 hours. Left at about 10 AM and finally made it to our new home for a couple years. I don't have to check in until monday, so i'm relaxing and exploring the area as best as I can and trying to find a place to live. If any of you have any suggestions about where to live around here, feel free to let me know. There's a thread on the forums specifically about Travis, but an

Update

I know it's been a while since i've written anything...sorry. I've been bored out of my mind without much to do. I got my new set of orders and i've been busy outprocessing all the agencies on base that i've never been to, plus the 2 or 3 I have. Still no word on when i'll be going to Oklahoma City. I guess it's still being worked out with the FAA. Maybe I won't go...at least not at this rate! I'll keep yall posted!

Wed May 28

I was scheduled for a flight this morning, but the cloud layer was at 600 feet which means....you guessed it, no flying! Pattern altitude is 800 feet. So my flight gets cancelled. I get back from lunch and find out there's a list with a bunch of people who are behind on it....including me. So, I get a new IP from a different flight and brief up a flight and I don't know which profile i'm doing or which area i'm going to. Turns out I get a profile that i've done a few times before...whew! B

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!

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 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 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

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!

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

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

More of the same

Had a great 3 day weekend, but it didn't last nearly long enough...no kiddin, huh?! Came back and flew tuesday morning. The flight went fairly decent; ya know, for my 4th flight. I was supposed to have an EP sim in the afternoon, but I was having some personal issues, so that got cancelled. Took the next EPQ this morning, and unfortunately, it was more of the same. I busted it, again. I take solace in the fact that about half our flight didn't pass it, but it still sucks. So that's my 5

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

Starting all over

Checked in to the base today. Turned out to be very uneventful. Met my boss and the squadron commander and a few other important people in the squadron. Got some checklists and took off on permissive TDY to go house hunting for 8 days. I'd call it another vacation, but I really have to get hot and heavy in trying to find a place for the family to live since base housing has a horrendous wait. Anyway, not really doing anything until next thursday, so unless something spectacular happens, i'l

Day 11

Today was great! We had an intro class this morning and then took a tour of the airplane...pretty cool. Then we did a pubs check after lunch. What a pain...and all we did was the in flight guide and the checklist. I did a few computer aided instructions (CAI) before the 12 day was up and called it a day. This was the first time I actually felt like I was in pilot training. It's a good feeling and we haven't even done very much!

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.

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

Day 14

Had to get up a little earlier than usual for a review that lasted 3 hours--that was painful, but it was useful for the test we had a little bit ago. After the class, we had a few hours of study time before the test, so I went and had lunch with a buddy of mine who just got here, then went home to study for a little bit. Went to take the test and my CAC card wasn't working properly...go figure! I'm starting to get tired of this. Warning: if the pin number on your CAC starts or ends in a zero

Day 1 and 2

Day 1 and 2 were pretty tame compared to what I imagine is coming our way in the not too distant future. Both days were filled with briefings by just about every agency on base: from Equal Opportunity, to Services, to the Mental Health Clinic and how to handle stress, etc. Not too bad overall. We got issued our pubs today...I'm no tree hugger, but several trees died just to make one set of pubs for one person, not to mention a whole class and 15 classes a year; i'm really ok with it. I had t

Tues June 3

Flew twice today: first was my area solo, 602, then the second was the 603. Area solo was pretty fun! Kinda boring once I got into the area simply because the only maneuvers we are allowed to do are steep turns and VOR navigation stuff. Overall, a very fun flight. Second flight was ok...wind was picking up and it was hot. Nothing eventful about it, just another flight. Only 3 more flights left!!

One thing after another

Was supposed to fly this morning after our EPQ (emergency procedures quiz) but more than half our class busted! The ones that I saw only missed it by one or two questions, but since there's only 20 questions, each one is worth 5 points. That caused 8 of us not to fly so we got to sit in the flight room and study all day...all 12 hours of it. We retake it in the morning and, assuming I pass it, I'm set to fly at 9 in the morning. It was a brutal morning. No fault of his own, but the guy

Wow, just wow

So none of us flew this morning because of fog. Spent some of the day studying for the next EPQ and manning the snacko. Well, I had been in there for about an hour or so and my flight commander came in there wondering what I was doing. Needless to say, I was supposed to fly with him a few minutes earlier. Well, I had mission data cards, but I didn't really have anything on them, and was totally unprepared for the entire flight. Ugh, the whole flight was horrible. I was off altitude when

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