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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

Day 31

Started off the day by going to the gym for a little while with the wife and kiddo. Followed that with an end of phase critique; hopefully we'll have helped out future classes as far as scheduling goes a little bit. Came home for lunch and study for the weather test then came back for a DTS brief: how to set it up, basically. Had another break after that so I studied some more for the test. Took the test, and wouldn't ya know it...3 of us busted! Sonuvabitch! Well, studied for a a few ho

Day 30

Had a boldface/ops limits test this morning...I can only assume that we passed it: guess we'll hear about it on monday or tuesday if we didn't! Had a brief by the IG after that, then learned how to log in to ePex (which i've heard some folks don't like). Had a couple hours for lunch and came back after noon for 5 hours of weather classes. I could have shot myself halfway through them...it was brutal! One more day of phase I and then we hit the flightline! I am super excited and nervous.

Day 3

Day 3 was flight physicals. We showed up at 7 and I was out of there before noon. Not too shabby. I thought it was much "easier" than the one at Brooks: not quite as intensive and it seemed like it was just a diagnostic to make sure that nothing had changed since the initial flying class I. Looking forward to the weekend; going to go to the airshow up in San Antonio, should be a good time!

Day 29

Started off with a weather class this morning and then some of us had sims throughout the day. I had one and it went well and got a good (chairfly, chairfly, chairfly). Just a little bit ago we had another weather class and our SRO got some pizza for us...sweet deal! Pretty uneventful day overall, but one day closer to actually flying!

Day 28

We had a very slow day today. There was a briefing by the T-38 squadron commander early this morning, but I couldn't go because I got out of my sim late last night. Even though i'm not interested in T-38s/fighters, I would have liked to go to see what he talked about; oh well. Had a long class on weather this morning after that, then I was done until our contact test this evening. Some people had sims today, but there were several of us that were "ahead" so our sims are tomorrow. 09-11s t

Day 27

Started off the day with a weather class then went into a CAI and a review of the contact lessons. That was it for the morning...I had about 4 hours off before my sim, so I came home and had lunch then went to the gym for a little bit before my sim started. I got out right at 12 hours so me and another guy don't have to go in until a little bit later than the rest of the class: nice.

Day 25

I really had an awesome day today! Started off with a couple of CAIs which I found out I had already done! So I had some time to study some boldface and things like that. Went up to the classroom for our operating procedures test...simply a boldface/ops limits test. After that, I had a couple of hours to study for my first EP sim. It was with the instructor that teaches the operating procedures classes. He's a funny guy, but more importantly, it's easy to learn from him. Anyway, I thought

Day 24

I had a pretty good day today. We started out with a briefing from the wing commander and the command chief, then I went straight into my sim. It went well and the instructor gave me an excellent! Came home afterwords and had about 4 hours to study for flying fundamentals test. Took it and passed on the first shot! Also, heard we passed our boldface/ops limits (finally!) so it's flight suits to work now.

Day 23

Pretty good day overall. Finished a couple of CAIs this morning covering flying fundamentals, then had our review class. Went straight into doing our boldface/ops limits and a class on basics of the checklists (challenge/response items, etc.). Afterwords, we had our PFT...passed, but I need to work on it a bit. Came home and have been studying for a couple hours now and i'm all studied out. Oh, I didn't mention...my son's cousin was sick over thanksgiving, which got our son sick, who in

Day 22

Took the aero test - again - this morning. Passed! I have to keep those to a minimum... Had another sim today...went much better for me than the one yesterday, but still need to study like it's going out of style! I'm home for lunch right now and have to do about 5 CAIs before a class at noon tomorrow. I'm relishing these "easy" days before the poop hits the oscillating device.

Day 21

Ok, thanksgiving is done...let's go christmas! Had our aerodynamics test this afternoon after some CAIs and a sim. This sim was the start of the "real life" sims doing checklists and flying around and stuff; pretty neat. I was way behind the power curve and it showed in the sim. But, now I know exactly what I need to study for the next time. Aerodynamics test....yeah, not so much. Didn't pass. I got some stuff confused in my head and only missed 2 more than what is allowed, but a fail

Day 20

So there I was...stitting in our first class today and I was having the hardest time staying awake. I didn't have to be there until 9:15, but I couldn't get to sleep until 2am! I hate that! All we had today was 3 classes: two on operating procedures and one on aerodynamics. This aerodynamics is killing me! It's a good thing I sit next to smart people or this stuff would be much tougher than it is. Finished up around 1 and the holiday has started! Happy thanksgiving everyone...stay saf

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.

Day 18

Mundane day...lots of CAIs and some classes on aerodynamics and checklists. That is literally all that happened during the day. After we were done with all our CAIs, our class all went out to Rudys and had some barbeque. Good times. One of the flights is doing a toy drive so we thought we would all go to walmart and pick up some toys to donate for their drive. After that, headed home! It occurred to me as I was writing this, that this is probably very boring to read: "...had CAIs and c

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 16

Had a pretty mundane day today. We had a class and a bunch of CAIs throughout the day. Got done with those fairly quickly and headed home for a little bit. Then we had to come back and go through our dash 1...very painless, if not tedious: most of us had already put in the changes and there were only three write-in changes so it didn't take long at all.

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 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 13

Really easy day today. I had to get my CAC card reissued because, surprise--MPF didn't put the correct stuff on it...happened to about half of our class. More of a hassle and an annoyance than anything else. We had 3 CAIs scheduled for today, but since I came in yesterday and knocked out 2 of them (i'm trying to stay ahead of the curve), I only had one to do today; so I did that after I got my new CAC card. I was free for a few hours until our introductory sim. We weren't expected to know a

Day 12

Pretty cool day...we attended 09-02's graduation and got introduced as the freshman class. Pretty motivating, but I gotta keep my head grounded and focus on what's going on now. Had a review class after lunch and then finished a couple CAIs and called it a night. We have our first sim on monday so i'm going to look over what's needed for that over the weekend.

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 10

Aero Phys day 7. Final day of aerospace physiology and i'm guessing the easiest day of training?? Just a guess! We had several classes on crew resource management (CRM) and talked all about communication and decision making and stuff like that. They put some funny video clips in the briefings so that made it bearable. We start learning about the aircraft tomorrow and I can't wait! I'm still excited to have the chance to live my dream and there really is no other place i'd rather be than

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

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.

Christmas

So those of us who failed the EPQ took it again this morning and we all passed. So, we were opted to fly, but the weather tanked again! A few people briefed it up for practice, but nothing came of it. We had some shotgun question time for about an hour and our flight commander basically called it a day around 11 or 12. I was glad to leave early but disappointed that I didn't get to fly...oh well, we'll probably start double turning when we get back so I guess I'll just enjoy the down time be

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