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Geoff's Blog

A blog by spectre56 in General

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About this blog

Fun times at IFS, UPT and Airfield Ops

Entries in this blog

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

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

Mon June 2

Flew my 601 ride today...not too bad. I messed up some simple radio calls and my IP downgraded me for those, but got a good for the overall flight. Going out for my area solo (602) in the morning, should be exciting (and boring from what I hear)! Then i'll get my 603 later in the afternoon when it will be nice and hot...sucks. Should be a good day...actually, should be an "A day"!

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!

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 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 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.

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

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

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

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.

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!

Mon May 5

Today I got to sit in on several briefings to see how those go and to get a better feel for what I need to do to prepare for my dollar ride. That and studying is about all I did today. I wasn't flying today, so I got to absorb all the info I could from those who were flying. I was supposed to fly tomorrow, but me and several others got bumped for guys that are doing their checkrides. I'm not complaining, though. Hopefully I'll get thrown in the mix tomorrow or Wednesday.

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

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

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!

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,

Day 8

Aero Phys Day 5. Had a couple classes on acceleration, stress, and the anti G strain maneuver (AGSM). We all got to look retarded in front of the class doing the AGSM, but it's pretty important, so it's cool to look like an idiot! After lunch we did the Barany Chair - or as some know it, the spin and puke. Also had a class on night vision and then we did the FACT test. I thought I was going to have a really hard time with it because my upper body strength is not great, but I passed it...I h

Another update

One week closer to starting, and i'm pretty much ready to go (I hope). I've been completing checklists, getting all my flight gear and all that good stuff. Trying to get cable set up...what a pain in the ass. I decided to go with Time Warner (whom i've heard is not so good in Texas) and the tech who came out to install the stuff was from some other company that Time Warner contracted out...he didn't have a clue what was going on. It's like they gave him a box and said install this at this ad

Tuesday 29 Apr

Today was a good break from the normal classroom briefings. We still had some classroom instruction, but we got to go out to the aircraft where some of the senior class folks showed us what a preflight is for this plane. That was a great distraction from the tediousness of the classroom stuff. I have to be honest, the academics (aircraft systems, etc) are coming fairly quick to me because of my Marine maintenance background. Don't get me wrong, though, it's definately NOT easy by any stretch

Phase II

Phase II started today! Since I busted the weather test, I had to take it again today, after formal brief. Passed it, but now i'm on CAP: commander's awareness program. Basically, they give me a little extra instruction after reviews and a 24 hour period off before tests...i'm not totally off, but I won't be flying or doing any sims in the 24 hour period before the tests. So I couldn't do my dollar ride today like I was supposed to but I'll be doing it tomorrow. Our flight does dollar rid

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

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

Sat May 31

So I did my 306 ride for the second time yesterday and passed. I got scheduled for my checkride and pattern solo today. Just got back from my checkride...PASSED!! I still need some work in many areas, but apparently i'm safe enough to go solo. Scheduled for the solo here in a couple of hours. This short weekend could potentially be great as long as I pass the solo. (about 4 hours later) And just got back from my solo, and did well! My IP said I did better by myself than I did with

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