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spectre56

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Blog Entries posted by spectre56

  1. spectre56

    Wouldn't ya know it

    By spectre56,

    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.
  2. spectre56

    Still Hangin On

    By spectre56,

    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 much better now, and i've got a renewed energy for this struggle called UPT. Thanks for everyone's support!

    Had an EP sim this afternoon. It was very evident that I hadn't been in the books as much as I should. I got a good on it, but I know which parts I really need to focus on (all of it!). Oh yeah, got to do part of the standup today...sweet Didn't do great, but didn't get sat down, so that was pretty cool.

    Another day!
  3. spectre56

    Free Agent

    By spectre56,

    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.
  4. spectre56

    Another week

    By spectre56,

    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!
  5. spectre56

    TGIF

    By spectre56,

    So I flew this morning and it didn't go great, but I don't think it was all THAT bad. I haven't checked the grade, but the IP said I was going to get a fair or a unsat. Not good. I think I would learn stuff a lot better with a different IP...granted, I don't know as much as I should know, but don't get all pissed off and cuss when I do stuff wrong. Nuff said.

    It's friday and the super bowl is on sunday!! I have a weekend full of studying for instruments 2 test and the EPQ that the rest of the flight took this past week. They just got done with the test so i'll have to hit them up for some tips.

    Have a great weekend!
  6. spectre56

    More of the same

    By spectre56,

    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 5th EPQ bust which sends me to a ground progress check (PC). That is supposed to go tomorrow...we'll see.

    I'm seriously considering calling it a day and chalking this up to experience. I've wanted to fly since I can remember, but I'm obviously not doing well, and it's not getting any better. I'm studying my ass off, but i'm just not cutting the mustard. Maybe I can solicit some advice from those of you reading this: should I drag this out to the very end or know when I am beat and stop the madness? I'd love some advice from some of you.
  7. spectre56
    So today was our flight commander's last day as a UPT IP. He had his fini flight, which was pretty cool...those of us not doing anything in the flight room went out to say hey. His family and some friends and some of the other IPs went out there...pretty neat! He's going to a much better place than Del Rio: he's going to England! He is a great guy and will be missed. Safe travels to you and your family, sir!

    One of the guys' birthday was today (or yesterday) so we had some pizza before we had our instruments review this evening. Knocked that out and went home for a 3 day weekend; sweet!
  9. spectre56

    Great day!

    By spectre56,

    Retook the EPQ last night and passed! So I flew today, and I felt I did much better. I probably didn't actually do any better, but I thought I did and that's what counts! Anyway, I was having an "A" day all day, so i'm hoping that flows into tomorrow and friday. Not flying tomorrow (as of now) so i'll be studying all day.

    Oh yeah, some U-2 guys came down to give a brief on their capabilities. I hear it was pretty neat. I have a sneaking suspicion one of those guys was HuggyU2. I didn't go, so I really don't know. I will say their black T-38s with the red markings look pretty sweet!
  10. spectre56

    Just another day

    By spectre56,

    Not a whole lot going on today. Some people flew and the rest of us studied. I retook the EPQ right before I left and I think I passed, but I won't find out till tomorrow. Until then!
  11. spectre56

    EPQs

    By spectre56,

    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 because maintenance can't keep up with us...or something along those lines. I don't really know.

    Wish me luck and good fortune on the EPQ tomorrow!
  12. spectre56

    Wow, just wow

    By spectre56,

    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 I did fly, I couldn't get any checklists right, and i'm sure my radio calls were sub par. We get back and debrief and hands my ass to me (he wasn't mad, just telling me I need to improve in just about every aspect), but he gave me a good. I think he was being super generous, but he said a lot of my flying was about average for my second flight in the T-6. I took it like a champ and learned my lesson: be prepared for anything. Everyone who asks for some advice on this forum always get the "be flexible" and "be prepared for any flight you're opted for". THIS CANNOT BE EMPHASIZED ENOUGH!! Oh well, got through it, and next time will hopefully be better.

    Went to drop night a little bit ago. Didn't sound like too bad of a drop...the place was packed, hot, and I could barely see what was going on. There was a couple C-17s to Charleston and one to McGuire, Some KC-135s, some T-6 and T-38 FAIPs, a couple UAVs, an AWACS, and a C-21 to Rammstein. I didn't get them all, but not too shabby if you ask me.

    Enough for now; I'm tired and going to bed soon. Have a good weekend!
  13. spectre56

    Instruments 1

    By spectre56,

    Another uneventful day for me. All I did was study all day for the instruments 1 test. Most others flew, but some of us didn't. Then had our instruments test this evening. I was feeling confident about it ever since we had our review of it the other day. Well, I made a 91! Only missed 4...would've only missed 2, but I couldn't resist the urge to change my answers to 2 of the questions...dummy! Never change your answers unless you're 1000% sure that you're changing it to the right answer.

    Get to fly tomorrow morning, so i'll finally get my second flight!
  14. spectre56
    Pretty uneventful day overall. Me and the other guy that busted the EPQ retake retook it again and we both passed...finally! Now I get to move on to the next obstacle: instruments test. I'm feeling pretty confident about it, so I guess we'll see tomorrow evening.
  15. spectre56

    Keep on keeping on

    By spectre56,

    Well, some people flew today, but the winds were crazy and were gusting up to 20 and 30 knots, so most of our flight didn't get to fly. For me, it was another day of studying. I did some chairflying of the radios and more studying. The end of the day consisted of a 3 hour review of instruments for our test thursday. I was clueless before, but our instructor made it fairly easy to understand. Plus, I got some help from a buddy of mine in the class behind me that flew Learjets and a few of the guys in my flight...great guys!

    Since i'm on academic CAP, I "get" a 24 hour block before academic tests to study and I don't do sims or flights or anything. Our instruments test is thursday so I "get" an extra period of instruction tomorrow afternoon to try and understand this stuff. After the review this evening, I understand it way better than when I was doing the CAIs. I'm pretty confident about it now.
  16. spectre56

    Back to the suck!

    By spectre56,

    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 EPQ and then had about 6 hours to study. I gotta tell ya, for me, it's tough to sit there for hours on end and get any kind of productive studying done. I'm sure others have this problem too, but that's how the program is designed (I guess) so I just have to grin and bear it.

    At the end of the day, we had standup covering the last set of notes, warnings, and cautions. That went pretty well, so we got let go after about 20 minutes because our flight commander wanted to go home. Tomorrow we get an IP demo for the EP standup. We'll see how this fiasco will go once we start it on Wednesday!
  17. spectre56

    Back to the suck!

    By spectre56,

    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 EPQ and then had about 6 hours to study. I gotta tell ya, for me, it's tough to sit there for hours on end and get any kind of productive studying done. I'm sure others have this problem too, but that's how the program is designed (I guess) so I just have to grin and bear it.

    At the end of the day, we had standup covering the last set of notes, warnings, and cautions. That went pretty well, so we got let go after about 20 minutes because our flight commander wanted to go home. Tomorrow we get an IP demo for the EP standup. We'll see how this fiasco will go once we start it on Wednesday!
  18. spectre56

    Christmas

    By spectre56,

    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 before the storm.

    Everyone have a great Christmas or whatever holiday you may or may not celebrate and have fun and be careful!
  19. spectre56

    One thing after another

    By spectre56,

    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 giving the formal brief got railed on for some of that, then we busted the EPQ. Oh well, we'll take our beatings and come back tomorrow and knock it out and make for a good one going into the break.
  20. spectre56

    Finally!

    By spectre56,

    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!
  21. spectre56

    Still bad weather

    By spectre56,

    Weather tanked all day, which means no flights for us! Oh joy.

    Got to do some instrument CAIs and write out some boldface/ops limits. So apparently some of us (9 exactly) got some stuff wrong on the boldface/ops limits yesterday, so we each have 9 due tomorrow. My hand is killing me! It's the price you pay for screwing up, I guess!

    Hopefully the weather will clear up tomorrow for my dollar ride (seems like i've said this before...).
  22. spectre56

    Dollar ride? Nah...

    By spectre56,

    I was scheduled for my dollar ride this morning, but the weather decided it was more important, so cancelled for the morning. Got to go to commander's call, though! Got back and got scheduled for a dollar ride in the afternoon. You guessed it...the weather was just crappy enough to make us not go--again.

    We'll try again tomorrow.
  23. spectre56

    Phase II

    By spectre56,

    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 rides in pairs: one guy goes out to actually fly so when he gets to the jet, he just straps in and gets ready in that respect while another guy goes out and does the walkaround. Then tomorrow, we'll do the opposite...seems like a good way to do it in my opinion.

    Overall, today wasn't the kick in the jimmy that I thought it was going to be, but it still was overwhelming. 1 day down and many, many more to go!
  24. spectre56

    Day 31

    By spectre56,

    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 hours a little bit ago for the retake in the morning after formal brief. Hopefully i'll pass it because i'm scheduled for my dollar ride around 2pm. Pray for me that I pass and continue on in training.

    Phase II tomorrow!
  25. spectre56

    Day 30

    By spectre56,

    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. Have a great weekend!
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