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spectre56

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Blog Entries posted by spectre56

  1. spectre56

    First Monday

    By spectre56,

    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, and we had lunch sometime in there also.

    Our flights then split up and we went to PT while the other flight had another class. We switched it up after that: the other flight PTd and we had that class. Before we started the lesson, we had another boldface/ops limits test. Our flight got them all right, but the other flight had one mess it up. They paid for it at PT and now we are good to wear flight suits!

    Good day overall and more classes tomorrow and we get to find out what the formal briefing is all about!
  2. 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.
  3. spectre56

    Fri June 6

    By spectre56,

    So, Wednesday I was initially scheduled for one flight around lunch, but the weather was acting up a little bit, so a priority list was made up that consisted of folks that were behind, and I was on it! So, I'm eating breakfast and I get told that I'm double turning and my first brief is in like 30 minutes! I go brief up my 604 with a different IP than originally planned and the flight went pretty decent. I get back and sure enough, I'm supposed to be briefing AGAIN with the same IP for my 605. It went ok, but I definitely was not 100% and my IP could tell. He still thought I did pretty good overall, which is very good. That meant checkride on Thursday!

    Thursday comes and the weather tanks, so no one flew that day. Oh well, another rain delay and checkride Friday!

    Friday comes and weather is good, so checkride is a go! I go brief it up and step to fly. The flight went pretty good; I messed up a few things, but I think my IP let those things slide. He passed me and I got to go home! So after about 4 hours of outprocessing (because our flight commander was busy) me and my buddy got the hell out of Doss!

    After I get back into the swing of things, I'll be making another post in a couple of days containing some lessons learned from the whole ordeal.
  4. spectre56

    Fri May 2

    By spectre56,

    Today was the first day of flying for our class. I'm not sure about the other flight, but I don't think any of the 3 or 4 folks in our flight who were scheduled to fly did so. Winds were way too high all day. We got let go at about 1530 which was sweet.

    My first flight is on Tuesday so I'll be studying tomorrow and monday for that...should be fun!

    Oh, went and saw Iron Man last night. Pretty sweet movie! I definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.
  5. spectre56

    Fri May 9

    By spectre56,

    Another benign day of just studying. The guy that was doing our formal brief didn't know what some of the stuff was that he was briefing about (I think it was the NOTAMS: Notice To Airmen). Well, our flight commander didn't like that so much so he got a little upset and told us that he was thinking about putting us on formal release, but didn't since we had worked so hard this past week. Just means we need to keep it together and help each other out that much more. We all got out at a decent time, so it's a nice start to the weekend.
  6. spectre56

    Going good

    By spectre56,

    Tower sims are going good so far. I'm not doing too bad...just some minor mistakes here and there. I'm actually finding it pretty fun! We have our practical application test at the end of next week or beginning of the week after. I'm pretty positive i'll do ok as of right now. We'll see!
  7. spectre56

    Going, going...

    By spectre56,

    So, found out today that I definitely will be heading off to Keesler next week. Just to clarify, it was unclear whether I would be going next week or next month. It's a good thing...will be getting started doing something, finally. Short post, I know...nothing new beyond that.
  8. spectre56

    Gone!

    By spectre56,

    Headed out Saturday for Dallas, and then Keesler. Everything was going fine when I heard a strange noise...my tire had blown! It wasn't too bad, but it happened just west of Flagstaff, AZ and we weren't going to stop until we hit Albuquerque! Well, put on the donut and pressed on. I was feeling good, so I pushed the speed up, eventually getting to 80mph. Is that safe? Who knows, but we made it. Anyway, got 4 new tires this morning so all is good for the drive to Keesler. I'm actually going to stay with a buddy in Pensacola for a few days so I don't have to absorb the cost of lodging and not get reimbursed for it.

    Spending some time with the family today...good times! I'll put something else on here when I get settled in down in Keesler/Pensacola.
  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

    Here we go again

    By spectre56,

    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 him. The other folks are taking it in stride and should find out what their new jobs are in the next couple of days. There are still 2 or 3 from my class waiting for the word and they should find out in the next couple of days whether they're in or out.
  11. spectre56
    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 long way and your classmates will appreciate it.

    - Go somewhere else on the weekends. Me and my buddy went to either Colorado Springs or Denver every single weekend we were there. You are generally not spending much money on food and nothing on lodging, so get out; if for nothing else, to get a room with a window! We stayed at the Hyatt Place: excellent!

    - Drive and stay in Colorado Springs the night before your RNLT date if you are coming from far away. You have to get there in blues and you don't want to be driving for like 10 hours with those damn things on. I say drive because it sucks (for me) to bum rides off of everyone all the time.

    - Learn the boldface and ops limits backward, forward, upside down and in no order in particular before you get there. Also learn the black items on the ops limits: you'll use them just enough to know them by memory. Learn everything you can in the In Flight Guide as far as the departures and arrivals go: it may not make a whole lot of sense, but if you are familiar with them, it helps immensely.
  12. 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!
  13. 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!
  14. 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.
  15. spectre56

    Keesler

    By spectre56,

    So, after staying for a few days with family in Dallas and a couple days with a buddy in Pensacola, finally arrived at Keesler AFB. Mississippi is a "different" place! It's nice and hot/humid down here, but so far, not too bad. I'm ready to start class on Monday, so until then, just exploring the area and getting my bearings. I'll keep updating as stuff happens!
  16. spectre56

    Lackland Airshow

    By spectre56,

    Went to the airshow this weekend...AWESOME! If any pilots reading this were there, it was amazing. Saw lots of cool aircraft (just like most airshows) and got to look around some of them...pretty sweet. I'm not going to say much about it, except that it was probably one of the better airshows that I've been to. I thought the F-22/F-16/F-15/P-51 show was one of the highlights in my opinion: I had never seen that in person and it was great! The Blue Angels were there and, as was mentioned in one of the threads, only 5 jets flying: 3 in the main formation and 2 solos. I've seen them many times and they never cease to impress.

    Good weekend, Aerospace Physiology is this week, should be good times.
  17. spectre56
    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 over so well; but that was pretty indicative of the whole flight. Not to mention my IP was cussing at me and generally pissed the whole flight. I only got a couple maneuvers accomplished in the area, then came back to do some pattern work. It was a no grade overall (an 86 ride), but I think he wanted to hook me! Oh well...lesson learned: getting in the books more: got it.

    I also had an instruments review today. Since i'm so far behind the rest of the class in academics, i'm doing these reviews on my own. Everyone else is taking the test on friday, I think, but i'll be taking it sometime next week. I'm really going to have to study hard for this one...it's pretty confusing right now. Fortunately, the guys/gal in my flight are smart and more than willing to help out.

    Enough writing, gonna go to bed soon.
  18. spectre56
    Sweet couple of days at work. Almost fully in processed and checklist is almost done...only a couple more mass briefings to attend and i'll be good to go. But I also got word that i might be going to Keesler next month...much, much quicker than originally scheduled! That's awesome!

    Anyway, been hanging around some of the guys just trying to get a feel for what part of their job entails, getting a tour of the field, etc. Good times. I'm trying to learn as much as I can before I potentially leave in a few weeks.
  19. spectre56
    Ok, got here to the lovely brand new IFS facility at around noon. The Doss IFS website says report between 1000 and 1800 in one place and 1200 - 1800 at another spot on there. I think 1000 is what they mean. As was said in Riddller's blog, doesn't really seem like any better or worse to get here earlier rather than later or vice versa, but I guess I would err on the side of early. We have a meet and greet type thing later tonight, but once you get your room and get your flight gear, you're free until then.

    Tomorrow starts early and goes pretty much all day. Briefings, a couple of classes, boldface/ops limits test and PFT rounds out the day.
  20. spectre56

    Mon June 2

    By spectre56,

    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"!
  21. spectre56

    Mon May 12

    By spectre56,

    Had my second flight today...ugh, not so good. The wind wasn't that bad when we started and taxied, but as we were finishing the runup, the SOF called stop launch for high winds. He cleared us all to go about 5 minutes later (there was about 6 of us waiting to go). My IP said I improved from my first flight, but the winds were kicking us around pretty bad, so the whole flight I was trying to keep altitude and airspeed. Just when I thought I had good airspeed and altitude, a downdraft or updraft would hit us and there goes the altitude!

    There's a reason why there is a 25 knot limit on this plane! I got an overall good on the flight, but i'm still improving. I don't fly again until wednesday, so I can sorta take it easy tonight.
  22. spectre56

    Mon May 5

    By spectre56,

    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.
  23. 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.
  25. spectre56

    Moving!

    By spectre56,

    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 some family in Dallas before heading off to our final destination.

    Stay tuned!
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