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spectre56

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Blog Entries posted by spectre56

  1. 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.
  2. 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!
  3. spectre56

    Pre UPT

    By spectre56,

    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 all 3 bedrooms are tiny. Oh well, i'll get used to it; i'll be too busy most of the time to notice anyway.

    I'm still pretty excited to get started!
  4. spectre56

    Pre UPT update

    By spectre56,

    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!
  5. spectre56

    Sat May 31

    By spectre56,

    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 him in the plane with me...go figure!

    This weekend is going to be the best weekend since I've been here. Going to stay the night Colorado Springs and have a cold one. See yall monday!
  6. spectre56

    Settling In

    By spectre56,

    Well, got my new house (and when I say new, I mean it was built in the last month or so) on base and we're breaking it in just nicely. It's nice not having to look for a house anymore and worry about that anymore.

    On another note, should be going to Keesler in a couple weeks for training. Mississippi in July: just what I wanted!! Should be great. Other than that, nothing new going on, just seeing what I can see and learning as much as possible in the real world vice what i'll get in AETCland.
  7. spectre56

    So far so good

    By spectre56,

    Had our first test today and I passed with a stellar grade...almost 100, but not quite! I'm pretty proud: it's a much better start than what I had at pilot training! I'll have to keep it up though...it doesn't get any easier. Getting into tower stuff this week and hittin the sim at the end of the week. Should be a good time.
  8. spectre56
    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'll continue this when I get off of house hunting leave.
  9. 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...).
  10. 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!
  11. spectre56

    Still Waiting

    By spectre56,

    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.
  12. 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!
  13. 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.
  14. spectre56

    Thur May 1

    By spectre56,

    Today we had our first real formal briefing and standup EP. I think they went well overall, but I don't know how much the flight commander liked it. We'll do it again tomorrow and every day until we graduate, so I we're going to do our best. We had some classes and then our academics test, and I made 100%! I'm pretty happy about that. After that and lunch, we spent a few hours in our flight room; just studying, nothing too daunting.

    Some folks are getting their dollar rides tomorrow (first flight where you decorate and give a dollar to your IP). I probably won't fly until next week monday or tuesday. I'm pretty excited!

    Oh, and we played dodgeball...good times today!
  15. spectre56

    Thur May 15

    By spectre56,

    So, as of last night, wasn't scheduled to fly...but I get back from breakfast this morning and, voila! I'm on the schedule! I'm getting ready and planning, etc, and there's a stop launch because of winds....again. There were a few people that flew today, but not too many. Chalk another day up to weather.

    I'm thinking that i'll probably fly tomorrow since the senior class' IPs are getting freed up. Also, the new class got here today, so the place is getting crowded!
  16. spectre56

    Thur May 22

    By spectre56,

    Supposed to fly twice today and only got the first one in this morning. Second one was cancelled due to winds. We went out to the other aux field (Fremont) and did a bunch of touch and goes. I thought the flight went pretty well and my IP pretty much agreed. This is a one time flight where you only go out to the aux field and beat up the pattern and you don't go to an area at all. It's a nice change of pace, plus there aren't nearly as many people at that airport as there are here at Pueblo and at Fowler.

    I'm thinking i'll at least get my 304 flight in tomorrow (as long as the winds don't pick up) if not attempt to double turn. It's not looking good for the double turn which just means i'll do it on tuesday. Oh yeah, we get monday off for Memorial Day!
  17. spectre56

    Thur May 29

    By spectre56,

    As I was stepping to fly this morning, the winds started to pick up. I think they went out of limits about halfway through the flight, but who knows. I hooked it, though. It was just a terrible flight...I was getting blown all over the place (sts) and my maneuvers sucked. I guess I wasn't 100% today and I paid for it. I'll try it again tomorrow and hopefully be ready to check on saturday: that would make for a great weekend! Wish me luck tomorrow!
  18. spectre56

    Thur May 8

    By spectre56,

    Woohoo!! Dollar ride, baby!! It finally happened and I think I did well overall. Even though I got all U's: that means I attempted the different maneuvers but wasn't that great at them, I did get the plane back in one piece! There wasn't too many maneuvers on this ride; just slow flight, steep turns, and your takeoff, landing, radios, approach and departure. Sounds fairly straightforward, but it's a lot of work to do in not much time. It's pretty exciting, and I finally know what I need to work on and study for. I think I will take it easy tonight since I don't have to fly tomorrow. I'm scheduled for monday so i'll be studying for that flight this weekend.
  19. spectre56

    Tower stuff is done!

    By spectre56,

    Had our tower "test" this past thursday...I passed with flying colors! Our whole class, in fact, did very well. Not quite as hard as pilot training stuff, but still had to work at it, nonetheless. Moving on to radar lecture for about a week and then in the radar sim for a couple weeks. It's supposed to be harder, so should be great!

    On another note, does anyone still read this stuff?
  20. spectre56

    Travelling

    By spectre56,

    Well, looks like I'll be heading up to Oregon soon! I have been told that I should receive my orders in a week or two, so hopefully about a month after that we'll be heading up to the northwest. If anyone knows anything about Klamath Falls, let me know.

    I start part of my training at Keesler around mid November, there for about 3 months, then head back up to Oregon for 2 years to train alongside the F-15s up there.

    I'm pretty excited and can't wait to move on!
  21. spectre56

    Tues June 3

    By spectre56,

    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!!
  22. spectre56

    Tues May 20

    By spectre56,

    So, I didn't end up flying on Friday, which just makes it that much more hectic for me this week. Yesterday, I flew in the morning; today I flew twice in the morning (double turning). The first flight was decent, but the second flight sucked. The winds had picked up and I was all over the place. Not to mention I got a headache as we were stepping...I fought through it, but I was beat from the first flight so that wasn't helping any. I ended up getting a good overall and for the most part, my IP was lenient (I think).

    I'm flying tomorrow...once as of now. Halfway done with the 300 block and only 3 or 4 more flights till the checkride. I don't think I'm ready for it just yet, but i'm hoping i'll get it down in the next few days.
  23. spectre56

    Tues May 27

    By spectre56,

    I was supposed to fly this past friday, but winds were crap...again. So I had a nice 3 day weekend; went to Colorado Springs for the night on Saturday and relaxed and didn't think of IFS once!

    Finally got to do my 304 just a little bit ago. I think it went well overall. Weather was still kinda crappy but not so bad that we couldn't go to the area and do some stuff out there. I'll get to the checkride....it may take a long time, but i'll get there!
  24. spectre56

    Tues May 6

    By spectre56,

    Alright, I didn't fly today...don't know if i'll fly tomorrow, either. There's 2 of us that I know of that haven't flown at all. Our IP said that he would bump some folks tomorrow to get us up in the air, so we'll see how that goes. So, i'm stuck studying the same stuff: radio calls, checklists, etc. I feel like I can't get any more productive studying done until I fly and figure out what I need to work on. Maybe tomorrow!!
  25. spectre56

    Tuesday 29 Apr

    By spectre56,

    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 of the word.

    It's nice to get outside to the flightline; especially since we have no windows in our room (as mentioned by Sentry333). It also gives us a feeling of making at least a little bit of progress in this program.

    Also, myself and Sentry333 are in the same flight, so if some of this is redundant, oh well. Just trying to provide a different perspective.

    Oh, and after I'm done with PT and dinner, studying is pretty much the norm. Me and my buddy from the other flight were going over takeoffs, landings, and aircraft systems for a few hours. Now, it's time for bed. Early day starting at 0600 tomorrow!
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