RFC (and Undergraduate RPA Training): COMPLETE

D-U-N...DONE! (sort of)

RFC finished up this past Friday, and with that, my class and I finished up the new Undergraduate RPA Training (URT) pipeline. It only took about 6.5 months, compared to the traditional pilot training pipeline that takes about 2 years, so I'm not complaining. Here's another article that came out recently describing the whole pipeline, some details about the individual classes, and the new RPA pilot career field from Air Force Magazine: RPA Article. We're not completely done with our overall training, though.

Next up will be the formal training that I've mentioned from time to time, most likely at Holloman for those of us going to the MQ-1 Predator. The two guys in my class that were assigned Global Hawks will be heading off to Beale to be a part of the very first Global Hawk formal training class. I haven't heard a whole lot about the MQ-1 formal training, besides that it's about 3.5 months long. I don't know how much we'll be working with sensor operators, or how many sorties we'll be flying, or what the training environment is like. I also haven't heard anything about when we'll be going, either. The class ahead of us got dates around August, so they had about a 5 month break in between. I wouldn't mind a bit of a break to focus on some other things, like some professional development stuff I need to finish up, and getting settled in some in Las Vegas, but 5 months is quite a bit. So with PCS orders and no further training dates, it looks like I'm going to head off to Vegas to sit around for a while. Sounds like trouble in the making!

For now, though, it's back to the "transition flight" room. Luckily, I'll have plenty to keep me busy with setting up this PCS and everything.

The Air Force Roller Coaster

My classmates and I got our orders this past week. Well, we got the notification of our impending orders. Our orders haven't been made up yet, hence my "roller coaster" quip in the title...meaning we get some information, but not all of the information, so it's excitement, then let-down, etc. But, we all know WHEN we're leaving for our next bases now, which is nice to know. At least this way we can all start planning a little more and start looking more seriously at places to live. So, lots to do in the next few weeks...but first, we have to finish up RFC!

This past week we took the last two of our three tests, and everyone in my section but one person (10 of 11) got 100%'s on the very last test. Nothing cosmic. It's a bit of a load off knowing that we're finally done with being tested and quizzed and checked from now until we start our FTUs (which we still don't have dates for). This last week of RFC is just going over some more RPA basics and doing a short war gaming exercise. This past Friday was pretty fun, though, as we went up to Camp Bullis to have a sort of "Army Appreciation Day", where we did some crash course training in convoys (in a convoy simulator, of all things), IEDs, and urban warfare. I find it kind of funny that the first time I ever shoot an M-16/M-4 is with blanks at an Army Base...

I got to sit at the .50 cal position

All that's left is this week's exercise before our graduation on Friday afternoon. After that, it's back to "moving" mode as I figure out how to out-process and get to Vegas (as well as find a place to live out there!). As long as I can get TMO scheduled right and get all my stuff packed up, it should be smooth sailing...should being the key word there...

Quiet Week

Still trudging along. We're now halfway through RFC, with our last two (of three) tests this week. So far, the best way I've figured out how to casually describe RFC without giving away too many details is that it's sort of like a mix of Air and Space Basic Course (ASBC), some Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) school stuff, and a quick intro as to what to expect when we get to our bases/FTU. The pace of the course is nice. We finally have enough time after work to get stuff done, like go to the gym, or cook an actual dinner. Not quite used to the heat here, though. I like to run outside, but it doesn't cool off here until at least 8 or 9 at night...and it never rains...ever. I suppose I should try and get used to it, seeing as how the climate in Vegas isn't a whole lot different.

Outside of that, we're still waiting to get any sort of dates for going to our next bases or FTUs. I'm not in any rush, yet.

That's about it, though. Not a whole lot else going on right now.

Assignment Night!!

Friday afternoon my class had our assignment night. It was pretty low key, but a lot more people showed up than I expected. The other two assignment nights I've been to had about 10-15 people show up, and they were pretty uneventful. Ours had about 30-40. We also had ours out at the golf course, to mix things up. The O-club was fully booked and the community center is tiny here, so it turned out to be really nice. To set the order of how we would get our assignments, we all went to the putting green and putted for the order. Closest to the cup would go first, farthest from the cup would go last. Just made things a little more interesting.

As far as the drops went, we had 3 go to Creech, 1 to Whiteman, and 2 going to Beale (we had the only guy in the class behind us join our assignment night so he would have his all by himself, hence the 6 spots). This is the first class in this pipeline to have people get an assignment to Beale. I won't spell it out, in case it's not official yet, but if you know enough about the community, you can figure out why that's such a big deal for this pipeline. However, immediately after the festivities, the squadron commander said not to go out and buy a house or anything until it becomes official and they have orders in hand. I got Creech, and I'm happy with it. I would have been happy with any of the assignments, though. I was just ecstatic that there weren't any New Mexico bases in the mix!

The Traditional shot of Jeremiah Weed with the assignment

It's nice to know where I'm going, finally. Now I can start planning some things and looking ahead. Until now, I couldn't really look past the end of June. It would have been exciting to get Beale, but I think I'll be plenty happy with what I got. On a side note, if anyone reading this has any advice or pointers for living in Vegas, I'd appreciate it! Other than that, we have our first test in RFC on Tuesday. The stuff we've been covering is awesome. I'm having a lot of fun learning and going over everything. I'm just happy I took Physics II while I was in college!

Out with the Old, In with the New

UPDATE: I forgot to mention in the post below that our assignment night got pushed back to this coming Friday, so I still don't know where I'm going to end up just yet

I know, I know...I missed posting yesterday and it's been well over a week since my last post. I've been fairly busy making the most of my time off. I was able to finish RIQ in time to make my pre-planned family vacation out to Vegas for a few days, and I was also able to squeeze in a trip back to Omaha to do a couple things. It was great having some time off, but it definitely took a few days to bounce back from the stress I put on myself to finish the class in time. It's honestly weird having free time again. Thinking about it the other day, my life used to be focused on my free time, with work interrupting it...but lately it's been focused on work so much, with little free time interrupting it, that I've forgotten how to make the most of my free time! Also, it's kind of like being back in the Desert again down here, in that it's still 90 something degrees until 10pm. Makes it tough to try and go running outside in the afternoon.

After my trips I came back here to San Antonio in time to start my next training course, RPA Fundamentals Course (or RFC, for short), which started this past Thursday. In this course, we actually start getting into the details of what we're going to be working with when we get done with all of the training. A majority of the class covers classified material, so I won't/can't discuss any details. What I CAN say is that the course has traditionally mixed the pilots(officers) and sensor operators(enlisted) together, however, we were told that we'll be one of the last classes to be combined like this because they're apparently eliminating it from the sensor operator training pipeline. So from here on out, it'll just be the pilots. As far as what's covered in the four weeks (in generic terms, of course), it's like a crash course in war operations, command and control, and some RPA basics. I don't know about the other guys in my class, but I'm looking forward to learning something outside of flying for a little bit.

Instrument Qualification...Complete!

9 weeks and 1 day, 7 academic tests, and 37 sims later and I can finally check RIQ off my list. Flew/passed my check ride today and that was it. I was the first one of my class to finish (since I was fast tracked in order to get done in time for my family vacation I had planned before they decided to bump the class back a week), so I didn't really know exactly what to expect besides the obvious hour-long ground evaluation and the 1.3 hour simulator flight. I think it was that fear of the unknown that made me study so much, but it paid off, because the overall check ride didn't seem that bad. My pre-check, however, was awful. I was so worried about everything at once that I was having trouble focusing on what was actually happening at the moment. So my timing was off on approaches, I forgot some checks and steps here and there, and my heading and altitude would drift occasionally as I got distracted. But I guess they say that if you do bad on your pre-check, you usually do good on your check. Seemed to be the truth in my case.

Looking back, I don't think I've ever been that stressed out for such a long period of time, or had that much information process through my brain. It hasn't exactly settled in 100% that I'm done and I don't have to do any more flight planning, or stand-up EPs, or be quizzed on the operating limitations of the T-6 or any of the other billion tid-bits of information we're supposed to know. Not done forever, that is, but done for the foreseeable future. We'll most likely get back to the EPs and such when we get to the FTU and start learning to fly whatever RPA we get assigned to. For the time being, though, it's going to be glorious! I can finally get back to a normal life...exercising on a regular basis for more than 30 mins at a time...cooking actual meals instead of living off of pre-cooked chicken and Subway sandwiches...staying up later than 9 on a weekday...awesome!

To celebrate, I get to see my family and go on this short vacation we had planned. Next class starts on the 26th and I'll be on the road traveling and visiting people I haven't had the chance to see since I started RIQ, so consider this my post for this coming Sunday. Peace out, thanks for reading, my (much-needed) break starts now!

I Swear, Mother Nature Has It Out For Me

Got through a lot of stuff last week. Finished our last academic test over navigation, and flew 6 sims. I was scheduled to fly 8, but apparently simulators are just as fickle when it comes to the weather as real planes are...

Thursday we had a line of thunderstorms come through the area, and in true Air Force safety fashion, when there's lightning within 5 miles of the base, everything shuts down...to include the (indoor!) simulators. So just as I was stepping over to the sim building with my IP, we were greeted by this:

This was around 10 in the morning, when it's usually all sunshiny and stuff. I would just like to point out that it was dark enough for the streetlights to come on. But the storm came through just in time for my first sim of the day (out of two scheduled) to be canceled due to lightning. We tried to salvage the sim by reserving another simulator at 1130 so I could stay on schedule, but the lightning kept hanging around and it never worked out. Later in the day, when I was supposed to go do my second sim, the roof of the sim building apparently sprung a leak right over the simulator I was scheduled to be in. Needless to say, my second sim got canceled as well. It just wasn't my day...

The rest of the week went according to plan, thankfully, but now my scheduled has been bumped back by a day. Double turn tomorrow with my last cross country sim and a low-level sim, pre-check sim on Tuesday, and the check ride on Wednesday. Seems so close, yet so far.

To finish things up, our assignment night sounds like it's going to be on the 26th. After talking to the rest of the guys in my class, it's going to be interesting to see how the assignments come down. I'm going into it with the belief that if there's a middle-of-nowhere, New Mexico assignment on the chopping block, I'll be the one that gets it. Hope for the best, plan for the worst...I guess.

Last Full Week

...and what a week it's going to be. I'm scheduled for 8 sims this week, double-turning Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I did a double-turn earlier this week, but it was easy because neither sim introduced anything new or challenging. We also start off the week with our last academic test tomorrow afternoon. Not having any academics to worry about, or new information to learn and be tested on, is going to be so awesome. I won't know what to do with myself. Lucky for me, my free time will be taken care of by having to double-turn the whole second half of the week. As far as the sims go, we're pretty much through all the basic stuff, and we'll be flying sims that put everything together. After Tuesday, we'll start doing cross-country sims. They consist of four separate flights, going from Randolph to San Angelo on the first one, San Angelo to Midland on the second one, Midland to Dyess (with a divert to Abilene) on the third one, and Abilene to Fort Worth on the last one. Each one having 2-4 different instrument approaches we're going to have to fly. Thrown into the mix of sims this week is also a low-level flight, where we fly a specified route at 1,000 ft above the ground, and another sim that's totally dedicated to emergency procedures (my favorite! but not really). If everything goes as planned, and I can pull this off without failing any rides, all that's left to do next week is the pre-check ride and the check ride itself. I could be done by next Tuesday! Then I'm off to Vegas (family vacation) on Thursday! Which is honestly the most exciting thing I can think about right now, and my sole means of motivation. I can't wait to be done with this class and get back to a normal life.

But...I have to get through this week first.

Two Quick Notes

First: For those that didn't know or notice, I have a tracker on this website that tells me how many people visit it, when, and from where they log on. I've noticed a fairly significant increase in hits from a lot of locations where I don't have family or friends. Some I can figure out. Others, not so much. In an effort to open up an avenue of communication to those that wouldn't be able to communicate with me by other means, I've set up an email (rpanoob@yahoo.com)that people can write to. I guess we'll see how that goes...I'm hoping I didn't just open up a Pandora's box of criticism!

Second: I can't NOT say something with respect to the recent Osama bin Laden news. All I can really say is that I'm glad that it was a military group that brought him down. It would have been better if it was a Predator or Reaper that did it, but I know if that were the case, there wouldn't be a whole lot of evidence to prove that it happened. I'm sure some RPA based ISR was involved in the operation, though. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in this country who has not been affected, in some way, by the results of what bin Laden's actions have caused. Personally, I've been deployed and lost a fellow classmate from Purdue in the current wars. It's a great symbolic win, but it doesn't mean the job is done.

Off to study some instrument approaches!

Is it Sunday Already?

Another week in the books, another week closer to being done. The test last week went alright. I don't know what the class average was, but we had one guy fail (and subsequently pass). Just have one test left covering navigation. As far as the sims go, we're completely done with the contact phase (where you rely on visual references outside the cockpit) and are now focusing only on instrument flying. It's nice to put that behind us, but it's uncharted waters for me now. Up until now, my experience in having a private pilot license has helped me have a leg up on what we were learning, but now that well of information is dry. I did take an instrument ground school before I came here, which helps with the academic portion of the instrument flying, but there's a huge difference between reading about something and talking about it on the ground and actually applying it in a plane in real time. After doing some approaches (procedures for landing in weather), my brain was so spent that I couldn't barely even focus on having a simple conversation. Fun stuff!

We have just under 3 weeks left, if everything goes as planned. This is also our last full week of academics, which we're all looking forward to being done with. I was able to work it out with the scheduler to try and schedule me so that I can finish by the 18th (family vacation I posted about back in March), so I have about 13 training days left. That also means that I'm going to have to double turn three times between now and then. First double turn is on Tuesday, so that should be interesting.

In other news, we've gotten a synopsis of what happened that caused the sudden delay in the training pipeline. We didn't get the details, so I'll refrain from sharing what we were told in case its sensitive information. The class ahead of us was able to work it out with the assignment people to go ahead and move to their follow-on bases where they can at least be in an active flying squadron and contribute while they wait for their FTU assignment, rather than sit around here for months doing absolutely nothing.  Hopefully we'll get the same sort of deal. Although that may not be so fun if I end up going to a middle-of-nowhere base. Vegas, on the other hand, would be nice. There's also some rumors floating around about opening the training pipeline to other airframes. Right now, everyone is assigned to the MQ-1 Predator right out of here. In the next year or so, it sounds like the RQ-4 Global Hawk will be opening up and possibly the MQ-9 Reaper. Only time will tell.

The TRUE Objective of USAF Pilot Training:

I've come to the realization that pilot training in the US Air Force is not at all based on teaching you HOW to fly a plane, but merely how not to crash it...or if you have to crash it, crash it correctly. The amount of time we spend on emergency procedures makes it hard to focus on what we're actually supposed to be learning: instrument flying procedures (of which, we've hardly done any). Needless to say, we've spent the better part of this whole week focusing on emergency procedures, and I can honestly say that these are not my strong points. It's kind of hard to take an emergency situation seriously when you're in a simulator. One entire sim (1.3 hours, plus 45 min pre-brief and 45 min debrief) was dedicated to nothing but figuring out my way through different possible emergency scenarios. Engine fire on the ground, engine failure on takeoff, blown tire on landing, low oil pressure, engine failure in flight, etc. Every second of the sim, I'm just waiting for the next thing to go wrong. I'm surprised I even flew the plane straight. But I digress...

It's almost to the point of seeing the light at the end of tunnel. We're all pretty burnt out and on edge. Our brains are overwhelmed with numbers, equations, rules of thumb, emergency procedures, and all the new information we're learning for our next test on Wednesday. But, there's only 1 month left, or 20 more class days left, 21 sims, 2 tests, and 12 stand-up EPs...not that I'm counting. Now that we've been flying for a couple weeks (which I can only assume converts to a couple years in pilot training terms, like dog years) the standards for each sortie have been increased and we're expected to fly every maneuver, departure, arrival, traffic pattern, and landing as if we have 1,000 hours of T-6 experience. Cake!

In other news, it seems like there's been some shifting in the RPA training pipeline and I may be delayed for an indeterminate amount of time between my next class and my FTU training (FTU= Formal Training Unit, where I would receive my training on the Predator, get my wings, and be considered mission ready). So, it looks like once I'm done with my next class I'll be doing some sitting around for a bit. Good chance to get some other stuff done, like Master's classes or SOS (Squadron Officer School). Like they say, hurry up and wait.

Lastly, the girlfriend is coming to town for the Easter weekend, so consider this my post for Sunday. I'll try and make another post sometime next week after our test on Wednesday.

And So It Is, For the Next 5 Weeks

Another week down, another week closer to being done. Granted, this course I'm in now is a ton better than going through IFS, but it just feels like it's going to take forever. We're just now at the halfway point. 5 weeks left. We've gotten through 5 of the 7 tests, and we have a little over 30 sims left to do. We also got a printed schedule detailing the rest of our time here before we're done. Academics (i.e. computer aided coursed, review sessions with IPs, and academic tests) ends in about three weeks from now. After academics are done, all we have to worry about is flying the sims and passing our one and only checkride at the end. Next test is in ten days, and covers advanced instrument procedures. Right now, it's just about getting into a routine, or rythym, of doing the (relatively) same stuff day in and day out. The reward? Being instrument qualified and knowing where I'll be assigned once ALL of the training is completely done. As of now, the choices are Las Vegas, middle-of-nowhere New Mexico, or Missouri. I'll give you two guesses as to where I (and everyone else in my class) want to go...

As far as this course goes, the amount, and more specifically the breadth, of knowledge that we're expected to know and memorize is insane. It would totally be possible, if we tackled one subject at a time, but it feels like we're trying to learn everything all at the same time. It's just too much. We're basically cramming what traditional pilots learn in 6 months, into 2 months. A few posts back, I posted a picture of the huge amount of pubs we were issued that would cover this course. Granted, we're not actually going to read every page that was issued to us, but regardless, it's still a lot of information. To compound that, we're going a lot faster with respect to covering topics in class than we are in the actual simulators. We're still making our way through the basics of flying the T-6 and instrument flight in our sims, but academically, we've just about covered everything there is to know about instrument flight. So as far as putting into practice what we're learning in class, there's about a two week delay. Luckily this kind of stuff really interests me and I can keep an attention span in order to focus on learning it all...for the most part.

On a side note...I'm definitely ready for vacation...

Study Break

Well...that was definitely a busy week, and this coming week looks to be more of the same. The sims are still weird to fly in, although the big, fancy sim with the wrap-around screen makes it a lot better. Having a week of experience is nice, though, because now I at least know what to expect (for the most part). The days usually go the same way, with the formal brief and stand-up EP in the morning, followed by a sim, then some academics sprinkled in. The formal brief and stand-up are the worst. Basically, the formal brief part involves one of us putting together a quick brief about the days weather, airfield status, advisories, and any other stuff that you would want/need to know for a day of flying. This part isn't too bad, it just takes some time and effort to gather all the information and put the slides together. After the formal brief, however, we do what's called a stand-up EP (Emergency Procedure). This involves an instructor describing a certain scenario that puts you in an emergency situation. After the scenario is set up, he calls on one of us by random and we have to talk our way through the emergency situation. BUT, we have to do it while standing up at the head of our table (hence the term "stand-up) in front of the rest of the IPs. If we do something wrong, we have to remain standing there while they call on someone else to come up and take a shot at figuring it out. It doesn't sound all that bad on paper, but it's just an awful, annoying experience to start the day off with. So, we do one of those every morning, from Monday to Thursday. On friday, we take a quiz instead. Fun stuff.

 But, that's about it. Boring stuff, I know. But I have to get back to studying.

Make It Stop!

I'm only taking the time right now to write this post because my mind can't process any more new information, otherwise I would be studying...

This week has been just as big of a week as I thought it would be, probably more, actually. Started off the week with the usual "Oh, hey guys...you should probably take a look at these publications that we didn't give you at the beginning of the class and have everything memorized for tomorrow's sim." Which involved a ton of verbal stuff, like radio calls, that we were supposed to know. On top of that, we also have more numbers, equations, and "rules of thumb" that we're supposed to know, as well. Granted, it's all pertinent information that makes sense to have memorized and such, but this is beyond the proverbial firehose of information. Right now my brain just simply can't process any more new information until I let the current stuff sink in a little and make some sense of it.

As far as the simulators and flying go, it's just a weird sensation overall. There's basically three types of simulators we use:
- one is just a mock-up of the cockpit that you can sit in a operate, but no visual stuff outside to look at (i.e. it's like flying in a cloud, where the cloud is a wall in front of the simulator)
- another is the same as the first, except there's a projection screen in front of you that's about the same as a 65-inch TV, so you can have visual stuff straight in front of you
- the third (and the one we haven't used yet) is what most people would think of when they think of an aircraft simulator, where the screen wraps around the mock-cockpit and you can see about 190 degrees around you and above you. Sort of like an IMAX movie where you're whole field of vision is filled up.

However, none of them have full motion capability, so when you do a sharp turn in either direction, climb straight up, or dive straight down, you just sit there and don't feel anything. Weird stuff to try and get used to.

Finally, word got out to my classmates and they finally found out I've been keeping this blog about our progression. Luckily I went through and deleted all the bad stuff I said about them in earlier posts (just kidding). So maybe they'll give me some feedback and I can improve my posts...or they'll just make fun of me about keeping a blog about all this.

Anyways, I'm off to bed. It's going to be some long days for the next couple weeks...and LOTS of studying and memorization. Maybe next post I'll explain our daily formal brief and stand-up EP fun we get to go through every morning. Fun stuff...

Game Time

This week is a big week. Academics for my course will continue for another few weeks, but this week is when we get to start our sim flights. We've gone through 4 of the 7 tests (I got a 98% on the last test, which covered weather), so we're over the hump on that front, but we have about 37 or so sorties to fly in the simulators, starting with sim #1 tomorrow. Each sim is supposed to last just over an hour. This week will most likely be focused on the basics of flying, so that we can get used to being in the sim and how everything works. It's going to take some getting used to, since you don't necessarily "feel" what the plane is doing. As in, you make a left turn and your brain is expecting to feel some sort of force moving you to the right, but nothing happens. You'd be surprised at how much being able to feel motion factors in to the whole process of flying. That's the one thing I really like about this course, though. At IFS, you were pretty much thrown in the proverbial deep end of the pool at the beginning and then you were screened based on whether you sink or swim (hence why there's such a high wash-out rate there), whereas here, it feels like we start off on the pool deck, then try the kiddie pool, then the shallow end of the big pool, and finally we get into the deepend. Crawl, walk, run is what they say. Should be fun.

Along with the sims, though, we're still going to have some academics to do for the next few weeks. We haven't even started the navigation or instruments portion of the course, and those are basically what the course is all about. So the newest information is yet to come, which probably means long days trying to get it all done. Lots of reading involved with each, as well.

Also, we finally passed our boldface/ops limits test Friday morning, so we can wear our flight suits instead of blues. Honestly, I don't even care that it's flight suits (it still feels weird wearing them since I was previously in maintenance). I would take ABUs (our camo uniforms) if I had to. Just anything other than blues.

But, 3 weeks down...7 to go

Test Update

Three for three. 100% on the aerodynamics test, now on to weather for Thursday. 3 tests down, 4 to go.

Phugoid Oscillations, Dutch Rolls, L/D max...

Can't wait to take this test and get past all this aerodynamic theory stuff. Last time I checked, pushing the throttle forward made the plane go faster, pulling it back made it go slower, everything else was common sense and hand eye coordination. It makes it even more funny, as a class, because none of us in the class has a degree that would have covered this type of stuff. The closest is a civil engineer, then there's me, who took a year's worth of engineering classes before switching majors. Who knew that there were separate equations for lift, drag, take off speed, landing speed, etc. Somehow, I think I would have done just fine without knowing these topic to this in-depth of a level. But the test is tomorrow afternoon, after a couple of classes on weather, our next subject. I'm guessing I'll be able to compete with the local TV weatherman by the end of the week.

This week should be more interesting than last since we have our bold face/ops limits test this Thursday. Assuming we all pass, we should be able to wear our flightsuits and get out of these blues once and for all. Then we should also start doing our sims on Friday. I can only assume, anyways, because our academic schedule only goes up through Thursday with nothing scheduled so far for Friday.

Other than that, it's nice to be somewhere where Spring is actually Spring, and not just an extension of Winter. Everything is nice and green, partly sunny, and temps in the 80s. The only thing missing is thunderstorms.

Another Quick Update

Second test down, got another 100%. Got to sit in the simulator a couple of times so far to get familiar with all the switches and how things work. Had some extra time with today's familiarization time and got to play around with actually flying it. It's definitely different when you don't physically feel the changing directional forces when you turn and such and you're just looking at a screen. Good news is that I took off and landed without crashing, bad news is that I have no idea how! Here's what the sims sort of look like (photos taken from T6driver.com)

 simulated cockpit on the left, simulator control station on the right

Next up...Aerodynamics, which is basically a crash course in physics/fluid dynamics/aeronautical engineering. Test is on Monday.

Continuation From This Morning

Test #1 complete, got a perfect score. Class average was a 93%, with one guy "failing" it (passing is 85%, he got an 81). Next up, fuel, electrical, and propulsion systems with the test being Wednesday. Game on...

Weekly Excuse Post

Seems to be a theme now on Sundays, but this weekend was spent studying for this test later today and watching the NCAA tournament (and consequently the latest horrible game from Purdue). The first test in any class is always the most stressful for me, because you don't know what to expect. Today's test is over hydraulics, communications equipment, flight instruments, GPS, flight controls, and...ummmm...some of the other gadgets in the cockpit. Our next test is Wednesday, over the fuel system, the engine, and the electrical system. Still trying to learn all the switches and buttons. Here's a picture of what the cockpit looks like:

It's really not that complicated, once you know what everything does

I don't think I ever mentioned it, but the entire time that we're doing nothing but academics, we have to wear our blues (our uncomfortable dress pants and button up shirt). Sure, they make us look good, but I highly dislike them.

one week down, nine more to go!

New Class

After a couple of days of this new class, I still haven't decided how I feel about it. On the positive side, it's not Pueblo and the overall attitude is one of a training environment and not one of a screening environment. Our first couple weeks are purely academics, covering how to fly the T-6 as well as going into more depth on topics we covered at IFS. However, here's a picture of all the materials we were given for the duration of this class (known as publications, or pubs):

Use my laptop as a scale.

Basically, they've taken the traditional pilot training course (which takes about a year to complete), took out all the stuff that doesn't apply to flying RPAs, and this 10 week course is what they came up with. So far, it's a little overwhelming with the amount of detailed information that we're going to have to know, but the way we're going about it makes it feel do-able. These first two weeks of academics mostly involve us sitting in front of computers clicking through lessons covering everything in the pubs above. After we go through the computer lessons on our own, we have a review session with an instructor to go over everything and make sure we get any questions answered and that we're pointed in the right direction. After every section covered (such as systems, instruments, or navigation) we have a test. Our first test is this coming Monday. Overall, it's kind of like IFS, but different. A lot more reading and detail involved in this course...along with not having a cafeteria or housekeeping, which was kind of nice to have...

In other news, the class behind us has now been reduced to 1 person, out of an original 8. The next class is scheduled to start here shortly, but they have a lot more flight experience among them so they should do a lot better as far as getting people through. Still, as of now, there's a 31% pass rate for the first two classes. It has a lot of attention from some top Air Force brass...the Chief of Staff of the Air Force came to visit the squadron here last week...

Also, I misspoke in my previous post. Apparently there were 400 ROTC cadets that applied for an RPA spot and only 40 were selected (10% selection rate, for all you math wizards), compared to the ~60% selection rate for traditional pilot spots.

Anyways, that's it for now. I have a lot of reading to do before Monday...

I Blame Daylight Savings Time

So I totally forgot about writing a post today...and I blame the time change for that one. But, I've just been sitting around not doing a whole lot since my class hasn't started yet. That'll change this week, though...we start Tuesday morning with the usual intro briefs and such. I get to pick up all my books and academic materials tomorrow to look over. Besides that, I've been partially studying for the new Boldface/Ops Limits of the T-6, reading up on house buying, and avoiding as much work as possible.

I was hoping to write more about the following, but I'll just have to save it for later but:

- The class that followed mine at IFS has now been reduced to 3 (they started with 8, also), and they haven't even gotten past the first training block.

- Apparently for this commissioning year from all the ROTC detachments across the nation, 140+ cadets applied for this new RPA Pilot career field and only 40 got selected. Traditional pilot slots had 60% of the cadets that applied get a slot. Interesting...it's apparently harder to get an RPA Pilot slot than it is to get a regular pilot slot...

That's it for now. Class starts Tuesday!

Nothing Happy About This Post

Still waiting for my next class to start, RPA Instrument Qualification (RIQ), and I guess I'll have to wait a few days longer...due to construction. So, I'm going to use this post to rant a little bit. I have nothing good to say, so proceed with caution!

So as I said before, my next class start date got pushed back from 8 March to the 14th. Normally, I wouldn't care. It would give me a few extra days to study the new Boldface and Ops limits for the T-6 (see earlier posts if that last sentence didn't make any sense to you)...BUT...the later start date usually means a later finish date, and my family had already planned a Vegas vacation to coincide with my next break between classes (19-22 May). The new projected finish date is 23 May (My cynical thought: of course it is! why wouldn't it be?) Hotel rooms are booked, plane tickets are bought, plans have been made...then a week before our class is supposed to start I get a text message from one of my classmates telling me the date's been pushed back...for construction. Are you serious?!? I get to have my plans all jacked up, $600 in plane tickets and the fact my dad had planned his 2 weeks of R&R from Balad (he's been working in Iraq since before Thanksgiving) all because some contractor can't keep a project on schedule!?!? I was on leave in Omaha when I found this out, so I couldn't do a whole lot about it. So I took my girlfriend to the local gun range and shot some rounds. I had to vent somewhere.

It worked a little bit. It probably would have been more enjoyable if I would have realized how expensive it was going to be (about 55 cents per round, for 150 rounds). I came back to Randolph the next day and explained my situation to my flight commander. He sympathized, but he doesn't run the courses, so he sent an email explaining my predicament to whoever does run the course and hopefully I'll get some good news tomorrow. If not, I'm out $600+, a chance to see my family all in one place, the chance for my parents to meet my girlfriend, and...c'mon, it's a trip to Vegas! But I'll have to wait to hear anything until after I get my passenger side window replaced in the morning...because some asshole in downtown San Antonio saw the need to bust into my car, rummage through my stuff, and only take my GPS (which was in my glovebox, not out in the open). Thankfully, I was able to find the serial number for it. Now, if this person tries to pawn it or something it should send up a red flag. I honestly don't care about the GPS, I just hope they find the person who did this (not that a whole lot will happen besides a slap on the wrist).

Exactly as I found it, with the glovebox and center console opened

Luckily I didn't have anything valuable in my car that night, which is a lesson I learned from the first time this happened (about 2 years ago in Omaha, but it was the driver's side window). In my life, I have now had my vehicle broken into 4 times, one of those times they didn't even take anything! People are scumbags. It's stuff like this that makes me want to go get a concealed carry permit and hope that I catch one of these bastards in the act. Hey, I'm in Texas now, I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to shoot first and ask questions later, right? Anyways, I will credit the San Antonio Police for doing as much as they could. They even brought out a forensics guy who dusted for fingerprints. He found two, but they're most likely mine. The effort was appreciated, though. Now I have to shell out $215 for a new window (my insurance's comprehensive deductible is more than that, so I would pay regardless).

Oh, and to top it all off, my Boilermakers played the most horrendous game of basketball I've seen them play in the last four years. I was so angry while watching it, my fingers were shaking. Losing to the last place team in the Big Ten on the last regular season game of the year. Way to finish! But I shouldn't be too surprised, that's how Purdue rolls. We get right on the brink of absolute success and then just choke. After 9 years of experiencing this, you'd think I would be used to it...

Awesome finish to the week, can't wait to start another one!

Vacation

Not much to write about. I have my two week break in between training courses, so I've decided to take some leave and visit my old stomping grounds of Omaha. Gotta say, though, I definitely prefer the San Antonio weather. It's nice to take a break and get away from everything for a bit.
Got word that the fourth, and final, guy in my training class passed his final check ride back at IFS. Good news to hear, and I'm glad he made it through. Now, it should move more towards a "training" course objective, rather than the "screening" objective that we just went through. Studying starts tomorrow with the new operation limits and boldface emergency items (reference an earlier post where I explained these terms, if their new to you). I have until March 8th to memorize everything.
But for now, I'm going to enjoy the time off that I have and visit with old friends.

A Promise is a P{romise

I said earlier that I would post something at least every Sunday...well, it's Sunday and here's my post:

I just got back to my apartment tonight after about a 12 hour drive from my brother's place in Albuquerque, so I'm a little tired. I'm going to put off the unpacking until tomorrow (thankfully President's Day is a federal holiday, so now work!), and any in-depth posts. Mission objectives for tomorrow: unpack my stuff, clean my car, clean my apartment, enjoy the freedom of not having to study or plan for flights. Oddly enough, I'm actually looking forward to this. Weather forecast for San Antonio for tomorrow is partly cloudy and a high of 80. Sweet.

On to the Next One

IFS is done! Finished my check ride Friday afternoon. Wasn't the prettiest flight I've flown here, and just like my first check ride, I thought I was borderline failing it the entire time. However, this time around it was due to the residual gusting winds we've been having the past couple of days. Everything was calm and fine when I took off from Pueblo, but when I got to the airport I was flying to (La Junta), the winds were gusting up to 25 knots, which is right at our maximum limit. So, landing was extremely stressful with the winds gusting and knocking me all over the place and even just trying to fly straight and level was a chore. But it's done, I passed, and now I can go home and enjoy a couple weeks off before I start step two...Instrument Qualification, starting March 8th! I'll describe the next class I have to go through a little later, probably after I start it, but it basically involves learning how to fly an aircraft solely by reference to the aircraft instruments. We'll be doing our training in T-6 Texan II simulators, so no more actual flying in an aircraft from now on.

But, I'm going to enjoy my freedom for the moment, check out of this place tomorrow morning, and head on back to San Antonio to put in for leave and take a quick mini-vacation. I'll do a more in-depth re-cap post this Sunday once I get back to my apartment and get settled in. Here's a (semi-decent) picture of the four of us still left in my flight, next to the "Mighty Katana" DA-20C:

Wind...My New Enemy

Once again, I've been delayed in my quest to finish IFS by the weather. Today looked nice. It was sunny, hardly any clouds, and it even got above 60 degrees! Except that the wind was blowing at 25+ mph, gusting to 40. These little glider-like airplanes that we fly are fairly sensitive to wind. In fact, the max wind that we're allowed to fly in is 25 knots (28.769 mph), so 40 is a bit above that. Of course, it had to be on the day of my final check ride. I could be on my way home right now, able to enjoy my three day weekend and a couple weeks off before I start my next class...but nooooo. That would be too easy.

Tomorrow is actually supposed to be even more windy than today was, so I probably won't fly until Friday. Awesome! It's annoying, but I actually wouldn't mind not flying tomorrow, because they switched the IP that I'm supposed to fly with to the same guy I flew my first check ride with. Not sure how in depth I went about that first check ride, but this guy is...how do I say it nicely?...frankly, I wanted to punch him in the throat and tell him I quit, and that he could fly the rest of the way and I would just re-do it. So, I'm really not wanting to fly with him again. We'll see. The forecast is calling for wind gusts up to 40 knots (46 mph), so I don't think it's going to happen.

But for now, I just have to sit and wait.

At least Purdue beat Wisconsin tonight. Boiler Up!

Nothing New

Umm...I don't have anything to really write about today. I followed up the double-turning flying week with a weekend of studying mind numbing, pointless aviation questions. Looking forward to a short, but busy week and finally being done with this "screening" program. All I have left is that written exam tomorrow morning and my last three flights, one of which is a check ride. Flying once a day, I should be done by Wednesday and on my way back to Texas Thursday morning. The weather looks like it'll cooperate, too. Highs in the 60's and sunny, it almost feels like spring time!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Just like that, 24 flights down and 4 to go. Granted, one is another check ride, and there's a big written test I have to get through as well, but it's almost over!

The last two days have been two flights a day, one being a night flight, so it keeps me pretty busy and my sleep schedule is a little off kilter.But tomorrow I only have to fly one solo cross country flight, so it should be a fairly easy day. On top of that, the four of us in my class are far enough ahead in our training schedule that we're not going to have fly this Saturday, which we originally thought we would because of the weather cancels earlier in the week. Instead, we get to study all weekend for that aforementioned written exam. Basically, there's a 1,000 questions available that they choose 100 from for our test. We have access to all 1,000 questions, so it's just a matter of going through them all. And I think we have to pass with an 85%?

Anyways, the new class of RPA students is here getting started on their academics, and start flying next week, so it's nice to see new faces and have the IPs focus on someone besides the four of us who have been here since January. They all seem a little apprehensive because they know my class had 50% of the people fail out. Hopefully it'll do them some good and they'll study extra hard, because pretty much all of them have zero previous flight experience. The four guys that failed in my flight had zero flight experience before coming here, and the four of us who are left had at least a couple hours before we came here. Best of luck to them.

Sorry, no pictures. I've been too busy flying lately. Maybe this weekend.

One Day Weekend!

Almost forgot it was Sunday.

Like I said earlier, we had to fly yesterday due to the weather earlier in the week causing us to cancel flights. Makes for a long week. Slowly chugging along and getting through flights. Yesterday's flight was a cross country flight with an IP. We basically just flew to an airport about 70 miles east of Pueblo, did a landing, and came back. Timing was perfect, because on the way back we had to dodge a snow shower that was coming in from the north. Wish I could have taken a picture, because it looked awesome. After we landed, it started snowing for a few hours.

Today was a much needed day off. Slept in, watched the super bowl, and did a little bit of flight planning for tomorrow. I'll be flying the same cross country flight that I flew yesterday, except I'll be flying it solo. Weather is supposed to be descent, so hopefully that holds out. Tuesday and Wednesday, however, is supposed to bring more snow. Right now, I think we're scheduled to fly a couple of night flights on those two days. Anyways, I only have 9 flights left to go! Hopefully I can get that done in the next two weeks, but it's up to the weather.

Here's a funny RPA related comic strip. It's from the online comic website Air Force Blues. Basically, the main character is an F-22 fighter pilot who naturally hates anything RPA related. Prior to this particular strip, he had gone to a hobby shop and bought a remote controlled airplane and crashed it the first time he tried to fly it. I've been following this comic for about 5 years. It's great, once you get the storyline down. (click on it to be able to read it)

...And Then There Were Four...

Just a quick update:
The bad weather that swept the country kept us from flying Monday, Tuesday, and my first flight today. My first flight today was canceled because it was supposed to be a solo flight, and the weather minimums are more stringent, so they had me sit it out. My second sortie (flight/mission) was supposed to be with an IP, but the weather improved enough to let me go solo, so that was fun. I only scared myself once, on a landing.

Bad news, is that all three of our guys failed their last chance flights today. They were kind of set-up for failure, in my opinion, because they had to sit around for four days not flying, losing that "feel for the plane," and do nothing but think of the flight itself. So, now our flight is down to just four people. 50% washout rate, so far. It's depressing for the rest of us, seeing them all have to go back to San Antonio, but we're all scheduled for another double turn tomorrow (and probably Friday, too) and we're going to have to fly this Saturday to catch up for the two lost days earlier this week. Should make for an awesome Super Bowl weekend. At least the Colts aren't in it, I guess. 14 flights down, 12 to go!

Here's a picture my IP took as I finished my first solo (since pictures in flight are prohibited)

and here's a picture of our class patch that we designed and just got in on Monday:

The patch is a big hit with everybody. Even some of the IPs are wearing them. Unfortunately, the eight stars represented the eight of us who were in the flight. Maybe we should sharpie out four of them, now?

Through Another Hoop

What a week that was. As you'll read, it started out with some stress, eased up a bit, then finished off with some academic blitzkrieg to my brain and some weekend fun. I realize some people read this regularly and try too keep up with what I'm doing, so to try and provide some normalcy to my postings, I'll go ahead and commit to at least making a post every Sunday, at the least.

Monday I flew my checkride, which was definitely an "experience." The whole time you're flying, the Instructor Pilot (IP) sitting next to you is only there to judge your every move. No pressure, or anything. The whole time I was flying, I thought I was failing it. Just from his comments. I didn't do anything unsafe, but it just felt like it wasn't good enough. Three hours of evaluation later, he tells me I did a good job. Above average, actually. So that was a relief, and something I definitely do not look forward to doing again, even though I know I will.

After the checkride, I flew my first solo flight on Tuesday. With an IP next to me, we flew to an auxiliary field we use to practice at. We landed and he hopped out of the plane, then I was on my own. I had 30 minutes to fly patterns and practice landings (basically flying in a circle, landing over and over). It was fun, but it was windy and bumpy. No pictures, though, because they're not allowed while flying (you could get kicked out if they found out).
Once the solo was done, I thought things would ease up a bit. In fact, I was doing good enough that they didn't have me fly on Thursday so that my other classmates could catch up and we could all do our next set of academics together. Well, once we started said academics, my brain felt like it was going to explode. Basically, we had six hours of powerpoint presentations on cross country flying, navigation methods, and other stuff we're going to use in our next block of training. Six hours crammed with information at the end of the day, and I was supposed to know it all and have some of it memorized by Friday morning for my next flight. I was panicking. So I studied as much as I could that night, hoping just to not entirely fail the flight, which involved navigating from point to point, and keeping track of the time it took for each leg of the trip. Luckily, the Instructors sort of realized how much our brains were trying to process and took it easy on us for that first flight.

Over the weekend, we all went up to Colorado Springs for a quick hockey game between Colorado College and the University of North Dakota. After the game, we went downtown and went bar hopping for a little bit. Sunday we went to Pike's Peak, which was open all the way to the summit due to the decent weather.
We all needed a little stress reliever after this week, and definitely needed to get away from this building and everything in it. Half of us went through our checkrides at some point and the other half are struggling through their flights leading up to their checkrides. In fact, three of the guys have their last-chance flight on Monday. If they all fail, there's only going to be four of us left. That'll be a 50% wash-out rate...and we're only halfway through! We started out with 8, and we're currently at 7. It's rough, because we all came here from Randolph AFB already knowing each other, and seeing some struggle without really being able to help is no fun.
But, I think this last bit of academics was the last big bump in the road for our time in Pueblo. We have one last checkride at the end, but I'll worry about that when the time comes. For now, I just have to get through this next week. Starting off, I have another double turn day tomorrow where I get to do an entire flight solo, followed by another navigation flight with an IP. However, we're supposed to get hit with that big snowstorm everybody's talking about, so we may not be flying for the next couple of days. We'll see...13 flights down, 13 to go! Picture time:

 At the top of Pike's Peak...in the middle of winter

 Pike's Peak, on the drive up (left side, obscured by clouds)

 Garden of the Gods

Hockey Game

Also, here's an article from Air Force Times about the training pipeline I'm currently going through:

RPA Training Article
I'm currently in the second class, going through the RPA flight screening course (emphasis on the word screening!)

Note Taken

So...apparently the reward for doing well and flying above average here means twice as much work...awesome...I'll keep that in mind for the future.

Flew one flight today. Did pretty well. Got an excellent overall and met all my objectives to move on to the next block of training, two flights ahead of schedule. Then I checked the schedule for Monday, and saw that I'm flying twice. If you don't remember from an earlier post of mine, I flew twice last Friday. It didn't really go very well. I didn't crash, or anything, and my first flight went pretty well, but my second flight of the day was horrible. My brain just quit on me and I was forgetting all kinds of stuff. Hopefully that won't happen again Monday. Basically, I just have those two flights on Monday to get through before I do my first checkride. So, I'll be nice and tired the night before my checkride, and nervous the day of. Awesome! Who doesn't like a challenge?

I'm not the only one double-turning on Monday, though. The other guy in our flight who's doing well is also doing two flights on Monday. At least I'm not alone, I guess. He's one flight behind me though, since one of his flights got canceled for weather earlier this week.

Welp, I guess I'm going to go enjoy my Friday night, because I'll be studying for the rest of the weekend. I'll let you know how it goes later next week, when I regain consciousness and functionality of my brain cells.

Time Doesn't Exist Here

I've lost track of the days. The only things I pay attention to now are when the weekends are, and how many flights I have left until I get to leave. Everything in between is spent in this one building, or in a plane flying. It's kind of like purgatory, but with prison food.

Had a bit of a winter storm come through the area yesterday and last night. Yesterday's flying was all canceled due to the clouds being so low and the wind gusts being too high. Last night, around dinner, it started raining. Then the rain turned into snow:

Out past the fence in the above picture is where our planes are usually parked during the day (they always put them in the hangars at night). So, with the rain turned into ice and snow on top, this morning was slow going and over half of today's flights were canceled again. I was 90% certain my flight was going to get canceled, as well. All up until about a half hour before my flight time, that is. My flight wasn't schedule to take off until about 3 in the afternoon, so it gave the snow and ice a chance to melt. So last minute scrambling to get ready to fly ensued and I was off. Physically, I was prepared. I had all my paperwork filled out and pre-planning stuff done, but mentally, I was already convinced I wasn't going to fly. So, it wasn't my best flight. Did good on some things, botched up some other things. Overall, it was still a "good" overall and I'm still tracking above average. So now I'm 7 flights in, one more than anybody else in my flight. On track to do my first (of two) checkride next week (think of it as a mid-term exam), followed by my first solo on (hopefully) Friday. (A solo is where I go up and fly by myself, with nobody else in the plane)

To top things off, I get to fly pretty much the same route tomorrow that I did today. That just means I have a heck of a lot less stuff to study and memorize tonight, since I just did it all today. I haven't gotten that since I started. It's always been something completely new and requires about 2-3 hours of studying and memorizing routes, altitude requirements, radio calls, runway info, etc.

Half of my flight is still on that Commander's Awareness Program, though. Pretty much all of them but one is showing improvements and I'm not really worried about if they'll make it through. One is still struggling hardcore. Everyone else is trying their best to help that person out, but it's just not sinking in. We'll see if they make it, I guess. We may be down to a flight of 7 people by this weekend, though.

That's about it, as far as news goes. Nothing much is going to change until next week when we all start our checkrides and solos. After those, we start learning how to navigate longer distances and specific routes by visual identification of landmarks and time/distance calculations. Can't wait! (<---sarcasm)

Taking a Breather

Sorry for the delay in posting, but when you get the freedom of taking it easy after a week that leaves you blindsided, you tend to enjoy as much of it as you can. Sort of like the eye of a hurricane. A torrential storm of confusion , followed by the calm of the eye, then back to so more torrential storm of confusion.
It's a little hard to put into simple words what I'm going through here at IFS. It's not like boot camp, or field training, but the sheer amount of information that your brain has to process and memorize, on top of preparing and flying flights, just leaves your brain feeling scrambled at the end of the week. Is the flying hard? No, not really. If you want to get technical, there's a few differences between flying a Cessna 172 (which is what I got my private license in) and a Diamond DA-20 (which is what we fly here), but it's more about learning the procedures they use here and what they expect you to have memorized. Like checklists, radio calls, and emergency procedures. Oh, and most of it has to be verbatim. It's a challenge, but having the three day weekend to catch up certainly helped. And only having a four day work week after should help even more.
Anyways, I'm 5 flights in out of about 27. Still above average, according to my instructor pilot's comments, which is pretty good because half of my flight is on the Commander's Awareness Program, which means they're below average and need some help. So I spent some time helping out as much as I could this weekend. Hopefully everyone can make it through these next 5.5 weeks.
For this week, it's just more regular flights for me to practice what they've taught us last week. All of which is preparation for our first check ride, which is basically a midterm exam, but with flying. Fun stuff...but not really.

 Above: Practicing our pre-flight checklists, so we don't suck at doing them

Friday after we were done flying, they held a little get-together in the student lounge.

Swamped

Quick post: This week has been insanely busy. I would try to describe it, but that would cut into the time I've allotted for sleep. I've gotten two flights in so far (out of approx. 28 that I have to do before I'm done), and I've got three more left before the weekend. If you do the math, that means one day I'm flying two flights. If I'm not flying, I'm either sleeping, eating, or studying. That's all I have time for. Thankfully this weekend is a three day weekend, so hopefully I can get ahead somewhat by studying that extra day and not having to worry about planning a flight.

It's not terrible, though. I'm doing fine on my flights, and they even want to advance me a flight because I already know some stuff. I'm fine with taking my time, though. Once I get the basics memorized, things should lighten up. Until then, just two more days until the weekend!

Sort of Like College...Except Not

Uneventful weekend full of studying. I haven't done this much studying since I was in college, and even then, I probably didn't spend this much time on any one subject. It took me 3.5 hours to go over 466 multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions that comprise the question bank for our test on Tuesday. Only 50 will be used. On top of that, Tuesday will be (hopefully, depending on the weather) our first flights, known as "Dollar Rides," where we basically show what we know and it establishes a baseline for the Instructors to go from. With respect to the actual flying portion, there's still a ton of stuff that we're expected to know/memorize for our flights that I haven't even gotten to. Things like radio frequencies, runway lengths, specific radio calls, challenge/response phrases we're supposed to do with the instructors, and a bunch of other stuff. There's still a couple of checklists I have to work on memorizing between now and then, mainly the pre-flight because it's so long. Tuesday starts at 5:20am with a formal brief covering the days flying info. It's not going to be a fun day, but at least we'll be done with the academic portion...for now.

Here's a pic of the cockpit trainers, where we can practice memorizing checklists and where all the buttons and things are

...and of our flight room, where we spend all our time studying, free from distractions

Let the fun begin! At least tomorrow is just more academic briefings and no tests.

Impossible? Nothing's Impossible!

So it's been a couple days since I last made a post, due to both internet issues and being incredibly busy, but let me catch everyone up to speed:

In-processing day was simple. I showed up (in blues uniform), checked into lodging to get my room, checked in with security to get my facility badge, checked into IT to get my issued laptop, and checked into medical. Whole process took maybe an hour, after which, the rest of the day was mine to unpack.

Day-One was a lot of your usual introductory info for the first half, like who everyone was that worked here, what the expectations are, where everything was at, etc...followed by a Fitness Test (minus the run due to ice on the track...why they didn't think to put in an indoor track, I don't know), lunch, then academics started with Flight Physiology. Last item of the day was our Bold Face and Ops Limits test, which is basically regurgitating on paper a handful of memorized emergency procedures and operating limits of the airplane...stuff you need to know at a moments notice when flying. The motivation to memorize and complete this test with 100% accuracy is that if everyone in the flight can do it, we can wear our flight suits instead of blues. Out of our eight folks in my RPA flight, we had one guy get one (out of 31) of the operating limits wrong. He put down 108 instead of 106, which killed the chance to get our flight suits...or so we thought. Our flight commander said that was the closest he's ever seen a flight get on the first try, so today he talked the squadron commander into letting us wear our flight suits...booyah!

Day-Two (today) was nothing but academics. 9 hours of sitting at a desk looking at powerpoints, with info that we'll have to know for a test on Tuesday morning. Lot's of info to process through the brain, and I'm extremely glad that I already have prior flying experience and at least have seen all of this stuff before. I feel bad for those that don't have any flying experience and this is the first time they're seeing this. Even my head hurt by the end of the day. There's a couple of them in my flight, so those of us who do have prior experience are helping them out.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be more of the same. Nothing but academics covering weather, airspace, navigation, and basics of flying. BUT, we at least get to be comfortable in our flight suits. I'm pretty sure none of the other 3 flights (30 people each, 90 total for you math experts) passed their test, so they'll all be in blues. I only say this, and revel in it, because all the other flights here are made up of traditional pilot and navigator students, who all turn their noses up at the mention of flying an RPA. So, the fact that we passed our test before all of them is kind of personal win for us in the RPA flight. Granted, we technically missed one AND we only have 8 people vs 30 AND we already knew each other and pushed each other to know this stuff before we got here...but it's still a win in my book.

Personal thoughts:
I'm having a good time, so far. It helps that I'm only in a flight of 8 instead of 30, and that we're all coming from the same squadron at Randolph and will be going through a couple other classes together after this. It's challenging, but I enjoy a challenge. It's also busy, and very regimented with the schedule. I didn't realize until late this afternoon that I haven't been outside of this building for over 48 hours. This one building housing everything. Your room, the gym, the auditorium and classrooms, the dining hall, the clinic...even a barbershop and a mini-mart. Theoretically, you could spend your entire time here without having to leave this building (with the exception of actually going out to fly).

Anyways, I still don't have my personal computer hooked up to the internet yet, so I'll have to wait to add any pictures. This weekend looks like a good opportunity to do that. Until then, I'm off to study/eat/sleep/repeat.

Quick Post

Tomorrow morning at 5am I head off to IFS in Colorado. Nothing like a 15 hour drive to get you ready for military training! However, I AM applying the lesson I learned before from driving down here to San Antonio from Omaha and not driving through the night. Still got a little packing to do.

On a side note, I was strolling through the local Border's bookstore the other day and came across the following book:

Of course I had to buy it, even if it was from the experiences of one guy from a couple years ago when the UAV program was first getting it's start. I could maybe learn something from it, or at least appreciate where the program has come from and what I was getting myself in to.
Turns out, me and the author have quite a lot in common:
1. We both went to Purdue University, and got our commission's from the AFROTC program there
2. We were both stationed at Offutt AFB for our first assignments, and had most of our experiences on the RC-135 RIVET JOINT aircraft
3. We both saw an opportunity to contribute more to our country/service by volunteering for the RPA career field
Needless to say, I'm a fan of the book already...and I'm only on chapter 2.

Other than that, I was lucky enough to have the girlfriend come down to visit and stay for the holidays. We were able to find a hotel for a decent price in downtown San Antonio, near the River Walk, for New Years. Here's some pics of that:

Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Years of their own. Next stop, freezing Pueblo, Colorado for the next seven weeks (hopefully shorter)!