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