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!
Wednesday, May 18
Sunday, May 15
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.
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.
Sunday, May 8
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.
But...I have to get through this week first.
Monday, May 2
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!
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!
Sunday, May 1
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.
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.
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