Phase II

Today was the first day of Phase II. In the last class 2 people quit after day 1, and another quit after about 2 weeks, that guy majored in Aero in college, he just decided this wasn't for him. I definitely questioned what I was doing here instead of backpacking several times today, and I don't think I ever really answered them, I was too busy and my head was spinning like mad. I'll go into more detail later as to what the days are like. I was supposed to have my first flight today, we taxied all the way onto the runway, powered up, and had to abort because my mic kept cutting out. You can't fly if you can't communicate. So we'll try again tomorrow, followed by a sim in the evening, hopefully tomorrow I can make myself relax more and soak in what is going on around me rather than messing with my gear. I mean, I'm getting to FLY!!! Certainly I have the mental fortitude to relax and play the Top Gun theme as we walk to our aircraft with our G-suit on. HA, all Air Force guys are required to make fun of Top Gun, even though they all loved it growing up.

End of phase 1

This is the last week of phase 1. We will still have some academics in phase II, but the focus will shift to more flying. Since I last wrote we've had 2 tests, I missed 2 on the first one and 3 today. I'm happy with those scores, both of them had a question everybody missed that they should've thrown out, but whatcha gonna do. Both of the tests (Flying fundamentals and Contact) are covering material directly related to flying: rotation (takeoff) speeds/configuration, how to recover from a stall, spin, inverted, nose-high, nose-low attitudes, how to plan your training mission to conserve energy.

This is all being reinforced with simulator training. You treat it just like a flight with a 1 hour prebrief, 1.3 hour mission, and a debrief to discuss performance and technique. Its awesome! Its also interesting to self examine my performance in relation to the type of sim instructor I get. I allow myself to be effected WAY too much, by their teaching style, ie positive feedback and corrective instruction.

Another awesome thing is the pity everyone has on me for living in the dorm, even though its I really don't mind. One couple has had myself & another dorm guy over a couple times for a home-cooked meals, and other classmates who live together in houses invite us over when they cook. We get invited over for football games where the wives make wings and cookies for study parties, all the left-overs go to the poor guys in the dorm. Same goes for sunday school with breakfast leftovers, i've had french-toast sticks 4 meals in a row!!!

This week should be relaxed, with all my down time (in theory) spent preparing for actual flight, memorizing departures, power settings, checklists, radio calls. Its really fun preparing for something you actually doing as opposed to lame-o literature.

good weekend, bad wakeup call

We found out how the class will be divided when we hit the flight line today. They will break the class of 24 into 2 flights next week for the entirety of phase 2. We met with our soon to be flight commander and IPs (instructor pilots) for some expectations and what I think is their first attempt to scare the living crap out of us, and it worked pretty well, at least I'm intimidated. I have to remind myself "don't look ahead, you'll only get overwhelmed" So instead i'll look back on the weekend. I took advantage of the still semi-lax schedule and went to AL game (we won't discuss that, but it was a fun game) and went to a Shane & Shane concert - their voices can't be described - they're simply perfect together, and I was blessed through the messages that their songs gave. The only justification I have for enjoying this time: academics counts for 10% of your final grade and we have 11 tests. One guy could make the bare minimum on every test and would only be 1.5 points behind the next guy who made 100s, but often times 1 point makes a huge difference...

Aerodynamics Test

So today we had our 3rd real test, AERO. I definitely felt underprepaired for the test, and I wasn't confident while answering the questions. We were taught the material Tues, Wed, Thurs, then tested this morning. What really put an extra twist in, were the two sims also during the week. Its funny how much this very small additional work and preparation added stress, and to think that in a few days we'll have more time consuming sims, then shortly after that we'll add flying. I just need to take it one day at a time. All that being said God was really nice and I only missed one, 97% a buddy I study with made a 100% but got up at 3:00 to get in some last minute studying, so I guess thats the difference between good and perfection. Unfortunately we had 2 people fail the test (below an 85%).
Its getting more stressful, but the "aw I can rest" feeling is proportionally sweeter, no matter how short lived. It monsooned for about 30 hours (mom emailed saying something bout a hurricane, but I haven't seen much TV lately) but after the test it all cleared off and it was really pretty, no humidity, and we were finished for the day. I went to the archery range and played around a little - good times. I'm meeting some old Arkansas buddies at the Alabama game tomorrow, then its back to work with a test on Wednesday, YA!!

2nd real test

So I might have lied on here the other day, our 2nd test was Monday (not Tuesday). I missed 2 for a 95% which I think is about the class average again. It was actually fun studying and learning the material we just covered (fuel systems, the engine, environmental systems, the ejection seat, electrical systems). It is a ton of information to process in less than a week but it fascinates me and I find myself going a lot deeper than I need to because it is so interesting and it might be useful to know how this thing works if it is going to keep me 25,000 ft in the air.

We turned right around and started learning new material right away. This test (Friday) will be physics focused; equations, laws, and definitions. We’ll see how that goes. Time seems to drag through the day, but once it hits 6 I blink and its already 10:45, I’m going to have to step up the self-discipline a little to keep from getting behind, but the schedule is still pretty relaxed.

UPT is pretty strange, but it is much more straight forward than I expected. Coming in we weren't expected to know anything for the BoldFace (emergency procedures you must be able to preform in your sleep) even then we didn't need to know what they meant, just be able to rattle them off. They gave us an hour by hour, 6 week schedule on day one telling us what lessons will be covered which days. Each block of lessons gives an overview of what material you are about to cover and how you will learn it (usually 85% computer aided instruction CAI, 5% instructor review, 10% simulator) The test questions are multiple choice and come straight from the test. Everything is outlined ahead of time and the expectations are laid out well. I think people end up adding to the pressure worrying about what is just around the corner, but if you just take a deep breath and take it day by day, its not to bad. There again, we haven’t even started flying yet and all of this will probably change along with the loss of a relaxed schedule when we start phase II and hit the flight line.

End of Week 3

Well, a milestone has been passed. They start a new class every 3 weeks, so as of Monday we will no longer be the "baby class" which really doesn't mean much, but we are no longer are responsible for the flags and POW table, most importantly there is now a class that will look more lost and confused than we are.
Today we attended the graduation ceremony of our "father class" 07-14 (the 14th class to graduate in 2007, we are 08-14). The ceremony consists of lots of special welcomes to all the high ranking individuals, a guest speaker (today's was the Special Operations Commander!!), the pinning on of the wings. It meant a lot to get a better vision of what we are working towards, it blows my mind how different it will be in a year, lots of warm fuzzys.
We also had our first "walk around." Before each flight you inspect the plane to make sure its good to go. They took us all out to the plane, let us ew&awe, gave us a pretty comprehensive overview, and let us ew&awe some more, lots of drool, lots of sound effects in my head. Kind of felt like a kid with his first car, that was the car of his dreams, that can fly.

Week 3 day 1

The schedule is still pretty lax, today all we had was our 3rd test (our first real test, I missed 1 of 47, which seems to be the average). Systems 1 covered flight controls, hydraulics (landing gear, flaps, brakes), intro to instruments, communication and navigation. It wasn't difficult material, but the amount was pretty good sized, I think I studied more for this one test than 97% of my classes, ya I know that doesn't say much, geography isn't known for its dense subject matter. And it all started over again today with another test next Tuesday, someone made a funny comment as we left “study hard, someone over seas is studying hard to kill you” that made me laugh.

Cool things from last week: they fitted us for anti G-suits (they’re like tight fitting chaps with air pockets that expand when you pull Gs to help push blood back to your head). We also had our first simulator. We just played with switches and did some hands on application of what we had been learning about nav & comm. It wasn’t anything big, but it felt pretty cool sitting in the cockpit making sound effects in my head. – here’s a pic of my new glasses and my new haircut of choice - enjoy