T-6 Complete!

I was just reading my last post and I said that I was going to try to post more frequently, well....so much for that plan. A lot has happened since my last post. I am officially done with T-6s and am now in academics for T-1s. After my cross-country that I wrote about in my last post I finished up the nav portion of training, finished instruments, and then had my check ride. I was a little nervous because due to some last minute changes I was scheduled to fly my checkride to an airport that I had never been to. That was enough to make me a little uneasy, but it didn't help that the airport didn't have functioning DME (distance measuring equipment), so I had to change the way that I flew the aproaches. It was a little out of the ordinary, but I did fairly well and passed the checkride which is most important.
After instruments it was all about formation. At first I hated formation. I thought that what they wanted us to do should be illegal. It was so crazy. Flying an airplane at speeds of over 250 mph 10ft off the other guys wingtip is enough to make me feel a little uncomfortable, but once we got the "fingertip" position down we had to maintain finfertip distance in 90 degree bank turns. Then we were introduced to extended trail. Both planes set max power so that neither aircraft has a power advantage. Number 2 aircraft (wing) maneuvers to position himself a few hundred feet behind number 1 (lead), and then the games begin. basically it is a big game of chase. Lead begins to do all kinds of maneuvers like loops, barrel rolls, cloverleafs, lazy 8s, and cuban 8s. Both aircraft are now traveling at speeds ranging from 115 to 300 mph. The exercise is designed to teach the student how to use pure geometry and angles to gain on lead and stay in position without changing power settings. It is so crazy. Every time I would start extended trail I would immediately start sweating and after completing it my jaw would be sore from keeping it clenched the whole time. At first I hated it but toward the end I loved it. I am definately going to miss flying the T-6.
On November 17th we had track select. For all of the active duty guys in my flight this is a huge day. Track select is where you find out what type of aircraft you are going to be flying for the rest of your career. T-38s for those that want to eventually fly fighters, T-1s for heavies, and T-44s for C-130s. Since I am guard I already know that I am going to be flying the KC-135 so I knew that I would be tracking to the T-1s. For the active duty guys it is a big competition since a lot of them want to fly fighters. Out of our class of almost 30 guys 5 guys T-38s, 2 guys got T-44s, one guy was chosen to fly helicopters, and the rest got T-1s.
So, now I am back in the class room learning all about T-1 systems, and doing sims. I will be in academics until right before Christmas break. We are scheduled to fly one real sortie before we break for Christmas and then we'll finish up after the break....then I graduate in June. Time is going by so fast!

Pictures from the cross country

It is time for a new post

It's been a while since I have posted to this blog. It has been so crazy around here. I am going to try to post more frequently now. A lot has happened since my last post. I will try to update you on all of the major things that have happened recently.
This past weekend I flew my cross country to practice approaches at different airfields. It was so fun! We took off on Friday afternoon and flew to Birmingham, Al to shoot a couple of approaches. Then we headed north to Huntsville, AL to fuel up. We waited a little bit for the sun to go down and then we flew a night sortie to Chattanooga, TN to shoot approaches and then off to Knoxville, TN to stop for the night. We met up with 3 other crews and and went out to dinner. Saturday we took off and flew over the Great Smokey Mountains which was really cool. We shot some approaches in Columbia, SC cancelled IFR and flew VFR to Charleston, SC. Basically we didn't use any navigational aids to help us find our way. We pulled out some low level charts and and flew off of land features and rivers and such. We landed in Charleston for fuel and then headed VFR along the coast to Jacksonville, FL for more fuel. Then we took off again and headed further south to West Palm Beach, FL. It was definitely one of the funnest things that I have ever done. On our way to West Palm Beach we flew right by Cape Canaveral and saw where they launch the space shuttle. On Sunday we flew to Tallahassee, FL for fuel and then we were back in the air on our way back to Columbus. There was a big storm in Columbus and we almost had to divert. It was pouring rain and visibility was horrible. I shot the ILS and didn't see the runway until we were on very short final for the runway. It was awesome. Well enough about that. This week we are going in late because we are going to be doing all of our night flying. I am looking forward to that. I like flying at night. A lot has happened lately so I am going to try to make another post again soon. I have to go now though....So long!

My Family is back!

I know that it has been a couple of weeks....sorry. Things around here have been crazy. The biggest news is that my wife and two kids are finally back from Az. It is so nice to have them here with me. Besides the three days I saw them when Carter was born it has been three months....way too long! Flying has been going good and has been keeping my busy. It seems like there is never enough time to study for everything I need to know. I soloed on Tuesday of last week. It was so awesome! I spent about a half hour in the traffic pattern just doing touch and go's. After landing the guys from my flight were waiting for me to throw me in a tank full of water (tradition after solo). I thought that I would be sneaky so I didn't get on the normal crew bus and I walked the long way back ducking behind cars and using some good 'ol fashion ninja skills to try to get back to the flight room. The tradition is that if you can get back to the flight room without getting dunked everyone in your flight has to buy you a case of beer. I don't drink, but I still thought it would be fun to put up a fight. Well, I didn't make it back to the flight room, and was thrown into the dunk tank. I also took the weather test last week. People say that it is one of the harder tests just because there is so much information, and we take it during a time in the flightline when so much other stuff is going on that there is not a whole lot of time to study the material. I studied like crazy and was pretty happy with my score....missed three. I am scheduled to have my midphase check ride on Tuesday which I am a little nervous about. I have to go to bed. See ya!

Seasoned pro!

I officially have 5 flights in the T-6 under my belt. Oh yeah, I'm a pro....yeah right!. The past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy. We have been having early starts which means that our formal report time has been at like 0430 in the morning. Yeah, not fun. I have a hard time making myself go to sleep at 8:00 or 9:00 and so 3:45 am comes way too fast in the morning. We are on formal release which means that our work day is 12 hours long, so we are usually done by 1630. After that I come home and study or chair fly (imaginary flying...really fun). The flying is Awesome!! It is completely different than civilian flying.....I never pulled 5 G's in the Piper Warrior. In the traffic pattern we do 60 degree bank turns and pull 2 g's. It's crazy. Right now I am in the "Contact" phase and I am currently working on traffic patterns (which are completely different than civilian patterns), landings, and area work (stalls, slow flight, etc). It is a little weird not having the instructor sit beside me like in the civilian world. Instead all I have is controls to the left and right and a glass bubble around me (makes for a great view!). Now I just have a magical voice that pops into my helmet every time I do something crazy. On Thursday evening I got a good reality check. I was with a friend studying emergency procedures and I got a call from our flight leader informing me that a solo student had run into some problems out in an area and had to eject. He landed in a tree and was relatively unharmed and the plane didn't hurt anyone when it hit the ground, but it really hit home the importance of studying emergency situations so that I will be the most prepared that I can be if I ever encounter a real emergency. Well, gotta go to bed. I have some pictures I will try to post next time. See ya!

Phase II here I come

Phase I is officially history! On Thursday we took our last test of Phase I and now we will be transitioning into phase II. Phase I was primarily academics. It was a lot different than I expected. I thought that our days were going to be filled with classes and lectures and such. We pretty much have been teaching ourselves for the last 6 weeks. Every week we start a new topic and usually on the Friday of that week we have a test. Each topic has a gigantic book that corresponds to computer based training lessons. We are responsible for going to the computer lab and finishing the lessons. A typical day goes something like this: Wake up, eat, go to the computer lab, log on, study lessons, 4 hours later eat, go back to the computer lab, study for a couple more hours, then we might have an hour or two lesson by an actual real live instructor to review the things that we learned in the computer lab, then I go home, eat, and start studying again. Most of the nights we meet up with some friends and study in little groups. The last couple of weeks we have been going to the simulators to practice the things we learn about in the computer lab. The sims are actually pretty impressive. The cockpit is exactly the same as the real deal and enclosed in a gigantic circular shaped pod. The cockpit is surrounded by a circular screen that goes almost all the way around and almost all the way overhead. We practice departures, arrivals, area maneuvers, and emergency procedures in them. It is so realistic that I almost got a little queasy while practicing spin recoveries the other day. I hit the flight line on Tuesday. I can't wait. Gotta go!

A couple of pictures of the T-6

Here are some pictures of the T-6. This is what I will be in after I'm done with academics in a few more weeks.