Week 1  |  Week 2  |  Week 3  |  Week 4  |  Week 5 |  Week 6 |  Week 7  |  Week 8  |  Week 9  |  Week 10  |  Week 11  |  Week 12  |  Week 13  |  Week 14  |  Week 15  |  Week 16  |  Week 17  |  Week 18  |  Week 19  |  Week 20  |  Week 21  |  Week 22  |  Week 23  |  Week 24  |  Week 25  |  Week 26 |  Week 27  |  Week 28  |  Week 29

Week 1

   Our gift to the squadron...

Tuesday 6 July 2004 - Day 127

    0730 class at Aerospace Physiology today, nothing too exciting, just a spatial disorientation refresher.  We were also given a quick how-to lesson on ground-egressing from the T-1.  Went to the flightline and took turns going through the simple procedure.  Had a CAI lesson afterwards which took all of 15 minutes.  Then we had pubs issue at 1500.  Didn't look too bad until we took them home and tried to put them together.  We had to post 9 changes in the Dash 1 (flight manual) which meant a page by page count, trying to figure out what page went where.  Talk about a waste of paper, and time.  I probably trashed 100 pages of outdated pubs for no reason.  Anyway, a few of us went to Will's to try to work through the chaos together.  Then pork cops on the grill.  I realized today in class that there are only 5 original members of class 05-04 in T-1s.  There are only 9 total in our entire class right now, because of the whole weather/scheduling situation.  The new guys we have are all really good guys, it's just strange to think that out of 26 people who started, only 9 are still officially in the class.  Can't wait till the rest of our old class comes over to T-1s in a couple weeks.  Then it will almost feel normal.  Studied Ops Limits and Boldface before bed.  The boldface is alot simpler for the T-1 (compared to the tweet), but the Ops Limits are a bit tricky.  We have to learn some new parameters we didn't have in the tweet, like %N1 and %N2, max ITT, Fuel temperatures, nitrogen system pressures, and so on.  The numbers don't really mean much yet, which makes it difficult to learn and remember.

Wednesday 7 July 2004 - Day 128

  0730 show in the flightroom, had an introduction from the squadron commander for about 30 minutes.  Pretty cool guy.  Then we were released for academics.  First class was Systems, with Hans Goerz, or Attila the Hans as he likes to call himself.  We spent the first hour listening to his stories, both flying and growing up in East Germany.  He has a thick German accent, and an incredible sense of humor, he's going to be alot of fun.  After that class, we had three CAI lessons to do, on systems and procedures.  Something as simple as a checklist sure is alot of work.  Our reading assignments are pretty lengthy, and very dry.  I read 30 pages of Dash 1 after class, and still have twice that much to do tonight.  Tomorrow we have 6 CAI lessons, and we don't have a showtime, so we get to work at our own pace.  It's tough, though, to stay focused throughout the entire computerized lesson.  I would much rather sit in a classroom than in front of a computer.  Was attacked by mosquitoes when I mowed the back yard, then went to play racketball with John. 

Thursday 8 July 2004 - Day 129

   Speeding ticket at 0900 on base, I guess I was going 27 in a 20 right as I left the housing area, and they've been cracking down lately, so I was the latest victim.  Went to the Flight Commander right afterwards and he said he'd take care of it, no biggie.  Then went to do my 6 CAI lessons.  More systems and more procedures.  The systems lessons are pretty good, the procedures lessons not so much.  Afterwards, a few of us met up at the bamboo bombers to work on our checklist procedures.  Bamboo bombers are the wooden cockpit models of the T-1A, where you pull up a chair, and get familiar with the cockpit layout and checklist procedure.  Pretty painful.  Not much guidance yet, so we're fumbling through it by ourselves.  Had mandatory PT at 1515 at the gym.  Not used to that, but it was a good workout so I'm glad they do it.  We have to work out 3 times a week, one of those times has to be as a group like today.  We did laps, push-ups, sit-ups, and suicides.  Most of us weren't ready for it.  More reading of the Dash-1 tonight.

Friday 9 July 2004 - Day 130

   0900 class with Attila again.  This time he spent every bit of the 2 and a half hours going over engine malfunctions, but mostly it was just him explaining how the engine works, and all it's little intricacies.  This aircraft seems pretty complex, and we've only learned the engines so far.  After lunch, I went to do more CAI lessons on systems and procedures.  Went to the bamboo bomber to practice checklists some more, to try to prepare for my "sim" at 1630.  For the simulator missions, two students get paired up to one instructor.  One student is pilot the other is copilot, then they switch halfway through the mission.  In the actual airplane, one student sits left seat (pilot) the instructor sits copilot, and the other student sits jumpseat.  Anyway, our sim instructor today was Ron Burgi, not sure what his background was but he was one of the best sim instructors I've had.  Wasn't really a sim though, we just went to the bamboo bomber and he walked us through most of the checklists, up to takeoff.  Learned alot of stuff that I need to go back and practice alot more now.  Left the sim around 1830, went straight to the O-club for drop night.  The flight we replaced in Gators is graduating soon, so they had assignment selection tonight.  Then went to Justin's afterwards where Will and I taught some people how to play Euchre...

Weekend

Week 2

Top

Monday 12 July 2004 - Day 131

   1000 CAI lesson this morning, which I had already completed, so I used the time to practice checklist procedure upstairs at the bamboo bomber.  Had another systems class with Hans at noon, which lasted a couple hours.  Then had an introduction to the flight avionics systems at 1500.  Wow, talk about information overload.  The instructor briefly showed us how all of the different avionics and instrumentation systems work, and what they are capable of, but most of us only absorbed about 10% of the lesson.  Basically everything on this aircraft is digital, with redundant systems for backup data.  There is also a standby system with analog gauges which show altitude, airspeed, and attitude (like we had in the tweet), but we'll never have to use them because the plane is virtually infallible.  We have an onboard weather radar, a TCAS system for collision avoidance, an autopilot which can fly an approach for you, an HSI with several different modes (providing a God's-eye view of the aircraft), a flight management system (FMS) which is too complicated to explain (or understand at this point), and all sorts of other neat little gadgets.  Naturally, we're going to have to learn how to use all of this equipment, and then be graded on how well we use it, but it's still going to be alot of fun.  After class, Will and I tried to kill eachother in the racketball court, then watched some of the Home Run Derby.  Allison made a roast and Will couldn't eat it all so they called me, I was glad I could help.  Studied a bit for the test tomorrow, then called it a night.

Tuesday 13 July 2004 - Day 132

   0915 test in the CAI lab this morning.  I went in around 0815 to review some of the lessons beforehand.  Test went well, nearly everyone got a 100%, due to the relative simplicity of the test itself, and also due to the review we had yesterday in class.  From what everyone else says, all of T-1 academics is that way, alot of information to take in, but they make the tests pretty manageable.  After the test, I practiced checklist flow, then did the next two CAI lessons, and the PTT.  The PTT or partial task trainer, is another cockpit mockup but this time there are functioning avionics, to include the FMS, radios, and flight instruments.  So for our lesson today, we learned how to operate the radios.  Sounds simple, and after awhile it did seem pretty simple, but there are a number of ways to control the radio/nav system on the aircraft, which we had to figure out.  I learned that the FMS is a beautiful thing.  Among its other functions, you can set all of the frequencies for radios and navaids for your flight by either typing in the three letter identifier for the airport, like DLF for Laughlin, or manually type in 110.3, for example.  User friendly.  After that, we had a nice 3 hour break, then met up with Justin around 1600 for my sim.  We were paired up in formation in the tweet, now we've been paired up in the T-1, which means he and I will do our sims and flights together from here on out, pretty much.  The sim lesson was great, I was copilot for the preflight checks and taxiing, which took up about an hour of sim time, then we took a break, ate some pizza, and I took the left seat for the rest of the sim.  The whole thing took about 4 hours, pretty standard for a T-1 sim.  The actual sim itself was beautiful.  Comfortable seats, air conditioning, accurate instrumentation, just a really nice environment.  The sim mission was pretty basic, we didn't have much time to fly, because the checklists take so long to accomplish (since we're new).  I did an ILS approach, and Justin did one, just for grins, we weren't being graded on it.  Short debrief afterwards, then went home and watched the National League lay down and die in the All Star Game.  PT test tomorrow morning.

Wednesday 14 July 2004 - Day 133

   0915 show at the track for the PT test.  Did the push ups, situps and 1.5 mile run.  Went pretty well.  Had a lesson on the partial task trainer, or PTT, over the navigation functions of the HSI.  Took about an hour, then had lunch, came back for a class on Crew Resource Management at 1445.  Nothing much else going on today, pretty light day overall.  Studied checklist flow in the evening, then tried to memorize the crew briefings, which the pilot in command always gives before starting engines, or take-off.  Should have our next sim tomorrow, or Friday (hopefully tomorrow).  Went to see the movie Anchorman tonight.  I've seen better.

Thursday 15 July 2004 - Day 134

   0915 show at the CAI lab this morning, for another wonderful computerized lesson.  Had a real class at 1015 over more avionics systems, then a review for the exam tomorrow.  Had another CAI on procedures afterwards, then chair flew with Justin a little to prepare for our sim together.  Went to the sim building, and met up with our instructor, Hans.  At around 1545 we started the brief, but only made in about 5 minutes into it.  We had been scheduled for a briefing tomorrow morning at 0830 in the flight room, which means, by regulation, that we had to be out of the sim building by 8:30pm tonight in order to get the required 12 hours crew rest.  Well, T-1 simulator missions take 5 hours and 15 minutes, which would have put us at 9:00pm, which then would have made us violate crew rest tomorrow.  Well, they didn't like that idea, so they cancelled our sim.  Not a good thing.  Went back to the flight room, had to talk to the sup, and the ops officer, to explain why our sim was cancelled.  Long story short, they pushed back the meeting until 0900 tomorrow as a result, but we still didn't get our sim in tonight.  So I went home and studied instead.  Dinner at China Buffet. 

Friday 16 July 2004 - Day 135

   0900 Safety briefing with Maj Rice, our new safety officer in Gators.  Standard stuff, don't run with scissors, lift with your legs, not your back, etc...  Then I had about an hour's worth of CAI lessons to do, finished up around 1100 with those.  Lunch, then studied checklist stuff with Will and James, one of the new guys from Moody AFB.  Also studied a bit for the exam, which we took at 1330.  Wasn't too difficult, there were some weird questions but the instructor clarified them for us, so most of us got 100s again.  After the exam, I went back to Bees flight room, talked with Capt Detweiler a bit, and found out that Travis, and Kristin are now tweet complete.  Still waiting on a couple guys from Elvis, and Brian Miller who checks tomorrow.  There are still rumors flying around that they'll try to recombine the two classes again, but it's only rumor.  Had a sim at 1545 with Justin, which was great.  Neither one of us can fly the plane very well, but that's not really our concern at the moment.  There are so many duties between pilot and copilot that we have to get good at first, before we can start to get a feel for the aircraft.  I was left seat first today, did the first takeoff, a couple patterns and 2 landings.  Took a 15 minute break then Justin took over in the left seat and did pretty much the same thing.  Finished up around 2045.  Not much going on tonight.  Party at HQ tomorrow night.

Weekend

Monday 19 July 2004 - Day 136

   0730 PT at the track this morning, at least for about 30 of us.  Most of us in G flight, and a bunch of others in the 86th (T-1 squadron).  Half mile warm-up run, followed by 7 laps of indian runs, which was another 1-3/4 miles.  Pretty good run.  Systems class on the T-1 electrical system at 1000 with Mr. Rhinesmith.  Pretty basic stuff, but I'm probably a little biased due to my EE background.  After that we had a lesson on the CAI dealing with more electrical system, then a quick lunch and back to the classroom at 1130 for 4 hours of TOLD Data instruction.  Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Take-Off and Landing Data (TOLD) is something we're familiar with by now, but not to the extent that we use it in T-1s.  An example is "Reference 0", which is the sum of the takeoff ground-run, and takeoff flare distance, both of which have to be computed individually.  So we had to learn new charts, and be able to compute TOLD based on certain weather and aircraft weight situations.  Got out of class a little early, around 1500 which was cool.  Studied checklist flow some more, and read another chapter of the Dash-1.  Something that needs mention: Since 05-04 tracked a couple weeks ago, the weather has been almost perfect every day.  Blue skies, light winds, and sunny.  Pretty hot, but at least the tweet guys are getting to fly.  Mother nature must have simply had it out for 05-04, and now that the weather doesn't really affect us anymore she's backed off.  Oh well.

Tuesday 20 July 2004 - Day 137

   0800 tee time at the golf course with Esquivel.  Played the front nine (because there is no back nine), didn't stink up the place, but Justin and I stopped keeping score around the 5th hole.  Then went home and studied the electrical system.  Had 3 CAI lessons on it today, followed by a class on CRM (crew resource management).   At 1545, Warnaar and I had another sim, this time he was left-seat first, we did a published departure to one of the areas, and practiced steep turns and stalls, then did a couple approaches back at Laughlin.  Started off pretty rough for both of us, but we warmed up quickly.  Alot of stuff to remember, and each sim they throw more and more at you.  My brain was pretty much full halfway through the sim, and once you reach that point, it's hard to cram more stuff into it.  Hopefully I'll retain some.  Sim went until 2040.  Have a 0700 meeting tomorrow morning to go over top secret clearance stuff. 

Wednesday 21 July 2004 - Day 138

   0700 meeting with the defense special agent in regards to my top secret clearance.  Two hours of fun later, I had a class on the electrical system, which lasted another 2 and a half hours.  There wasn't any time scheduled for us to have a lunch break, so we had to ask the instructor if he'd let us go across the street to Silver Wings and get a bite.  So we started our emergency scenarios class late, at 1215.  Had another class on CRM after that and were released around 1530.  Some guys had to go right to the sim, but I had mine last night.  I did have to go back over to the security guy and finish up the prepared statement, and make sure I was happy with the report, which only took about an hour.  Went home and studied with Will for the electrical systems test tomorrow.  Not too worried about it, but I want to make sure I understand it thoroughly.  Dinner at China Buffet. 

Thursday 22 July 2004 - Day 139

   0930 electrical systems exam.  Most everyone got a 100, due to the review they give us prior to the test.  After that, we had our first hydraulic systems class, which only went for about a half hour.  Then we had three computer lessons on that system, but the computer network locked most of us out initially, so I went home and came back an hour later.  Every day it seems there are problems with the computer system, mostly it's the academic software that runs pilot training.  Finished those up, then chair flew a bit with Justin for the sim at 1545.  Today's sim was pretty straightforward, pattern-only work, which was great.  We each flew about 5 patterns: two 30 flap approaches, a 10 flap, a zero flap, and he threw in an engine fire on downwind, so we could taste single engine approaches, and single engine go-arounds.  Those weren't so pretty, due to the asymmetric nature of the engines.  You have to really muscle the jet to counteract the roll and yaw produced by the single engine situation, that it makes the approach look like crap.  I was just happy to get the thing on the runway.  Finished up around 2030, late show tomorrow, but I'm gonna hit the sack early tonight.

Friday 23 July 2004 - Day 140

   1000 hydraulic systems class this morning.  I've found that these classes are alot easier the second time around, compared to when we first learned about the T-37 hydraulic system 5 months ago.  As a result, the classes are a bit dry, and lengthy in my opinion.  We could probably put everything on the hydraulic system into one day of instruction, and still be able to pass the test the next day, but they like to draw things out here it seems.  Maybe they think it'll sink in better if they draw it out.  Anyway, after the class, we had a CAI lesson on hydraulics, followed by another couple hours of hydraulic instruction after that, including a review for the test Monday.  After class some of us made it to 05-05's track select in the auditorium.  That's where everyone finds out what plane they'll be going to after tweets or T-6s.  Everyone from 05-04 who washed back three weeks was there to determine their fate.  Brown and Lynch got T-38s, Hinkle got his beloved H-1, Miller and Klaetsch will be going to Corpus for T-44 training (for C-130s) and Arnett and Sajevic will be coming into Gators to join us in T-1s.  There were of course alot more people who tracked from 05-05, but I didn't know any of them.  After the track select we rallied at Will and Allison's for some beers, then a group of us went to see the Bourne Supremacy.  Not a bad flick, rivals the first one.  Going to be a nice easy weekend.

Weekend

Top

Monday 26 July 2004 - Day 141

     1215 Hydraulics exam.  Pretty nice not having to show until noon, it allowed me to study all morning.  Wont last long though, tomorrow's show is 0645, and Wednesday is 0445 for our dollar rides.  Then 5 more weeks of four o'clock showtimes.  Test went really well, as usual, I think everyone got a 100 this time.  After the test we had a CAI lesson on navigation instruments, mainly a review but they did go over NDB and GPS which we didn't have in tweets.  After that short lesson we had a 1500 meeting in the flight room, where we were split up into groups and shown how to do a walk around on the T-1.  The hot, humid weather and lengthy exterior inspection didn't go well together.  After that, they briefed us on gradebooks, scheduling, and a bunch of other misc stuff to try to prepare us for wednesday, when we officially start the 'game'.   Not too worried, I know it'll be alot of information to absorb, but it wont be as much of a culture shock to us, after going through it in Phase II.  Released around 1800, studied some for tomorrow's EP sim.

Tuesday 27 July 2004 - Day 142

   0645 briefing for our first EP sim, where they throw emergency scenarios at you for a good hour (per person).  Briefed and stepped to the sim around 0740 which was cool because we'd be getting out earlier, but as soon as we got strapped into the sim and ready to get going they called and said the sims had to be vacated due to weather.  Yep, we got weathered out of our sims.  There's some rule about operating a sim while lightning is within such and such distance from Laughlin, and it was, so we weren't.  Sucks, because it pushed our dollar rides back a day - we have to have the first EP sim before we can fly.  Anyway, we left the sim building around 0830, and studied TOLD problems at my place with Will and Justin.  That took all morning, then we had to be in the flightroom at noon for our pubs check, and other misc briefings and P-missions.  Wasn't too boring, there's alot of info coming our way, but so far we've taken most of it in.  Pubs check went pretty smoothly as far as pubs checks go (where you go through every page of every pub we have, to ensure it's up-to-date).  Finished up around 1700, then went to play some racket ball. 

Wednesday 28 July 2004 - Day 143

   Another 0645 show for EP sim take 2.  All went well this time, Justin and I took turns handling various emergencies both on takeoff and in the air.  It was pretty cool.  One of mine during flight was runaway rudder trim, where the aircraft starts to turn on it's own.  Once I had it under control, and started flying again, the pitch trim started to run full nose up.  The sim IP didn't program that malfunction in though (probably software glitch) but it happened, and I had to try to fly with bad rudder trim and nose high pitch at the same time.  Talk about having your hands full.  We could remedy the pitch trim by using the emergency trim system, but there isn't one for the rudder, so we had to make do.  After that, he set me up with an engine fire during flight, so I had to fly with asymmetric thrust like the last sim.  Wasn't too bad until the rudder system in the sim started acting up, and I had to keep putting more and more rudder in.  The data recorder showed I was putting in roughly 100lbs of force on the right rudder during final.  Needless to say, he wrote up the sim for maintenance to take a look at.  After that awe had some briefings in the flight room, and some more academics.  Very busy tonight getting everything ready for tomorrow's dollar ride.  Tons of stuff to do.

Thursday 29 July 2004 - Day 144

  0445 show in the flight room for formal brief.  Yep, 0445.  Wasn't too bad actually for the first day, I'm sure after a couple days I'll be ready to sleep-in, though.  Had a weather briefing demonstrated to us by the IPs, then we had shotgun questions, which we all did awesome on.  We didn't miss one question, a good first impression.  After that Justin and I had to go right into the brief for our flight.  Scheduled brief time is 2+00 prior to takeoff, which was scheduled for 0730.  We flew with Lt Col Alsing, a guest IP from the Ops Group command staff (not sure what his title is).  Briefing took about 45, then we stepped to base ops, to get a weather briefing and file our flight plan (something we do every day now).  Got to the jet, and since I was flying first I got in the left seat, and started doing checklists, while Justin and the IP did the exterior inspection.  Then we all got strapped in, and took off.  Flew the Maverick departure to area 8 low, and did a ton of area work.  Probably spent an hour 45 in the area, just doing basic maneuvers.  We would have gone to an outbase like Midland or Dyess AFB, which we'd planned for, but thunderstorms and ATC prevented us from going anywhere else so we got extra area work instead.  Luckily I had brought my lunch, because I was starving by that time, so when Justin flew I ate.  The jet is pretty roomy in the cabin; aside from the jumpseat I think you can get 4 more seats installed for passengers.  It also has a lavatory which you can use, as long as you don't violate certain lavatory ROEs.  I flew back to Laughlin, and did the ILS through the weather, to a touch and go, then Justin and I switched seats and he flew 2 radar patterns back here, with ILS approaches on both.  Then I took over again for one more ILS to a full stop.  The T-1 is a terrific aircraft, easy to fly, everything works (unlike the tweet), tons of power, quiet...alot of fun today.  Got back into the flightroom around noon, then spent another hour and a half debriefing which made our total mission time from brief to debrief about 8 hours.  Long time, but it flew by because we were so busy.  Two other dollar rides today, Poulson/Alblinger, and Justin/Kiel.  After that, we had to go straight to class, academics at 1400, followed by 2 CAI lessons.  Worked on my gradebook in the flightroom after that until my duty day was up, then went home.  Much more studying tonight.

Friday 30 July 2004 - Day 145

  Got to sleep in till 0600 today, with a 0645 showtime.  Nice.  We struggled through the technical difficulties of the formal briefing, done on power point to an overhead projector.  Had more shotgun questions after that, the GK (general knowledge) is never ending in the T-1, and it showed today.  We all missed some questions, maybe got half of them right.  Wasn't too impressive.  Doesn't matter how much you study, if they want to stump you they can, very easily.  Justin and I hurried to get stuff ready for our briefing with Capt Lantagne.  He's our flight commander as well as our IP for today.  Really cool guy, used to fly 135's.  So we briefed for about an hour, and stepped for a 1000 takeoff which we didn't meet.  Partially because we are slow during ground ops, but also because there was a quiet-sterile period until 1000 which means we couldn't start engines until it was over.  I was Jump first today, Justin flew the departure out to Midland, did his pattern work (which was a lot) then we swapped seats and I flew a bunch of patterns.  Midland is a nice field, plenty of runway available.  There were commercial airliners using the same runway as well, we saw a 747 takeoff in front of us and watched his wake turbulence churn up dirt on the side of the runways.  Pretty cool.  I flew the departure out of Midland, went direct to TAELR, via a fix to fix.  It's alot easier than the tweet, doing a fix to fix, but the avionics are more complicated, so it's still a challenge.  Got to the area, did steep turns, vertical S, stalls and unusual attitudes.  Not the best performance on my part today, all around.  Just need to get a feel for the jet.  Justin and I swapped seats again, and he flew back to Laughlin for an ILS.  Pretty short sortie, due to chock time.  We are limited to 4 hours from takeoff until we have to be in the chocks, and since we got off to a late start, we barely made it back by 1400.  Debriefed with Capt Lantagne, and then went straight to the CAI lab for more systems classes until we had to leave for crew rest. 

Saturday 31 July 2004 - Day 146

   0440 show this morning for formal brief.  Way, way early.  And it's saturday.  No shotgun questions or EPs this morning thankfully, just right into the brief-to-fly.  Capt Lantagne again today, which is cool.  You always want to fly with the same IP a few times in a row so you can show him that you aren't a total screw-up like you demonstrated last time.  Today was a much better showing.  I was left seat first.  We were the first jet to leave Laughlin this morning, because we can fly in almost any kind of weather.  Today there was a cloud deck at 1000 feet, which was a piece of cake for us, but too low for T-38s or T-37s.  So, I was cleared direct to my area, and we got to do a little cloud chasing on the way out.  Not quite the same as in tweets, but it was still alot of fun.  Did the standard area profile, Justin got his turn to fly, and he took us to Abilene.  Did 4 patterns there (each) including a single engine pattern, then I flew the departure back to Laughlin (yes, another fix to fix) got set up on the ILS and then flew visual to the center runway.  Everything is starting to fall into place, at least in the transition phase, there's a pretty steep learning curve, and overall the IP was pretty happy with our flight today, so were we.  After the flight we debriefed quickly, then we were shown how to do an Sit-Down EP in the T-1.  Similar to the Stand-up we had in tweets, but we actually sit down in front of a cardboard mockup of the cockpit, and go through the emergency situation.  Pretty much the same ROEs overall, but it'll be interesting when we start doing these next week.  We also get to start EPQs and Boldface next week.  Fun.  Released around 1400, so it was only a 10 hour day today, it is saturday after all.

Sunday Off

Week 5

Monday 2 Aug 2004 - Day 147

    Got to sleep-in today, and we have late shows all week due to night flying.  0650 is still early, but much much better than 0440.  Formal brief and shotgun questions this morning.  Didn't go so well this time.  They asked a bunch of questions about TOLD definitions.  TOLD is Take-Off and Landing Data, and it's something we're going to have to deal with for the rest of our careers in the Air Force.  There are dozens of values we have to compute for every flight, including takeoff distance, approach speed, minimum controllable airspeed, and so on.  So today's shotgun questions were like, "Define Vmcg."  And we were supposed to say something like: "Sir, Vmcg is min control groundspeed, 88 knots, defined as the minimum speed required to maintain aircraft control with primary aerodynamic controls, one engine at TRT the other engine shutdown, 180lbs of force on the rudder pedal, without using nosewheel steering, maintaining directional control within 25 feet laterally of centerline, in the takeoff configuration..."  That was just one question, they asked a bunch more.  Needless to say, we weren't quite prepared and looked like morons.  Win some lose some.  After that excitement, Justin and I got the last minute details worked out for our flight to Roswell, NM.  We did our first co-pilot ride today, where the IP sits in the left seat, and the students take turn acting like copilot.  Total role reversal, and it was weird.  We flew directly to Roswell, then did a bunch of approaches, then flew directly back to Laughlin.  Didn't see any UFOs, or Area 51, but I was looking.  It was only an hour flight from Laughlin which is pretty cool.  Capt Wetherell was our IP today, really cool guy.  He went to Purdue and knows some of the people I went to school with at Wright State.  I got to see how the autopilot flies an approach.  The IP setup a GPS approach via autopilot, and it flew the whole thing.  It was so cool seeing the plane fly the full procedure and line us up perfectly.  After the flight, we had academics on the environmental control system, to prepare for the test tomorrow.  Alot of studying lately, feels like I'm cramming for a test every night. 

Tuesday 3 Aug 2004 - Day 148

   0650 showtime for formal brief and more shotgun questions.  A little bit better than yesterday, but not by much.  Didn't get done with shotgun questions until our scheduled brief time with Capt Cranston, our IP for today, so we really didn't have any time to prepare.  Stepped to the jet around 0820, got our weather briefing and did the preflight and exterior inspections as usual.  Took-off 0930, went straight to Area 4 Hi, did our area work, then flew to Waco to do some pattern work.  Flight was uneventful all the way to Waco pretty much, then once we landed for the very first touch and go, we hit a bird.  Justin was flying left seat, I was in jump of course.  It hit us right at our decision speed, so we aborted the takeoff, and got it to a stop and were just able to taxi off the runway at the very end.  In order to stop in time however, we had to get on the brakes at a pretty high speed, well over our hot-brakes speed, so we knew we'd have hot brakes when we stopped.  Taxiied to the parking area and shutdown.  As soon as we opened the door we could hear the air rushing out of the tires, because the fuse plugs had blown.  Soon we had 2 flat main tires.  I figured the amount of brake energy at roughly 11 million foot pounds (from the charts in the Dash 1), the fuse plugs blow out at 8.1 million.  So we stayed well clear of the jet so it could cool down, went inside the FBO to figure out how we'd be getting back to Laughlin.  Turns out there was another T-1 already there, and was good to go, so we pre-flighted it, and took it back.  Side note: the temperature outside at the time was 105, and we were completely saturated with sweat by the time we got the first plane buttoned up, and the air conditioning going on the second jet.  Was probably the hottest I've ever been, which made for record-fast checklists and ground ops.  I flew back in the right seat, since our mission was incomplete, the IP flew back as the Pilot, or left-seater.  Got back in to Laughlin, debriefed around 1430, then had to rush to our systems exam (yeah we were late).  We all passed the exam no problem, then had to go back to the flightroom and finish up gradebook stuff, among other things.  Left the flightline around 1740 exhausted.  Looks like tomorrow's schedule gives Justin and I a much needed day-off from flying.  Can't wait to have some time to take care of everything.  Love flying, but not every single day indefinitely.

Wednesday 4 Aug 2004 - Day 149

   0645 formal briefing, was my turn to brief today.  Then more shotgun questions, this time they were pretty obscure, even for shotgun questions.  Example: at what velocity will you see spray and mist coming off of the water?  Well, once we figured out what he was talking about, we found out it was 25 to 35 knots of wind gusts will produce spray and mist from the tops of waves in the ocean (in case we have to ditch).  Another, slightly less obscure was: what do the engines weigh?  Of course no-one knew, and I had to go to the Pratt-Whitney website to find 643lbs, it wasn't even in the Dash-1 or any other source of info we have.  Anyway after that most everyone else briefed to fly, Justin and I luckily had the day off from flying, so we studied and ran errands all day.  Academics at 1430, then another class on ICAO procedures at 1530, then we had to go back to the flight room for a safety briefing, EPQ, and EP.  Naturally Justin and I got called up for the EP, I played the part of pilot.  Went pretty well actually, it was an easy abort EP, but the USEM (the instructor who runs the stand-up EPs) said he was impressed for being the first one we've seen.  After that we had the EPQ, which luckily didn't really count, because we didn't do so hot on it.  Released after a 12 hour day to 100+ degree heat at 6:50 in the evening. 

Thursday 5 Aug 2004 - Day 150

   Another 0650 showtime for formal brief and more shotgun questions.  Can't express how much I dislike mornings.  The getting up early I can deal with, it's the hour plus of formal brief, standing at attention and answering shotgun questions, and scrambling to get ready to fly that I find both stressful and un-enjoyable.  Flew with Capt Cranston again today, standard profile, except today we went to Laredo, TX for our pattern work.  Don't think we'll do that again soon.  Neither Justin nor myself flew worth a damn today, must have been something we ate.  Area work was ok at best, but the patterns were pretty ugly.  The pattern at Laredo for us is 2000' above ground, which is 500' higher than we've ever flown.  Translation: steep and fast on final.  Throw in 100 degree thermal updrafts and gusty crosswinds and you get poor altitude control, ugly approaches, and abrupt flares.  I landed one so hard today the electronic displays flickered off, then back on.  Not what you want to see on an electric jet.  On top of that, the tower controller was driving us crazy with her dissertations over the radio.  I guess she liked hearing her own voice or something, but she was having a rough time dealing with the 3 planes that were in her pattern.  So, again, don't think I'll be going back there soon.  The flight back was uneventful, I just chilled in the jump seat, ate my lunch while Justin did all the hard work.  That part was cool.  After the flight we debriefed for 20 minutes with our IP, then had to beat feet over to the academic building just in time to be late for class again.  Becoming a trend for our class.  2 hours of instrument procedures, then we went back to the flightroom for a p-mission from Lt Hall.  Released at 1750 because we have to show at 0550 tomorrow.  Ugh.  Thank God tomorrow's Friday.

Friday 6 Aug 2004 - Day 151

   0550 formal brief, we're getting much better as a class at shotgun questions.  Which means they'll probably start finding more difficult questions.  Flew with Capt Cranston again, which was cool because I wanted to do better than yesterday.  Briefing went normal, stepped and took off, I was left seat first.  Flew to the MOA, did area work, then went to Midland.  We were going to go to Robert Gray airfield, but the bird hazard forecast was "severe", which means they were predicting alot of bird activity.  Midland turned out to be very cool, there weren't too many people in the pattern, and our patterns were much better.  I flew the arrival back to Laughlin, to a visual alignment for the center runway.  The technique we use for visual alignment is pretty cool, we fly a heading until we have the field in sight, then we fly to one of the bridges over Lake Amistad, before lining up with the runway.  The IP was much happier with today's performance, and so were we.  Got back to the flightroom, and debriefed for about 20 minutes before heading to class late again.  Since we haven't had time this week after our flights to get EPs during the debrief, our IP asked us if we'd mind coming in over the weekend and getting caught up.  So sunday Justin and I have to go in for a couple hours to go over some EPs.  Not a big deal, since we'll just be studying sunday anyway.  After class, we were released around 1600, Decker and I went to Chili's for dinner, Will and Allison joined us a few minutes later.  Then party at Jason's house, he's one of the new guys from Moody.  Good times.

Weekend

Week 6

Monday 9 Aug 2004 - Day 152

  Formal briefing at 0450 today, pretty early but we had all weekend to get caught up on sleep.  Shotgun questions are still going ok, we're probably shooting 70% which isn't too bad.  Justin and I had another sim today, brief at 0645 with Mr Douglas.  Standard profile, I was left seat first, flew a bunch of approaches, visual, localizer, ILS and single-engine ILS.  The single engine approach was messed up because of the amount of rudder I had to use.  Normally I guess you only need 40-50 pounds during throttle movements on a single engine; he said at one point I had 240 pounds pushing on the right rudder, to compensate for the asymmetric thrust.  So he wrote up the sim again, and told maintenance.  Sim went pretty routine, then Justin took over and just as we were on the departure they called lightning within 5 miles of Laughlin, so they had to power down the simulators.  Once again we were weathered out of the sim.  Irony was that our guys in Gator flight were actually flying at the same time in the actual weather outside, while we were on hold in the sim building.  So we'll have to make up our sim another time, or at least part of it.  Back to the flight room for studying and safety briefings.  Around 1400 Lt Hall gave us an EP (where we talk our way through an emergency as if we were actually flying).  Last time around, they played a little joke on us by making us think we had to wear our headsets and flight gloves for the EPs.  Then when we did, they had all of the IPs from the squadron come by and look through the window at Justin and I with our headsets on doing an EP.  Ha ha, pretty funny.  We figured it was a joke at the time, but not wanting to piss off the IPs just in case, we decided to go along with it.  So anyway, today, when he called Lt. Waldo and Euler up to do the EP, everyone in the flight put on our headsets and gloves and started taking notes.  Got a pretty good laugh from the IPs.  Unfortunately the EP didn't go so well, and he made Euler sit down, and let Brines take his place.  Good learning experience for all of us, on how they do EPs here.  Released after only 11 hours on the flightline today, thunderstorms still in the area but at least it's only in the 80s.

Tuesday 10 Aug 2004 - Day 153

   0445 showtime, standard routine.  No time after formal brief and shotgun questions to prepare for our briefing with Capt Cranston.  So we didn't.  Took off around 0730, Justin flew first, I took over in the area and then flew to Robert Gray Army Air Field.  Not sure where it is exactly, about 150 miles north of here.  I flew a solid ILS on the initial approach, but had to go-around due to a truck parked at the approach end of the runway.  Stayed in the pattern, and flew another low approach because of the truck.  Apparently it was staying put, something about maintenance on the runway end lights.  So I did one more low approach then we decided to take off and go to another airport to get landings in.  Problem was we were out of time for my half of the sortie, so Justin got to do touch-and-go's, then he flew back to Laughlin.  As a result, my ride today was incomplete.  No biggie, I'll just make it up later in the week, we're ahead of schedule anyway.  On the arrival back to Laughlin, it was raining steadily, and the ceiling was maybe 500' at the time so the IP took the jet on short final and landed.  About the time the nose wheel hit the runway, I felt the jet sag to the right a little (I was still in the jumpseat).  About a second after that we felt some vibrations, and then it became apparent we had blown a tire.  It got pretty loud and bumpy as we slowed down, and the tire disintegrated.  The aircraft veered a little, but he kept it on the runway, we stopped and ground egressed.  As Jump all you have to do is move your seat out of the way and open the appropriate exit.  So I did, and while they quickly shut the engines down and called tower I was heading out the door.  A few seconds later we were all standing out on the runway in the rain, looking at a jet with a destroyed right main tire.  Stood there for about 15 minutes getting soaked, then the safety truck came by and picked us up.  Went to the safety office to debrief the incident, then back to the flight room to debrief the sortie with our IP.  Once again, we were rushed, and had to hurry over to the CAI lab in order to take our instrument exam at 1230.  Everyone did well on the exam.  Had another CAI lesson afterwards, then a wing commander's briefing in Anderson Hall to get to know the new Wing CC.  Long day.  Tomorrow we're scheduled for a sim at 0645, so we'll have some time in the morning to eat breakfast after formal brief at least.

Wednesday 11 Aug 2004 - Day 154

   0445 show, formal brief and shotgun questions galore.  Justin and I had a sim at 0645, so we had time to drink a cup of coffee, and get our gradebooks in order.  Sim went fine, it was just a makeup sim for me, because I didn't get a grade for copilot duties last sim due to the lightning.  But instead of making it a nice quick copilot sortie, the instructor made us do the whole 3.2 hour mission.  Good practice I guess.  He gave me a single engine localizer approach with zero visibility and ceiling, and a crosswind, then I had to go missed approach because I couldn't see the runway.  Then on the go-around, I got a fuel-filter bypass light, which means the good engine is probably going to fail as well.  I wondered why he didn't give me runaway trim, and electrical failure while he was at it.  Anyway, I landed the thing safely despite his efforts to the contrary, then as a bonus, he trashed me on grades for the sortie.  It would be nice to have some type of continuity with grading standards, but I've learned that as a student here you pretty much have no say in anything that happens to you.  'Shut up and color', pretty much sums up their opinion of us students.  Comes with the territory I guess.  We have fun anyway.  After the sim, we had an Aerodynamics class.  I was looking forward to the class, to see if I'd remember anything from my college courses, turns out it's an Aero For Dummies course, so no cool equations or derivations to work through.  Just basic lift curves and angle-of-attack vs Mach number concepts.  After the class we had to go back to the flightroom where Will and Kiel got stood-up (sat down) for the EP.  They did alright, it's going to take a little getting used to the new format, but we're getting there.  Released 1600, another early show tomorrow.

Thursday 12 Aug 2004 - Day 155

   Is it Friday yet?  My brain wasn't working too well this morning for shotgun questions.  Every day they ask us Vmcg and Vmca, along with a bunch of other trivial information, which we should know by know, but at 0450 my brain doesn't want to do or think about anything, let alone give a long drawn-out definition that even the IPs can't get right without looking in the book.  Flew with the flight commander today, Capt Lantagne, went to Robert Gray again, this time there was no truck in the way.  There was, however plenty of crosswind to make our landings and approaches a bit sporty.  It was good practice.  I flew left seat first, direct to the outbase, did a localizer approach, then did my pattern work.  We swapped seats 3 times, then I flew back to the MOA, for area work.  Everything went fine, then we swapped seats again and Justin flew the ILS back to Laughlin.  Only a 3.2 hour mission, but it felt much longer for some reason.  We both did pretty well on the sortie, and he was happy with our progress so far.  After the debrief we actually had an hour of down time, so I went home and took a 45 minute nap at noon.  Came back to the flightroom for EPQ #2, which is the first official EPQ.  It was pretty rough, but luckily no-one hooked.  Most classes do pretty bad on the first one with several hooks.  The flight commander still told us we didn't do so hot, but I'm beginning to think that's his response for everything we do, no matter how well it is.  I can also tell that January is a long way off, and the schedule in T-1s is really draining, physically and psychologically.  Talking to my roommate, Dave, who is 2 classes ahead of us in T-1s, he's still doing 12 hour days, and the workload is as high as ever.  Once you finish with one phase of training (Transition), they put you right into the next phase (Navigation) and expect you to know it all from the beginning.  Gotta love AETC. 

Friday 13 Aug 2004 - Day 156

   0445 again minus the shotgun questions (cool).  Plenty of time to have a cup of coffee and prepare for the briefing with our IP.  Lt Alblinger (a.k.a. 'Bling') and I flew with Capt Credno today, for our second copilot ride.  For today's flight, we chose Harlingen Texas, down by South Padre Island.  Was a great choice, turned out to be a really good flight for both of us.  We mostly did copilot duties from the right seat, but we still got our share of pattern work in, and even a circling approach.  Straight line distance from Laughlin to Harlingen is over 300 miles, we made it there in less than an hour, stayed in the pattern for an hour, then flew home.  After the flight, we debriefed fairly quickly (imagine that, a brief brief) then went through an EP with Lt Hall.  After that we had academics scheduled at 1400 for 2.5 hours, on Weight and Balance, but the instructor let us out after no more than 30 minutes, which was a great way to start the weekend.  Get-together at Justin's tonight. 

Weekend

Week 7

Fishing at Lake Amistad with Marc Saturday

Monday 16 Aug 2004 - Day 157

   0450 show, formal brief and shotgun questions which went ok.  0530 brief-to-fly with Capt Smith, a guest IP from training flight.  Justin was left seat first, did the area work standard, then I flew to San Angelo, TX.  Flew the VOR, then did 4 patterns and called it a day.  Justin did a bunch more after me, then he flew back to Laughlin.  Still learning alot about flying, but mainly our concern right now is staying ahead of the jet, like knowing what navaid to dial in, what course to fly, when to request weather, clearances, how to set up for the approaches...pretty much everything not directly related to taking off or landing, which we're pretty decent at by now.  Got back in after a 3.5 hour sortie, and finished debriefing at 1300.  Sit down EP with Lt Patrick (flap asymmetry), then Aerodynamics at 1530, a review for tomorrow's exam.  Got together with Will to study for the exam, shouldn't be too difficult.  I think our baby class comes in tomorrow, that'll be fun.  Or not.

Tuesday 17 Aug 2004 - Day 158

   Early show again, same old routine.  Justin and I briefed with Capt Cranston, for our flight to Robert Gray airfield.  Flight went pretty much like all the others, area work, then direct to Robert Gray for patterns, then back to Laughlin.  Pretty soon, we'll start flying checkride profiles, to get ready for the checkride in a couple weeks.  We only have 7 rides left until we check, and the checkride profile is for us to fly to the area, then go to the outbase before we swap seats, then on the way back the other student goes to the area and then on to Laughlin.  Kinda weird, so we'll start flying missions like that soon in preparation.  Debriefing went pretty long today, didn't get finished until 1330, then we had en EPQ which we weren't totally prepared for.  Right after the EPQ (which we all passed) we had to go to the CAI lab for our Aero exam.  I missed one problem on the test, but overall it wasn't too difficult.  Released after that, went home and crashed around 1800. 

Wednesday 18 Aug 2004 - Day 159

  Another 0450 show, G2 (baby flight) didn't arrive yet, I guess they'll be here tomorrow.  Good thing is we don't have to show until 0530 tomorrow, and they get to do formal brief and shotgun at 0445.  Sweet.  Today no shotgun questions for us, which started the day off well.  Justin and I had a sim at 0945, so we had all morning to study and get things in order in the flightroom.  Need one of these mornings once a week at least.  Went to the sim, it was the last sim in the Transition block, which means we're finished with sims for a couple weeks at least, I hope.  Pretty standard sim, I flew first, did a fix-to-fix into holding, then a TACAN approach, then a few ILS approaches.  Cool thing about today's mission was that we got to use the flight director for the first time during the ILS.  The flight director provides a set of command bars on the ADI which shows you exactly where you need to put the jet to fly the approach.  Pretty sweet.  Alot cleaner than flying it manually.  The sim instructor showed me a computer printout of the two ILS approaches, one with flight director and one without, and it was obvious that it made a big difference.  After the sim, we went back to the flightroom for an excruciating hour long EP with Lt Patrick.  Lt Fernandez and Lt Warnaar were the victims of a main landing gear failure to extend.  The EP took forever, and was painful to watch from the sidelines.  Anyway with that over with we were released around 1600.  Get to sleep in until 0500 tomorrow.  Nice.

Thursday 19 Aug 2004 - Day 160

    Nice to get to sleep in this morning, 0530 showtime.  G2 was already there, so the flightroom was packed as expected.  There were bags all over the place.  Everyone carries a big black shoulder bag with all of our flight gear, and books.  So imagine 25 bags in a big pile in one area of the room, a long briefing table in the middle, IP desks around the outside, and everyone just hanging out wherever there's space.  So Poulson and I briefed up our flight with Capt Wetter, another co-pilot ride, once again we decided to go to Harlingen, near South Padre TX.  Took off from Laughlin and didn't get far before my luck ran out again.  Happening alot lately.  I was right seat, the IP was left seat, and he told me that the trim system wasn't working properly.  So I took the jet and tried the pitch trim, no result.  Bummer.  Called approach and requested a Ranch area where we could go and figure out what was going on, and they gave us 5 high.  So Poulson got in the dash-1, and we tried working the trim system back and forth, with no luck.  It worked when the autopilot was engaged, but not in manual mode.  So we disengaged A/P and tried emergency pitch trim, which worked.  So we knew we'd be able to land no problem.  We set up a holding track in the area, and burned down a bunch of gas before heading back, to minimize our landing distance.  Will and I switched seats before heading back, so he could be complete on his ride as well, and not have to make it up.  The flight back was uneventful, with the exception of a pretty close call with a T-38 on vectors.  Anyway, the landing was pretty uneventful, fire trucks met us but we waved them off.  Had to debrief again with Wing Safety, they're getting to know me pretty well down there.  After the debrief, we went back to the flightroom, and debriefed the sortie.  I guess our actual EP wasn't good enough, so Capt Wetter decided to make us do another EP.  It was the last thing Will or I wanted to do, that's for sure.  After all that fun, we had a couple hour class on Navigation, then released.  Racketball with McNulty and Poulson at 6.

Friday 20 Aug 2004 - Day 161

   Nice not having to show up until 0530.  Next week we have even more time to sleep in, due to night flying.  Not on the schedule at all today, so I had a nice full day of studying.  Granted it was still 10 hours long, but it was a much needed break.  Had class at 1400 on Navigation, or something to do with navigation.  Really wasn't anything we hadn't seen before, but I guess it never hurts to go over stuff again.  After class, we were released, went to Chili's with a few of the guys, then back to Will's for Poker. 

Weekend

Week 8

Monday 23 Aug 2004 - Day 162

   Didn't have to show until 0645 this morning, and got to miss out on formal brief, sweet.  Had an hour to prepare for my flight with Lt Col Alsing  which was scheduled for 1000.  I was left seat first today, flew a standard profile to the area, seat swap, then on to Midland TX, another seat swap, then I flew the arrival back at Laughlin.  Crosswinds and turbulence made the pattern work a bit bumpy, and my 30 flap landings weren't so hot, but my single-engine and 10-flap landings made up for it.  Both of us were a bit rusty from not having flown in several days as well.  Got back in to the flightroom around 1345, debriefed, then got ready for class at 1515.  More navigation stuff.  After that class we had a CAI lesson before we were released.  Studied some systems, and read 11-247 and the squadron OI. 

Tuesday 24 Aug 2004 - Day 163

   0645 showtimes are nice.  Formal briefing, no shotgun questions.  I didn't have to fly today so I spent most of the day studying with the other guys not on the schedule.  Mostly systems knowledge.  Went to the gym for squadron PT at 1100, circuit training.  It was a pretty good workout, but it only lasted about 30 minutes, so afterwards, Marc and I went to play a little racketball.  Back in the flightroom around 1300, EPQ and ops limits/boldface.  Everyone did really well on the EPQ.  After that we had academics, a review for our nav exam on thursday.  Released afterwards.  Not much else going on, Marc and I are trying to convert some songs he wrote about flying onto the computer, so we've been keeping ourselves busy with that little project lately.  He's an excellent musician and songwriter, as well as a heck of a funny guy, and the songs are all of a comedic nature.  As soon as I can get them into WAV format I'll see if I can post them.

Wednesday 25 Aug 2004 - Day 164

    0800 brief for a 1000 flight with Capt Cranston, which meant plenty of time this morning to get things together.  Now that G2 is here, we get later takeoff times, and in a couple weeks we wont have the early shows anymore.  Our flight today was a pattern only, and we decided to go to Dyess AFB.  So Justin flew first, direct to Dyess, and did about 9 patterns including an instrument approach before switching seats.  When I took the jet, after an hour and a half sitting in jumpseat, we broke out to radar, so I could get a VOR approach in.  Then we pulled closed 7 or 8 times so I could work on 30 flap, 10 flap, and single-engine patterns.  A pretty steady crosswind added to the fun, but my hands seemed to be working ok today, and my pattern work wasn't bad at all.  Weird how some days are so much better than others for no apparent reason.  It was pretty cool being in the same pattern as a B-1 and a C-130 at the same time.  Departed and flew back to Laughlin for an uneventful ILS.  Debriefing went until 1430, then we had a sit-down EP with Lt Hall, and a safety briefing by Lt Brines before being released for academics.

Thursday 26 Aug 2004 - Day 165

  Last day of 0645 shows for at least a week, 0500 tomorrow then early all next week.  Hopefully after that there will be a new baby flight on the line who'll take over early shows.  Nothing on the schedule today, except for academics, we had a test over navigation at 1530 which everyone aced.  I spent all day studying for it, and going over various general knowledge subjects with students and IPs who weren't flying.  Made for a long day, but we got out around 1600 so I had all evening off.  5 more flights until my transition checkride, looking forward to that, because of the cross-country that comes right afterwards.  Planning on going to Little Rock AR to visit Mark, one of my buddies from back home.  Hopefully I'll get to go to Kansas and see some family as well, but there wont be a whole lot of time for visiting anywhere we go, just enough time to get dinner.   One more academics course and we're academic complete.  That'll be nice.

Friday 27 Aug 2004 - Day 166

   0515 brief to fly, Justin and I briefed with Capt Lantagne, our flight commander for a 0800 takeoff.  I was left seat first, and we did a checkride profile today, which means I flew to the area, did my area work, then went straight to Midland, did my pattern work, swapped seats with Justin and was finished.  That's how the checkride will go.  The area work went well today, and the flight to Midland was ok, a little rushed on my part, but only because I had to spend an extra few minutes figuring out new told data.  Flew a localizer approach, with a good 10 knots of crosswind which was pretty cool, then did about 5 patterns before switching seats.  Justin did his pattern work, then flew to the area before coming back to fly the localizer at Laughlin.  We are both getting pretty good at flying the T-1, it's just a matter of staying ahead of the jet, and knowing how to set up for the different phases of flight where we need work.  Debriefed until 1230, then had to sit through two EPs which was very painful.  The first one I got to play a part in, after the two guys who were up originally got sat down (won't say their names because I don't want to hurt their feelings).  Dolson and I took over and handled it fine.  It's funny, because I see these EPs as a good learning tool, while some people take it way too seriously.  I guess because I'm in the Reserves I don't feel like everything's a competition, as some of the active duty guys do.  Anyway, after that EP we had to sit through another one, this time by G2 students.  It was pretty entertaining to watch, but they actually did well considering it was their first time up there.  Released for our academics lesson at 1520, in the CAI lab which we all raced through.  There's a drop night at the Fiesta center tonight, so we're anxious to get started.  Plus I have an appointment at the racketball court at 1630.

Weekend

Week 9

Monday 30 Aug 2004 - Day 167

   0445 came pretty early today, but I didn't have to fly so I really didn't need my mind this morning.  It's a good thing, because it wasn't functioning properly at that hour.  Justin and I left around 0600 for a few racketball games, then came back to the flightroom to study for a couple hours.  Took a long lunch break, then back to the flightroom for an EP, then released for mandatory PT at the gym with most of the flight.  Yesterday we had to show up (in the flightroom) for a study session with the flight commander.  Actually we didn't have to be there, but no-one wanted to be the guy who wasn't there, so pretty much everyone showed up.  Spent a couple hours going over various GK (general knowledge) items in preparation for the checkrides.  Nothing much else to report for today, beautiful weather lately, a bit hot, but sunny skies and a slight breeze.

Tuesday 31 Aug 2004 - Day 168

   0445 show again for no reason other than because they can make us show up that early.  Didn't start briefing until 0545 with Capt Cranston.  Didn't finish debriefing after the sortie until 1415, which made for an incredibly long painful day, considering after the debrief we had to sit through 3 safety briefings, then go straight to academics at 1515.  I had a big headache after today was done.  The flight went ok, Justin flew first to Dyess AFB, then I took over and flew back to Laughlin.  Wasn't my best flight by far, but definitely wasn't my worst, I was only off a little bit on my area work, mostly my Vertical S, which I'm not used to doing at such a light weight.  And the flight back into Laughlin wasn't as smooth as it could have been, which I attribute mainly to being so tired.  Took a 3 hour nap when I got home.  Tomorrow's plan is Laredo, another checkride profile.

Wednesday 1 Sept 2004 - Day 169

   Formal briefing this morning early again, with G2 doing the briefing.  It was a little painful to watch, I think I know how the IPs felt when we started doing briefings several weeks ago.  Wasn't pretty.  Briefed up with Capt Cranston again, weather wasn't looking so good for our departure, so we ended up planning three different missions last-minute.  Thunderstorms kept us from going to Laredo, and wet runway's kept us from going to Midland, so we ended up going to Dyess AFB again, which turned out well.  I flew first, to the area then on to Dyess for patterns, then Justin took over and did the reverse.  We were both on top of our games today, as far as the flight goes, a few minor hiccups along the way to a really nice sortie.  After the flight, and debrief which we actually finished by 1245, we had an EPQ (emergency procedures quiz), then academics in the form of a part task trainer, or PTT (scaled down version of a simulator, with avionics only).  Home around 1600 for nap time.  EP Sim tomorrow morning.

Thursday 2 Sept 2004 - Day 170

   EP sim at 0945 this morning, where Justin and I took turns handling different emergency scenarios.  It was pretty cool, doing a forced landing with no power from 8000 feet.  We also did some single engine scenarios, and I even had a jammed-elevator scenario where I had to use pitch trim to fly the aircraft to a landing.  I landed it better than I would have without the malfunction.  Good thing about a 0945 sim is that I left the flightroom around 0600 and went home for a few hours, then after the sim it was time for us to be released so there was little time stuck in the flightroom.  Poulson and Alblinger have their checkrides tomorrow, they're the first ones to go for our class.  The T-38 guys in our class had their first checkrides a few weeks ago, but they're on a much different schedule obviously.  Can't wait until we get off of formal release, which should happen tomorrow after the first person finishes his checkride.  I fly tomorrow with Fernandez and Capt Behr, then Justin and I have our To-Checks on Tuesday, for a checkride on Wednesday.  Will be nice to have all weekend to study GK for the checkride, but I'd much rather have it now and be done with it.  We get to sleep in tomorrow, 0500 showtime.

Friday 3 Sept 2004 - Day 171

   0536 briefing with Capt Behr, my assigned IP this morning along with Jose.  We originally briefed to go to Laredo, because we hadn't seen it in a long time, but when we showed up this morning the weather was crap at Laredo, so we decided to go to Robert Gray.  I flew left seat first, in order to take care of my special syllabus requirement of a no flap, ACM off takeoff which wasn't much different than a regular takeoff.  Flew to the area then on to Robert Gray for some patterns.  Good sortie, if I can keep my head in the game for the next two rides like today, I should have no problem on my checkride.  Finished debriefing around 1230, then we had academics which only lasted about 10 minutes so I was home around 1330.  Almost everyone left town for the weekend, I'm hanging around to study for my checkride which should be Wednesday.  Poulson and Alblinger had their check ride today, and did really well, they only had 5 or 6 downgrades apiece.  They have some good intel on T-1 check pilots now also, so we're going to pick their brains and make sure we don't get caught up on something dumb during our checkrides.  Will, Allison and I went to Chili's (where else would we go) for dinner and a few beers later on, I think they're headed off to San Antonio tomorrow for the weekend, as I would if I'd just finished my checkride.

Labor Day Weekend

Week 10

Tuesday 7 Sept 2004 - Day 172

   Early shows again this week, I think we've done more than our share of early shows, it's about time the new guys start coming in early.  Briefed with Capt Lantagne for our To-check this morning.  Justin flew first, we went to Robert Gray AAF.  It was a good flight, we had some pretty strong winds both enroute and at Robert Gray, but we both did well.  Debriefed until noon-ish, then we had an EP which Justin got to partake in, then we were cleared off.  I went home and took a 3 hour nap, before Justin came over and we planned the mission for tomorrow's checkride.  We got our profile, and the name of our check pilot.  It's going to be Midland TX, with Maj Calvert.  Planned the mission thoroughly, as well as one for the alternate airfield (Laredo) in case something happens to the weather.  Studied some more systems later in the evening, then called it a night at 2200.  A bit apprehensive about tomorrow's checkride, we'll see how it goes.

Wednesday 8 Sept 2004 - Day 173

   0445 show, but we didn't partake in the formal brief, because our scheduled brief time with Maj Calvert was at 0518.  So we got some last minute things done like weather, Notams and bird hazard, then waited patiently outside check flight for our IP.  Well, turned out he changed the show time due to his crew rest, but we weren't notified, so we were an hour early.  Better than an hour late I guess.  Finally sat down to brief around 0620.