PILOT LOG FROM USAF PILOT TRAINING

I have finally started classes. I have been looking forward to this for a long time. My class has expanded to thirty four people which is the largest class in a long time, if not ever. I have to get used to the Air Force schools again though. I haven't had to learn so much in such a short time in a few years. Still it is a refreshing change. One bad note. As a class we must pass our boldface test to get out of our blues and into our flight suits. We haven't managed to do that yet. I can't say I'm really happy about that but we still have time. However our first test is on Tuesday. We had a review session on Friday that made me think I'm not even close to being prepared. I hope this weekend will prove that to be false. I have a lot to study to make sure I am ready.

Our first test was on Tuesday. I was a little nervous. As a class we did pretty good. There weren't any busts so that was good. I even got a 100% which is a nice surprise and a good start. There are many more tests to go however. We took a bold face test soon after the academic test. We busted that one again. We have apparently set a record for the most days of not passing. Fortunately we were able to take it again and we passed it. The next day we had a luncheon with the Wing Commander and Wing Staff and it would have set a bad impression if we had shown up in blues. Fortunately we didn't have to. Our next test is already this coming Monday. No slack in this program for sure. I feel pretty good about this section though I will still have to study. Another busy weekend.

This was a very busy week for me. Monday morning was our second test. It was on fundamentals which was really a mish- mash. We had weather, basic chart reading and plotting, Take off and landing data, airspace zones, and basic instrument reading. The difficulty with this test was I felt I hadn't studied enough. However I also knew that I had studied and there just wasn't that much to study since I was familiar with half of this stuff from my days as a Navigator. So I entered the test with some trepidation. The test was not as hard as anticipated only because I knew there would be certain tricks on it and I found them all. So I got a 100%. I was pleased. Still it is only test 2.

There was no rest for us as we jumped right into aerodynamics. Admittedly this was a very general course on aerodynamics. It certainly doesn't come close to approaching what someone might study in college. It was also semi-familiar from what I learned for my private pilot license. However it did come quick. We had the next test that Friday morning. I felt that I hadn't paid enough attention the night before but between added study and my study group, I knew I was ready for this one. Again I did well. Another 100% score. Certainly not a bad beginning. Big picture it doesn't really matter. I know what aircraft I am going to so I am not competing with my peers. If I was dead last I still would get my wings and get to be a pilot. However there is some personal pride involved. I want to do well. I want to be a Distinguished Graduate just because I can.

The weekend was both a good time and a bad time. The good part is the party. Every incoming class has the tradition thrust upon them of buying beer at the Officers Club for whoever attends. We decided to do it that Friday. While it was the Friday be- fore a three day weekend, we did it on purpose because the O-Club charges a ridicu- lous amount of money per keg. We ended up buying four kegs and having a good time. I paid for it the next day as I had to leave my car behind. You see it was the weekend for the Michigan State (MSU) and University of Michigan (U of M) football game. Not only is this just a huge rivalry between the two schools, but both teams were undefeated. I decided to get ESPN Gameday but I had to pick up a converter box. I had forgotten that my car was at the base so I couldn't get the box in time to watch the game. We (MSU) won fairly handily from what I heard.

There were also two surprises for me that weekend. One of my classmates will probably get washed back a class or two because The AF Medical center at Brooks AFB doesn't believe the depth perception tests that were taken by this individual. On top of that, another classmate happened to break his leg while dancing later Friday night and definitely will be washed back at least two classes. Certainly not what any of us would want but we are all standing behind them and wish them the best. Only time will tell what else will happen.

This week was pretty light. We spent it at Aerospace Physiology. It was fun reviewing all of the old things. We had to do the Barony Chair where they can fool your inner ear into all kinds of things. It was really funny watching these guys trying to fight an effect they know is coming but really can't do anything about it. Unlike Nav training, no one almost fell out of the chair though.

We also did all of the training for the Parachute Landing Fall (PLF). I was part of the group that was previously qualified so we were able to do that pretty quickly. We practice the PLF on the ground, on a small platform, and eventually off of the tower. You end up getting hung in the harness for a few minutes. I can't say the parachute set up is particularly comfortable. Still there wasn't a parachute on the trainer so it was a little worse than it would be for real. The drop from there was very gentle.

The next day we went out to the field while the rest of the class went through the parasail training. I didn't get to do this as I am previously qualified. The new people get attached to the sail and towed up into the sky. The first landing is when you get towed down. On the second one, you get realeased from the truck and you have to float down on your own. Some people came down pretty hard and one guy didn't run properly for takeoff and almost got dragged along the ground by the truck. It was kind of funny.

To make things a little more enjoyable, we brought a grill out there and were going to make lunch and have some beer. The AP people decided to do more training than we originally thought would happen that day so we decided against the beer. Instead we just made the burgers, had some chips and baked beans, and a little pop. It was pretty fun overall and I think everyone really enjoyed it.

Later that week we had some night vision demonstrations and some egress Training. Egress training consists of two parts. The first part was an ejection seat trainer. You get in this seat that is on a set of rails going upward. Compressed gas fires the seat up the rails. So you get in this thing, get briefed and seated properly, and then squeeze the trigger. Boom! Up the rails you go at somewhere close to seven G's. It is instantaneous so you really don't feel it.

Part two is where you strap a parachute on and go into the static seat trainer and cockpit trainer. That way you do the rest of the stuff you would do if you ejected. You have to try and beat all of the seat equipment on the off chance that the equipment fails and you are still attached to your seat when you eject. Then you go to the cockpit trainer and have to do an emergency ground egress. It is useful and it kind of doesn't make a lot of sense since we haven't been in the T-37 yet.

Usually we would go to the altitude chamber at this point and go for a chamber ride. That way we could see what happens to everyone when you get oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) . That way if something bad happens to your pressurization system and no one notices, you get the symptoms and can correct for it. All in all a light and fun week.

This week started off with a bang. We had the Aerospace Physiology test right off the bat. I was wondering if I had studied enough for it. That ended up not being a problem. Unfortunately I made a mistake on the test. I changed an answer on the test and I had the right one the first time. I was so frustrated. If I hadn't know the answer at all it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. But from a personal pride point of view, it really was annoying. Still not to bad. We quickly transitoned to Weather class.

Now we had to start taking bold face exams again. This shouldn't have been a big deal. So what did we do? We busted it twice. That meant we went back into our blues. It was annoying as I didn't understand how we could screw this up. We ended up meet- ing our new squadron commander in blues. She didn't say a thing about it which was nice. However we did buckle down and get back into our flight suits by passing the test twice. We recover well anyway.

The end of the week was the Weather test. I wanted to get back on the bandwagon. I was able to do it this time. I got another 100% after changing an answer on the test. I made sure I got my questions answered this time though. That certainly helped. Now all I have to do is hit the fightline.

This weekend the class decided to celebrate our last weekend of freedom. So we went to the club on Friday night and soon left. It was pretty boring. Afterwards we got together and went to a restaurant called Harveys. It was a nice place. Neat wood interior and a decent bar. I didn't stay out all that late because Saturday was the party at my house. A couple of people had to buy a keg for putting us in blues. I bought some bratwurst and provided the place. People came over but not many people were drinking because they had partied too hard the night before. It ended up being the two old men drinking a lot of beer. Actually it was quite fun. However ti has turned my Sun- day into a bit of a waste as I have not studied like I should have. I guess I will have to make up for it tomorrow night.

This week we hit the flight line. The fire hose has started to open and we are getting caught in the blast. Wow! Monday was relatively easy as we went to the altitude chamber and had our chamber ride. So we went up to 25000 feet and got to watch people experience their hypoxia symptoms. It was pretty wild especially as some people decided they weren't going to put their mask on. One guy even passed out. It was kind of funny as when he came back to the didn't notice that he had passed out. When he sees the video tape, I think he will realize not to wait so long if it ever happens again.

Since I had so much time that day, I figured I would do some housework and then study some systems knowledge so I could get caught up. That was not to be. The ironing and other chores took all day. It really bothered me since I figured I had to know everything right now. Fortunately that wasn't the case. Still I didn't realize that until the end of the week. In the meantime I put way too much stress on myself and managed to catch a cold. Not to mention I was exhausted by the end of the week. Since I had a cold I really shouldn't fly so I didn't. I haven't done my dollar ride yet. Hopefully I can get off DNIF on Monday and I can fix that.

In the meantime, we are arriving at horrible hours in the morning. The first day wasn't too bad in that we had to be there a 0630. However the next two days were at 0400. In order to make sure everything started going well, I was getting up at 0230 (not that I really wanted to, my body decided that was the time to get up) and arriving a half hour early. It was getting the job done but it wasn't making things any easier. We would also start stand-up in the morning. Initially it wasn't too bad but it is somewhat nerve wracking to stand up in front of everyone including the dreaded Unit Standards and Evaluation Monitor (USEM) and try and speak all these emergency procedures where you can't say "um", you can't repeat a word, and you must get them exactly right, word for word. Of course I had some problems with that as the week progressed. It wasn't that I didn't know them, I just would omit a word or accidently mix in words from the KC-135 boldface. I got a nice lesson about negative transfer on Friday.

Friday held some interesting revelations. It was the first stand up Emergency Pro- cedure (EP). Since I was the Senior Ranking Officer (SRO) in the class, I knew I was going to be called. I was. So I had to get up and talk about a fairly simple procedure (engine fire upon start) but it still makes you nervous. You know all your classmates are pulling for you. You know that the EP isn't that hard. You also know the whole situation sucks and it is meant to because they figure if you can handle a really stressful EP in class, when a real one happens, it won't be a big deal. So I had this EP and most people thought I did a pretty good job. The thing that is annoying is you can't assume anything. You have to use the Instructor as you eyes and ears. So after I correctly diagnose the procedure and take the proper action, I'm getting out of the jet. The USEM tells me I bump my head on the canopy. This is typical of a Stand Up EP. No one is really going to start engines in this airplane with the canopy closed in case something goes wrong and you need to get out. I fixed that and sat down when directed. I was told I did a pretty good job. I suppose. At least I didn't dork it up.

After that came the boldface again. I dorked up two in a row. The bad part was I didn't know what I had done wrong. Apparently I had omitted a word the first time and I had used a different word the second time. Someone had to tell me what I had done since I couldn't figure it out. That was when I realized that I had taken part of the tanker boldface and let it interfere with my T-37 boldface. Later on when in the simulator, the instructor over there had asked me an EP and I made assumptions based on my experience in the tanker. I wasn't even aware I was doing it. So that was a big shock. Now that I'm aware of it, I can hopefully take care of that problem.

The other revelation I received was what was expected of us. I was under the impression that I had to know everything yesterday. I was really stressing myself out since I didn't know how much I was supposed to know and by when. My Sim instructor told me about the syllabus and showed me where it was. That let me see how much I had to know and by when. Obviously it is better to know more information at the earliest possible date, but at least I know what I have to know so in case I am having problems, I know what to concentrate on. That makes things here far more manageable. I can deal with that.

So that is week six. All of us are under some stress since this is all so new and the information we need wasn't around. It wasn't because people are trying to be cruel but more along the lines of too many students per too few instructors. That is the modern Air Force so it doesn't come as any surprise that the situation here is the same. Now if I can only find a way to stay on the whirlwind.

It has been one heck of a week. Things were quite busy and it is only going to get worse for a while. That is just the way things go here. It is annoying at times and a lot of fun at others.

I had my first flight on Monday. It was weird walking out onto the flight line with all of those jets. I'm not used to seeing so many aircraft on a given ramp. I'm also not used to going out to an airplane and getting in the pilot's seat. It has been quite a while since I have flown as well. So we hop into the jet to have some fun since your first ride, known as the dollar ride, is basically about having some fun and getting a lot of things demonstrated to you. Over all it was really neat. However I have not flown an airplane that flies this fast before. I was probably one hundred knots behind the jet. I gather that is the norm. Not surprising. However it does make one feel pretty foolish.

I was determined to have a different attitude this week. I wasn't going to worry about things. If I mess up in front of the USEM then I mess up and I'll go to "The Box" (that is a little taped box on the floor where you will go if you mess up). If I have a bad flight, then I will learn a lot so I can do better next time. Consequently, I wasn't staying up nearly so late as I was the previous week. I would get ready for bed early and get in bed to study. By approximately 2030 I would be really tired and I would turn the light off and go to bed. That means I usually got close to eight hours a sleep a night. I think that was helpful. However I did spend a lot of my nights dreaming of stand up and trying to chair fly the next mission. That is kind of funny because you aren't awake so It feels like your brain has turned to mush. However you are determined to study or think about this stuff so it takes you a while before you fall totally back to sleep. Kind of funny actually. Talking to other flight members, many of them were experiencing the same thing.

Friday ended up being a good day. This was to be my fourth flight and I was ner- vous about it. I was wondering how much I would have to know and I had chair flown for the first time the night before. I actually flew well. For the first time since I have been in the jet, I was definitely aware of what was going on around me. I was able to do just about all of the radio calls. I navigated my way out to the aerobatic areas. I even landed a few times and they weren't bad at all. I was able to keep thinking about trim and I kept the aircraft trimmed up pretty well. I even went inverted for the first time and that was quite fun. So I was quite pleased with myself after the flight. I did mess things up. I didn't get one ops check on my own and I did have to be reminded to do my de- scent check. I also have to review my power on and traffic patter stall procedures even more so that I can get that unassisted. There is still a lot of work to do. It will never re- ally end until UPT is over. However I was rather geeked.

I was also happy because the week was over and I could spend a day and a half just doing things that I wanted to do. Friday night I convinced a bunch of people to go to a hockey game in Tupelo Mississippi. Around 14 of us went. The Tupelo T-Rex are pretty new and it shows as the team they played, the Arkansas Artic-cats, were far more polished and seemed to know the game better. However it was fun to get out of Columbus and do something different. The game wasn't bad and afterwards we went across the street. There was a place that had go carts, laser tag, video games, and other stuff. So we went there and spent some money. It was fun though typical of the various go-cart places, the engines were in various states of tune so there was one cart that was much better than the rest and whoever was in that one would easily beat ev- eryone else. It was still a blast.

To complete our evening, we tried to find this local bar called JP's. In reality, it was called Jefferson's Place. It was a very nice pub/restaurant. We couldn't stay there too long as it was close to last call (which is at midnight) and you had to leave immediately afterwards. Kind of weird but we got a beer and left. Over all it was a lot of fun

To complete my week, I spent Saturday messing around, talking to people on the phone, cleaning up, and having some more members of my flight over for dinner. This is the second week I have done that and it has proven to be a lot of fun over all. I get to know some more about them and try to gauge their attitude. Not to mention it just is fun. So I will continue that practice until I have had everyone over. It will also help me keep track of the weeks I am here.

It has been an interesting week. I have been expecting to get called for stand-up for a number of days. So I keep preparing to get called and every time some one else was called up for stand-up. There certainly is no harm in being prepared because once the thirty day program is over, who knows what will happen. Having a clue on what might happen will be a good thing since we won't know who will get called nor will we know what the EP will be. A little preparation certainly won't hurt.

However the week did start on an interesting note. I did a lot of flying this week but we also had our first Emergency Procedures Quiz (EPQ). I had studied the stuff the week prior as I thought it would be due then. I didn't really study it last weekend since I figured I knew the stuff and the EPQ wouldn't be that difficult. I was wrong on both accounts. It seemed like just about everyone busted the quiz. In reality only five of us. So I had to retake it the next morning. However this time I did study better and I was as nit picky as I could be in trying to learn stuff. It payed off as I got a 100% on the retest. Of course the first grade is the one that sticks. All the retest does was clear me to fly and fly I did.

It almost seemed like they were trying to push me to the front of the class. I flew every day this week. I came up to the end of the first block. At this point I had to meet the standards of the Maneuver Item File or MIF. By the end of each block, you must be able to do certain maneuvers up to a certain standard. By the end of the first block, I must have eight fairs. Not a big deal really except I was having problems with one of the items. I kept forgetting to do my Operations Checks in the airplane. I really tried to concentrate on them and I was able to bring that up to a fair. So I did pass the first block and move on. I guess I really wasn't paying that much attention to it though as I wasn't really nervous about the whole thing. I was just trying to learn and when I got down I had passed.

I did get to do my first spin however. That was different but not like I expected. I thought it would be much worse and much more violent. It was somewhat disorienting. My instructor demonstrated the first one and did a spin prevent and then talked me through one. Then he did a spin and tried to talk me through it. I didn't do so well on that one . I did do them again on the first ride of the next block. This time I Actually got the picture of what I was doing. My instructor talked me through it and I mostly caught on and I think I did it without assistance though I had forgotten a step and he had to remind me. However at least I have an idea about spins and I know I can get out of one if I have to. It won't be pretty and I certainly would prefer a little more practice before I would consider myself spin proficient, however if the fecal matter ever hit the rotating wind machine, I think I could recover. Self preservation can account for quite a bit at that point.

Thursday was nice. We got it off due to Veterans Day. I have gotten to be pretty good at time management as I had done my laundry and cleaned up the kitchen before 0900. I then went out to listen to some new stereo speakers. Once I got back I did some studying with various flight members and we all learned a lot.

I was taken by surprise when I called in to work though. When I left on Wednesday, I wasn't scheduled to fly or sim on Friday. Now I was doing both. We also had our first Instrument test on Friday and that was more of my focus. I wanted to do well and I knew there was a lot of stuff I needed to memorize. So I blew off studying for the sim since I didn't really have a choice. When I showed up on Friday they took me off of the sim and I figured I would have some additional time to study after all. Wrong. When I got back from my flight, they put me back on the sim so I only had an additional 30 minutes to study for the test. It must have worked however as I passed. In fact I thought I had a 100% when I got done. I missed one. I mis-remembered the steps to one procedure so I marked the wrong answer. I was a little annoyed but what are you going to do? Big picture, I still passed. However I still want to do as well as I can.

This weekend has been a very lazy one. I really haven't done much of anything. I didn't go out on Friday. I did stop by to a birthday party but I got the time wrong and no one was there. So I came back home and just vegetated. Yesterday I did a little bit of studying but nothing truly productive. I just sat around, watching a little football and talking to friends on the phone to catch up.

A couple of classmates just pinned on First Lieutenant and were having their promotion party last night. I did stop by for a while. They had ordered the Hollyfield-Lewis fight on satellite but I didn't stay for it. I was too tired and I was shutting down so I decided to leave gracefully instead of falling asleep on their couch. I was having a hard time staying awake as it was. However I did wake up before I went home. One on my other classmates was borrowing the host's motorcycle to just see what it was like and crashed it. More accurately, I think the bike slid out from underneath him. The bike had some cosmetic damage but the rider may have broken his collarbone. I don't know what the final verdict is though I shall find out today. I hope he is doing well otherwise we may lose another classmate to washing back a class. Keep Kris in your prayers everyone.

Time is starting to move a little faster now. I guess I'm getting more comfortable with the whole format and the way things are run. It also doesn't hurt that my body clock is now adjusted to the 0415 show time. The only bad thing about that is we won't stay on the early morning schedule. This next week will be the same but after that we will get rotated into the normal flow. That means we eventually will have late shows possibly as late as 1600. That will be difficult to rotate to once we have been getting up the way we have. It wil be a full 180 degrees out of phase. Oh well.

Kris had the doctor examine him. The collar bone was indeed broke in three pieces. Originally I was told he was going to have an operation. I assume it was for pins or screws. We saw him a few days later. The new prognosis was he wouldn't have to have any surgery. That would allow hime to heal in about half the time. I think they are going to get a second opinion just to make sure. However he is on convalescent leave back home in with is parents. He should be keeping in contact so we will see how he does and see hime when he gets back.

The beginning part of the week was rather slow for me. I wasn't scheduled to fly on Monday so I used that time to study. I think that really helped get some of the procedures down. It was also reassuring to improve my general knowledge. I can still learn more as always but it was nice just the same.

The rest of the week was a little accelerated. Tuesday ended up being a bust because the jet broke. As it was we didn't ahve time to go to the spare so we just cancelled the sortie. Not ideal as I was about to find out. Wednesday I did fly first Period. Quite frankly it wasn't very good. I figured I hooked the ride. Fortunately I fig- ured wrong but I had a lot of work to do as solo is coming up very soon. We got back and debriefed. I'm sitting there when the scheduler calls my name and asks me if I want to fly again. I figure why not as it couldn't be any worse than my first flight. It wasn't. It wasn't great but there was definite improvement. I was content with that Provided I could continue with the improvement. Thursday was a much better flight. I wasn't constantly fighting the aircraft to maintain altitude and airspeed. I also liked Capt Tyre's teaching style a little better as he will let me go out there and make mistakes instead of reminding me before something happens how I am making a mistake. That style gets me to learn a little faster because I have to rely on myself. It also reinforces when I screw up so I am less likely to do it again. That is nice.

I did scare myself however. On the second sortie on Wednesday, I didn't do my Anti G Straining Maneuver properly. So I started with my G awareness turn and I went right past gray out and straight to black. I rolled out so quick hoping I didn't pass out. I'm sitting there going, "OK, we are on a 310 heading and we are still inside our area, and I'm still consciuos, and ...what else am I dorking up?" Fortunately the IP didn't want to see it again and I don't know how aware he was on how scared I was. I let him know why I was rolling out but he just sat there calmly. I think that is a good thing.

Friday was a lot of fun. I did my pattern only sortie. I spent the entire time doing touch-and-go's. It was a blast. I was working hard but I was able to get the airplne landed a lot of times with no help form the instructor. It does wonders for your confidence when you know that you can land the airplane. It was just a lot of fun and I wanted to go back up there and do it again. However I had a sim latter that morning. It was EP sim number to, nicknamed Dial of Death 2. I didn't think it went so well. I got a little confused on some things and I mis-analyzed a problme once. However the instructor seemed to think that I knew what I was doing. He also said I knew my boldface, which is true. However it is really different being told what is happening to you and responding to it verbally then sitting in the airplane and doing it when it happens to you. I didn't think it would be as tough as it was especially as the first one went quite well. Still I did learn a lot and I hope the do better on my third one. Of course I have to because they will definitely hook me on that ride if I don't.

The weekend was pretty relaxing. Friday night people went to the O Club and over to one classmates house to watch Austin Powers, the spy who shagged me. I wasn't sure I was up for either event so I rented two movies myself. I ended up watching Elizabeth which was a very interesting movie. It was also very dark which I was surprised about. It made it seem like Queen Elizabeth's life was entirely grim. I don't know if I will buy it but it was definitely worth seeing.

Yesterday not a lot happened. I pretty much just cleaned up the house. The class was coming over here for a party at 1500 and I got everything ready. It was a pretty good time over all. Toward the end of the night I was getting tired. I think the beer was getting to me.

Strangely enough, some of us left the party to go see a movie. I went and saw Sleepy Hollow . It wasn't a bad movie. It was one of those movies that had a lot of po- tential and I don't think quite lived up to it. The special effects were wonderful and Johnny Depp did his usual excellent job as well. I just think the way the story was written left something lacking. It is worth seeing but I would go to a matinee. Anyway, after the movie we went back to my place as some of the people were sitting there watching the Alabama vs Auburn footall game. I was going to watch the other movie I had rented (The Edge) but I was overruled by my guests and we watched The Spy Who Shagged Me. After that the party borke up.

So the rest of the day will be spent cleaning up and studying. Not exactly my favorite pastime but necessary. If nothing else it shall help me performe better for this shortened week as I may solo on Wednesday and Thanksgiving is on Thursday. My brother Eric might even come down for a visit. That would be really neat actually.

This has been a rather boring and easy week. I was looking forward to soloing this week but the weather wouldn't cooperate. All three mornings the weather was too bad for beginners like me to fly. The visibility or the ceiling wasn't high enough. In the meantime, I studied. We all did. The classroom became a fountain of knowledge. We even played stump the dummy for a while on Wednesday. For about two and a half hours.

Don't get me wrong, while I would have rather been flying, the time went to good use. I was able to get caught up on my instrument reading and the workbook. I only have to do a little bit of studying for that today. That way I should be really ready for the test on Tuesday. Hopefully I can get a 100% on that test. It also means that I can concentrate on studying for the next EPQ. We got taken by surprise on the last one and most of us weren't ready for it. While I did pass, I want to do better on those. So I can study for them this weekend.

Otherwise this has been a wonderful break. A number of us who stayed in town all had Thanksgiving together. My contribution was a turkey which turned out pretty good. It was a great second attempt at a turkey and the stuffing I put inside worked out even better than the turkey. The rest oft the food was wonderful as well. The company was pleasant too. I always get kind of mushy around the holidays anyway.

I spent a good part of Friday decorating my house. I put up a tree and everything. It doesn't look half bad. I'm not used to having a house this large so I could probably use more decorations. I don't think I'm going to bother until I buy my own house though. In the interim I'm getting everything else cleaned up and getting a jump on my Christmas cards. Such an exciting life.

That is pretty much it this week. Not particularly exciting but the break came at a great time and is a perfect length to reset for the upcoming weeks and probable check ride before Christmas break.

What can I say about this week? Not a lot. I didn't fly much at the beginning of the week because of the schedule. That didn't bother me since I was trying to study for the second instrument test. I also wanted to catch up in studying for this weeks EPQ. So it was time well spent studying. In fact, when I finally did get to fly, it was the first time in a little over two weeks. I was a little nervous to see how rusty I would be. Fortunately not too bad. I still needed to get back up to speed but it didn't take me as long as I thought. In fact my ride just before solo went quite well. Nothing to complain about there. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate so I didn't get to solo on Friday like I had planned. Not a big deal. I will just do it on Monday.

I did have the second instrument test and I did pretty well. Not as well as I would have liked mind you. I got two wrong. The funny thing about it was the two I got wrong were not the ones I was worried about. In the grand scheme of things it isn't a big deal. However it does put me farther off the pace for Distinguished Graduate (DG). I just hope to get there. It is a goal. It isn't that important as in my life isn't going to end or that I wouldn't give it up if one of my classmates need it. I just want to go out there and compete with myself and do the best that I can. It is my goal to be the best. However all I can do is give my best and see what that brings. Nothing else I can do.

Other than that, not a lot going on. The weekend has been relaxing but too short as usual. I had a couple of classmates over for dinner. It went well considering the main course was a bit of an experiment and I used my new bread-maker for the first time. All of it came out well and everyone enjoyed themselves. It makes life fun when that can happen.

Tomorrow starts another week. Hopefully I can start it off with a bang (solo) and let things go from there. I also hope there aren't anymore surprise sims this week but you take the cards you are dealt.

Well this week had some very big highs and some very big lows. Overall I won't call it fun. I expected some bad weeks but this was a little more than I was ready for. C'est la vie!

To start with, I got to solo. I have soloed before but never in a jet aircraft. Frankly I didn't think I was going to be able to as I wasn't flying very well at first. The solo ride is broken into two sections, 2501 and 2502. For 2501, you fly around the pattern with an instructor. If he feels you are doing a good enough job, then you land and he/she gets out. I wasn't doing a real good job but it must have been good enough since he decided to get out of the aircraft. So we pulled back into the parking area, shut down the jet, and got it ready for my solo flight. Tradition has the instructor swap name tags with you so you aren't flying without any wings on your chest. So he gave me his wings and I gave him mine. Then I started up the T-37 and away I went. This was the only time I was nervous as the pattern was fairly full and kind of crazy. Once I got the takeoff clearance, I was too busy to be nervous. I must say I had a lot of fun. Soon I was get- ting low on fuel so I landed and taxied back into parking.

At this point I started loosening my boots and stripping off all of my patches. Why? There is another tradition here at UPT that the first time you solo in the jet, you get thrown in the dunk tank by your classmates. I figured I may as well get ready and protect all the vulnerable items of clothing. When I got back to the squadron, my classmates were waiting for me. Just about everyone was there as I was the first to solo in my flight. The day was quite cold which meant the water was very cold. It re- minded me of swimming in Lake Huron in June before the water had a chance to warm up . Of course the water alone wasn't good enough. My classmates dragged my through a mud puddle first and then threw me in the tank. It was cold! However I don't think I would change the whole experience.

Things didn't go so well for the rest of the week. Of course this is mostly subjective as I didn't bust any rides. However I have my first check ride coming up very soon. Six more flights and then the check. I was realizing how close it was. Especially as I don't feel I have been flying particularly well all of a sudden. I have to add baby aerobatics to everything I have learned and it isn't helping anything. Plus I seem to have lost the ability to do the maneuvers I was doing fairly well before my solo. Then I had my next solo which was a pattern only. I wasn't really excited about it since I didn't feel particularly sharp. It went well though I did, possibly, damage the jet. I didn't get the gear handle all the way up on one of the patterns so I possibly oversped the gear. I didn't see any damage but I reported it anyway so maintenance could check out the airplane. Add to this the possibility of fighting off whatever sickness is going around, and my attitude went down in the dumps.

However the weekend has gone well. I have taken some time off though I have done a lot of studying. All the studying as well as taking last night off helped Immensely. My attitude is much better and I am ready (I think) to take on this week. I am going to do some more studying tonight and some chair flying. Hopefully it will get me up to speed so I can fly well and get ready for me check ride.

This week has not been fun. There were some really good points but it just didn't come off well at all. I felt like I was just surviving. Sometimes you hit low points and this was pretty close to the bottom.

The week didn't start off too bad. I started flying better. I was very pleased about that. I was able to go to a different Instructor Pilot (IP) this week and that made a Difference. I was also able to concentrate a little more. Add to this my confidence increase from all the studying the weekend prior and I was really starting to improve. By the time I got to the ride just before my check ride, I was doing quite well. I know I would have passed if C2406 had been my check ride. It may not have been really pretty but it met all of the parameters and it was definitely safe. So I got all psyched up for my check ride. I was ready. I had studied. I flew well. I knew I could do it.

Friday rolled around and it was time. My classmate Ken had the morning go which he didn't want and I would have loved to have had. I waited around trying not to scare the crap out of myself before the ride. Finally it was time to go and I settled right down. The check pilot came out to meet me. We went into his office and briefed the flight and then headed out to the jet.

I got in and started my preflight. Everything was going well. We taxied out to the hammerhead and awaited takeoff clearance. I did one last check around the cockpit and I caught something I had missed (Boost Pump). Not a good thing to have forgotten but I caught it before take off. A critique item for sure but not the end of the world.

I finally got clearance to take off. Off we went. I wasn't warmed up yet so I got a little fast and a little high but I corrected. I decided to make my first pattern the single engine pattern. Everything is going well. He pulls the engine and I correct. We go into the break and I start slowing down and getting configured. I'm a little fast at the perch point but five knots is something I can recover from. Half way through the turn I hear him say, "I've got the jet". He then pulls really hard on the stick and we the airplane goes into an accelerated stall. He gets out of it but keeps control of the airplane. I'm thinking, "Hm..why did he take the jet? That usually isn't a good sign but I didn't see any other airplanes or any birds. When is he going to give it back to me?" The next thing I know, the check ride is over.

I don't remember what I heard first. It was either him telling me that he was sorry, he had tried to save the jet but I had oversped my flaps or I heard him tell Sunfish (The RSU) that this would be a full stop. Either way I knew the check ride was over. I couldn't believe it. I had never even left the pattern. I was both stunned and deflated. On another level I was somewhat relieved because at least this week was over. Either way it was time to go back, do the debrief, and go face the rest of the class. We get out of the jet and I find out that we were only in the air for a .2. Ten minutes. I never even got out of the pattern. I must have the shortest check ride in history. I might as well be infamous then.

The emergency procedure, general knowledge, and debrief went well. He had me draw out the air conditioning system. I had studied that so I knew it. Not a big deal. The emergency was an engine fire in the area. No big deal though I should have reconfigured the airplane before doing the clean up items in the checklist. I didn't take a hit for that. However the explanation of the over speed made me raise my eyebrows. Admittedly I was in the middle of everything and I may have gotten behind the jet. However he said he took the jet at 130 Knots and the airspeed indicator jumped to 140 knots. Considering he had pulled so hard that we went into the tickle, I find that hard to believe. It just doesn't sound right. However he was the evaluator and that is a battle I can not win. So I just kept my mouth shut and accepted the outcome. There isn't much else I could do about it.

Saturday rolled around and I was excited. One of my classmates and his wife had approached me with an idea for a party. We had both been thinking about having a Christmas Party and we had both been thinking about making it dress up. They came up with the idea for a wine tasting party as well so we combined the ideas. This Saturday was the day of the party. I had been looking forward to in for weeks. My house was all festive. Everyone had at least a tie on and everyone needed to blow off some steam.

It was a great party. Most people commented on it and some said it was possibly the best party they had ever been to. Either way everyone had a great time. Almost all of my class was there. Some people brought along their civilian friends which added to the festive mood. It is nice to talk to come other people about other things than flying. A couple of people got a little out of control and there were some spills. I wasn't looking forward to the next days clean up but I was having too good of a time to worry about it. I was only concerned that everyone was enjoying themselves and that they were responsible in either getting home or that they stayed at my place. I went to bed quite drunk but in an excellent mood. I would be ready for the next week

The next morning I got up when the doorbell rang. My cohost shows up and is is despondent. I don't know why. It turns out one of my classmates did drive home the night before when he shouldn't have. He had crashed his car and been arrested. He wasn't injured which was good but I couldn't believe it. In one fell swoop, all the joy and good feeling built up from the night before was destroyed. I had to deal with that and I decided to call everyone and let them know what happened. I was now worried because I knew the chain of command was going to try and see if they could come after me as well. It was my house and no seems to be of the opinion that an individual is responsible for themselves anymore. I wasn't despondent this time as I was still feeling a little hung over and because the night before had been a good time. However I was wary. All I could do was wait until the next day and see what happened. In the meantime I had clean up to do.

Ken was great in helping out. A few other people showed up as well to help. It was kind of funny as they would really let me do a lot of work. I tried, but everyone kept saying that since I had offered up my house so many times, I shouldn't worry about it. I found that a nice sentiment but I did find it odd. They wouldn't even let me get a steam cleaner for the carpets. Then once it was here, I had to fight to actually use it for a bit. I kind of felt like Tom Sawyer at the fence only I didn't have to convince the others on why it was good to do the work.

So that was the end of the week. There were some big highs and some big lows. In the grand scheme of things, it will be something to look back upon and maybe laugh. In the meantime I want to put it behind me as soon as possible.

This week started off like I figured it would. I was supposed to take my recheck on Monday. I was up for it. However, I had to bring my classmate in to visit with the various bigwigs since he didn't have a car. So I start meeting my Flight Com- mander before class starts that day with my classmate. Later that day, I get called down to the Squadron Commander's office. The Vice-Commander was there and he wanted some more information regarding what happened. Of course the first thing he did was read me my rights. So I said I needed a lawyer and that was the end of the conversation. He then wanted to talk to the co-host and did the same with him. I called on the Area Defence Counsel and he figured there wasn't much they could do to me which is what I figured. However I decided to call my unit just to advise them of what was going on. It was nice to see my Group Commander taking an active interest in things. Fortunately it wasn't really necessary but it was appreciated.

However that still left my check ride. Both Ken and I decided we weren't going to do it that day. I had too much on my mind to be able to concentrate on a check ride. The last thing I needed was to bust the ride because my mind was somewhere else. No thank you. I have busted enough rides in my career that I don't need to set myself up for another one. If I bust it, that is one thing. However setting myself up to fail really isn't necessary.

Tuesday ended up being a day with bad weather. Pretty much no one flew that day. I did do a bunch of studying but basically, I just sat around and got ready for the check ride and any other tests I might have. That worked out well enough as Wednesday the weather was good enough that I did recheck. I passed it even though I thought I had busted again. A few minor errors didn't help me at all. Still they were critiqued but they didn't stop me from passing.

I really didn't want something like that hanging over my head. That is because I left for Michigan the next morning for Christmas Break. Boy did I need that. I got home and started finishing up my shopping. Fortunately, I had well over half of it done before I went home but there were still some items that I needed to get for people. Over all it went very well. I saw some people, got reacquainted with the family, and just enjoyed not thinking about Pilot training for a while. All in all, a good time.

This was the second week of my Christmas break. I'm not going to bother writing much here. While I'm a little disappointed that the world didn't end, at least I get to do something really cool for the next part of my life.

Well my first week back after my break. I can't say I was exactly looking forward to coming back. It was nice being back home and not having to worry about the work load all the time. Still this is what I want to do so I was coming back regardless.

I did realize that I had an ear problem or something that had been hampering me for quite a while. Call it a month. It was one of those things where I never really felt bad but I never really felt good. I was tired and never really sharp. It turns out that I had a sinus infection and I know I had it prior to my check ride. I wonder it I would have busted if I had taken care of that prior to it? Who knows. All I do know is that I was DNIF (Duty Not Including Flying) for most of the week.

In the meantime I did a lot of instrument sims. We started the Instrument block and the sims are difficult. Not because they are necessarily harder than anything else but because it is different and it gets thrown at you all at once. The sim is also much harder to fly then the airplane. Just one of those things. Still by the end of Thursday, I was doing adequately. I was able to stay ahead of the airplane and that is definite improvement. That is what keeps me going.

The neat thing about Friday was I got to fly again. More importantly I went solo to the area for the first time. That was fun. I was able to stay up on the radios and I never even came close to busting out of my area. In fact I kind of got a little bored since I had so much time on my hands. Usually we are out there working real hard to get all the maneuvers done in time. This time I was able to do everything I wanted at least twice. I must say that was the perfect way to end the week.

On Saturday, I went to Atlanta for the day with a friend of mine. We are both into High End stereo equipment (Well he is into it much more than I am)and we were going there for the day to look at a bunch of stuff. It was quite an education. I now know what a tube amplifier sounds like as well as learning about various speak manufacturers. I learned a few names I had never even heard of before. Of course I am learning a lot of names as the hi end stuff tends to be smaller companies that do things the right way instead of the mass production way. Anyway it was a lot of fun.

Sunday was relaxing. I had breakfast with some friends and did some cleaning around the house. I took down all of my Christmas decorations. Later that evening, I studied with a friend for a while before we went to bed. The next week was going to be an early week and I needed my rest.

It has been a decent week. I got to fly some though we had a few weather days. More of my classmates took their check rides and most passed the first time. Those that didn't passed the second time. We even had one guy Final Contact check this week which he passed with his usual excellent manner.

I am starting to feel comfortable in the airplane. The fact that I am sharper and I don't feel like I am dragging all the time has helped. It is almost getting to be fun. Unfortunately I managed to catch a cold. I'm not feeling bad but I don't really feel good either. I can fly but I don't feel quite sharp either. I feel better than I did but I did turn down my last flight on Friday because I knew I wouldn't get any useful training out of it. Just one of those things. However the weekend was a three day weekend. I originally planned to go to Atlanta with my buddy Greg for the weekend but I decided to stay home instead. That was really the best call. I ended up being really tired Friday night and I still wasn't up for much on Saturday. I used the time to recuperate and heal up from this cold. We shall see what next week brings.

For a four day week, it seemed to drag forever! Even my other classmates were commenting on that. Kind of odd I suppose. Every day seemed to take twice as long as it should. Maybe that was because it was the second early week in a row. That has the benefit of getting your body used to the weird hours. However having to go to bed every night at 2000 just to stay rested is fatiguing on it's own.

Tuesday we ended up getting weathered out which was just as well. I wasn't feeling particularly good that day anyway and I pulled myself off of a flight. However I wasn't happy about it. I needed to get well so I could get back into flying. I REALLY want to get past the Final Contact phase. While contact isn't bad, it isn't my favorite area. I look forward to moving on and going to other places besides just going out to a Military Operations Area (MOA) and then coming back to home base. I'm tired of the MOA's and everything associated with it. However I can't do anything about this until I can fly again.

I decided to go to the Flight Surgeon's office that afternoon. I figured there wasn't much they could do for me. I was right as they didn't find anything wrong. I think I was on the tail end of my cold at that point anyway. Still I figured it was better for them to look me over in case something was wrong. In the meantime it really did help my motivation. I really wanted to fly which hadn't happened in a month or so. When I got back I let the scheduler know what was going on and that I was ready to fly the next day.

Fly I did. I went out to the area solo. In fact I decided to go the Gunshy solo. Gunshy is the auxiliary airfield here at Columbus AFB. We have to go there for the Final Contact check ride. I have no problem going there. However I rarely went down there on runway 31. It just worked out that every time I went down there before, it was runway 13. I was very familiar with the ground references for runway 13 but I pretty much didn't know them for 31. I was a little nervous about going down there as I would hook(fail) the ride if I dorked up down there. It was the most fun I have had here in a long time. I went down there and did three patterns. After that I went out to the MOA to do some aerobatic work. It turns out that I used too much fuel getting into the high area to do any aerobatic work so I just cut my losses and came back to the home station and landed. The best part about the flight was I actually had fun. That is the way things should be.

I had a sim on Thursday. We had just gotten done mission planning a ride in academics the day before. That was the ride I was to take Thursday morning. It ended Up being an interesting ride. I must say that the way the sim flies is really a pain. It is very difficult to get it trimmed and when you do it will become untrimmed very quickly, often at the worst possible times. The sim also acts differently than the airplane during slow airspeeds. When the plane gets slow, the controls get a little mushy and it doesn't turn real quickly. In the sim, the airplane turns very rapidly at slow speeds so it makes it difficult to be smooth when you are trying to shoot an approach to an airfield. Especially if it is a precision approach. I don't really like the sim.

Anyway, I got the sim out of the way and on Friday I flew with a new instructor. I hadn't had an opportunity to fly with Capt Cooper before but he is very popular. I understand why. He has a happy go lucky style that puts you totally at ease. However when he does have to instruct, he is very good at it. It made my ride on Friday that much more fun.

That is really the best way to characterize this week. It was the return to fun. I don't know what changed other than my health. It doesn't really matter. All I know is the program is starting to get a hair easier. We are about to get off of formal release which will make my schedule a little more flexible as well. All in all a good Week.

This has been a good week. I have enjoyed myself this week which is a very nice change. Hopefully this will continue though I still have a lot of work in front of me. That doesn't bother me but I don't want to get cocky.

to start off with, I had a couple of flights remaining until my Final Contact check ride. I double turned on Monday. My first flight was with an instructor. I had to spin one last time which ended up working in my favor for a worst case scenario. We had to go to a high area to spin so I decided to try and do all my aerobatics up there in case I got stuck with a high area on my check ride. While it wasn't that different, the airplane does feel different up there (low areas are between 8000 and 13,000 feet while high areas are from 15,000 to 22,000 feet). It requires more power and it doesn't perform quite as well which was ideal for practicing the maneuvers. Then I had to spin. I ended up preventing and recovering twice due to details that weren't perfect. It was fun overall so I certainly can't complain. Besides, it certainly was a way to finish up my spins by doing them multiple times.

The second flight was to be a solo flight. I was looking forward to going out into the area and practicing the aerobatic maneuvers. It didn't look like the sortie was going to go since the status was dual only. Unfortunately that got changed to pattern solo. That meant I could do my sortie but I had to stay in the pattern to do it. I really didn't want to waste the mission just flying around the pattern. Don't get me wrong, it did get me up in the air and practicing my landings certainly wouldn't hurt me, but I wanted to practice my cloverleafs and other advanced aero maneuvers. So I went up and flew a 1.2 in the pattern. C'est la vie.

On Tuesday I had my last flight of the block. It didn't go badly but it wasn't my best flying. I certainly could have used a little help on my landings as I didn't really have the flare picture for most of the day. In fact the last landing was the worst as I didn't really flare at all. I caught it at the last second but we still hit kind of hard and bounced a little bit. Not ideal but I figured I could still pass my check ride.

Which happened the next day. It was funny but my attitude was much different this time. While I was nervous, it was the anticipation of going and doing it. I knew I could do this flight and all I had to do was prevent myself from doing something stupid. I was also happy that I had mine the first thing in the morning. I tend to do better right away in the morning and I wouldn't have to think about the upcoming check ride all morning long.

The check ride was screwy of course. The FAA was in the area to flight test our instrument approaches. So I had to plan for extra gas and to come home early since we were required to be back in the pattern with 700lbs of fuel. Not a big deal but it was something different. Then I did my preflight and the fire detection system was acting weird. It didn't test properly at first. Then it tested fine. After running a bunch of tests it seemed to be fine so I took the jet. From there everything went well. I took off and maintained the proper climb speed. I was fast for a little bit on the way down but I handled that and corrected for it. I was able to get my visual references fairly quickly and I canceled my Instrument clearance (IFR). We got into the pattern at Gunshy (the alternate field for Columbus and the field where I had to do my landings for the check ride) and things got a little squirrely. My first approach was a straight in and I was fast the entire approach. Not a big deal. The evaluator told me to go around which I did. Now there was somebody close behind us and I was going to go around the pattern instead of asking for a closed pattern for spacing. That was when the evaluator took the jet. Usually that isn't a good thing as it means the evaluator saw something he/she didn't like and you probably hooked (failed) the ride. However I didn't think I had done anything wrong so I just decided to proceed with the ride. That was the proper decision as I hadn't done anything wrong.

Anyway, I did my next two patterns and landings. The single engine overhead was the best pattern but the worst landing. As I got close to the ground, the plane got caught in a little bit of a gusting head wind and a little bit of wake turbulence. I decided to go around. In the midst of that, I did touch done so the evaluator counted it as a landing. He said there wasn't really any reason for me to go around but respected my decision. After that he took the jet and flew the Pickens departure and got me out to the area. Of course we were going to get a high area as all the low blocks were full. Before we got to our area though, we did get a low block which was nice.

The odd part was we were now in area Green with very little fuel to accomplish my profile. We had accomplished the mandatory items so my evaluator was a little directive to maximize the maneuvers he could see. I only did one power-on stall, one recovery (nose high), I did the traffic pattern stalls, slow flight, and the Lazy 8. After that we hit bingo fuel and had to knock it off. That was fine by me. He took the jet and we were delayed in the area for another fifteen minutes awaiting recovery back to the base. It was kind of a pain and I was wondering if we would have to divert to another base. We were able to land the jet back at Columbus thought we had fairly low fuel when we re- turned. However the delay didn't give us a lot of time for the ground eval (emergency procedures and general knowledge questions asked by the evaluator. You can bust the check ride for this alone). Fortunately I answered correctly and then I found out I had passed. I was very happy. I was downgraded on six items which is quite good. However the best part is I am done with the Contact (VFR) phase of my training. This was the part I was most worried about. Don't get me wrong, I still have to study a lot, but I think I will make it through the program without too much trouble.

Of course with everything good that happens, something bad must happen to make you appreciate the good things. When I got back, I had to take the next EPQ. I actually would have passed the quiz but I couldn't remember the sequence of events for one of the trend questions, put the wrong sequence, and consequently busted the EPQ. So now I had to study again and retake it the next day

That proved to be interesting. There was a good possibility we would have snow that next day. If the snow came early, we would have to take our final academic test that evening. Many people were scared about that. I wasn't because I figured the test would be simple. We ended up not taking it but it did snow that night. By the morning the snow had turned to rain. The roads were mostly clear so I didn't think anything of it. However the base was going to be closed that day so we got a free day off. It was funny to me because there was so little snow period let alone enough to stop people from driving. However this is the south and people around here are not used to snow. People actually considered the snow amount to be fairly large and take of "surviving" the snow. I find it amusing.

Finally, I enjoyed the weekend. I got my house cleaned up, had some more of my classmates over for dinner, and got together with a bunch of people to watch the Super- bowl. It even turned out to be a good game with St Louis winning everything after a dif- ficult contest. So tomorrow we start our first (and possibly only ) night week. It should be interesting.

This has been another good week. Monday we showed up and had a rather easy stand up. There was a twist though. Since this was the start of night week, we showed up later than normal. When we had stand up, they turned the lights off like you had electrical failure in the jet for a night flight. The guy they stood up had to borrow a flashlight which was pretty good since my flashlight is where I normally store mine, in my helmet bag. In this case it was in my locker since I don't normally carry one on my person. I talked to my Flight Commander to ask if he would have let me go to my locker and he said no. I didn't expect any different. I was surprised that I wasn't called actually since both of the other Captains in my flight were called. I must assume that I will get called tomorrow.

Later that day I had my first (and only) night flight. We were going on a relatively short route and staying in the pattern. It was different since the normal ground references weren't there. I had to rely on lights that would be near my normal References. The good thing about it was I didn't do too bad on my landings. The runway looks different at night in the glare of the landing lights. I was able to adjust pretty quickly which I was happy about.

After that we went out on the night route. The visibility was excellent so I could see all the way to Birmingham, AL. It was also clear above us so the stars were incredible. I could see everything. I love it when you are away from the light pollution because you get a chance to see all the really distant and faint stars. You realize the entire sky is full. I would say it makes me insignificant but I feel such wonder at the sight that I can't help but recognize the beauty.

Anyway, I had to do unusual attitudes and a spatial disorientation exercise. The spatial d exercise is where I have to close my eyes and the IP maneuvers the aircraft to show how easy it is to screw up your sense of feel. For whatever reason, I was able to figure out what the plane was doing every time. Of course he couldn't do anything really weird since we didn't have a large block of airspace. However it was fun and I wanted to go back up as soon as we landed.

The rest of the week was almost like being back in the real Air Force. We would show up when we had to with no formal report. We didn't have any more stand up the rest of the week. In fact we didn't have our EPQ which really surprised me. Now I have to try and study for two tests since I don't know if we are going to have both this week or not. I have to assume we will which will be kind of ugly.

On the other hand, we had our last academic test for the T-37 block. I was one of the few people not really worried about it since I knew that almost all of it would be in the books we had to bring with us in the test. I ended up using up the whole time allotted. Normally I get done fairly early but I wanted to make sure I found all of the answers in the books. I couldn't find the answers for a couple of questions. I knew what the answers were but I wanted to find them in the books. I never did but I still got a 100%. I was quite happy about that since I still want to try to get an award out of here. I don't know if I'm in the running for DG anymore but I can still shoot for the academic award. Either way I want to miss as few questions as possible.

Wednesday, we had our day/night out and back. I was looking forward to this as it would be the first time in tweets that I would leave the local area. I ended up going to Little Rock AFB in Arkansas. I was one of the few people in my class that had a clue as to what I was doing when we got to Base Operations. I quickly planned my IFR leg and I used F Plan which was funny because a bunch of my classmates asked me what I was doing. They didn't know flight planning software existed. I plan on doing most of my stuff that way only because doing it the other way is stupid. First the From 70 is awful and we will never do it again outside of UPT. If we manually mission plan outside of UPT, it will be with a real form that has all the necessary data on it. Anyway, my IP showed up and I asked a few questions just to confirm how to do the VFR leg. He took off to get something he forgot and I finished up the mission planning. After that we had our weather brief and went to out jet.

At that point it was nothing but fun. We flew outbound at 6500 ft and I was able to find all of my VFR (Visual Flight Rules) checkpoints. Strangely enough, I was on time just about every one. That was rather amazing since I was forgot to hack the clock at one or two legs. In the end we got where I needed to go though the end of that flight was weird. The visibility was bad at Little Rock and I had a hard time seeing the field. When I did see it we were cleared for an overhead pattern but we had to break prior to the approach end numbers. I had to adjust to that and I can't say I did a real good job of it. However I was able to land the aircraft without a problem. From there we bedded the plane down and met the IP's friend for dinner. The friend drives a Mitsubishi 3000GT so there wasn't a usable back seat. I was wedged in there sideways which I really don't recommend to anyone.

The way back was uneventful. I flew back at high altitude (FL230) and we got a couple of shortcuts to get us back. The funny thing was when we got home, I lost my bearings. We were under radar control but I couldn't figure out where the field was. Every time before, we had been vectored to the southern end of the field for an aproach to runway 31. This time we were vectored to the north end of the field. I eventually used the RMI to figure out where I was but once I did that it was time to put the localizer frequency in and I still didn't have the field in sight. So I flew the localizer course and got on the approach. I did a good job on the approach and on the landing. It was a fun trip though it felt much later than it really was when we got home.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. I ended up staying most of Thursday since there was no one else to sit at the SDO desk. I wasn't scheduled for anything but I was there for most of the day. Friday I had a sim and someone else had done the SDO duties so I didn't have to stick around too long. This week was like being back out in the real world. Show up when you have to fly and go home if you don't. I hope it hasn't spoiled me for the rest of the program.

The weekend was taken up buy having more classmates over for dinner. I also watched a movie or two. In fact I got a nice package from a very good friend of mine that included the DVD "Shakespear in Love". I love that movie and I now have it in my limited collection. Now I have to get to doing a little more clean up and to start some studying for this coming week. Hopefully my self control will kick in so I actually do it. It is much more difficult at this point to continue studying since we know most of the stuff we have been studying in the past. I Still have much to learn though. Still I have seven weeks left of the tweet. I look forward to the end and the beginning of the T-1.

This was a long week. I started off by having my first formation ride. I can't say I really enjoyed it. It was closer than I am used to being to another aircraft. I won't say it was upsetting but it was uncomfortable. Then we got back to the pattern and almost had a collision with another aircraft that didn't see us. I wasn't happy at all. The next day I had my second formation ride. That was much better. I realized that it isn't as dangerous as I thought and I was starting to get the big picture on where I needed to be and how to maneuver the aricraft into position. So far it is much easier to be lead. In time it will become easy to stay in position and then I will be able to really enjoy the sight of tow aircraft maneuvering in close proximity as one unit.

The largest part of the week actually happened on the weekend. I went cross country this weekend. I was able to arrange to have an old college buddy to be my IP. It was a lot of fun. I went to Maxwell AFB and then to Keesler AFB before I came home on Sunday. As the trip went on I was given more and more responsibility and it made the flying much more difficult. However I felt pretty good about everything as a whole. I understood what it would be like a lot more and I figured that would work out well with my ability to fly the aircraft. The ability to "picture" the situation in my head was improved quite a bit and so were my attempts to fly the approaches. What I need now is a lot of practice to refine everything.

This coming week will be a pain. Not only could I use a little time off to let things filter through, but we have another week of early shows. I hate having to arrive at 0445. That means I have to get up at least an hour earlier depending on the amount of work I did the night before and that gets old real quick.

Has this been a long week. Subjectively it felt like a month. I can't say a lot happened but I have been working my butt off trying to get up to speed on instruments. It isn't that I don't understand them. In fact that part is the part where my Navigator training helps out quite a bit. However staying ahead of the aircraft enough so I don't forget something and then making that bucking beast (especially the sim) do what I want it to do has been a royal pain.

In fact Wednesday went so well that I busted the ride. It was good in the fact that progress was definitely made. The approaches were MUCH better that day. I had chair flown the night before to make sure that I would have them down. It payed off but it hurt me as well. I was thinking so much about the approaches that I forgot to dial in the proper navaid for the departure. Between that and the fatigue of going two weeks straight, I wasn't doing as well as I would have hoped.

Thursday was the day before my check ride. I was going to have my last sim in the tweet and then have my last instrument flight. The sim went well. The final portion of my ILS (Instrument Landing System) wasn't as good as it had been, but I was ahead of the aircraft and doing pretty well. Again progress was made so I wasn't upset about it at all. When I got back to the flight room, I got my flight changed back to an instrument ride and stepped to the jet. Well that flight didn't happen. On take off, the number two engine was surging pretty good. Initially I thought it was because the throttle friction wasn't as tight as it should be and the throttles had backed off the full power stop. The instructor took the throttles for a moment and reduced them before moving them back to full power. The engine started surging again and he aborted the take off. I guess the engine was fluctuating as much as 15%. Not a good thing. The engine smelled awful when we parked the aircraft so I knew something was really wrong with it. Since we got weathered out on the third period, I wasn't taking my check ride on Friday.

Friday rolled around and I was scheduled to fly a low level. The winds picked up and they had to cancel the later sorties. So I got to go home early and I pretty much came back to take a nap. A two and a half hour nap. In fact I have been sleeping in all weekend long and I'm still tired. I guess all the hard work is tiring me out. Fortunately it is a three day weekend and I'm getting some time to rest. I plan on going to Memphis tomorrow to get the Saab serviced and then just relaxing for the rest of the day visiting whatever I want to up there. I look forward to it as I need to get out of here for a bit.

That is it for now. I have to push it up for another six weeks. After that I will be done with the T-37 and I can move on to the next phase of training. I thought the hard part of the t-37 was over but I guess not. I just have to keep pushing on until the End.

This has been a REALLY long week subjectively. Quite frankly it sucked! Monday, I went up to Memphis to get my Saab serviced. It was time for the 65,000 mile service and it was the only day I would have for a long time get it serviced. I also needed the oil changed and that would happen during the service anyway. I also got a couple of filters and oil seals so I could do the next set of oil changes myself. I ended up sitting around the dealer for a while since their shuttle driver only worked for a limeted amount of time. However for a ridiculous amount of money, I was done. Subjectively that seems like last year.

This week was the time for my Instrument Check ride. I was struggling during this entire phase. I have been working really hard trying to get everything together. It was a struggle but I figured I could do it. So up comes the check ride. I just had to not do anything stupid. So I get out to my check ride and I make a mistake. In attempting to recover (which I did), I didn't do it in time and I messed up the fix to fix. I knew I busted the check ride at that point. So I just pushed on and tried to do things really well form that point on. The ground eval and the EP went really well. Unfortunately, where I thought I busted was where I did. The check ride was over and I had to go to an 89 ride.

Now an 89 ride is somewhat stressful because if I bust that one, I'm done. I have to go to a Commanders Review Board(CRB) to see if I could get reinstated. Granted I am in the Reserves so I would more than likely get reinstated, but I didn't want to deal with that. I had to wait until the last period and almost the last jet that day. It didn't help matters that I had to be in at 0545 in the morning so I was a little tired. However I was able to keep calm and I flew quite well. I didn't make the mistakes I had made the previous days ride and things were going quite well. However the ground eval was HORRIBLE! I somewhat dorked up the first EP which didn't help. The second EP I did well but he didn't like my answer so he was upset. Then he started asking me questions for general knowledge. Unfortunately, it turned out that the area of questions he was asking me was not an area I knew as well as I thought I did. It got even uglier because he just kept digging and digging like he should do. However I was a little surprised since I was told since I had gotten an excellent the previous day that the ground eval would be cursory. I didn't quite believe it so I was doing a lot of studying anyway but I didn't study the right stuff. Quite depressing though I did pass so in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. It is still disquieting.

Fortunately I didn't have to fly on Friday. I did a little research and I found out that I didn't answer most questions wrong. I had done better than I thought I did though, to be perfectly frank, not as well as I should have. I just wanted the day to be over so I could go home and do some cleaning. I have a friend who is coming down to visit me and I needed to get the house cleaned up.

So on Saturday I picked up my friend and I am doing a little more clean up before I start studying for this upcoming week. I only have to go through formation and low levels and then I am done with the T-37. While the Tweet is a fun airplane, I look forward to being done with all the crap associated with it. Until then.

Another week down. I have approximately four weeks to go and I will be done with the T-37. I look forward to that day as I am tired of the crap that goes along with the T-37. Supposedly it will be more of a gentlemen's course in the T-1. If nothing else, it will be different crap.

My friend Laura came to visit me this past week. She was coming down for Red Carpet day. Red Carpet day is where you have guests visit to see what a typical day in the T-37 is like. They show up to a little breakfast, get a briefing, and then see a whole morning brief. The Stand-up was very humorous as a thrush broke through the canopy and proceeded to attack the student pilot. The person chosen ejected the canopy but somehow the bird was not drawn out of the cockpit. So he went up to 25,000 feet to try and asphyxiate the bird. It turns out there were two right answers and which ever one the student came up with would be wrong and the other presented. The climb was one. The other was to do a sustained 6.67 G turn and G-Loc the bird. It was pretty amusing.

After that we went out to the flight line. The weather got bad so we didn't go out to the runway RSU (Runway Supervisory Unit) as there weren't any planes flying. However we went out to the static display aircraft and afterwards went to the sim Building. Everyone that wanted one got a chance to go into the simulator. I flew some and let Laura fly. Everyone had fun and it was nice to show someone else what it I go through every day.

Previous to this I had a couple of flights. I had my first low level which is actually quite relaxing. I must say I enjoyed it. I also had my first formation ride in about a month. It was interesting but not terribly good. In fact my overhead pattern at the end was awful. I was still surprised when the IP busted me though. So I have another busted ride under my belt and an opportunity to study hard and excel the next day. Isn't life grand?

I did find out something that I must relay. I called my home unit to ask a few questions. In talking about these questions I found out about a novel event. It turns out that a number of people get together every Thursday. They gather in my old office and get on the internet to look at this page while having lunch. They call it lunch with Karl. I am flattered. Thanks guys. I'll see you at graduation or when I get home.

The week started off less than optimal. I started flying formation again. Unfortunately the picture that I was starting to understand wasn't there anymore. I was fighting very hard trying to get into position (three foot wing tip to wingtip) and fighting hard to see what that was supposed to look like so that I would know when I was in position. On top of that, I hooked (failed) a ride so I wasn't in a good frame of mind. Then my computer crashed and I lost all the data on my primary hard drive partition. Then the check engine light came on in my car. I had no idea when it was going to stop.

It stopped on Wednesday. All of a sudden everything clicked. I now got the picture of what formation is supposed to look like. It was a huge relief. I may not be right in position but I knew that I was making progress and that I could get it. That means to me that I don't have to be so worried about my check ride. I just had to keep learning and doing. It would just be a matter of time until the whole thing came together. I at least know where my weak points are so that I can concentrate on them.

The computer and the car are different matters. I ended up doing some research on the web and asking a couple of friends who are experts with the Amiga about my problem. Every time I thought I found an answer, there was no way to implement it. So I decided to order the newest version of the OS and wipe the hard drive. It would be a pain but I didn't see any other possibility. However that would wait until the next week.

The car was more problematic. While the check engine light had probably come on due to an emissions problem, the closest dealer is in Memphis, TN. That is a two hour drive and I don't have a weekday free. I would have to see what I could work out though my Flight Commander did say we could work on something to make it happen. I just hope everything works out and the car doesn't die. That is the last thing I need right now.

Another week. According to the countdown, I am approximately half way through the program. Subjectively I will consider myself halfway through when I am out of tweets. I will probably end up missing the Tweet as it is a fun aircraft, however I can't wait to be done with it and to get back to a crew airplane. I don't know if it will be any easier but it will be like what I have done for the past ten years. Hopefully it will be a little more comfortable.

The week kicked off by flying better than I had expected. I still had things to work on but there was definite progress. I could tell what was going on and I know where I want to work on things. It is a nice change. In fact it is almost getting to be fun. I'm still not sure I'm all that comfortable being so close to another aircraft but I wasn't asked for my opinion. I just do what they tell me.

I was granted a reprieve regarding the car. I had an appointment for Wednesday and I was allowed to go. So I took another trip up to Memphis to sit in a waiting room while they got to my car and tried to figure out what (if anything) was wrong with it. It didn't help matters that I wasn't paying attention to where I was going so I missed a turn and I ended up taking an extra hour to get up to Memphis. Still I did get some studying done while I was waiting around. The prognosis is...they don't know. The computer says that my engine runs lean occasionally. It is either an Oxygen sensor or the Engine control computer. The former is a pricey part and the second will still be covered under warranty so it doesn't really matter what it costs. However I do have to go back up there once the parts come in. Nuts!

Even so the rest of the week went well enough. Friday's flight was interesting though. I was on the wing at take off. We got to the first turn where we leave the pattern and I though something didn't look right. It seemed to me that lead was in a very aggressive bank for being so close to the ground. In fact it seemed really aggressive as I don't usually see so much ground while I'm that close to it. The turn seemed awfully long as well. That is when I realized that lead had a problem and was heading back to the field. We eventually got to the proper frequency on the radio and found out that they had smoke in the cockpit. Since we couldn't do the mission without them, we also headed back to the field and called it a day. Since I wasn't scheduled to fly second period, and they didn't reschedule me, I called it an early day and I went to the gym.

After the gym, I came home and started to work on my computer. I'm not exactly where I was before the crash, but I am very close. The important thing is I am on line and I can get my email again. That also means I can continue this pilot log so all my fans can keep up with my progress.

One last note. A while back a classmate of mine made an error in judgement and it looked like he was going to get kicked out of the Air Force let alone stay in pilot training (reference week 13). However he took responsibility for his actions and was ready for the consequences. There ended up being no civil charges and the Air Force had no charges to bring against him. As of Friday, he was reinstated to pilot training. It is excellent news as he is a good man with great potential. While his assignment outlook may not be all that great, at least he has the opportunity to compete and at least get his wings. He will make a good AF Officer and it is nice to see that one mistake won't nec- essarily ruin his career. The Lord help him if he makes another of that caliber though.

Well what can I say about this week. Another one down. I am flying better which I am happy about. I was much more aware of what I was doing in the area. I even had my last solo which was quite fun. My only concern was a little backsliding on one of my maneuvers but that didn't really distress me.

Somewhere along the line my ability to plan and maintain my area increased immensely. I am very happy about that as I was really concerned about this. This Was he one thing that could really mess up my check ride. I have no desire to but for this. However it suddenly just clicked which I am thankful for. I even find it fun. However I really do prefer leading out. You see in formation flying, one person leads out to the area and through the first half of the flight while the other person will pick up the lead halfway through the flight and then lead home back in the pattern. I find I tend to do a better job leading out than leading back. I'm much more comfortable in the lead but maybe that has to do with not worrying about maneuvering my jet to within three feet of the other aircraft.

I really enjoyed my solo flight. I double turned into it which was a bit of a surprise. Of course that whole week's scheduling was a surprise as nothing went the way it was planned. Anyway, I did the first ride that day and then went into the solo. I definitely had problems with my turns away but my IP said he wasn't worried because he liked my ability to make good decisions regarding safety. So off we went. I haven't had the opportunity to fly without an instructor in quite some time. I relished it. It was so nice not having to have someone sitting next to you grading you the entire time. While I didn't necessarily do any better than the flight before, I certainly felt better about things. The pattern on the way back was nuts however. I didn't feel real comfortable since it had been a while since I had dealt with twelve aircraft in it. I felt like I was messing up though I didn't do a bad job. I did have to keep going around and I landed with less fuel than I am used to. However I won't have to deal with that too much longer.

Well that is it for now. Next week will probably be my check ride. I am pretty confi- dent that I can pass it. It is just a matter of getting it done.

This has been one heck of a week. I am quite glad it is over. In the end, all is well that ends well.

I was supposed to fly on Monday so I could check on Tuesday. I was so ready to check it wasn't funny. All I wanted was to get done with the check ride. It would be the last check ride I would have in Tweets and I couldn't wait. Not that the tweet is a bad airplane but it I want out of this phase and into the next. I may regret rushing over there but for the time being, it really is time for a change.

Anyway, that didn't happen. It turns out there was a memorial service on Tuesday that all the check pilots were going to attend and it wasn't possible to check on Tuesday. So we would fly on Tuesday instead and check on Wednesday. Tuesday the weather was OK but it was going to get kind of ugly for Wednesday. I can't say it was my best flight on Tuesday. However I was going to stick with the old saying that if you fly crappy the day before the check ride, you will perform well the next day. So Wednesday shows up. The weather is worse than I thought it would be. I didn't think we would go though it did clear up a little bit. We went and I over all I thought things went quite well. I was only concerned about one error. That and trying not to vomit when the check pilots decided to play when we were complete and pulling constant G's while they did their own version of offset trail.

So I get back to the debrief and handle the General Knowledge and the Emergency Procedure. The debrief is going well until I hear that my check pilot is busting me. I had apparently had an angle towards my partner while performing the lead swap. I never even saw it thought she did take the aircraft which is NOT a good sign. So here I was stuck with one of my worst nightmares. I was even told it was a pretty strong ride over all but that didn't really matter at this point. I was quite distraught though I went home and banished it from my mind for a few hours until I went back to studying to make sure I would be ready for the 89 ride.

The next day, the weather was even worse. Instead of having a high deck like the day before, it was at absolute mins. I would have to do an Instrument Trail departure. That didn't bother me much since it would be like the old days in the tanker but I made sure I knew the procedure just as well. I also had to wait for a while until my check pilot was ready. At one point I was positively terrified but I got myself under control and got set for the recheck.

I didn't need to be so concerned. I had Lt Col Cliatt for my recheck pilot and he is very cool. He had a big picture and wasn't going to let me fly the departure or the approach. Since the approach ended up being to absolute minimums, I guess that is a good thing though I wouldn't have minded flying it.

Anyway, once we got above the weather, it was quite nice and I proceeded to do my check ride. We had set a rather high bingo fuel so I did almost everything as wing and not as much as lead. However I MADE SURE that the lead swap went well, which it did.

Upon reaching the ground, the ground eval and the emergency procedure went quite well. He then informed me that I passed. I was so wrung out emotionally that my response was rather flat but I was happy. I still get to continue with the program. I still progress toward my quest to get my wings. I do hope that when I get to T-1s that I can do a little better job when it comes to check rides. However I will concern myself with that when the time comes.

In the meantime, I have used this weekend to relax. We didn't have to work on Fri- day so I have been cleaning up the yard and reading a book I bought. On top of that, I watched my alma mater win their Final Four basketball game and go onto the National Championship game (Go Spartans!). Tomorrow I have my last T-37 ride with a friend of mine form active duty. After the low level I will be tweet complete. On Wednesday we will have our track select event and I will see where everyone will go. In the meantime, I plan on relaxing a little more and enjoying what time off I have until it is back under the grindstone with the new material.

Subjectively this week seems to have taken forever. I don't know why that would be since it has been a good week. I had fun and I am now in the midst of learning all kinds of new things. How can that be bad?

Monday the weather was awful so I didn't fly. The instructors used what time they could get for people getting close to their check rides. Tuesday's weather turned out to be wonderful. I was supposed to do my last flight during the third period. I was looking forward to it after a long weekend. I figured I would have some time to get into the books and review the weather requirements as well as work on my grade book. Wrong! The guy who was going to have his flight that morning went to the Flight Surgeon so I got his flight. My IP realized it was my last flight and stated the objective was to have fun. Just my kind of flight.

We decided to do the SR-137 route which was the one I know better. It was a gorgeous day with a little wind and cold temperatures. So off we went. I like that kind of flying. Being low to the ground where you can see a bunch of stuff as well as having fun doing it. Kind of relaxing since I'm not constantly worried about what maneuver I have to do next. I'm just watching out for obstacles and maintaining situational awareness via the clock and my chart (no it is NOT a map!). The only problems we had was getting a little confused on wether we were left or right of course around the fifth leg. It was the only time I haven't seen the fire observation tower. However we did find the end point without a problem. We flew back and we each got an overhead pattern and a landing. I was now Tweet complete and it felt great. I was very happy that day.

Wednesday was a long, boring day. We all came in a 0600 just like we all came in on the first day. I ended up sitting around. I spent the morning getting my grade book in shape and then just hung out and talked with various people. I wish that was my graduation day as opposed to my Track Select day. However it was still important and I was looking forward to getting Track Select over with as well. It ended up being a good day for most of my class. We had seven T-38s come down which was what I expected but it is one more than average. We had four T-44s as well which made most people happy there. There wasn't one UH-1. I don't know if people realized how lucky they were with that. I don't think going to helicopters would be bad at all. A few people agreed with me. However it doesn't matter. The remainder went to the T-1. That is where I went. We went over to our new squadron and got the basic inbrief. We were informed of all the work ahead of us and their expectations. I got a brand new set of pubs so it will be interesting getting those up to speed. We even had our first boldface test the next day.

So far the T-1 world isn't that bad. There is a LOT of information I have to learn in a month. Sometime along this month I am going to go to the simulator and start learning the switches and the systems. Right now we have procedure and systems classes. Some of this stuff isn't making a lot of sense yet since I am not seeing any practical ap- plications for it. I'm just learning stuff out of a book. Then again, it only has been four days total sense I tracked. Tomorrow will be another day with a fire hose of information and Wednesday is our first test. I will have to study hard and start chair flying some for the interior inspection so I know where the systems are. Then I can learn how to use them.

This weekend has been pretty laid back. I spent most of Saturday doing housework and laundry. That night we had our Tweet-Complete party. It started at 1600 and I only stayed until 2300. I was tired and getting kind of bored. That and I knew I had a lot of work to do today. Besides finishing up some chores, I have been studying for most of the day. That will continue for another couple of hours I think. Then it will be time to hit the hay for another day of study and exercise. See you all next week!

Another week down. All in all, it was quite pleasant. I have free time to go to the gym and actually just enjoy myself at times. What a novel concept. I don't know how long it will continue but I may as well enjoy it while I can.

Studies have gone well. We had our first test on Wednesday. It appears we shall have a test every three to four days. I won't be bored by any stretch of the imagination. Fortunately my first test went well. I got a 100% on it so I was pleased with that. I wasn't happy with only 23 questions since I think that means you can get only two wrong without failing the test (The AF min score is 85%).

After that we went into the next system. The electrical system on this airplane is quite complex. Actually, the T-1 is one of the most complex (dare I say advanced) aircraft the Air Force has. It is certainly more complex than the tanker, though I can't speak for the Pacer Crag modification. Anyway, the system has multiple pathways and redundancies. The diagram of the system looks like a plate of spaghetti. However I am trying to learn it for both the knowledge itself but also for that day that an instructor or an evaluator asks me to draw the system. I have the test on that and the anti ice system tomorrow.

This weekend has been enjoyable overall. I didn't do much Friday night. I just watched Farscape, a show I am really starting to enjoy, and then I went to a bookstore. Later that evening I talked to a friend who is in the process of getting a divorce. A lamentable situation to be sure. Later that night, I got a call from that same person and we ended up talking until 0500. It didn't help much that I wasn't sleeping much that night anyway. So Saturday morning I got up and got ready for the football game that I organized. After a little water and some food I felt great. The football game was very fun. The turnout of my classmates wasn't all that good at first but eventually people started showing up. Then some people from other classes started showing up so we ended up with eight on eight. After that we went over to the SRO's place for a barbecue. It was extremely relaxing and necessary.

Today was Palm Sunday and my mind was not where it should have been. I didn't get much out of church today as it was going a million miles an hour on everything and nothing. I have been a little disgruntled this weekend. I think it was probably fatigue though I'm not sure exactly. However after a good dinner, a little studying, and watching David Copperfield on Masterpiece Theater, I'm doing quite well. I think I shall go to bed and get a good nights rest. Tomorrow is my second test and my first sim for the T-1. It should be an exciting day.

It has been a good week. I have really enjoyed myself and I think I will have a much better time with this airplane. It is certainly more complex but that just means it will take a little longer to master. It also means it will be fun learning about everything as well.

I had my second test this week. It wasn't too bad. I got one wrong which isn't bad though I wanted a 100%. The better I can do academically, the better chance I have at ranking high in my class. It's that personal pride thing again. I suppose I should just stop thinking about it and take what I get. Nah!

I had two sims this week. Those are getting to really be fun. I am starting to learn all the funky checks you have to do for preflight. I am also far more used to the crew concept and that makes me feel like I am at home. I figure if there is someone else in the airplane with you they may as well help out. That wasn't an option in the Tweet but it certainly is here.

The sim on Friday was the most fun so far. I was in there with my friend Ken and we both had the checklists down pretty well. We were able to get four approaches each which definitely made things worth while. We got done with everything and I wanted to stay in the sim another couple of hours playing around and shooting approaches. I just hope my normal crew partner gets off DNIF soon so we can start flying together. I don't have a problem changing crew mates since that is what I am used to in the real world. I would just like to get used to Joe and have him get used to me since we will be flying together until our first checkride.

That is pretty much it for this week. Over all it was fun. I even got my yard all cleaned up and mowed this weekend. As it was Easter, I was able to spend it with some classmates and it was nice. After that I had to study for a test but you can't have everything.

This week was very busy. I had two tests and four sims. Actually it was kind of nice since I was able to get some extra practice in the sims as I was able to practice my checklists a little more and get familiar with everything. Hopefully that will make things work that much better for me when I hit the flight line.

I had two tests this week. Systems three was the most difficult test yet. It kind of around in the questions. There were also quite a few of them. While that means you can miss more of them and still pass, it also means you have to answer more of them. This test centered on the avionics of the T-1. There are quite a few different systems that all tie together to make everything work. So we had to learn all of those systems and how they tie together. It is supposed to be the most challenging test in academics and I believe that. I only got one wrong which was nice. I just didn't know the answer to the question and I guessed wrong. Next time I will do better.

I had the next test on Friday and I did do better. It focused on the Hydraulic system for the most part. I didn't feel like I knew the stuff quite so well that day. I had studied with some classmates the night before and it seemed to go very well. However the next morning all the work I had done that week seemed to catch up to me and I was very tired. In the end it went even better as I got another 100%. I was happy because I was unsure of a couple of answers. Obviously I narrowed it down properly. We have two tests next week as well so it doesn't slow down at all.

The sims were overall a lot of fun. I sandbagged twice. My crew partner had been DNIF for a couple of weeks due to a knee injury. He finally got off of DNIF and was able to do the sims. I had already moved ahead of him so they had me sandbag with him. That means that the sim is set up for him to fly and I just fulfilled the duties needed for him to complete the sim. Normally sims take three hours (1.5 per person) but these only took an hour and a half. That was Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday we did a sim where we were caught up and moving along. We had some starting malfunctions this time just to see some different stuff. That way we would be prepared for this if it ever happens in the airplane.

All three of those sims were early morning ones. Show times were 0530 or 0445. Friday was the bonus plan. We had the late sim. So we got to show up for a 1535 brief meaning we weren't going to get out of there until around 2200. Not really what I wanted to do with my Friday night. I was also a little nervous since we were going to go out to the area for the first time and I hadn't had a chance to study the maneuvers yet. All in all it went fine. We started doing the checklists only from before takeoff which saved a little time. We even got into the sim early so I was able to get home much earlier. It is also a nice surprise to find that all of these sims end up being a lot of fun. You can't beat that at all.

The weekend was pretty laid back. I spent most of Saturday cleaning up the house. I had pretty much let the inside go and it was time to do all the routine chores like dusting. I even got the office cleaned up which is a feat in itself. That night I watched some movies I had rented and then cleaned up the kitchen. Sunday was pretty laid back as well. I finished cleaning things up, studied for a number of hours, and then watched a little TV before I went to bed.

All in all it was a good week. I was able to have some fun, talk to some friends, and just have a good time. I hit the flight line this coming week and that will prove to be interesting. Hopefully it will continue to be as much fun as it has in academics. Only one way to find out.

It has been a busy week with a great ending. I have had a lot of fun this week which makes me even happier that I am in the T-1 program at this point. I am treated more like an adult in this part of the program though it still won't be as good as the real world when I get back to my unit. Even so it is a welcome change.

To start off with, it has been busy. I had two tests this week, numerous classes, and a we hit the flight line on Friday. Our first test was on Tuesday and the section was only three days long. It required quite a bit of reading as well which made things Challenging. However I got a 100% on the test which was great. The next test was on Friday which made it difficult. I had to study a lot for my first flight as well so it came down to trying to divide my time to give each task the required time. It worked out well enough as I got a 100% on that test as well. It was a great way to start off the week

Of course things weren't that easy. We had to go to the flight room Thursday afternoon for a class and to get ready for the next day. Of course they sprung a surprise test. It was on the Boldface and ops limits so it wasn't that big of a deal but I hadn't looked at it much since the first week. I passed the test though I made two mistakes. They were stupid mistakes as well which I wasn't real happy about. Still I did pass and that was the important part. No sense in highlighting myself negatively the first week.

Friday was great however. It was our first flight in the T-1. It was both nerve wracking and thrilling. I flew first that day so I did the preflight and the flight out to the area first. It was really different to go out to the jet. The aircraft is still very different form the sim even though the sim is really good. The engines seemed to start even faster than they did in the sim which struck me as odd and surprising. Then it was time to taxi. That was really different. The nose wheel steering is very heavy and it takes quite a few applications of differential braking to help it along. Strangely enough, it was much easier to taxi it back in.

The takeoff was neat. This airplane has quite a bit of thrust so it does accelerate very quickly. In fact it can kind of get away from you. You have to level off at 700 feet until clear of the runway and you can be accelerating through 200 knots at that point with very little trouble. You first indication if you aren't paying attention is the controls start to get really heavy. Then you realize something isn't quite right and you pull the throttles back. Very different. It is also kind of nice.

We went out to the area to do our Traffic Pattern stalls as well as the other maneuvers we practice out there. I did a great job on most this first time out. I hope I continue to do that. My crew partner Joe, didn't do quite so well in the area. However he made up for it with the landings. I couldn't seem to land the aircraft without really plunking it down. Joe was able to get in there and handle the crosswind and set it down much nicer than I did right from the get go. He did a great job. In the end we both had a lot of fun and that is important. The more fun we can have, the better off we will be in learning all this stuff and getting ready for our checkride.

That is pretty much it for this week. I didn't do much on the weekend other than a little recreational reading and going in to the Squadron on Sunday to do some studying. All in all a good week. I look forward to this coming week.

Well the fire hose has reopened. I knew it would happen and it isn't any where as bad as the T-37 but it is still quite a challenge. Much of that has to do with the attitude of the instructors which seems to be a little more about teaching and less about harassment. Then again we may just be doing a decent job right now. Either way it still isn't bad though it is a lot of work.

I must say I was a little nervous about this. I had no idea how the were going to run the morning briefs. I also wondered about the standups. It could be really brutal and I didn't feel I had gotten as much studying as I wanted done. The first day wasn't so bad. The next day wasn't too bad either. The third day we got stood up and that didn't go as well as I would have liked. We did a decent job especially for our first time and we did learn a lot which was the important thing.

On top of all the studying we had to do to look at all the systems and figure out how to fly the aircraft, we also had our first EPQ. It was better than I expected in some ways. It wasn't nearly as picky about the details as I thought it would be. However it did have a lot of questions that were designed to trick you. That was surprising and it will make the EPQs somewhat difficult in the future. On top of that we also got a no notice test. That took me by surprise and I wasn't ready for it. I had heard rumors so I was studying but I didn't get as far as I wanted. It showed for the part where I got questions wrong was the part I hadn't gotten to yet. Unfortunately I busted the test. On top of that they made up make up a study guide the next day on top of being grounded. Not ideal though I did pass the retest so everything is good to go. I can fly again next week.

the flying itself was still fun. I don't feel anywhere near the pressure I felt before. It is much more comfortable being in a crew aircraft. Then again, that is what I have done for the past ten years so it is no surprise that I feel more comfortable. Anyway, I feel pretty good about the flying and our instructor. I guess we will switch instructors every three or four flights. Our assigned instructor is a new guy and he seems really laid back. He will definitely teach us but he isn't the "grind them into powder" type. Of course we have been studying and haven't screwed up so that helps.

I haven't been real happy with my flying at times. Then I remember that I have only had a few flights in this airplane and that I am still a student. That makes life much better and I don't get down on myself. The only consistent problem I seem to be having is with cross wind landings. I think I have figured out what I need to do now and that will make a difference. It will be nice to get that down. Then I can work at refining things as opposed to trying to figure out what I am doing. In the meantime I will progress along the program and graduate. I can't wait until that day!

This has been a good week. I am really starting to have fun in this airplane. Wether that is because it is a crew airplane or my flying skills are starting to all come together, I couldn't tell you. However even when I fly badly, it is still a lot better than the Tweet. Now if I can just get rid of the realy early show times and get ahead on my studying (does that ever really happen?), I will be constantly grinning.

I have flown every day this week except for Friday. It is realy kind of odd how things go though. This is because of the way my crew partner and I interact. If I have a bad day, he has a good one and vice versa. If I don't know something for the general knowledge, he does and vice versa. It is realy kind of odd. Hopefully we can get to a place where we both are doing well at the same time.

Anyway, I flew decently on Monday, very well on Tuesday, not so well on Wednes- day, and well again on Thursday. It is funny how not flying as well as you would like can bring your day down. However Tuesday I couldn't stop grinning. That makes it all worth it. When you get out there and know that you did well, not to mention the fact that my office is an airplane cockpit that someone is paying me to learn, it really makes your day. Fortunatley I got Friday off though. I needed a little extra time to study for General Knowledge questions and tostudy the notes, cautions, and warnings in the dash one. That is the one area where I haven't been able to put enough time though I think that the day off from flying will help immensely. That will be good since I have been having to choose between sleep and studying and I have been choosing sleep. Hopefully go- ing to night week will allow me to get even more sleep since my natural sleep cycle doesn't usually start at 2100.

This weekend has been nice. I went over to the house of some classmates and just hung out for a while. I had a few drinks and just let this past week go. I found it funny how many of my classmates think that the T-1 classes are much more difficult and that time has, subjectively, slowed down for them. I think time is moving a little slowly my- self but I see no difference between the T-1 and the T-37 training. Anyway, we dis- cussed this at the party as well as playing a little foosball. I even beat my arch nemesis which rarely happens. Saturday I did some housework, a little shopping, and I went to see the movie Gladiator. I really liked it. Technically ti was pretty accurate with a few nits to pick. Cinematically it was fantastic. I have heard nothing but good things from people who have seen it. I was particularly impressed by the actors in it and the won- derful job they all did. Seeing Derek Jacobi as Senator Grachus was a particulalry nice surprise since he is an excellent actor and it could easily have been a very flat character without someone of his caliber.

So I am spending today studying. I have completed my study guide for the notes, cautions, and warnings for sec 2 in the dash one, I will study for th EPQ, and for the stand up tomorrow since we will be getting it. I want to be ready and make sure we do a good job. See you next week.

It has been a fast paced week. I have been flying most of the days as well as trying to study for up to three different tests, keep up my general knowledge, and just continue to move on. Friday ended up being a non flying day since it was the Wing Safety Day. We got to listen to a number of briefings regarding safety issues though I think most of us were thinking about getting out of town to try and blow off some steam.

The flying has continued to go well overall. I made a few mistakes as we all have. The hardest time has been not getting down on myself about my performance. I know I am not doing bad. In fact I did pretty well. Sometimes my mistakes were even humorous. I have to go out and practice traffic pattern stalls. To do this you have to set up like you would if you are in the traffic pattern setting up to land. The purpose is to give you training to recover from a stall if you were close to the ground. Anyway, I get out to the airwork area and go right into my stall series. I had forgotten to put down my gear and the flaps so the airplane stalled very quickly. It caught me by surprise though I recovered. Then I realized why the airplane had stalled. I was chagrined and my instructor was laughing. I have to say I started laughing as well. That at least keeps it light hearted and hopefully I will learn not to do that again.

By the end of the week I was trying to decide what I was going to do with Memorial Day weekend. I needed to get out of town and I was trying to think about what I wanted to do. Out of the blue, a friend said that she was going camping with her sister and nephew and asked if I wanted to go. It was only to Tennessee so I thought I would do it. It wasn't a bad trip though it wasn't what I was hoping for. It ended up being a bit of a forced tour of the local sights in the Smokey Mountain National Park when I was hop- ing just to take it easy. I was also concerned about studying for this weeks tests and other things so I came back on Sunday. It was the right call and at least I got out of Columbus. Next time I will make sure it is a little more relaxing. However I did get to see a god friend again so that was very nice.

Now I have about four months left. Subjectively the time has still been a little slow in moving. However it brings me a lot of hope that I am starting to see the end of the tunnel getting a little lighter. I don't think I see an actual light. I just think it isn't quite so dark down there. It is good to know that I am on the downhill side and I just need to keep pushing a little while longer.

Another week down. This was a shorter week since Monday was off for Memorial Day. I used that day to study since I had gone camping the previous weekend. However it didn't seem particularly short for some reason. That is all right because it was a good week over all.

As far as the flying is concerned, it was a good week. I flew quite well overall. Tuesday we had a minor problem with the aircraft. The primary avionics blower (the fan that keeps the avionics cool) failed in the middle of the flight. We got into the tech order and found out that as long as the standby blower worked and solved the problem (it did) that we could continue with the flight. So we did. I didn't fly too badly this time though I wasn't real happy with my area work. The touch and go stuff was pretty good though I did make one mistake that I thought he would bust me for. I didn't properly compute the landing speed for one landing. He caught the error but I didn't. In the end he didn't bust me for it so I got to continue into the next block of training.

Wednesday we had another problem. It ended up being a little more serious. The cabin air overheat annunciator came on. This means that someplace in the cabin reached 235 degrees F. Obviously something in the pressurization system had failed. So we went to an airwork area and got out the tech order again to figure out what we could do. We solved the problem and then headed back home and landed. Not a big deal the way things worked out. It did stop us form advancing in the block which is important to me since I would like to be the first to check. That way there isn't any his- tory with our class and there won't be any comparison to others in my class.

so Thursday we went out to fly the ride that was aborted on Wednesday. It as a good day. Both of us were spot on that day. It was a great ride. Everything went well. You know it went well when the debrief items are very nit picky. It was just a lot of fun and I hope that it continues to be that much fun for the rest of the program.

Friday ended up being kind of odd. First of all the powers that be decided to cancel afternoon flying and have a safety meeting for all the Instructors. I don't know why that happened though it didn't effect me much since I was scheduled for a simulator. That morning I did have my last academic test though. I was nervous about it yet I wasn't. The subject matter was spread over a lot of things many of which were very nebulous. Fortunately I had studied the right things since I knew most of the answers at first glance. I had to think about a few of them and unfortunately I got one wrong. I think that puts me over the edge for getting the academic award. Not big deal since I am still going to get my wings.

Later that day Joe and I had our sim ride. That was pretty ugly. It was the first navigation sim and we did prepare for it. It didn't seem to matter much though. I am now used to the airplane and the sim is more difficult to fly which doesn't help much. However we were learning some new procedures which confused me so for my first approach I blew right through the other side of the localizer. I didn't even realize it until the instructor asked me where I was and I just locked up. It was amusing actually. I was able to do better on the other approaches and in my holding but the single engine approach was a very unpleasant experience. It isn't nearly that hard in the airplane but I suppose it is better that way. If you can fly the sim well then the airplane should be a breeze. Anyway, the sim was not a stellar performance from either one of us. We were both joking about it when it was over.

So my weekend has been OK. I didn't do much on Friday night. Saturday I spent cleaning up the house, doing a pubs check, and playing cards that night. I ended up spending the night since I couldn't drive home. However I stayed up way to late which has had me dragging all day long. I did study today though I didn't do as much as I probably should have. I am going to do a little more tonight and then I am going to bed. See you all next week.

Has this week been busy! Wow! A combination of getting ready for check rides and lots of no notice tests made this week very busy. It didn't make it go any faster mind you as I was always focusing on the next event. Do I have to study for the next test or the next flight and if both when do I study for either one?

To start with, Monday rolls around and we have a no notice ops limits test. It was weird since it wasn't in the normal format of that sort of test. The questions were really goofy. Most were pretty easy but a few were kind of out there. Fortunately I had read most of that stuff the night before so I was able to muddle through. Then came the weekly EPQ. That was the worst since the questions on it required way too much thought. I emphasized the wrong things in my studies the previous night so it was quite difficult. However I passed again. Then came the last no notice Notes, warnings, and cautions test. This was the one I was the most prepared for which made it easy. The other good part is I don't think I have to worry about any more no notice tests for the remainder of the program. Then again maybe I do.

The flying went pretty well overall. I get down on myself at times because my expectations are so much higher now. I want to do everything perfectly and I have the ability to come close that minor deviations can get to me. That and stupid mistakes. I made a couple mistakes this week that would have busted me on a check ride. However that is probably good. I get to see them now and be aware of these things for the check ride. I shouldn't make those mistakes again. One was a "Tacalizer" approach and the other was trying to do my traffic pattern stalls above 20,000 feet. I had never been that high in a MOA before so I never really looked at the altimeter. I was at 20,200 feet when I was going to start my maneuvers. Like I said, better now than on the checkride.

The only bad thing about all this studying is I started to rebel. I really didn't study as much as I should have on Wednesday or Thursday night. I didn't blow it off but I didn't get as in depth as I could have. However it was needed to take a small break. This weekend was supposed to be all studying. That didn't work out exactly either though that is because I managed to get sick on Friday. I caught a head cold which is apparently going around. I didn't know that but either way I didn't feel like doing much either Friday night or Saturday. I did do some of my chores but I mostly just rested and I watched a couple of movies.

I do want to mention those movies though. The first was Galaxy Quest . This was a fun movie. It is basically a spoof off of the original Star Trek. For anyone who knows much about the series or the interactions of the actors afterwards, you will love the parody in this movie. It is also good for kids if you like that sort of thing. The next night I watched Fight Club . That was a different movie. It starts off slow but builds up over the course of the movie. There ends up being an interesting plot twist towards the end. It is a pretty wacked out movie but I really liked it. In many ways it ends up being kind of bizarre but I think that is why it appeals to me.

One other note of interest. I have done a lot of talking to my home unit as of the past few days. It is nice to know I have someplace to go back to during this. The program here is really designed for a brand new Second Lieutenant and it is sometimes difficult putting up with the AETC mentality. Being able to talk with members of my unit as well as asking a few questions about my future really makes things easier. I even found out that they are going to bring a jet down here for my graduation. That should make things much more interesting.

So another week down. Only three months and three weeks left to go. I need to get over this cold so I can be ready for my check ride on Wednesday. In the meantime it is time to hit the books a little before I go to bed. See you all next Week.