Instrument and Navigation Block Complete

On Friday I wrapped up the instrument phase of primary training.  This phase of training was flown from the back seat (with the exception of the navigation flights) by reference entirely, with the exception of takeoffs (students only take off from the back seat, not land) and departures, to the flight instruments.  

Overall I would say instrument flying really clicked with me, and the syllabus does a god job getting you ready for the flights by exposing you to pretty much everything in the sim first.  Unfortunately our instruments academics were in October, so some review was necessary prior to our flights.  I forget exactly how many instrument sims are in the syllabus, but it had to be about 20. It was enough that I felt I was reasonably proficient after the 10 instrument flights you get before the checkride.   I also finished up my nav sims, low level sim, and formation sim.  I am now T-6 sim complete.

This block of training also included six navigation flights.  The nav flights are usually done over the weekend on a cross country.  Myself and three other students from my class did that a few weeks ago. 

Since there are so few working jets, XC planes have to first be used during the day for local sorties, and then have to get new tires prior to being ready to be taken cross country.  Because of this, they usually aren't ready until 4 or 5 pm on Friday.  Ours was ready early, and we were up by probably 4. First, my IP And I went North to Lubbock (the other guys went to Midland, not sure why my IP wanted to go to Lubbock).  After that, we went to Fort Worth, quickly.  It was getting late and we were hungry so we left power at MAX and got there in probably an hour, flew two approaches, and then landed.

Below is a picture of our plane at Ft Worth Alliance Airport.

The next day we did a VFR leg up to Fayetteville, AR.  This flight was flown solely by references on the ground which I planned out that morning from a sectional chart.  It was nice to actually look at all the scenery as we flew through the foothills of the Ozark Mountains.

There was an awesome BBQ place in Fayeteville. It was worth the trip.

After Fayetteville, we flew a night time sortie to Houston for the night. It was a cold flight.  Its about 360 miles to Houston, so we flew higher than our previous legs at FL230.  Even with the heat cranked all the way up, it was cold up there. With the power at about 70% (you couldn't get much more torque than that out of the plane at that altitude), it probably took us an hour and twenty minutes.  Not bad for 360 miles. The next morning we flew to College Station where I shot three approaches, stopped for gas, and then headed back to Laughlin.  Overall it was a fun weekend and I was really starting to get the hang of the nav flights, but just like all other phases of training so far, just when you start to feel like you are getting good at something you move on to something new and you're back to not knowing wtf you're doing again.

As I mentioned I had my instrument checkride on Friday.  I had a late flight the day before and couldn't show up until 16 minutes before my brief time so as not to violate my 12 hours of crew rest.  This was probably good, as my flightmates helped me by putting together a mission data card, signed out Maverick County Airport for my RNAV approach, and got my ORM card filled out. I just showed up, listened to formal brief, looked over the stuff that they prepared and then went up to check flight, filled out a boldface and went on my checkride.  I thought I flew decent, and I ended up doing really well, and gradewise, it was my strongest checkride performance yet.  But, just like everything else in pilot training, just when you think you're getting good at something...

I start the formation phase of training tomorrow.  The picture below is from the sim. It shows the "fingertip" position.   Everyone says formation flying is awesome.  You get to go up and rage with the other guys in your class.  The learning curve is pretty steep, from the steady hand required to hold fingetrtip, or provide a stable platform for #2, to the hand signals (hand signals are used to the max extent practical), and radios.  I'm told wing work, where you fly in fingertip formation, 10 feet apart, is the hardest part, especially the takeoffs.  I understand the wing landings are even harder than the wing takeoffs.  The part I'm looking forward to is extended trail. Everyone says that its awesome. Finally I'll get to fly aerobatics again, either chasing #1, or as lead. The big thing is that now its not just about me anymore, there's another plane that you have to be mindful of at all times, and that you are both there to provide mutual support to one another.

Formation is the last phase of T-6 training.  Up to this point, I have about 64 hours in the T-6.  I'll get 16 form flights, including a checkride.  I'll also get two low level flights.  I'm on the schedule to do one of those on Wednesday.  I'm really happy I'm doing those now, and not during the instrument phase because if its during the instrument phase you're supposed to practice instrument approaches when you exit the low level route.  If you're done with instruments you get to do whatever you want.  I think I'll get one of the T-38 MOAs that's over the low level route and fly some advanced aerobatics.  That stuff is a little more exciting than the radar pattern back at Laughlin...

Pt 2- First Update in a While (Thanksgiving Through Final Contact)

When I got back from Thanksgiving there was only three weeks until Christmas break.  I had seven flights to complete until my Final Contact Checkride.  Unfortunately weather and a fleet-wide technical problem with the aircraft prevented this from happening.

Anyway, in the block of training following the Mid-Phase checkride you have seven more flights until the final contact checkride.  These 7 flights introduce advanced aerobatics and include two area solos where you get to take the plane to the MOAs by yourself and practice your advanced aerobatics.  The advanced aerobatics are intense, but extremely fun once you get good at them.

The area solos were also pretty awesome. The previous two solos were in the pattern.  This time I got to take a $5 million jet off station by myself to practice advanced aerobatics.  I didn't scare myself but I was a too fast over the top of a cloverleaf and screamed downward, glancing at the altimeter watching it pass 7,000 (the floor of my MOA).  I think I pulled 6 g's through the bottom of that one, and I busted the floor by about 300 feet- you'll hook a checkride for that.  My second area solo was the Friday before Christmas break, and needless to say all the IPs wanted to get out Del Rio as soon as possible, so the last go of the day consisted of six students going on an area solo since solos obviously don't need an IP.  What could possibly go wrong with that?  It ended up being fine.

During this time I also started having instrument sims. Instrument flying is done when there is no reference with the ground (such as when you're in clouds).  This first block of instrument sims consists of practicing instrument maneuvers, and introduces the student to some instrument approaches in the local area.  Instrument flying is challenging in that it requires precise control of the aircraft to maintain altitude, heading, speed, and attitude.

Christmas break was a nice time off.  I spent most of my time in upstate NY and was able to make it to camp in Vermont for three days.  The pictures below are from that trip.  The first one is at my buddy Chuck's lodge that's about 1.5 miles from camp in a straight line.  Its a cool, off the grid place thats a bit more comfortable than camp. In the picture below is Matt, a college buddy that I'm still good friends with, Alida who i've known for over two years now, another guy named Matt who I met through Chuck who used to fly F-111's and C-5's, and who helped me get a foot in the door at Westover, and his friend Susie and dog Roxy.

I've only seen one other porcupine before.  This guy was chewing up trees around camp, so they are considered nuisance animals.  Its amazing how slow they are.  I could've shot him but figured I'd leave him alone.

Matt taking a nap after some evening reading at Camp. 

Chuck stopped out to visit us at Camp.

Of course Chet is still in bed, probably trying to avoid helping cleaning.

Anyway, the two weeks of Christmas break went by way too fast.  I returned to Laughlin to find that I was a bit rusty.  I would only have three flights until final contact to chip the rust off.  I had final contact on Friday and passed.  The winds shifted and it was a Runway 31 day.  I last saw 31 on my mid-phase checkride almost two months ago.  I should've hooked for at least three things, but got extremely lucky.  If you recall in my last post I discussed how "pattern delaying" was a smart move because the IP would usually fly the recovery for you.  This was awesome because the recovery for RWY 31 is different than that for 13. On 13 there's a point called "Rio" that has an altitude restriction of 2,100-3,100 feet- and I always fly it at 3,100 feet.  The corresponding point on a 31 day a point called "Creek" that has a hard altitude restriction of 2,100 feet that, despite studying the arrival plate that morning, I totally would've missed- but luckily I wasn't flying the plane.  

On my emergency landing pattern, this time a "simulated forced landing" where the engine is set to 4-6% torque to simulate a feathered prop, you have no use of the engine if you're off profile (obviously you can use it if things get unsafe).  Anyway, I rolled off of the low key position probably a bit early given that winds were calm and I got up to 143 knots according to the check pilot.  I saw 140.  The speed limit for the gear is 150.  He said I had 2 more knots until he would've taken the plane.  

And finally, I almost opened the canopy with the engine running when I was back in chocks after the flight.  The check pilot threw me a bone on that one.  I am now complete with the "Contact" phase of T-6 training and have flown about half the hours in the T-6 syllabus.  I'm up to 40 hrs, and the program usually takes about 85.

I have my first instrument flight tomorrow.  On these flights the student sits in the back seat with a hood blocking the view outside. 

Hopefully I'll be able to update this blog more frequently.

First Update In A While (Intial Solo Through Thanksgiving)

Its been a long time since I last updated my blog.  Partly because I've been real busy, and partly because I just haven't gotten around to it.  I think I'll make this one a two-part update.  First, I'll cover through Thanksgiving.

My last update was just after my initial Solo.  The pace of learning definitely picked up since then.  Following that initial solo, I began the 4300 block of training, which introduced "baby" aerobatics (aileron roll, loop, and split-S).  This block also included a pattern only solo where you were completely on your own from the time you left the flight room to the time you got back- no IP shadowing you on the walk around and strap in).  It was definately cool to step to the jet all by yourself, but once I was in the plane and had it started up I couldn't help but have this feeling that I was forgetting something.  This seemed to be the case for the subsequent two solos I had.  If I was forgetting something it must not have been a big deal because in all three cases I brought the plane back in one piece.

Anyway, the 4300 block of training includes six flights where, as I mentioned, we are introduced to aerobatics. These maneuvers are intended to make you better at flying the plane, and they did.  This block also prepares you for the first checkride of pilot training- the mid-phase checkride which will occur in six flights.  The point of this checkride is to make sure you are progressing and are safe to take the palne by yourself to the military operating areas (MOAs), perform aerobatic manuevers, and come home safely.  This checkride is the most hooked (failed) checkride in UPT.  At Laughlin, 43% of students hook it, or so we were told.  I was lucky enough to have my checkride scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving.

I'll briefly explain what a checkride consists of.

First, you go up to the check flight (a group of IPs who don't know you and only give checkrides- the idea is they will be objective).  First, you fill about a "Boldface" which is a sheet of paper where you have to fill in all the immediate action items for nine emergencies exactly verbatim, and a bunch of ops limits for the engine, aircraft systems, speeds/altitudes, and prohibited maneuvers.  Even though I've filled these out literally hundreds of times you can't help but be a little nervous when you hand it in.  You also have to hand in your Dash 1 (the aircraft's "user manual," if you will), in flight guide and checklist that you are responsible for maintaining and keeping up to date with write ins and changes.  Hooking for boldface of pubs (Dash 1, in flight guide, and checklist) is pretty much the worst thing you can possibly do.  For this reason its a good idea to check all your pubs the day before and do a page count.
After you hand in the boldface the check pilot gives you his check pilot brief were he basically says he will be quiet in the back and only respond to mandatory "both" checklist items, and that a perfect sortie is not required, but rather he wants to evaluate if you are safe and able to fly within course training standards.

Then you'll step and go fly the profile you were given to fly.  These profiles consist of a normal landing, a pattern breakout, a no flap landing, a precautionary emergency landing, and some area maneuvers such as stalls, slow flight,a spin recovery and aerobatic maneuvers. Luckily my profile included aileron roll and a Split-S, and not a loop.  Loops can be tricky at first because you have to really use the rudder if you want to come through the bottom of the loop with the aircraft pointed in its original heading.  That turbine engine at MAX power applying 2,900 ft-lbs of torque to the 97" propeller really tries to torque and yaw the plane to the right.

Anyway, my flight went relatively well.  I smartly "pattern delayed" to get the landings and pattern work out of the way before heading to the MOA.  I made the mistake of not getting my breakout (where traffic forces you have to climb out of the pattern and reenter elsewhere).  Usually if you get all your pattern work in the check pilot will take the plane from you and fly the recovery for you because a.) they get bored and b.) to limit your chances of screwing something up.  Anyway, I came back and I was number 11 in the pattern so I immediately regretted not accomplishing that breakout when I pattern delayed.  I've never been in a pattern so busy. I ended up doing my breakout where I got stuck at VFR entry (with two guys in my flight- one also on a checkride and another on his pattern solo).  After three more breakouts at VFR entry I was able to sneak in and fly an overhead pattern to a full stop.  Thank god that was over.

After the flight you give your in flight guide and check list to the check pilot and go wait in your flight room for him to call.  In 30 minutes I got the call to go upstairs to check flight.  Next you are given an emergency procedure (EP) where you have to talk your way through  (in a very specific and pragmatic manner).  I got a confirmed fire light on departure.  Pretty straight forward.  After the EP, its time for general knowledge.  The check pilot will ask you questions about the T-6 and flying it.  Then they will usually ask you what is your favorite aircraft system and then have you draw it out. Luckily I did not have to do this because it was 5pm the day before Thanksgiving.  GK was pretty straightforward.  The check pilot then debreifed the flight.  I got a "Good" overall.  I'll take it.

The next day I flew to Washington, DC for Thanksgiving at my sister's.  It was nice to see my sisters, parents, and niece and especiallty nice to see Pop, my grandfather.
It was a nice four day break from pilot training.

The amazing thing about Thanksgiving break was it was the first time i'd really left Laughlin in almost four months.  This may sound strange but I didn't realize it was November already.  Being so busy trying to keep up with the training program combined with the warm climate of West Texas, made it hard for me to keep track of the passage of time.  What's even crazier is it has been 7 months since I left my old life in NY, but it feels like it was like a month ago.

Thanksgiving in Arlington, VA

Hey, Lt Nonna, make this one a full stop. I'm going to hop out, and then take'r back up.

Its been almost a month since we've started flying.  As of Friday I had twelve flights under my belt. The thirteenth flight, per the syallabus, is a solo.  I was a little apprehensive at first of taking up a $5 million jet by myself.  The idea that they would let us do that so soon seemed a little crazy, especially considering at one point in the pattern you're at about 400 feet going about 230 knots, banked 75 degrees and pulling 2.5 g's on the turn to crosswind before you can climb to pattern altitude.  I guess they figure if things get bad enough there's always an ejection handle in between your legs you can pull if you need to get out, not that there's no risks associated with that option.

So anyway, a few people in the class had already soloed and on Friday afternoon it was my turn. The solo is basically two sorties in one. First, you go up with your instructor pilot and do a normal landing, a pattern breakout, an emergency landing pattern, a go around, and a no flap landing.  If that's good, you land and taxi back to chocks.  He hops out, the crew chief ties the rear cockpit down, you trade nametags with your IP (his nametag has wings on it, and you need wings to fly) and then you go for it.

The crew chiefs know when someone is doing an initial solo.  They also know that your buddies will be waiting for you so they can throw you into the dunk tank. Finally, they know if you make it back to the flight room without getting dunked, everyone owes you a case of beer.  Before closing the canopy and starting up its usually a good idea to coordinate with them to have a getaway truck waiting at the jet when you get back.  More on that later.

I started the plane up, taxied, took off and flew four patterns.  I pulled closed for the first two, which saves the time of flying all the way around the pattern.  On the third I took a lap and did the outside pattern, landed, requested closed, and did another closed pattern to a full stop.  I probably could've stayed up longer than 0.4 hours, but everything was going well and I didn't want to push my luck.  Keeping the flight short also caught my flightmates off guard.  When I landed I hopped out of the jet, got into getaway truck that was waiting, took off my harness and g-suit, and got dropped off at at a side door where I was able to sneak into the fight room.

Of course I wasn't getting away with that.  I was escorted outside to the dunk tank and promptly dunked.  See video here.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h54MjuSVuEA&feature=youtu.be

Got dunked....

The picture below is from last week.  It was after my buddy Paul's solo. 

Look, no one in the back seat!

Now that the initial solo is complete I begin a new block of training.  This block includes aerobatics, which should be fun.  I have also started instrument sims.  Basically in these we do the things we learned about during instrument academics, and will represent most of the flying I'll be doing when I move on to T-1's.  I'll likely have my mid-phase checkride before thanksgiving.  This is the first of four checkrides you have in Phase 2 (T-6's).  The next week and a half will be spent studying for that, in addition to preparing for contact flights and instrument sims.

First Week In Jets!

This week marked an important milestone in my fledgling Air Force career.  I had my dollar ride in a T-6.  A dollar ride is someone's first flight.  I'll try to describe it here, but words can't really capture how awesome/overwhelming it was.  The instructor I had was previously a T-38 guy, so I knew it was going to be a fun ride. I'll talk more about it when I discuss flying later.

A bit about the T-6.  The T-6 is a new, 5 million dollar plane which replaced the 50's era T-37 in the early-mid 2000's.  It is much more powerful with its 1,100 hp turboprop.  It cruises at 200 knots, can easily go 240, and tops out at 316. It can pull -3.5 to +7.0 g's, and has performance compared to the P-51 Mustang of WWII.  It's wingspan is about 33', and it weighs 6,500 lbs fully loaded with 1,100 lbs of fuel, of which probably 700 will be burned on a typical 1.3 to 1.5 hr mission.

This week was also the first week in the flight room.  I'll walk you through what seems to be a typical day.  Luckily (for us, not for them) some guys from Class 14-13 got washed back into our class due to budget reasons.  They have been really helpful getting us up to speed on all that goes along with being in the flight room for twelve hours a day.  I'll take a minute to go over a typical day.

We are given a schedule the night before telling us what time to show up.  Its usually between 0700 and 0730, and sometimes depends on what we have scheduled that day, or what we had the day before.  We are required to get 12 hours of crew rest, and are limited to a 12 hour duty day, so if we stay later than 7:30 pm, we can't report in any earlier than 12 hrs later the next day.  Anyway, the class meets up outside the building to ensure we all start our 12 hour day at the same time.  A minute prior to our show time, we go into the flight room and start preparing the morning's formal brief. The formal brief consists of informing the class on the day's weather, expected ops for the day, op notes, previous day's runway supervisory unit comments for each particular student, and an emergency procedure brief.  The briefer, and the emergency procedure briefer rotate daily.  Following the brief is a mad rush to get the people scheduled for the first 'go' ready for their mission brief.  This involved creating a mission data card, which has the mission objective,training objectives (goals you want to accomplish, i.e. maintain altitude within 150', no improper radio transmissions, etc), mission profile (where you want to go, and what you plan to do when you get there), expected weather,  and JOKER and BINGO fuel levels.  If you're flying the first go, you then sit down with your instructor pilot (IP) and brief what you are going to do, otherwise you study stuff you should've read the night before and make sure popcorn is ready by the time the guys who flew the first go get back.  As for the brief, some of this is briefed by the student, other parts by the IP.  You will usually step (finish the brief, go put on your g-suit and harness, and test your mask, ad then go to the supervisor and get your assigned aircraft) a half hour before your scheduled takeoff time.  After that you will go outside and get a ride to your jet if its far, or walk if its close. 

Once you get to the jet you will check the documentation for things like ensuring all the required inspections are either not overdue, or signed off if they are overdue, etc.  Then its time to hop up on the wing, do some cockpit checks, a preflight inspection of the exterior, and finally strap in. Once you are all strapped in and have followed your checklist to check all the switches in the cockpit its time to close the canopy and start the engine.  This is simple thanks to a computer that pretty much does everything for you.  Once started, its time to turn on what you need (most importantly the air conditioning) and do some final checks before taxiing to the runway.  Once there you do some more checks, arm your ejection seat, call for takeoff clearance, and then take off. 

This is where it gets exciting.  When the power is moved to MAX, there is a short delay while the turbine spools up, but once it does the plane goes!  Its off the ground in about 1,500 feet.  The landing gear and flaps are retracted a few seconds later, and by now the plane is going 130 knots, on its way to cruising speed of 200.  Stuff happens so fast on departure that it takes some getting used to.  My IP did this part of the flight during the dollar ride, but I got to fly pretty much the whole mission for my second and third flights.  During my third flight on Friday I noticed time slowed down a little, as I was getting used to flying the plane and some tasks that used to require conscious effort were now becoming second nature.  Anyway, we will leave Laughlin and fly 18 or so miles to the Southeast. There are blocks of airspace assigned for military operations that we use to practice maneuvers.  They are fairly big (~14 nautical miles long by maybe 10 nautical miles wide, depending on which one you get assigned to) but at 200+ knots you go almost 4 miles a minute, so they aren't as big as they seem, and three of them have the Rio Grande as a border, and you don't want to bust that boundary that otherwise you are in Mexico, and you have to wear a sombrero the next day.

For my dollar ride, MOA work consisted of an intro to the T-6.  My instructor demonstrated a roll and a loop, and then I got to do one. We pulled 4.5 g's, which is harder than I thought it would be and is border-lining on becoming uncomfortable.  To put it in perspective, your body weight, if you weigh 200 lbs, now feels like 1,200 lbs.  Needless to say you really feel yourself getting pushed into the seat.  Also being pushed downward is blood from your head.  This is counteracted by the g-suit inflating and your anti-g straining maneuver, in which you tense up your leg muscles and abdomen and push back against the g-suit, and breathe in an abrupt manner that I really can't describe in words.

Following area work, you will let air traffic control know you're ready to come back and you will an assigned arrival thats pretty straight forward.  There were clouds at or around my assigned altitude on my dollar ride and my flight on Friday. For my dollar ride they were perfect for "cloud chasing" where you get to fly through the contours of the clouds like they are valleys, sometimes rolling inverted and pulling to hug the "peaks" of the clouds below.  On Friday, however, I was inside the clouds and had my first exposure to real instrument flying.  It was a little disorienting, but it should get easier with time.

Once back in the pattern, we usually take a few laps and practice landings.  I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, but have to remember that I'm not flying a Cessna anymore, and pattern turns are to be done at 60 degrees of bank and 2 g's (which is more than you would think, and is enough to start inflating the g-suit), as this minimizes your time exposed during a turn.  There can be up to 12 jets in the pattern, all going 200 knots so this is important.

Following the mission will be a debrief where your instructor goes over what you did poorly/well, usually discusses an emergency procedure, and then tells you what to prepare for on the next flight.

While not flying time in the flight room is spent studying, making jalapeno popcorn, and on some other formal events.  These might include "Standup" where each student stands at attention and recites a note, warning or caution from an emergency procedure(EP) of the IP's choice (the required EP's for the day are assigned the previous day). If you get it wrong, you remain standing until the IP goes the rest of the way around the room and comes back to you.  While there are a lot of notes, warnings and cautions, the system is gamed by assigning certain ones to each student so we only have to know 2 or 3 each, 4 at most.  This makes it manageable.

Other than that I can't really think of too much more to talk about at this point.  I really should get back to reading for tomorrow's EP quiz.

A row of T-6's, with one airborne in the background.

Walking out to the jet for my dollar ride.

Over the rail check.

Putting on helmet, getting ready for first flight in the T-6.

Getting ready to fire up the engine.

Checking mask before my flight on Wednesday

Testing mask.

Hitting the Flight Line...

I haven't been very good about keeping this blog updated.  I try harder in the future...

Anyway, Phase 1 wrapped up on Friday with the weather test.  Phase 2 starts tomorrow, and that's when we start flying real planes.  Its going to be a big change from Phase 1.  Our class has been split up and assigned to Flights; B Flight and E flight.  Since my name starts with a letter in the second half of the alphabet, I was assigned to E Flight (Elvis Flight).  On Friday we met with our new flight commander and instructor pilots in what will become our new flight room.  This flight commander welcome was starkly different to the one at OTS, as it was not a show to make us feel like we did everything wrong.  Instead, I get the impression that at UPT you are treated as adults until you prove otherwise... for the most part.  We will be on a relatively short leash, and start off on formal release.  This means things will be a little more structured than Phase 1.  The days will be fairly long, and we will be required to stay in the flight rooms until we are formally released (probably 12 hours later- the AF limits duty days of pilots to 12 hours) by our flight commander.  The good news is the flight rooms seem to be fairly comfortable, with amenities such as a coffee maker and a popcorn machine (which must have fresh popcorn in it when the instructor pilots and students return from flights). If nothing else, it will afford us with plenty of time to study, especially since my phone doesn't get service in it.

I'll wait until I actually experience that, and will share more when I get around to posting again.

Like I said, we hit the flightline tomorrow.  I get to fly tomorrow for real.  Up until now we have only flown in simulators (See pictures below).  I've been told your brain works four times slower in a plane than it does on the ground, and I have experienced that in the sim. Lets hope it doesn't get any worse in a real plane.  The good news is your first flight, called a "dollar ride," is a free ride.  You can't hook (fail) it.

Below is the T-6 Texan II, the type of plane that is flown in Phase 2.  They are relatively new planes, entering service to replace the T-37 Tweet in the mid 2000's.  They have 1,100 hp turboprop engines, top out at 360 mph, are capable of -3.5 to +7.0 g's, and are very maneuverable.

Below is an OFT.  I forget what that stands for, but its the type of simulator that we use which has full visuals, almost 360 degrees.  It really gives you the sensation of flying.

This is me inside the OFT. You can tell it's the OFT because my visor is not down.

Finally, the picture below shows us in our flight room on a Sunday.  We are having what is called a "pattern party."  The carpet has a traffic pattern on it, and we are practicing "flying" it, complete with radio calls and traffic conflicts.  The military overhead traffic pattern is very different from a civilian one in that is designed to accommodate lots of planes going fast (in our case, 12 jets going 200 knots (230 mph).

UPT: Phase One, Part One: It Finally Started!

Its been a while since I last updated this blog, so this is going to be a long one. In the time since then class officially started. Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) Class 14-15 began on 6 September 2013. Its been over two years since I started the process of testing and applying for a pilot slot. It feels good to finally be here, and I'm still amazed at how different everything is from Officer Training School- no one's out to get you for having a loose thread on your uniform! Class 14-15 is a relatively big class; 31 students. Thirty really. One guy, Paul, is a former Army Blackhawk pilot who is getting his fixed wing qualification and has a different syllabus than the rest of us. But anyway, the class has a good mix of active duty, guard and reserve from all of the commissioning sources (AF Academy, ROTC, OTS, and AMS). The class is mostly males, but there are two women. Three of us are form the same OTS class, so it was nice to know a few guys before I even got here. I spend most of my time with one of those guys, who used to be a PJ, and the former Army balckhawk pilot. Us old guys must like to stick together. At 29, I think I'm the third oldest in the class. A vast majority of the class is around 22-24, and are recent ROTC college graduates.

 Anyway, UPT is broken into three phases. Phase 1 lasts for about six weeks and consists of mainly of academics and simulator rides. This is the phase we're in right now. Phase Two is flying T-6's, and Phase Three is flying another aircraft depending on your track select (fighters go to T-38, airlift/tankers fo to the T-1). The following website does an excellent job describing the phases of pilot training: http://baseops.net/militarypilot/ . I won't go into details about anything I haven't experienced yet. The picture below shows the three different aircraft that UPT students fly. Everyone starts off in the plane in the middle- the T-6 Texan II, a relatively new plane used by both the AF and Navy to train new pilots. From there, students will track either T-1's (left) or T-38's (right). This picture was taken on a class' graduation day (all the families were out looking at the planes)from the cafeteria/snack bar place where I tend to eat lunch. Planes on the ramp for families to look at following a class' graduation

The picture below is from the first day. This is where we were issued our publications. In here is (almost) everything we would have to learn/memorize in the next few months.

The first part of Phase One is aerospace physiology. This consists of a few things; learning about the limitations of the human body (actual physiology), basic survival (we will all go to a several week long survival school in the future, but they want us to have some basics in case we eject and are on our own for a while), and aircrew flight/life support equipment. My main takeaway from the physiology portion was that the human body and sensory systems work fine at sea level, upright, at 1 g, at walking speed. They are not good at orienting ourselves to our surroundings at conditions other than that. Evidence of this the record of about one or two fatal crashes resulting from unrecognized spatial disorientation that happen in the USAF every year where a perfectly good airplane is flown right into the ground. We also learned about the effects of altitude, culminating in our altitude chamber ride. In the chamber the pressure was pumped down to what you would experience at 25,000 feet. We then removed our masks and simple tasks like a maze, wordsearch and even reading became difficult. The scary part is it was hard to notice how limited your abilities became. Evidence of this is those F-22 crashes that occurred a few years ago because of the faulty oxygen generating systems which led to hypoxia. The pictures below are from the alititude chamber.

The last part of aerospace physiology was learning about all the crap you have to wear, what it does, how you strap into the seat, and what happens when you eject. This included PLF's (parachute landing falls). This consisted of practicing jumping with your feet together, contacting the ground in the appropriate manner. We also go to practice releasing our parachute risers while being dragged on the ground by classmates. Luck would have it that we had to do these outside on the only rainy day in Del Rio in months. It was actually sort of fun. The picture below is from the practical where the learned how to strap in and egress the T-6 cockpit. I got bored and started inflating my g-suit through the hose. Probably not a good idea since it could introduce moisture to the air bladders, but whatever...

Following aerospace physiology, and the three exams that went along with it, we began a series of aircraft systems classes. Here we learn about al the different aircraft systems, how they work, and how to operate them. These systems include things like the propulsion system, electrical system, fuel system, environmental control sustem, radio and navigation systems, etc. Most lessons are taught in the form of "computer aided instruction" where you sit in front of a computer in the computer lab and work through the lesson. Reveiws are then held with cilvilan instructors (all retired pilots) where a group of lessons are reviewed prior to a test. We had our first systems test last friday, and have our second one tomorrow. A quick note about tests; they aren't that difficult, except the passing score is an 85. Pretty much three test failures and you're out, so there is always motivation to study. The class as a whole has been doing well on them so far (I don't think anyone failed one yet), so hopefully that'll continue. 

We've also started some simulator classes with instructors. So far they have just been cockpit familiarization type lessons in cockpit familiarization trainers. Everything in them functions like the real plane, and you can fly the plane, you just cant see any visuals outside the cockpit because there's no screen. These will definately be helpful for working on checklist flows until they are like second nature. This should hopefully spare us some ridicule from the IP's (instructor pilots) when we finally hit the flight line at the end of October. The picutre below is one of those trainers.

Weekends have been spent pretty much the same way every week. A handful of us go to Lake Amistad for swimming, cliff jumping, BBQ'ing and beer drinking. Its very relaxing and fun. I imagine we'll be doing this for another month or two since most of us are from the northern part of the country, and we don't consider 80 degrees too cold to go swimming like people from Texas (or at least the lady at walmart who was ringing me up) apparently do.

Every three weeks a class has their drop night at the Officer's Club. This is where they find out their assignment when they graduate UPT. The O club is definately the place to be on these nights. I forget if its the OG commander or the wing commander, but one of them is new and wanted to continue the tradition that dates back to WWII of burning a piano on the most recent drop night. I think the tradition stems from an American squadron in Britain. One guy would always play the piano at the bar at night. One day he didn't come back from a mission, so it was instructed that the piano be burned since no one would be able to play it as well. The name of the pilot and exact location are lost to history, but its a tradition nonetheless. The picture below is from a drop night. This probably shows about 1/10th of the people in attendance- that place was really packed.