Hey...There's Another Jet Next To Me!

After the Holiday break I was eager to return to flying because I was about to start the phase I had been most looking forward to...formation! Our flying resumed on 4 January, but due to a shortage of instructors (still being lazy on vacation), I didn't get to fly until the following Monday.

I was scheduled to fly formation a few times and the schedule kept changing, but finally I got my first flight. A majority of the first flight is a demonstration, but I did get to fly a good piece of the sortie. Formation flying is unlike anything we had done up to this point. The entire time you are flying in the #2 (wing) position, your eyes are on the lead aircraft. While watching the other aircraft you have to make constant power and directional changes to maintain position...which is only 3 feet of wing spacing! Sure, it's not the Thunderbirds...but we all start somewhere ;) Since then I have flown 2 more formation sorties and improve quite a bit each time. There have been a few situations during these first couple rides that I scared myself a bit...but that's why there's an instructor sitting next to me. Learning to maneuver in 3-dimensional space is really interesting. There are only 15 total formation rides (including the check ride) to get proficient. It's a blast so far!

In addition to formation I have 10 advanced aerobatic rides left. These flights include pretty much every kind of loop and roll you can think of. Our challenge is to get proficient at the different maneuvers and then tie them together to fly as close to a continuous profile as possible...without pausing between each maneuver. It is pretty amusing for me to thing about the flying I did to get my private pilot license compared to what I'm doing here...AND I'm getting paid to do the stuff here instead of the other way around...wow!
Hard to believe there are only 6 weeks left in T-37s.

Map Making 101

It's been a lot longer than I planned on between this post and my last...because I planned to post right after my next check ride...that was only 7 flights away. However we had an entire week of no flying due to weather, and a few other days cancelled here and there for high winds. So, it took me over 3 weeks to get through my low-level phase.

The low-level phase was awesome! There is a lot of tedious work involved with map making in the low level phase. Basically, you have to take a map and do about 2-3 hours of prep work...identifying turn point, towers, the target, etc. (As you can see in the picture above, I was tired of doing all the work myself...so I enlisted some help) Then you study the route as best you can using Google Earth or some equivalent and hope you can identify your points from the air. The first ride was at 1,000 feet above the ground...high enough to get a better view, but low enough to get an intro to the low-level. The rest of the flights were at only 500 feet above the ground...at about 200 mph. This training is the very basic intro to flying to a target and getting there at a precise time...a sim bomb run, if you will. The entire time you are flying at 500 feet you have to continuously monitor the map, look for radio towers and birds, and keep track of time, while trying to find turn points. It really is a lot of work, but is great when you hit the target right on time. Anyhow, after the long delay between flights I finally got to check yesterday. After the flight I felt like I had done pretty well...especially compared to my 2 prior flights. Once I started to debrief I found out the check pilot didn't think I did as well as I'd thought. I still passed, but with a few more downgrades than I would have liked. Of course, a pass is a pass in the end so I'll take it.

There are only 28 flights left for me in the T-37. Hard to believe that it is already Christmas time! We are now officially the "senior" T-37" class...wow! Upon returning from break we will only have 7 weeks left to finish T-37s. I have about 8 advanced aerobatic flights left and then all formation...yee haw!

Hope you all have a good Holiday Season! Andrea, Gav, Scout and I are on our way to Colorado tomorrow. It will be nice to get away from here for a bit.

Just Let Me Check!!!

My instrument check ride was supposed to happen the week before last...but the weather finally decided to change here in Wichita Falls. There were a couple days that the wind was out of limits for us to fly. There can't be more than a 17 knot crosswind or 35 knots sustained wind for the T-37. As the cold fronts moved through, the wind picked up. These cancelled flights moved my schedule back to last week...leaving me to dwell on it for another weekend. In addition, we only had 3 days last week due to the long weekend. I had to accomplish one flight prior to my check ride and the weather outlook for Tuesday and Wednesday wasn't looking good.

On Monday I completed my last pre-check ride flight uneventfully. It wasn't a very good flight, but I passed nonetheless...so I was scheduled to check on Tuesday. There were 2 people from my class checking on Tuesday including myself. My flight was scheduled later in the morning. While I was briefing with the check pilot the announcement came over the loud speaker that the wind had stopped T-37 operations...damn it! It is mentally challenging to get in the right mindset and then let it go and then be prepared to go later. I was told to stick around for a few hours to see if the weather would let up...it was 10:30. A few hours went by and we were still at a Stop Launch. Finally, they told me that if it didn't change by 2:00 we would move it to Wednesday. At 1:45 as I packed all my stuff to go home, the status changed and they asked if I still wanted to go..."of course!" We got ready and went to the duty desk, where we check in before flying, and my instructor basically decided it wasn't a good idea for us to push it with the questionable winds...I was pissed!

So...I had one last chance before the 4-day weekend. Not only did I get moved to Wednesday, but it was with an instructor who is infamous for being a bit tough...in fact, I had flown with him once before and he pretty much crushed my will to fly (only for about a day or two). Wednesday I came in at 6am...ready for my 7:45 flight...but again the weather wasn't looking good. We briefed anyways in anticipation of the weather changing...and the weather broke just enough for us to fly! Because of the poor weather we had to fly a non-standard profile...but I think that may have worked to my advantage a bit. The flight went pretty well...especially considering my prior few flights had several days between them and they weren't very good. The ground eval (knowledge and emergency procedures) went awesome...this is what I was most nervous about. I PASSED!

With that check out of the way I move on to the fun stuff...low-level, aerobatics, and formation...what a relief! Also, Andrea and Gav are back...all is right...

Flying Away

The last few weeks have shown me several places besides Sheppard AFB. Part of our instrument training is to fly 2 out and back missions and a cross country. This allows us to practice instrument approaches and procedures at airfields we are unfamiliar with. First, I flew an out and back mission...exactly what it sounds like...to Abilene, TX. Once there we ate lunch at a local BBQ place that was pretty good. Last weekend I had my cross country flight to Denver. I grew up in Denver most of my life so it was really neat to fly into a place that I knew. We spent the weekend there and I got to visit with Andrea and Gavin since they were already in Colo Springs visiting family. As we prepared to depart from Denver the #1 engine on our aircraft wouldn't start...so we had to stay another night and fly back commercial the next morning. This was a good and bad thing. Good because I got to do another out and back, but bad because I had to plan for that other out and back. This week I flew my last two out and backs to Dallas and Lubbock. They are fun missions but the planning literally takes longer than the flight.

Additionally, this week I finished my last T-37 simulator (link). I can't tell you how exciting it is to be done with the links. Simulator is a loose term...really it is just a working T-37 cockpit where you fly instrument procedures on the ground. It is as bad as it sounds. There were a total of about 15 of these links...LINK COMPLETE!!!

Next week I will have 3 flights before my check ride. I cannot wait to get this thing knocked out! The instrument check is the most heavily weighted of the check rides and is most important because it is the material that will be used throughout my flying career...regardless of what I fly. Fortunately we have a 3-day weekend this week...so I need to rip the plastic off of my study material and get going.

After this check ride there are 3 left...low-level navigation, advanced contact (aerobatics), and formation...all the good stuff!!!

Flying Blind

Since completing my check ride a few weeks ago I have been flying almost all instrument flights. To practice our instrument flying and approaches we fly out to our normal training areas and are required to put a "hood" on. The "hood" is sort of like a visor that attaches to the helmet via an elastic strap...very modern technology! Of course, we only do this type of training with an instructor on board so they do all the clearing outside the aircraft. After doing maneuvers in the area we proceed to Lawton, OK and practice flying approaches with the visor on. It requires 100% attention and is very technical flying. Despite it being difficult because I'm new at it, it is pretty neat to fly an approach and have the instructor remove the "hood" at the last minute to reveal the fact that you are 1 mile out and lined up right down the runway. I finished the largest portion of my instrument flying this week. The next step is the cross-country flight, which will be next weekend. We are planning a flight to Pensacola, FL with a weather backup of Denver. It will be nice to fly somewhere that isn't here.

In addition to working on instrument flying right now I am flying "Advanced Contact," which is advanced aerobatic maneuvers...basically rolls, loops, and combinations of the two. I had one demo of the maneuvers about a week and a half ago and then was surprised to get 2 solo flights last week to practice the maneuvers. At first it was a little intimidating to attempt them alone, but by my second solo I felt very confident that I could recover from even the most poorly flown maneuver. I really can't believe that I get paid to go out and loop and roll through the air!

Not only are we flying instruments and contact right now...we are learning how to fly low-level missions in academics. We will test on this material Tuesday. One of the toughest parts of this program is figuring out how to allocate your time.

Andrea and Gavin are in Colorado until mid-November so it has been pretty lonely at home...especially for Scout. Andrea thought I might get more studying done while they were gone, but that isn't turning out to be the case ;) It will be nice wto have them back in a few weeks!

One Check Ride Down!!!

I wanted to wait for this next post until I finally finished my check ride...which was today. It was originally supposed to be last week, but I had a couple not-so-good flights that set me back a few days. It seems that I was able to find a new way to hook (fail) rides each time. I've decided that it's ok to fail as long as I don't do it for the same reason more than once...unfortunately there are several ways to fail a flight ;) It never feels good to fail, of course, but it was a good reality check for me and helped me to refocus.

So...as I said, the check was today. The whole thing started off with a bit of a surprise when I was switched to fly with a Lt Col (#2 man in the squadron) instead of the regular check pilot I was scheduled with. This made me a little nervous. Turns out the switch worked to my benefit...he was awesome. The check ride consisted of a flight, general knowledge (like a verbal quiz), and a tabletop emergency procedure. During the flight I messed a few things up, but had an overall good flight. My weakest point were my patterns to land...not the actual landings, just the setup for the landings. I have a tendency to do well on the hard stuff and mess up the easy stuff...go figure. The general knowledge portion went really well...better than I expected actually. The final portion was the emergency procedure. It was a little rough around the edges, but a he felt I knew my stuff well enough to let me pass. Up to this point I still hadn't been told whether or not I passed...so I was really nervous. It had been about an hour since I finished my flight and I knew I had messed some things up so I was convinced I had failed. As we came to the end of the brief he told me the news...I passed!!! It certainly wasn't pretty, but I'll take it.

There are only 5 total check rides in T-37s and this is considered by many to be the toughest. I can't tell you how relieved I am to have it over with. Now my focus switches to instrument flying. We've gone through all the academics for instrument flying and now I have to convert that to actual application. I'm excited to move on though...

I won't post again until next Friday...hopefully nothing too exciting happens the rest of this week...I just couldn't handle it ;)

Closing in on Check Ride #1

Last week was a good one...not only because it was short (we had Friday off because it was the end of the fiscal year), but because I got to fly my first area solo mission. It was a little surreal that I was allowed to go out to the jet alone and fly away from the base (out to one of our training areas). The flight was on Monday, so I was a little nervous going off to fly after the weekend...there's always a little rust left over after the weekend. It's amazing how all the practice actually kicks in while out on your own. Once I got in the jet everything just clicked. I took off and made my way into the area where I flew around doing loops and rolls. Honestly, it got a little boring because there aren't too many things we are allowed to do while on our own. Most of the things we've done up to this point are considered "dual only" maneuvers, which means we have to be with an instructor...luckily loops and rolls don't fall under this category. Once I got to my return-to-base fuel I headed for home. When there are birds around the runway the flying status becomes either "Birds Moderate or Severe." Based on this status we can only do 3 or 1 landing, respectively. The status at the time was moderate so I was limited to 3 landings. You remember that "rust" I mentioned earlier...well it showed itself on the first landing. I landed a little hard, which shook my nerves a little...so I decided I'd make the next one my last. It was much better...

I flew 2 more missions during the week...the second of which went really well. If I flew that exact way during my check ride I'd be pretty happy. As the title of this blog implies, these last few rides are leading up to my check ride. During our time in T-37s we have 5 check rides...they are the most stressful and most important events in training. They basically run you through everything you've learned in the entire block of flying...which is everything up to this point. There are 3 parts: the flight, a ground eval (questions about all the stuff we are supposed to know, and a simulated emergency procedure. I am on track to do my check ride on Thursday so will be studying a lot!

Additionally, we have our "Advance Instrument" test on Monday. It is arguably the toughest academic test we have. Getting next week over with is going to be great!!!

On the home front...Gavin is so close to reaching several milestones at once: crawling...moving to a sitting position by himself...getting a tooth...what will happen first?!?! And...Andrea is awesome, as usual ;)