Week 38 & 39

Week 38

This week was pretty good. Monday felt like a week by itself. I had my Navigation checkride which is suppost to be the hardest checkride I will ever have in the flying world. So, needless to say I was pretty worked up about it. You all know me as mr. anxiety, well it definitely showed for this. I think I used the restroom atleast four times before I even went down to brief. I am sure you all know that I tend to talk “a little fast” when I get nervous…you should have heard me during the initial brief, I sounded like the micro-machine guy. My check pilot was pretty cool though, he commented on my ability to talk fast and told me not to be so nervous. He did say that I set a record for finishing the entire brief (which normally takes an hour) and the general knowledge part (which normally takes 45 minutes) in only 20 minutes. The check ride itself went really well. I was happy with the way I flew and ended up only getting a one downgrade excellent. The downgrade was for my low level entry which was a bit rushed due to weather, if only I could control the weather. It really was not my fault, but if I argued that he would probably just say “fine, I will give the downgrade to you for something else.” I was very excited for that score. I am tied with 3 other people for the best score in the class. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. I started formation flying which gets us ready for the airdrop and air refueling portions. We don’t fly near as close as we did in the T-6 and its not really as cool. But, I enjoy it more then shooting a bunch of approaches. I am looking forward to the other stuff. There is only one more class to graduate in front of us. I cant believe how close it is. I should even find out what is in my drop in about two weeks…how exciting.

Week 39

This week went by pretty fast. Started and almost finished formation, and now all that is really left is air drop and refueling. I only have 9 flights left of pilot training. I am so excited to be almost done. Formation flying in the T-1 is a lot different then T-6’s. You are not as close and it is more difficult because the T-1 does not move nearly as quickly as the T-6 does, so you almost have to know what the other guy is going to do and act before he does. The weather this week was ok for the most part. There was a few times that I had to dodge clouds (we are not allowed to go in them while in formation), but to me that makes it more fun. Another thing is that the T-1 wants to fly and does not slow down very easily. It is a very sleek airplane and even the speed brakes do not help much. It is pretty funny to watch some guys who just don’t have the feel try to rejoin on the wing. They carry a lot of airspeed and just go screaming past us. This Friday we should find out what aircraft and what locations will be available for our drop (we don’t find out exactly what we get until sept. 14). Tommorrow I have my very last SIM in UPT, hooray!