I put all of my ribbons and medals together this week. When I graduated pilot training I had four ribbons and two medals. Now I have eleven ribbons and five medals! A deployment will do that to ya. For Mia's (my sister) wedding I'll be wearing my mess dress with my medals on it. I'm pumped up for Mia, pumped up to see everyone and pumped up to wear my mess dress! Wahoooooo....
On Monday I had my simulator check ride. I passed! It really was not that bad. I felt way over prepared, which is a great thing. I answered every question that the evaluator had and then flew a great jet. No issues. After the check ride our evaluator took us to show us where we would meet to brief to fly the real jet! As it turns out the next day, Tuesday, we had an air refueling sim instead of hitting the flight line. On Wednesday thought...., we finally had our dollar ride scheduled (dollar ride is the name to your first ride in an aircraft). You "owe" your instructor a dollar after the ride is the tradition. Most people just give liquor instead. I gave my IP some beer.
I put em' to sleep when I'm landing... haha
On our dollar ride we were riding with some IP candidates (these are already C-5 pilots for a number of years, who are now coming back to school to become instructor pilots). We showed up at 0615 for a 0645 brief. We did the brief with the whole crew, then we cut the engineers loose (they go from there straight to the airplane and start the preflight). Then our IP asked us a bunch of questions and talked about the airplane. We did well and then headed out to the plane. The two IP candidates went first so we just hung back and watched at first. We took off and went to TSTC Waco (Waco, Texas) for some approaches. After about two hours of flying it was my turn. we got some extended vectors to give us time to seat swap...., and then suddenly, I heard "You have the airplane". Holy crap! I have the airplane!!! Haha. I haven't flown a gov't airplane since 25 Nov and that was a 15,000lb airplane. When I took the controls on Wednesday we weighed in at 530,000lbs! To put that into perspective, a fully loaded Boeing 737 (like all of Southwest's airplanes) weigh approximately 155,000lbs. So I just took control of three and a half 737's. I did awesome. All of my landings were squeekers! The plane had so much power and was so agile. You wouldn't think that because of its size, but because it's control surfaces are so big it does exactly what you tell it to do when you tell it to do it. I did five landings and then handed it over to my partner. he did four landings and then flew us home to San Antonio. It was a great day!
Hi down there!
My parking job. I told the marshaller that I wasn't even looking at him... haha
On Thursday we flew again. This day it was just us. I went first which meant that I had to taxi out. Taxiing is very hard in this plane. Just think, the nose landing gear sit almost 20 feet behind the pilots. And the rear landing gear can caster (swivel) to help with our turn radius, which can be turned on and off and has limits to be observed...... Anyway..., it's difficult. But I did it..., good times. I did four landings and then on my fifth there was a problem. The nose gear did not come down. We knew about it because of our indications on the cockpit, but very soon after the tower called us to let us know that our gear wan't down. At first we were annoyed, like "no shit, tower". but then we figured it was a good thing that they were watching that sort of stuff. So just like in Top Gun, I buzzed the tower so they could have a better look at what was the hang up down there. they told us their observations. And right after that we get a call from someone on base to our private radio. It was base safety people..., they wanted to let us know also that our gear was not down and NOT to land. And again, at first we were like "no shit". But then again...., it was good to know that people were paying attention. So from there we flew out west, far away from people and worked out our gear issue. We got into the emergency checklist and the gear came down just as it was supposed to this time. So we came back for a landing. That was awesome!!! I had my first "real" emergency in the C-5 on flight number two.
You have to remember, this plane is no spring chicken. It was built in 1968. Which means that the technology in most of the plane if from the early 60's. Now some of it has be re done since then, but things like the gear are still the same gear and mechanisms since the 60's.
On Friday I had ride three. My partner went first since he didn't get to fly on Thursday. We stayed here at Kelly AFB. he did his five approaches and then it was my turn. I did two and was setting up for my third when a "HIGH OIL TEMP No.3" (engine number three) light came on. Well....., if this happens we're supposed to shut it down. But since we were right next to the runway we decided to just make this a full stop. So, I only got three approaches complete out of my five. But the instructor called me complete so it's OK with me.
I have two flights left here. Hopefully I'll be done by Wednesday. I have Mia's rehearsal dinner on Thursday, wedding festivities on Thursday and the wedding on Saturday! I can't wait to see Kristen and Dallas this week also.
This week I had my final computerized test. I got a 98%. Now all I have left to do is check ride and fly! I take my sim check ride tomorrow morning (23 Apr). I have been studying this stuff for a a few weeks now and I feel more than ready. I didn't plan anything this weekend and have just been studying. But now it's all starting to get to be too much so I have decided to just read through everything ONE more time...., and then I'm done.
Tomorrow I'll show up three hours before my sim to meet with my evaluator. He'll ask me and my partner a bunch of questions. That'll last about two hours. Then we'll have an hour to get some food in us. Then it's sim time. We'll each fly in the right seat for two hours and then the left seat for two hours. Ahhhhh. It'll be a long day, but no big deal. I feel as though the AF trains me well for stressful situations. And I feel ready, so no biggie.
And yes, the glasses will be staying on (for the reception)!
My mess dress (the AF's formal attire) came in this week! Which means that Mia's wedding is right around the corner! I'm so excited for her and Matt. I had to try it on to see if it all fit.
On Saturday I was studying for a while outside because it was so pretty. I decide to take a walk around some of the static displays of old planes around the base. The weather was perfect!
Kristen with.., I'm guessing British sailors, they're not USA
Kristen went to see the Navy ships in port in New Orleans this weekend. It's the Navy's 200th birthday this year. The AF is only 64 years old.... The Navy brought in a few ships into the New Orleans port and scheduled an airshow featuring the Blue Angels. The airshow didn't happen either day due to bad weather though.
A few FRED's early in the morning. They're waiting for me.
Not to much else going on here. I will fly FRED (nickname for the C-5: Freaking Ridiculous Economical Disaster) for the first time this week! I hope to fly on Tuesday, but the latest on Wednesday. All then all I have is four flights and then a airplane check ride.... And then I'm done with San Antonio!
She's so damn cute..., and spoiled!
Next week I'll have some good pictures I'm sure. Till next week...!
This week went by fast. I had three sims and one test. I got a 98% on my test. That was my 2nd half test. This Wednesday I'll have my final overall computer test. I'm kinda nervous, but I'm sure that I'll do fine. I only have four sims left until I have my sim check ride!!
The way that it works over here for your check ride is you do the majority of it in the simulator. In the sim you do all of your emergency procedures and three engine work (we usually try to fly with all four..., haha) and tactical stuff. And you do your ground eval also on your sim check ride day. So it's a big day!!! It's at least 80% of your complete check ride.
After I pass the sim check ride they let me fly the real airplane! I'll start that on the 24th of April. I'll have four rides and then have my airplane check ride. That one is not so bad because you'll just have to do one circle approach, one missed approach and a landing from both left and right seats pretty much. They try to knock out most of the check ride on the sim day because the airplane is $30,000 an hour to fly.
So....., this week will be my last regular week. I sim check next Monday, the 23rd! Aggghhhhh....!!!
These girls were pretty..., but they're no Kristen for sure!
Go VoooooDooooo
This weekend was filled with stuff to do. On Friday I went to the San Antonio Talons vs. New Orleans VooDoo arena football game here in San Antonio. It was a lot of fun! I wore LSU stuff (it's the closest thing I had to VooDoo colors). I went to the game with Oliver, my buddy from ROTC who is stationed here in San Antonio. We had a blast!! We were acting completely obnoxious and yelling for the VooDoo. We got what was coming to us because the VooDoo lost. Oh well. After that we met up with the guys from my class and ate and drank. I was the DD so no alcohol for me.
On Saturday we went to a mexican restaurant that was featured on the Food Network (I can't remember what it was called). Their specialty was puffy tacos. So, the whole table got them....., and they were AWESOME! I mean, really good! We must go back before we leave. After that we went to the movie theatre to see "21 Jump Street". And we didn't stop laughing from start to finish. That's a funny movie. We saw the movie at this place called the Palladium. Every movie theatre needs to take notes from it! It has La-Z-Boy like seats and giant armrests with small platforms at the end to hold all of your stuff. Seriously, that place is awesome. Then we came back on base to the bowling alley and finished off a few pitchers. Good night.
On Sunday my friend Lisa gave us tickets to the San Antonio Rampage game. She gave us center ice six row seats! They were great! And the Rampage won! It was a great time with great people.
Kristen and the soon to be Mrs...!
All of my favorite girls at the beach. I LOVE this picture.
We are fam-ily
This weekend was Mia's bachelorette party weekend. Yes, I said weekend. Haha. She whittled down her invite list and just invited her closest 18 friends went to Gulf Shores to have a good time. Luckily, Kristen was in that number and she said she had a good time. It sounds like Mia had a great time with her friends while she was there. And it was nice that Kristen was able to spend time with my mom, Aunt Cindy and Alex. I shouldn't take the stories from her so I'll just post a few pictures.
Dallas got a brushing. That's her hair in the yard behind her.
Mustache March is over! It was fun while it lasted.
Loo Ma', no hands....
I drove back to New Orleans two Fridays ago to go and see Kristen!
We went to our friends engagement party while we were in New Orleans. It was great to see and catch up with some of our old friends there.
I brought Kristen back to San Antonio with me on Sunday. The week she spent here with me was perfect! It just so happened that I had three classroom days and just two simulator days which allowed us to have more time with each other.
We went to the Tip Top cafe here in San Antonio. It was featured on an episode of Diner's Drive's and Dive's on the Food Network. They're know for their onion rings. So we had to get them. They were good.
We were invited to a hockey game. We had awesome seats. Someone won two VIP like seats to the game and gave them to us so it was way cool. We sat in the "VIP" seats for half the game and then moved close to a friend we knew there.
There's is this place over here that takes ice cream bars, dips them in chocolate and then dips them in your favorite crushed candy...., Yeah, I know, ridiculous! So we HAD to get that!
AUSTIN!!!
Kristen and I went to Austin for the Easter weekend. We stayed on 6th street and had great weather. Austin is so cool, and weird. We didn't explore too much while we there, we basically just ate, drank and slept. But, that's all we wanted to do while we there so it was perfect! We had a great time on our short vacation with each other.
Before we left Austin we went and ate at Juan and a Million's, which is another restaurant we found on the Food Network. It was a really happening place to be. There was college kids everywhere. The food was good.
I dropped Kristen off at the airport on Monday, yesterday. It was great to spend the last 10 days with her. I can't wait till I'm finally done over here and we move to Dover, DE!!! We BOTH can't wait...., trust me.
Dallas hit up the pool to cool off last weekend.
I have a test this Friday. I've been studying for it, so I'm not too worried.
So, last week was OK. I spent the whole week counting down the days to see Kristen again. I drove to New Orleans after work on Friday. On Saturday we went to a friends engagement party. That was fun because we saw a few old friends. Then I took her back to San Antonio with me!!! She'll be here for another week or so.
Poor Dallas was sad that we left her.........
So, I'll post once she leaves. I want to give her 100% of my attention when I can. She deserves it! So, I'll make a post once it's just me again. No worries, I'll fill everyone in with what's happening. One month till my sisters wedding!!!!!!!!!!
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