My Bust! I have been absent from this for quite some time. It has been a busy past week or so. 

As I signed off the previous post, I was preparing to go parasailing in 'bama. Well, sure enough, the weather held out for us, and we were able to get that in. It was a blast! We got strapped into the harness and hooked to a rope about 200 yards long or so. Then, the PRs gave the thumbs up and the truck towing the rope gunned it. Simultaneously, we would start running. After about three steps I was airborne. Once we were a few hundred feet in the air, the truck would slow down. We would start descending in order to practice our PLF (parachute landing fall). If you do it correctly, it doesn't hurt really at all. We did this whole process twice. The first time we stayed attached to the truck, and it pulled us very slowly as we came down, simulating landing into the wind. This is the softest type of landing you can have. The second time, the truck releases the rope. This ensures we descend essentially straight down, which is the hardest landing possible (under a correctly deployed chute that is). All in all...I can't believe I was getting paid to do this. Especially since most folks have to pay lots of cash to do similar things at beaches and resorts. Oh yeah...I learned something too...I guess...

That Wednesday night, our entire class went out to a local bar that night to celebrate being done with API. Basically, it was a good excuse to go out and enjoy everyone's company one last time. I had a really great class for API. The next day, we had a small graduation deal. It was nothing spectacular at all...it took place in one of the classrooms. Just like that, API was done. That six weeks went by super fast. 

Friday, I got up early to pick up my orders, and then I jumped over to the airport to pickup my little bro. He was kind enough to come out and drive back home with me. Unfortunately, he was sick about half the way, but he never complained about it...what a trooper. 

We got home just in time to catch the last part of the party the consulting group my dad is a part of was throwing. I got to meet some very interesting people that night and later in the weekend. The rest of the weekend was spent seeing folks and getting ready to head to Corpus Christi on Sunday. 

I finally made it NAS Corpus Christi on Sunday night at about 9 o'clock (2100 for you military types)...7 hours in one state.  I was able to get a room at the BOQ and hit the rack, since the next morning was gonna be an early one. Four other guys from my API class and I got up early and checked in on Monday to Training Wing Four. By checking in early, we were hoping to get VT-28 which is supposed to be the best primary squadron in the wing. There were five spots left for the class which started 08 SEP, and there were five of us. So, luckily, we all got in the same class in the better of the two squadrons. I hope my luck does not run out before pipeline selection after primary. 

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday have been the busiest of all. We have all been running around base trying to check in at each base office, arranging our apartment rentals, and trying to figure out how to get our move money. What a pain it has been, but...it'll be worth it once we start ground school and the first phase of primary. We picked up our books, and the stories of the "firehose" of information were no lie...it is gonna be a steep learning curve. But, they are still paying me to go fly...thats pretty sweet! I am heading home this weekend to arrange my home of record move, so I will sign off for now. Hope everyone is doing well...enjoy the holiday weekend. 

Oh yeah, college football season is starting again...finally!!!

The last few days here have been awesome. Last Thursday we learned about the life rafts, and practiced getting in and out of them. Friday, we did the helo dunker. That turned out to be a lot of fun. Everyone was pretty nervous before our first rude, but we all stayed calm and had no problem. That was the key...just relaxing and going through the steps. Yesterday, Monday, we practiced getting out of our parachute harness if going down over the water. Today, though, was by far the best day. We spent all morning doing PLF's (parachute landing falls) and the virtual reality parachute steering sim. That was pretty cool. Then, we jumped on a boat, and they dropped us in the bay for help ops. API actually has not conducted helo ops for a few months because the helo squadrons have been transitioning o a new platform. I got to be the first in the water and first to be hoisted. It was very cool. The helo got nice and low, and the lifted us just out of the water. Then they put us right back in. However, I do not have a big need to do it again, that meaning I would have just bailed out of my aircraft. 

Anyways, tomorrow is parasailing out in Alabama. That should be a great time. Then, it is off to Corpus for primary on Friday. 

I meant to post this last Wednesday...Aug 13

We have finally gotten into the practical stuff. We finished academics with flight rules & regulations test. The subject is very straight forward, so they feel the need to try and trick you on the test (like change the numbers around in OPNAV 3710...good job guys...you got us). That was frustrating, but no one failed. So, we had a class party that night at our class leader's house who brews his own beer. On Monday, we started the land survival stuff. They used to take us out to Eglin for a couple of days in the woods. However, now it is just a day of power point stuff...bummer. They said we would get the rest at SERE school. Tuesday was more power points over physiology. Finally, Wednesday, we got into the decompression chamber to figure out how hypoxia got to us. That was a lot of fun playin the P-cola patty cake. We also did the "spin and puke." Luckily, I did not hear of anyone in our class demonstrating the second part of that. 

Well it has been a few days...number of things going on. We had the Nav test on Tues morning, which went well for me and the rest of the class. No one in our class failed. At this point, we have still yet to have anyone in our class fail a test. Unfortunately, we only had one guy get a hundred. It specifically mattered for our nav test because our instructor who was a USMC Prowler ECMO made bets with us on whether we got 100's or not. If we took it on the first day of class, which I did, we got 5/1 odds. Thus, if I got a 100, he owed me 5 beers. However, I missed two questions, so I now owe him 1 beer. He set up a night for our entire class to meet him at a local water hole a couple of days before graduation. The point, he told us on the last day, was to get our class out together as a unit...a building camaraderie type deal. This guy was the best instructor so far. He tried to teach us stuff to pass the test, but, more importantly, he emphasized skills we would use in the cockpit once we hit primary. Things like doing distance, speed, time, fuel flow, winds, and point-to-point navigation in our head, without the whiz wheel. Also, he had great stories, which helped break up the long class periods.  

 

Anyways, since then we have been finishing up academics with flight rules and regulations. Hopefully, none of us blows the last test of the academic portion of API. Once we finish this, we get to start the practical survival stuff...the fun stuff like the dunker, compression chamber, bay-ops, etc. Everyone is looking forward to getting into that and out of the classroom. Alright, enough from me, time for a good workout and hit the books for our test tomorrow. 

Back from the weekend...good time. The rents flew out Friday morning and we took a look around the museum. It looks great these days, though I do not have much to compare it to in the past. The restaurant is designed to look like the Cubi Point O'Club, so it has a ton of squadron plaques from their WestPac cruises. Once they took off on Saturday morning, I drove out to Mississippi to see my buddy from school before he is off to Nuc Power School. Good time had by all. 

Today, we got back into it reviewing for the Nav test tomorrow. That shouldn't be too bad...just a long test. Hope folks are doing well. Thanks for the encouragement...I am havin a lot of fun.  

First Post

So this is the first one of these I have done. It was requested that I start one through flight school, and it seems like a pretty good deal. So...here goes. 

I got down here on June 20 to begin the 'A' Pool wait. My days pretty much consisted of going to a 0730 muster, and then my workday was complete. I was free to hit the gym, beach, or all of the above. However, one can only sit around so much, so at my Dad's suggestion I meandered over to the Blue Angels hangar to see if I could hang around the squadron and help do....anything. They were great. I got to spend a couple of day a week chillin with the folks in the admin office. Every once in a while they gave me a rinky dink filing assignment, but I was happy to do anything. Mostly, I just liked being around the team. I got to meet CAPT Mannix and a number of the other pilots. It was a great way to spend the three weeks before I started class. 

Once I started class, things picked up quite a bit. However, it has been great finally going through things which will apply to flying. I just finished the third week today with an Engines test this morning. One more week of academics and then we get to the fun stuff like the dunker and bay ops. 

Anyways, that about sums up how the days have been going. Time for the weekend...