UPT Week 20 (Jan 25-30, 2010)

Monday January 25, 2010 (Day 89)
Passed that dreadful sim!! Got a lot of good practice too! I continue with training!!!

Tuesday January 26, 2010 ( Day 90)
Flew 3.1 hours today! =0 I had another free-bee ride (C4586) where I got to get spun on all the flying that I missed out for the last 2 weeks. Then I had my second instrument flight, and to make matters worse it was at night! I couldn't see anything inside the plane! So that was interesting to see the stars and moon up there at night!

1.5 hour flight (32.7 hours total T-6 flying time)
94 Total landings

1.7 hour flight (34.4 hours total T-6 flying time)
94 Total landings

Wednesday January 27, 2010 ( Day 91)
Took my FINAL academics test in T-6!!! As in the last T-6 academic EVER!!! It was in formation and I got a 98%, missed one question - DOH!!! I wanted that ACE! So consider me ACADEMICS COMPLETE!!!

Then I had a night flying simulator (C3601) to get prepared for my night flight, which was tonight, but weather rolled in late and canceled that! So we'll try again tomorrow night.

Thursday January 28, 2010 ( Day 92)
Instrument Sim - yah. =I Passed! I2201, nice guy! Night flight? Weather canceled!

Friday January 29, 2010 ( Day 93)
Morning - final contact sim! YAY! It was also my 3rd and final emergency procedure sim. So I had to bring ALL my gear, strap in into the sim, and got to see all the different ways things can go wrong in the airplane! =0 HAHAHAAH. It was actually really good practice doing so, because it is quite important to take the proper steps in case of an emergency. Then, after this sim......

I got to SOLO!!!!!!! Not the baby-solo where I only had 3 patterns (a whopping 17 minutes), NO! A 1.7 hour solo!!!!! The first "landing pattern only" solo call signs earn the nickname "POGO" - like a pogo, that bounces up and down. That describes seeing the solos' landings, BOUNCE! Just like a pogo! So thus the name POGO! But no, this time I got to do the big-boy solo! The nick-name is MAGOO. Got to takeoff, go out the MOA (refer to week 17), and do all my aerobatics for an hour!!!! Then I returned (C4502, 1.3 hours long) and landed ALL BY MYSELF! And to make matters even trickier, there winds gusting up to 31 knots back at base, but I nailed that landing - BAM! NO PROBLEMO! I'm a big kid now! It was sweet!

1.3 hour flight (35.7 hours total T-6 flying time)
95 Total landings


Saturday January 30, 2010 ( Day 94)
Worked again for the 2nd Saturday in the row! I flew twice today! 1 contact sortie with an IP - to help critique all my aerial maneuvers (C4503). Then got to MAGOO again - AREA SOLO! Flew out to a MOA and did aerobatics for an hour without an IP, just me! Two stories:

1) Flew out to Area 7 low, about 40 miles south-southeast of XL. Bottom of the area is 7,000 ft above the ground. Now that sounds like its pretty high, in which it is. But you'd be surprised how well you can see below you - meaning you are still pretty close to the ground. There's a big high that stretched all along the landscape, and I was surprised to see all the cars out driving - perhaps it being a gorgeous Saturday? While flying above them and looking down, I thought about being in their shoes, and looking up at me flying. There was a bend in the highway around the middle of my airspace, and I couldn't help to notice 8-9 cars huddled right along that bend. I spent about 5-10 minutes contemplating what they were doing - there wasn't a house near by, no restaurants, no rest stop buildings, yet too close to the road to be a a junk yard. So in conclusion I liked to think they were watching me, just like an airshow!!!! A plane in the sky doing crazy stunts. It felt sweet! (Some naysayers say its not likely cuz I was so high, but I recall seeing planes dogfighting above me when visiting Tucson, AZ - as well as at the airshow when the fighters zip up to 15,000 ft in 10 seconds - its totally possible)!!!

2) Flying solo again and going to the MOA all by myself is simply bad ass. Period dot. I've been flying for over 3 months, and to finally get the keys (metaphorically speaking) and taking the plane out 30 miles away and play around in the sky for an hour with no IP intervention, no one else in the plane but ME! It was sweet. Doing the maneuvers for an hour is exhausting! So I took periodic breaks and did "border patrol" - just flying straight and level around your area to just sight-see and relax for a bit. It was the first time in training where it TRUELY felt good to make it to this point. Yeah everything else is grand and good to accomplish - but being up there with me and only me, it was an actual point where everything else wasn't a factor, and I could enjoy JUST FLYING!! (when u past an academic test, or pass other events, its great you did it, but there's still an immediate event to instantaneously take over that event to worry about and start preparing for. But in this case, the point where I thought of the appreciation of getting to this point, there was NOTHING else to take it over. I had a plane to fly. Nothing else, literally, nothing else in training could overtake that moment, and it felt extremely GRATIFYING!!! I thought of the phil collins song "In the Air Tonight" when border patroling, just looking outside and actually for once ENJOY FLYING (aka not training):

".......Ohh Lord. I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life, ohh Lord. Ohhhhhh Lorrrd."

1.3 hour flight (37.0 hours total T-6 flying time)
100 Total landings

1.2 hour solo flight (38.2 hours total T-6 flying time)
101 Total landings

Solo!!! Perhaps a MAGOO???

WHHEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
Note that there is no one in the rear cockpit!