UPT Week 24 (Feb 22-26)

How inside the T-6 looks at night....dark!!!

Monday February 22 , 2010 (Day 104)
Another productive day at UPT! Had an instrument sim (I2203) in the afternoon - only 2 more instrument sims to go!!! Then had a NIGHT FLIGHT (C4109) - took off at 7:45PM and flew for an hour under the pitch black sky! There was a little bit of moon out, so that helped brighten things up a little bit. Flying in the night is apparently different in the sense that you have no outside visual cues, but then again, its pretty similar to instrument flying - where you don't need to see outside to navigate! So it was cool. Plus got to say hello to the moon from 2 miles above the earth! "Hello old friend!"

1.0 hour contact flight (56.7 hours total T-6 flying time)
116 Total landings

Tuesday February 23, 2010 ( Day 105)
SNOW!!!!!! It snowed today!!!!!! A raging cold from stormed down from the Northeast, made temperatures drop below freezing, and resulted in big ol snow flakes blowing horizontal with gusting winds! Burrrrrrrr - too cold!

Wednesday February 24, 2010 (Day106)
Did an "Out and Back" today - flew 100 miles up north to San Angelo, Texas......and back! Flew up there during the day, shot multiple instrument approaches using multiple runways, then landed and got a bite-to-eat. 2 hours later, started all over again...except it was NIGHT TIME! Flew back to XL in the darkness of the night. Those were the last 2 of my instrument rides!

1.6 hour contact flight (58.3 hours total T-6 flying time)
117 Total landings

1.4 hour contact flight (59.7 hours total T-6 flying time)
119 Total landings

Thursday February 25, 2010 (Day 107)
Did....nothing! =0

Friday February 26, 2010 (Day 108)

2 checked for my Final Contact Check ride – I should check on Monday. (C4507) 1.5 hours 2 landings

Departing the runway we flew through a flock of small birds. We didn’t hear any thumps nor saw any blood ‘n guts on the windscreen, but to be on the safe side we flew up to our high pattern (2,000 ft above the ground) and got a chase ship to come up and check us out. It actually wasn’t a big deal because it was just another plane flying around XL practicing landings. But we cleared them onto our wing and had a mini-introduction to formation flying – it was SWEEET!!!! I wasn’t flying, so I got to watch the other T-6 fly from 2 miles out all the way up to 10 feet off my wing!! =0

It was crazy amazing! If I can get through these next 2 check rides (final contact checkride and instrument checkride) then I will get to fly formation!

1.5 hour contact flight (61.2 hours total T-6 flying time)
121 Total landings