Going through the vertical!!Monday March 1, 2010 (Day 109)
Final Contact check ride (C4890) !!! It went really well……… except for 1 thing. I was so close to earning an EXCELLENT (with only 6 downgrades) but hooked for not doing one thing, resulting in UNSAT (with 9 downgrades). Sadly to say, this check ride was literally 3x better than my first check ride in terms of score! =0
1.4 hour checkride flight (62.6 hours total T-6 flying time)
125 Total landings
Tuesday March 2, 2010 ( Day 110)
So I was supposed to make up my checkride (due to hooking it) but since I had soooo many days from NOT flying, all the assistant directors of Operations (ADOs) were shocked when they saw all the breaks in training I had, so they gave me an “87 ride.” The dealio about an 87 ride (different than an 86 ride) is that an 87 is a super-special commander authorized ride that is so special that the hours don’t count in your overall total. I was surprised to get one! However, after looking at my breaks in training (BITs), I discovered that in this year alone, for the first 50 days, I didn’t fly for 42 of those days!!! (17 days straight of NO-flying due to weather, 7 days for administrative reasons that I have no idea about, and 18 days for me getting washed back). So doing the math, for the first 50 days of this year, I flew for 8 of them! =0
So the 87 ride went well, nothing special.
1.4 hour "87" flight (64.0 hours total T-6 flying time)
125 Total landings
Had my make up for my check ride, sadly these rides – “89 rides” – are literally titled “Elimination Check.” So I flew with a Lt. Colonel who is the 3rd level of big dog – and gets paid the big bucks to make the tough calls; such as determining if people shouldn’t continue with pilot training! =0
To further explain, where normal checkrides are evaluated by looking under a microscope, 89 rides are big picture focused – can this dude make it through pilot training?
As murphy’s law works, I literally had the WORST ride of my entire life in the T-6! It was bad. The only thing that went well was the only item I was initially worried about – my Emergency Landing Pattern (ELP) – which I shacked! Everything else, ironically, sucked. We were the FIRST plane to take off and even took off 8 minutes before sunrise – so it was still dark. The first landing I did, I didn’t even see our little inside runway, and lined up with the center runway! The RSU was calling winds calm, but we had a huge wind up at pattern altitude (1,000 ft) that was pushing me in towards the runway, causing tight turns off the perch down to the runway. In the area, I busted my MOA twice – a first for me! All in all, absolutely horrendous. BUT! As shitty as it was, I landed the plane nice and smooth and didn’t crash, so I got to stay in pilot training! YAY! Way to go me!
C4489 1.2 hours 4 landings
1.2 hour Elimination flight (65.2 hours total T-6 flying time)
129 Total landings
After I was done with all my contact flying, I got to relax…..NOT! Got thrown into an instrument flight and got to sweat through more tough flying – “Earning that paycheck!” It went pretty bad, for besides my long breaks of NOT flying, my instrument sims starting back in NOVEMBER 2009, and me trying to survive through pilot training, it was safe to say that I am not where I should be in instruments flying! In natural fashion, I will give it my all and do what I can to get back on top and pass that darn instrument check ride next week!
I4102 1.4 hours
1.4 hour Instrument flight (66.5 hours total T-6 flying time)129 Total landings
Thursday March 4, 2010 (Day 112)
Last instrument sim (I2205) –YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday March 5, 2010 (Day 113)
Did a formation sim – it was neat. Only one more sim to do - EVER! (Until I track select into the next aircraft).
HANG ON TIGHT... THE RIDE IS GOING TO GET REALLY BUMPY...YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH TO MAKE IT...LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED THE LAST 15 MONTHS...BE STRONG
ReplyDeleteOXOXOXOXO YODAMOM