8 more to go

So I'm down to 8 more flights in the T-6; of course this is only half of UPT but it's a pretty nice milestone. I'll have 7 more daily formation rides then my formation checkride and I'm done.

Last week I ended up flying 5 times including my formation solo which was pretty cool. I think it's a bad idea that the Air Force let's me go fly 10 feet from another airplane at 200 knots after 8 formation flights but oh well whatever they think...

I was supposed to knock out 2 flights today but we had some fog and low clouds that kept us from flying all morning and both my flights got cancelled. We'll see how the rest of the week goes and hopefully I'll be finished sometime in the middle of next week - can't come quick enough!

long weekend over, short week begins

Every weekend should be a 3-day weekend. If I ever have a job with a "normal" schedule I plan on making a big protest for the the 3-day'er. Anyway, I stuck around Del Rio and had a good time. On Friday I was able to spend a couple hours installing the new regulator I purchased online into my car and fixed my drivers window. The biggest up-side is I can go through drive-thru's again! Also being able to put the window down and give my id card to the gate keepers on base is a plus. 

We went with a small group to Mexico on Saturday that was fun, we got back around 830 and I was too exhausted for anything else and sat in bed and finished getting caught up with the new season of 24. On Sunday we watched Crash over my buddies house on blue-ray and Monday hit the gym and studied some for formation.

I should be flying 3 or 4 times this week with a good possibility of doing my formation solo near the end of the week which would be cool. 16 work days in the T-6 left and 12 flight left on the syllabus! The T-1 is getting closer and closer... pretty isn't it?

Formation continues

I ended up having 2 formation flights last week on Wednesday and then Friday, and my 5th yesterday. Flying hsa been pretty good, I'm trying to avoid going into "auto-pilot" mode with only a few weeks left in the T-6 but it's tough sometimes. We're off the formal release program right now so that means that when we're not flying we don't need to be in the flight room and it's made things much nicer, with more time to get other things done and even get to the gym now and then. 

The form flights are going well, it's tough learning this new way of flying and trying to stay with your lead but it's pretty cool and I've been flying a few of them with this reserve delta pilot who I enjoy going up with. 

The weekend was nice, Megan and I went to San Antonio and did the riverwalk and some shopping as she had a bunch of gift cards to use. Oh, and my phone got ran over by a car and somehow survived thanks to a really good case I had on it. The screens a little weird now but I think it should be usable. Somehow Megan had it on her lap and let it fall on the ground and we didn't realize it and had to drive back to the BMW dealership I was at an hour later and someone had found it but after someone drove over it. 

3-day weekend coming up and I'm definitely looking forward to that. I'll probably fly twice more this week then have that nice weekend to enjoy. 

long time no post

Not a whole lot of new info but let me think back to what's happened......

Before break I was able to get in my 2 low-level flights and 2 formation flights.

The low-levels were great - the first one I flew with one of the reserve guys and it was super chill and a lot of fun. We went south of Laughlin and cruised around the route that lies below our MOA's. On the way back I asked if I could do an ILS for the heck of it so we did that and it was very sweet. 

The second one I was paired up with one of the IP's I haven't always been quite as fond of but he showed a different side of sorts this side and it was a blast. He took the plane off the course to the North of Laughlin and into this canyon running the plane 500' above a river with rocks to either side (very Independence day - ish) and it was the coolest things I've gotten to do in a T-6. He did the recovery for his own proficiency for a nice easy end to the flight.

I had my first 2 formation flights and while they were "neat" and seeing another airplane 10 feet from your wing is pretty wild, it's like relearning how to fly again and I'm not terribly excited about that aspect. But after those flights I got sick (stomach stuff) and started feeling really awful, I went to the clinic since this is what we're forced to do if we feel bad enough that we can't fly and they said I was super dehydrated and got put on an IV for a couple hours. This put me out of commission for a couple days and then we had some weather come in that week which meant very few of us got to fly going into XMAS. Then Tuesday the 23rd I left for BREAK!

I was home for 12 days and had a lot of fun. The highlights were Christmas in Linwood and EHT, Megans moms xmas dinner in vineland (filet and double baked mashed potatoes), Eagles/Cowboys game in Philly (with a visit to chickies and petes beforehand to see everything set up for the Eagles to make the playoffs!), Lunch at the White House Sub Shop in AC along with visits to the Trop and Borgata, Flying a 172 up to NY through the Hudson River Corridor with Nick, New Years in New Brunswick with the Steedles, and visits to Galloway AC and the old alert site with chris - WHOA

But all good things must come to an end (even pilot training eventually) and I'm back in Del Rio. We had an easy day today and I should be back in the plane either tomorrow or Wednesday to get the dust off. 

I hope everyone had a great holiday and new years.