$1 Ride

To sum it up I would ask you to imagine: 4 miles above the Earth, 230 MPH, roll 180* (inverted), perform a 4G pull, and end up pointed straight down...

I don't have a lot of free time but basically a Dollar ride is a free trip in the airplane. No pressure, no grading, nothing. Just relax and try not to sc

rew up too badly (thats what the IP is for).

I didn't do

anything too crazy, it's frowned upon if the IP's get the students to throw up (and I didn't want to throw up regardless) so I only did some minor aerobatics: Aileron rolls, split S, nose high recover into a vertical dive, the usual.

Anywho...FUN!!!!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

A fairly realistic depiction of a T-6 in flight emergency (borrowed from the Dash-1).

Sorry for the delay in posting (I am aiming for at least blog post a week). Last week I got "sick" from an artificial flu vaccine that I took. Of course I got the worst symptoms the day before a test. I managed to fall asleep studying and thus received a low score of 87% (85% is the minimum).

This week has been a 100% reversal though!!! Just had a test this morning and I knocked it out of the park. Finally got the allusive 100%!!!! This was the last test in Phase 1 (academics), but there will still be more tests and academics in Phase 2 (contact) so don't be fooled!!!

I have one more simulator session left in Phase I and it will either be tomorrow or Monday. I am doing exceedingly well getting the proud score of "E" (excellent) on my last two. These simulators aren't like the UTD (universal training device) I have mentioned in a previous post, but rather are OFT's or IFT's (operation/instrument flight trainers). These have screens so you can see where you are "flying" (the OFT has a PIMP wrap around screen...something like 270*). Sadly these sim's aren't hooked up to hydraulics or anything crazy, therefore are referred to in the business as stationary sim's. It is pretty crazy how your head will play with you when you are "flying" in an OFT though. I find myself thinking I am really doing the maneuver the simulator is faking. People have even gotten airsick in these!!!

So I found out my future assignment here, I am in the 41st FTW and in Spaatz Flight. You can read up on the history of General Spaatz and his contributions to the USAF Here.

Updates

Got a 91% on my Aero test. Not as high as I obviously wanted (always gunning for 100%'s) but I am pleased I passed. It was a lot more challenging than the previous tests, thats for sure.

Things are definitly starting to ramp up. We hit the flight line at the end of the month and are starting to "sim" (simulator) every day. The instructors expect us to have more information memorized every day, etc. Definitly getting sporty!

Also I encourage everyone to watch this (High Definition a must!!!):

The longer and further I get into UPT the more I spend thinking about what I want to fly. I am less and less sure I want to fly fighters and bombers. Not saying I wouldn't want too, but I am definitly considering every option (except UAV's...).

And good news: Yesterday two UAV's crashed! 1 Predator crashed in Iraq and 1 Reaper went "stupid" and was shot down before it entered Iranian airspace. Some lucky fighter pilot got to shoot down a UAV!!! Talk about a dream come true!

System's II Test

Same score as the first one!!!

93%

Which I must say I am VERY pleased with since I didn't feel I had as good of a handle on the information as the System's I test.

UTD

UTD = Universal Training Device

A simulator to allow student pilots to become familiar with the cockpit layout and switchology.

First test of UPT

Passed my systems one test with a 93%.

You need an 85% to pass, so my score is probably about average.

Aerospace Physiology

Well the last week has a fun mixture of class room combined with "operational" teachings. Aptly titled "Aerospace Physiology" I have been learning things from ejection seat operation to different types of spatial disorientation (and everything inbetween).

I already had a test earlier in the week covering life support and local area survival (basically my experiences in Boy Scouts wrapped up into a Power Point briefing).

So the highlights of the week would consist of going into the altitude chamber and practicing PLF's (parachute landing falls). I don't have any pictures of the altitude chamber handy but imagine...well an altitude chamber. It's a giant metal box with half foot thick walls. Once sealed

up you can go up to the top of K2 or go to the bottom of the ocean (its easier to go up). So we went up to twenty five thousand feet (25,000) and then went OFF oxygen. You will start feeling the effects pretty darn quick. They gave us a simple math sheet to try filling out and after about 3 minutes pretty much everyone was getting them wrong. After five minutes you felt drunk. I

didn't want to go much more than that so went back on oxygen (if you pass out you fail).

After a bunch more fun tests in the chamber a smaller group of us would go into

a sub section of the same chamber for a rapid decompression test. In this our little chamber was pressurized to 1,000 ft and when it decompressed we would be back at 25k. So we had to recognize what happed and take proper action. It's pretty easy to recognize a rapid decompression...its loud, uncomfortable, windy, and an artifical cloud forms in the room (that part is friggen cool!).

I do have pictures of the parachute training. Not much to say that the pictures can't

describe...Only thing I would like to add is that it hurts males a lot more than females...

There were two fun toys for ejection seat training, this one was for an emergency ground egress and the other for a prepared ejection in flight.