2:45 PM -- I love Diet Cherry Limeade (Easy on the ice) --

So not really much new to report, will post when I get going in these new sims.

P.S. If anyone reading this is a duck hunter from Arkansas who needs a shooting partner drop me an email, I caught the bug!

 
4:19 PM -- Herc Driver (sort of...) --

So let's see a lot of crap has gone down. After academics we went into the sim phase of training. Just like in t-1's and tweets the sims here are run by retired c-130 drivers who are now civilians teaching us how to fly. There was the same mix of grumpy old men and people genuinely in it to teach. You are teamed up with a flying partner as well as a sim instructor who you stay with throughout the program. I teamed up with a fellow Pittsburgh pilot here doing initial with me and we ended up with an awesome sim instructor. He actually retired from the Guard unit here as chief pilot 2 weeks before our first sim, so he has a ton of knowledge to drop all over our faces.

The first sims were to get us ready for our EPE, or Emergency Procedures Evaluation. In the normal program this involves a sit down ground evaluation with an evaluator after your flying checkride and usually lasts 4 hours or so. But in this new left seat pilot program I am doing it is an actual ride in the sim where they throw every single EP they can think of at you and see if you can survive. We had about 6 or 7 sims to get ready for it and then the good old AF evaluator came up to test our mettle.

We ended up doing really well and were told my flying partner and I did the best out of all the groups that were tested that day. After that we got into the full motion simulator where we got ready for our instrument checkride that we were supposed to get in the sim before we hit the flightline. I say supposed since the sim ended up not being ready (had to have a certain FAA certification that it didn't have) so we ended up with all the asspain of a normal checkride (the ground eval, the evaluator, etc.) but it just didn't count. The evaluator said I would have gotten a Q1 though so I was happy. Now that I am in the normal airforce (pilot with wings) there are 3 checkride grades, Q1/2/3. A Q1 is the best and means you passed with no retraining, and is the most common grade given. A Q2 means you still passed, but you need a little bit of retraining before you are ready for the qualification. A Q3 means you failed, suck at life, and need to do it all over again. Permanent record stuff, not good.

I felt pretty good since I got a Q1 on a checkride from the left seat that people are usually taking once they have 800 so hours in the airplane.

Anyway then it was time for christmas. I got back here and was on the flightline ready to fly the real thing. First two flights I got scheduled for I ended up not flying. The first one my buddy flew the firsthalf and I got to watch the mission from the nav seat (kind of neat for the first time, but will get old...) but the weather crumped so we had to land. I actually got some taxi practice which was an eye opener though.

We have this little wheel on the left side which turns the nose-wheel. The Herc, big as it is, is sensitive and for that reason you can't stop or brake in a turn without breaking it. So here I am in the seat for 30 seconds, on a soaking wet taxiway trying to taxi this monster for the first time ever. All I remember is I turned the wheel a little too suddenly, everyone started yelling and I slammed on the brakes and there we were, stopped in the turn. Broken. So it basically took me about 30 seconds to break the airplane from my first time sitting in the seat. Has to be some kind of record.

The second mission the weather was better but our flap gauge took a dump on us so we had to cancel again. Finally though, yesterday morning the stars aligned and I got to fly. My buddy flew the first half again, but then we full stopped at Monroe, LA and I got into the seat. We taxied around a bit (a lot easier once I got the hang of it) and then took off and I was flying the Herc. It flew a lot like the sim , although rudder was a lot more important. I said "I can't believe I'm flying this thing" to which our crusty engineer replied "Neither can we..." After a few flights I am convinced the Engineer and Loadmaster's primary job on these student sorties is to rag on us new co-pilots.

So 6 hours later we were back on the deck in Little Rock and I could say I had flown the C-130. pretty neat. Now I have 3 or 4 more flights then get to do the instrument check for real this time. Then it's back to the sims to learn low level and formation flying.

More later, will try to keep this up to date. Have a full plate right now with flying/girlfriend/sleeping/etc. Keep the e-mails coming, good to hear from you all!