Pretty cool article about air force helicopters: http://www.michaelyon-online.com/pedros.htm
As for me, same ol' same ol'. Eating, sleeping, flying, having fun doing it.
Later...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Helicopter, helicopter, helicopter...
The first time I have ever been in a helicopter was Friday. I also got to fly the thing. Pretty strange and super cool. Very different from flying a fixed wing aircraft. The helicopter is extremely touchy. Very small control movements have huge effects. Most of the actual controlling of the helicopter is via control pressure and not control movement. It is tough. Much more difficult than flying a plane so far though I am sure I will get the hang of it. Regardless, here is some media...
Friday, July 3, 2009
Goodbye Oklahoma...and yes, I will miss you
I haven't written in a while. Partly due to laziness and partly due to being busy but not having much exciting to say. So here is an update.
After track select I did end up making it back to California for a week and a half. It was amazing. The day I arrived I went surfing twice, bike riding along the ocean cliffs, running up the mountain near my father's house, pretty much a perfect welcome back to California. The rest of the week was taken up with surfing, kitesurfing beautiful (albeit small) waves at Waddell Creek, rock climbing with my dad at the gym in San Francisco with an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge, traveling up to my father's awesome cabin in the mountains and hanging out with some great people. It couldn't have been a better trip home.
When I got back to Oklahoma it was time to outprocess and move. Throughout my stay in Oklahoma I have badmouthed it, I regret it now. I actually really enjoyed my time there. I met some awesome people, and to be truthful I found some great places to go and really fun things to do. So when it came time to leave I was pretty bummed out. And now that I am gone I really miss it. It makes me realize that no matter where I end up, the people make a huge difference as to whether it sucks or not, and no matter what the landscape is like you can find great things to do...you might just have to drive an hour or so to find them.
The weekend before I left was pretty awesome and made me realize just how great I had it in Enid, Oklahoma. I went with some good friends from my pilot training class out to a beautiful white sand beach at Canton Lake. I found the beach by following a satellite image on my iPhone, and bushwhacking through some Oklahoma jungle. So though the iPhone was expensive and doesn't work right all the time, sometimes it pays off. You can only get this beach by boat, which I don't have, or by parking on a random dirt road with no lake in sight, trespassing through a farmer's field and then tramping through a mosquito infested swampy area. The lake and beach only come into view at the last second. My friend and I had brought our kitesurfing gear, and the other guys had brought a little barbecue and picnic stuff. It was a beautiful day about 90 degrees, the water was warm, and the wind was blowing about 25. We got on the beach, rigged up my friend's kite and proceeded to have an awesome day of kitesurfing. He was learning and ended up getting on the board for the first time. He was pretty stoked until he flew his kite into a tree and shredded it.
So after that weekend, I moved to Enterprise, AL. I am living in a pretty nice townhouse right now with a great guy from my class. We started academics for the Huey but we don't actually start flying for another week or so. So far everything is going pretty good. It is a lot prettier down here than up in Enid. Kinda looks like what I imagine Vietnam to look like, especially when you are flying a Huey.
Here is a picture, and no this is not the helicopters we will be flying, this one was sitting in a hangar with some other ones that are destined for the scrap heap.
After track select I did end up making it back to California for a week and a half. It was amazing. The day I arrived I went surfing twice, bike riding along the ocean cliffs, running up the mountain near my father's house, pretty much a perfect welcome back to California. The rest of the week was taken up with surfing, kitesurfing beautiful (albeit small) waves at Waddell Creek, rock climbing with my dad at the gym in San Francisco with an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge, traveling up to my father's awesome cabin in the mountains and hanging out with some great people. It couldn't have been a better trip home.
When I got back to Oklahoma it was time to outprocess and move. Throughout my stay in Oklahoma I have badmouthed it, I regret it now. I actually really enjoyed my time there. I met some awesome people, and to be truthful I found some great places to go and really fun things to do. So when it came time to leave I was pretty bummed out. And now that I am gone I really miss it. It makes me realize that no matter where I end up, the people make a huge difference as to whether it sucks or not, and no matter what the landscape is like you can find great things to do...you might just have to drive an hour or so to find them.
The weekend before I left was pretty awesome and made me realize just how great I had it in Enid, Oklahoma. I went with some good friends from my pilot training class out to a beautiful white sand beach at Canton Lake. I found the beach by following a satellite image on my iPhone, and bushwhacking through some Oklahoma jungle. So though the iPhone was expensive and doesn't work right all the time, sometimes it pays off. You can only get this beach by boat, which I don't have, or by parking on a random dirt road with no lake in sight, trespassing through a farmer's field and then tramping through a mosquito infested swampy area. The lake and beach only come into view at the last second. My friend and I had brought our kitesurfing gear, and the other guys had brought a little barbecue and picnic stuff. It was a beautiful day about 90 degrees, the water was warm, and the wind was blowing about 25. We got on the beach, rigged up my friend's kite and proceeded to have an awesome day of kitesurfing. He was learning and ended up getting on the board for the first time. He was pretty stoked until he flew his kite into a tree and shredded it.
So after that weekend, I moved to Enterprise, AL. I am living in a pretty nice townhouse right now with a great guy from my class. We started academics for the Huey but we don't actually start flying for another week or so. So far everything is going pretty good. It is a lot prettier down here than up in Enid. Kinda looks like what I imagine Vietnam to look like, especially when you are flying a Huey.
Here is a picture, and no this is not the helicopters we will be flying, this one was sitting in a hangar with some other ones that are destined for the scrap heap.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Track Select Results
Well, I got my first choice. Helicopters. So I will be headed down to Ft Rucker, Alabama to train with the Army. Class supposedly starts on June 24 so looks like I have some time to relax, move, search for a new place to live, and maybe just maybe make it back to California for some ocean/family time. Search and rescue is what I am aiming for as of this moment. We'll see how it works out.
Later folks...
Later folks...
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Flight Commander, Instructor, Peer rankings
For anyone going through UPT who wonders about flight commander rankings I think it really depends on the flight commander. But here is my experience.
About 2 weeks ago our flight commander had us rank everyone in our class. From the person we thought was the best to the person we thought was the worst. The rankings were to take into account assertiveness, competency, helpfulness, professionalism, etc. Pretty much an entire gamut of things that would help the flight commander understand what our peers thought of us.
Ranking people is tough. Especially when you have spent 6 months with a group of folks. In the beginning I liked some and disliked others. But in the past 6 months I have grown to appreciate the value that each and everyone of my classmates brought. So when I had to rank them I had a hell of a time. It was easy to rank the top 5 people. But after that...How can I rank a guy #16 when in my eyes he is as good as #6. In the end I made my decisions and ranked all my classmates. The instructors and the flight commander did the same thing for us.
Today we had our final feedback. Our flight commander went alphabetically and called each one of us into his office. He started by telling us our flight commander ranking, instructor ranking, and finally our peer ranking. Then he would go over our trend items, or things that people consistently brought up about us. After someone would exit everyone would crowd around and ask them what their ranking ended up being. My purpose in this was never to worry about rankings but do my best, help out other folks, and have a good time doing it. Going into the feedback I knew that my grades weren't stellar. I had done well but not great. Professionalism...well it has never been my strong point. But I tried to help out a lot and I always volunteered for stuff. The flight commander surprised me when he told me I ranked first on flight commander ranking and instructor ranking and second on peer ranking. I guess volunteering for jobs and trying to help out others went a long way in his eyes. Trend items for me were relaxed demeanor, organized, rebellious, and "laid back, too laid back sometimes". From what I remember from OTS those were trend items then too.
Later...
About 2 weeks ago our flight commander had us rank everyone in our class. From the person we thought was the best to the person we thought was the worst. The rankings were to take into account assertiveness, competency, helpfulness, professionalism, etc. Pretty much an entire gamut of things that would help the flight commander understand what our peers thought of us.
Ranking people is tough. Especially when you have spent 6 months with a group of folks. In the beginning I liked some and disliked others. But in the past 6 months I have grown to appreciate the value that each and everyone of my classmates brought. So when I had to rank them I had a hell of a time. It was easy to rank the top 5 people. But after that...How can I rank a guy #16 when in my eyes he is as good as #6. In the end I made my decisions and ranked all my classmates. The instructors and the flight commander did the same thing for us.
Today we had our final feedback. Our flight commander went alphabetically and called each one of us into his office. He started by telling us our flight commander ranking, instructor ranking, and finally our peer ranking. Then he would go over our trend items, or things that people consistently brought up about us. After someone would exit everyone would crowd around and ask them what their ranking ended up being. My purpose in this was never to worry about rankings but do my best, help out other folks, and have a good time doing it. Going into the feedback I knew that my grades weren't stellar. I had done well but not great. Professionalism...well it has never been my strong point. But I tried to help out a lot and I always volunteered for stuff. The flight commander surprised me when he told me I ranked first on flight commander ranking and instructor ranking and second on peer ranking. I guess volunteering for jobs and trying to help out others went a long way in his eyes. Trend items for me were relaxed demeanor, organized, rebellious, and "laid back, too laid back sometimes". From what I remember from OTS those were trend items then too.
Later...
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Track Select on May 14
I just posted something super long about my internal musings. But this is short. I had my final T-6 formation checkride today, it went well and now I am all done with the T-6. Now I am just awaiting the results of track select on May 14. I will try to get video of it to put up here.
Later...
Later...
Choices...
Track select is coming up for my pilot training class on May 14. Track select is the point halfway through pilot training where you choose which specialty you will be going for next. There are 4 choices for the Air Force guys. One of the choices is T-38's, following T-38's you are eligible to go to fighter jets, bombers, UAV's, and some random special operations planes that no one knows anything about. Another choice is T-1's, following T-1's you are eligible for all the large jets (C-5, C-17, KC-135, KC-10, etc.), UAV's, maybe a C-130 if you are good and really want one, and again some random special operations planes that no one knows about. The next choice is T-44's, following that you are eligible for pretty much all the C-130 variants and there are a ton, UAV's, and you can also try to get into one of the large jets if you are good and really want one, and again you can also go to spec ops and fly one of their off the wall random planes. The last choice is UH-1's, following that you are eligible to fly UH-1's, HH-60's, or Ospreys (CV-22).
Both the T-38 and T-1 training is done at the base at which you completed phase 1 and 2 (T-6's). The T-44 training means you will be moving to Corpus Christi, Texas and training with the Navy. The UH-1 training means you will be moving to Ft Rucker, Alabama to train helicopters with the Army.
Initially when I was applying to the Air Force I wanted to fly fighter jets. I figured it would be competitive but I assumed I would do well. But as time went on I realized that competitive was putting it extremely lightly. Most guys who join the Air Force to become pilots want to become fighter pilots and I was competing against guys with a lot more flying experience than I who had dreams of becoming an Air Force fighter pilot since they were 2 years old. Not to mention the fact that the number of T-38 slots has dropped to 2-3 per class of 25 in the past couple of years due to the Air Force not needing as many fighter pilots. As I went on I began to hear rumours that most of the fighter pilots were doing a single tour in a fighter jet and then forced to fly a UAV and then maybe, just maybe they would get back in the cockpit. For me that is not what I wanted. Part of the reason I joined the Air Force was to learn how to fly up in the sky, not sit in front of a computer 8 hours every day watching my life tick by wishing I had done something exciting and dangerous...and gotten paid for it. Not only would I be sitting in front of a computer again but I would be getting paid a lot less, forced to wear a uniform all day, and probably living in some god-forsaken place for security purposes. No thanks.
Helicopters started to look more and more appealing because no helicopter pilot gets forced into a UAV (at the moment). I already liked them. They also have a really cool mission in the Air Force, search and rescue. I figured that search and rescue is something I could never feel badly about when I am old and nostalgic. I would never regret the guy I tried to save but wasn't able to, whereas the bomb I dropped but shouldn't have...well I figured I might regret that for the rest of my life. As pilot training went on I realized that the flying I liked most was low level flying close to the ground. So helicopters again were looking better. I had made up my mind, I was going to put helicopters first, then T-44's, then T-38's.
Our flight commander handed us our dream sheets last Thursday. We were to put in order of preference our top 3 out of 4 choices that I detailed above, and then turn it in on Friday morning. I was pretty certain on what I was putting. Then a few hours later my flight commander called me into his office. He asked me what I was planning on putting down for track select. I told him. He said that our class would most likely be getting a couple more T-38 slots. He wanted me to apply for one and he said he was certain I would get it and do well. I was flattered but confused. In the end I decided on helicopters because of the mission. But I must admit there was a large part of me that wanted to go for my original plan and try to get into a fighter cockpit.
Choices...
Both the T-38 and T-1 training is done at the base at which you completed phase 1 and 2 (T-6's). The T-44 training means you will be moving to Corpus Christi, Texas and training with the Navy. The UH-1 training means you will be moving to Ft Rucker, Alabama to train helicopters with the Army.
Initially when I was applying to the Air Force I wanted to fly fighter jets. I figured it would be competitive but I assumed I would do well. But as time went on I realized that competitive was putting it extremely lightly. Most guys who join the Air Force to become pilots want to become fighter pilots and I was competing against guys with a lot more flying experience than I who had dreams of becoming an Air Force fighter pilot since they were 2 years old. Not to mention the fact that the number of T-38 slots has dropped to 2-3 per class of 25 in the past couple of years due to the Air Force not needing as many fighter pilots. As I went on I began to hear rumours that most of the fighter pilots were doing a single tour in a fighter jet and then forced to fly a UAV and then maybe, just maybe they would get back in the cockpit. For me that is not what I wanted. Part of the reason I joined the Air Force was to learn how to fly up in the sky, not sit in front of a computer 8 hours every day watching my life tick by wishing I had done something exciting and dangerous...and gotten paid for it. Not only would I be sitting in front of a computer again but I would be getting paid a lot less, forced to wear a uniform all day, and probably living in some god-forsaken place for security purposes. No thanks.
Helicopters started to look more and more appealing because no helicopter pilot gets forced into a UAV (at the moment). I already liked them. They also have a really cool mission in the Air Force, search and rescue. I figured that search and rescue is something I could never feel badly about when I am old and nostalgic. I would never regret the guy I tried to save but wasn't able to, whereas the bomb I dropped but shouldn't have...well I figured I might regret that for the rest of my life. As pilot training went on I realized that the flying I liked most was low level flying close to the ground. So helicopters again were looking better. I had made up my mind, I was going to put helicopters first, then T-44's, then T-38's.
Our flight commander handed us our dream sheets last Thursday. We were to put in order of preference our top 3 out of 4 choices that I detailed above, and then turn it in on Friday morning. I was pretty certain on what I was putting. Then a few hours later my flight commander called me into his office. He asked me what I was planning on putting down for track select. I told him. He said that our class would most likely be getting a couple more T-38 slots. He wanted me to apply for one and he said he was certain I would get it and do well. I was flattered but confused. In the end I decided on helicopters because of the mission. But I must admit there was a large part of me that wanted to go for my original plan and try to get into a fighter cockpit.
Choices...
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