Almost done with "the dirty P"

0500 Hrs at the Doss ramp. We've been getting up for the last couple weeks for our 0420 morning formal brief. And then after that, we head out and push the planes out of the hangar. Awake before the sun, wheels up as it rises. However, 10 hours later when the last round of flights are getting back in at 3 in the afternoon, the sun has scorched Pueblo, Colorado and the air is wild. Airspeed needle is bouncing from 100 to 70 and back to 90 in less than a minute. Altitude is jumping a hundred feet in a second and all you can do is keep the airplane pointed shiny-side up and fiddle with the throttle.



This past week has been a tough one for the class because some people are transitioning from their first checkride and solo onto their very last flight. Others are still spending hours in the cockpit trainer getting ready for that first checkride. Today, we had one student fail his third chance at the first checkride (three swings your out) and is headed home this weekend with his home base working on finding him a new job. We had a different student decide that flying wasn't making him happy and he didn't want to do this for the next 10 years, so he did a self-initiated elimination and will be going home shortly with a new job as well. And then also today, we had our first two people finish their final checkride. So four people going home this weekend, half happy - half not knowing what to think. As for our hero of the story, me, I'm about in the middle of the class. Keep in mind, progress is based mostly on luck of the draw at scheduling. Some people have flown twice everyday, others have never double turned. I've been doing pretty well on that. I passed my solo checkride on Tuesday (with an IP who I REALLY did not mesh well with). Now I'm at the point where I've got my second of two solo flights to do tomorrow, two more instructional sorties after that, and then my final checkride. So assuming weather is good for us (which is not a great assumption), I should be finished at the end of next Wednesday.



This afternoon's flight got a little hairy. We started off staying in the traffic pattern practicing different types of landings. We knew the weather was supposed to get fouled up based on forecasts so we were keeping an eye out for it. Sure enough, clouds moved in about 1,000 ft above where we were. I was starting to get nervous that the IP (instructor pilot) would decide to call off the flight. But this guy was in a pretty good mood (and he's an AF pilot; not a civilian instructor) so he said let's find our whole in the clouds and get out to our area. So we climbed around, found our hole in the clouds drove it up through and then waited until we got to the practice area and dropped down through another hole. It was a good challenge and a lot of fun to be doing something other than straight and level snooze flying. And the instructor thought I did a great job so I've continued my trend of good scores on my flight debriefs (with the exception of my checkride which wasn't a good day).



So tomorrow a joy ride and then we're having our solo/graduation party in the evening. In fine Air Force style, keg and many bottles will be on ice with some burgers on the grill. I'll be enjoying some classic chocolate milk I think. Just another few days or so and I'll be done with this place, back on my to the bug-infested Sheppard AFB. I definitely feel a lot more ready for UPT (undergraduate pilot training) after going through this program. It gave us a lot more insight on what to expect and how briefings will go down, etc. Plus I got to know the other 8 guys or so from ENJJPT a lot better so it'll be good to have the study/support group from the get go. All I have to do now is learn Italian and get some shirts that emphasize chest hair so I can fit in with the foreign pilots. Also pick up smoking and buy a porsche...



This was me getting introduced to the Air Force tradition of dunking the student in a water tank after their first (sorta) solo. No tanks around here, so trash bins full of ice water it is....

Feels kinda nice on a 100* day