The joys of teaching...

Okay, I thought it was important to note this is our 100th post on the Ellen and Mason blog...just a random thought...

Anyways,

U! Taco! Hook! Bust! UNSAT! FAIL!

Yup, so this week didn't go at all how I pictured it. My flight leading up to the checkride got pushed back because of bad weather. And then when I took my checkride on Thursday, I failed. All my maneuvers were great and he said my overall flying was strong but I busted about 4 items which were all big items. I won't go into too much detail because I've already had to explain it to every single person I've talked to at pilot training in the last 48 hours. That's the thing about failing a checkride, everyone wants to know what you did so they don't do the same.

Since my flying was strong and the things I jacked up were sort of "fluke" events, they recommended that I didn't take any extra flights and just go straight to the recheck. They call it an IPC (Initial Proficiency Check). It's taken with someone who is a little higher in the chain of command and supposedly approaches the flight with a broader view on what they're looking for in the student. If you fail the IPC, then you go on to a final check where someone really higher up flies with you to see if you're good enough to finish pilot training. (3 strikes, you're out).

Along with all that stress, you also have to go through a list of extra procedures that comes with failing a ride. I got counseled by my flight commander, signed some forms saying that it was my fault I failed and not due to a lack of training, verified that it wasn't because I'm depressed or anything at home, and THEN- the salt on the wound- they make you go straight to the doctor to take an eye exam. No pilot likes taking an eye exam because that's like the quickest way to kick yourself out of a pilot slot. But fortunately, even being tired and stressed out, I still got 20/15 and passed all the depth perception stuff.

I took my IPC on Friday and passed. I thought it was a really strong flight but the instructor said I had an inattention to detail so I got a handful of downgrades on various items. This is why I said "supposedly" before about the IP having a broader view. I didn't have to redo my ground eval or emergency procedures test portions since I did fine on those in the first checkride. And since none of the specific maneuvers were bad in the first flight, he just had me fly the standard list.

With my first checkride, I honestly thought I had passed walking back from the plane. But as we debriefed and he reminded me of how big the things were that I screwed up, I realized that it wasn't going well. In the civilian world, the oral portion and flying portion are usually two separate parts. But in the Air Force, you go fly first and then before you debrief the flight, you get the quiz on general knowledge and go through a simulated emergency procedure (they say "so there you are..." and you have to talk through every little detail you would do to land the plane safely).

I was sort of expecting to hook a checkride somewhere in UPT but I definitely didn't think it would be the very first one. I don't really think there was anything I could have to done to prepare better. But I've taken the things I got busted for and spread them to the rest of the class so hopefully they don't get caught on the same things. So far, we've had about 6 or 7 people in our class take the checkride and three of us failed the first time. Now that I'm done with the Contact phase, I'll be moving on to Instruments and Advanced Contact. Instruments is something I actually feel pretty confident about since I've got a decent level of experience in that sort of flying. Advanced contact will be wild since it's all the acrobatic type maneuvers (cloverleaf, split-s, barrel roll, etc).

One last tidbit about checkrides in UPT: After every training sortie, when the IP fills out your gradesheet on the computer, there's about 25 items for them to grade (each manuever and type of landing possible, plus task management, planning, area oreintation, etc.). It can be rated Unsat, Marginal, Fair, Good, or Excellent (or something like that). There's a minimum grade for each block of training that you need to attain for every item (usually Fair or Good). So on an average day with a training sortie, you can expect to get mostly Goods and a couple Excellents if you do well. And that's something to be happy about. BUT, on a checkride, it's the reverse. Anything marked less than an Excellent is referred to as a "downgrade". So whenever you come back from a checkride, everyone judges how you did by asking how many downgrades you got. So even if you get a good or excellent overall, you might have gotten 7 downgrades. It's a crappy system for your ego. From what I gather, 6 or 7 downgrades is about average. I got 5 on my first check and 7 on my second check (the reason I failed the first was because 4 of the 5 downgrades were all the way down to an Unsat level - the other downgrades were all Fairs or Goods).

One checkride down, 4 left until I'm done with Tweets and move on to the T-38.

Still truckin

Hello everybody,

Sorry to not post in a while. Thanks for all the birthday cards and calls. The last couple weeks of pilot training have been very demanding. For the most part, it's been the full 12 hour days. Usually, an hour or so each day is for academics. It's usually at the very start of the day when we're too worried about flying to pay enough attention, or at the very end of the day when we're too tired to pay enough attention. We're learning navigation in academics right now (which we won't really be flying until a few weeks from now). And the main focus on the flight line has been getting everybody through the Contact phase (visual maneuvers / basics of flying the Tweet). There's also instrument flights and simulator sessions mixed in since the instrument phase comes after contact. So what I'm trying to say is that we're basically learning three different phases at one time. It's difficult to grasp all the info but it just comes down to prioritizing what info is necessary for you to survive that day.

Since my first solo, I've done two area solos. It's pretty fun since you get to fly out to our training areas and do loops and aileron rolls. The next big thing is my Contact checkride which should come Wednesday as long as I get a flight done Tuesday. The weather is looking questionable. Since we have spin recoveries as part of the checkride, the areas need to be relatively clear of clouds. One guy from our flight passed his checkride on Friday and a couple people from the other flight passed it this week too. The last guy in our class to get his initial solo done took care of that on Thursday so we're all glad to be past that step. We also now get to wear a different patch on Fridays (our H flight patches). It's the Air Force, so there's also some patch or some ribbon (uniform bling) every so often to keep morale going.

For any civilian flyers reading this, word of advice - stay the heck out of the MOAs. Every now and then, I catch a Cessna or something floating through our training area and it just sucks for everybody because we can't do much maneuvering if we're worried about hitting them. If other Military Operating Areas are like Sheppard, it's pretty much like they take the rectangular box that you see on the sectional and divide it up into pie pieces using DME and radials from a VOR. So one big rectangle equals like 12 training areas with at least 12 jets in it. Also, from what I understand, in the MOAs, we're not limited by the same rules as normal like having to fly less than 250 kts under 10,000'. So beware!

There's been a few hooked flights here and there (people fail a flight because of substandard performance) but everyone's been keeping a pretty positive attitude. Since we're all "post-solo", the standards are higher and there's less room for "soooo, how do I do that again?" type scenarios in the plane. I've botched a few maneuvers here and there but so far, no hooked flights ("hook" refers to the U on your gradesheet for Unsatisfactory, also known as "taco"). I feel pretty well-prepared for the checkride but the ground evaluation covers a lot of material so that's my big focus over this weekend.

Not really any big aviation landmarks for me lately. But I consistently pull 5 Gs, go 250 knots, go upside down, and climb up to 21,000 feet. So flying is still fun.

As for life off the flight line, well, we don't really have much off a life other than that... Our washing machine started leaking so we had to get a repair guy to come who charged us a bunch of money just to tell us that it's actually the plumbing in the house. So then we had to get the military housing company out here. But after a week or two of laundry backup, we're back in action now.

Ellen puts in almost the same hours as me at school with teaching and tutoring. So here's to 9pm bedtimes...

Great Mom's think alike

We received envelopes from both our mother's today, both contained tax information...hmm, any message trying to be sent here?

Another one bites the dust

Last week , Mason and I both went back to school and work on Thursday and came home completely exhausted. I enjoyed the day and a half back with my students as a calming down period and Mason had a full day of briefings, and then no flying on Friday. His next flight is involves complicated maneuvers, and several people were getting sick on Friday and so hopefully tomorrow's flight will go well.

This weekend was absolutely glorious. The sun was shining, and the temperatures were in the mid-seventies! It was great weather! I finally planted my tulips, and planted my Christmas pointsetta outside, and hopefully it will bloom annually. Mason and I spent time at the gym in attempts to keep up with our new health plan. One could hope we'll be able to keep up the workout schedule during the week. I would enjoy a 24 hour gym, since insomnia seems to have plagued my life...it's really an awful problem when waking up each morning is a concern.

Mason and I saw the movie Juno this weekend. It was awesome! We both enjoyed it very much. It was a little reminder of how many people we know are pregnant. It seems like everyday we have another friend that announces their pregnancy. No rush on our end, but I think with all the announcements, it reminds us that now we're part of the married group and now this is the new set of announcements. Mason's birthday is on Saturday and he seems to be going through a mid-life crisis of turning 23. If you said the number 30 to him he actually shakes.

Hopefully all our good weather will continue.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Mason and I have been enjoying each and every moment of our break these past two weeks. We're both very thankful that we had this time off together since it's been so easy living in our own little worlds even though we're under the same roof. Pilot training consumes all of Mason's day, and week nights, although he's very helpful to help out with things around the house. Teaching and lesson planning is on-going and with all the household chores time spent with Mason has been cut down, so this break was a great reminder of how much we love being married and are thankful for all we have. With that being said, Santa was very generous this year.

To carry on a Wideburg tradition, I got Mason pickle ornaments to put on our tree. Some of his highlighted presents were his new motorcycle gloves and cover. After many months of persuasive conversations (which could have been seen as nagging) Mason got me a set of awesome rocking chairs that can also be used outdoors. So I'm really excited to sit outside and enjoy my new chairs. Christmas day we mostly just relaxed, enjoyed our new presents, hit the gym, and spent time together. I think I baked dozens of cookies and treats.

http://neiu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015366&l=38584&id=77800450



On the 26th, my family arrived. My dad, mom, and sister flew into Dallas from Chicago and enjoyed some time away from the snow. Mason and I liked being able to show off our house and lives here in Wichita Falls. We took them around to see my school, and we spent a day looking at Mason's training facilities and all the different planes around base. We all got a chance to go into the simulators that Mason uses at training and my mom and I got to experience turbulence, and we pulled 8Gs. That was sweet! You could really only see the gages moving, but it was still cool. My parents got to stay at a room on base and Jill stayed at our house. She fit in well with our late night schedule. Mason even took her for a 2am motorcycle ride. My parents got us a new video camera which was our new toy to play with! We've had lots of fun making goofy videos. No kids yet, so Rembrandt gets a lot of attention.

http://neiu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015367&l=beb90&id=77800450

After a few days in Wichita Falls, we all headed to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico for my cousin Joel's wedding. My parents went back to Dallas and flew into Albuquerque, but Mason and I took made the 11 hour drive. Texas was pretty boring, and flat but once we crossed into New Mexico the scenery was much better. Although in taking some less common roads we came across fewer towns and we nervous about running out of gas, at one point. Never the less, any town we came to that was more than two shacks, we filled up our tank, and bellies. We drove through Roswell, which was a funny little town all hyped about "alien landings" there. We headed down to Las Cruces en route, and were stopped by the border patrol (not realizing we were only about 100 miles from Mexico.) It was pretty lame though because they only asked us if were US citizens and if we were from Illinois (since we have those plates.) We laughed as we went through saying that it wasn't a very thorough check. We also stopped at Holloman AFB, and the white sands missile range on the way. We were hoping to see some F117, but didn't manage to see any. Truth or Consequences is a small town but nice scenery. We left and arrived Friday night, and hung out with my parents some more back at our hotel. The town is known for their hot springs but we just enjoyed the hot tub and pool where we stayed.

The wedding was Saturday, and we took Jill touring in the morning looking to climb some mountains, but only found some hills to venture up. The wedding was outdoors (in perfect weather) at a cute spa/hotel. The bride and groom were beautiful, and the wedding was perfect. They had self directed it and my cousin (the groom's sister) did the ceremony. It was great. The bride's family did most of the cooking for the event since there were about 50-75 people at the reception. The food was great Mexican food, and a brisket that had been cooked 15 feet under ground. Between the wedding and reception our family went around Elephant Butte lake and dam, and did some exploring. It was a beautiful day.

We left Sunday around 11:30, and headed back to the north. We hit Albuquerque and stopped off at Kirtland AFB. We weren't too impressed, but they mostly do Pararescue jumper training. The drive back was a little faster, and it was a great day for driving. I think we were getting a little punchy when I couldn't stop laughing for about 30 miles after an amusing round of the alphabet game. There weren't many towns or cities, so when we saw highway signs it was cut throat to see who would get the letters for the game; Mason had been searching for the letter "Q" for the longest time, and we came past a sign that was humorous, and Mason was reading it and pointed out "squawkers" at the bottom, which didn't have much relevance to the sign, but then after it was past, I said you know there was a Q in squawkers...it was one of those "you had to be there moments" but it had us laughing all the way to the next reststop.

Anywhoos, we've been enjoying our time home. Loved the family visit, and are now back to studying and getting ready to go back on Thursday. New Year's Eve wasn't too exciting but we watched some movies and enjoyed homemade ribs. It was sort of funny, but on tv here, they kept playing New York's midnight each hour, so we didn't get to see any other city celebrate, but we enjoyed ringing in the New Year together. Today we lounged around and will probably hit the gym tomorrow, and get ready for Thursday, when we go back to work.

http://neiu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015369&l=07d8b&id=77800450