Almost to the flight line

Okedokey,
Almost done with academics for B-52 FTU (Formal Training Unit). It's been a while since I've posted. Luckily, it hasn't been because I've been too busy. More because I've been too lazy. The pace of life in the FTU is a whole lot better than in pilot training. We've still had a week or there where we were taking tests everyday. But for the most, it's very manageable. The trick, I guess, is that they trust you do a lot more studying on your own. There's a lot more instances of us being expected to know something, even though it was never taught or mentioned in class. But since we've got the books, we're responsible for it. And books is a figurative term these days in the Air Force. Even though we spend millions of dollars (probably) on fuel everyday, they decided to save money by no longer issuing us the paper copies of the dash one (the flight manual) and all the other associated books. Instead, we have to stare at a computer screen to study. It's hard not being able to highlight or write in references and side notes. We all agree that it's pretty weak since we're in the FTU, where out of all places, you would expect them to give us the most resources available to learn this stuff. A lot of the academics here are more self-taught anyways though. There's a lot of CBTs (Computer Based Training) and time built in the schedule where we're expected to just study a section on our own (as a class). It takes a little getting used to and a lot of discipline to use the time wisely. But I'm liking it. I've been able to get home in the early afternoon a lot of days.

We've got to do a handful of simulator missions already. The majority were just based on us learning how to run through the checklist and get familiar with the cockpit (and it's a big cockpit to get familiar with). But the last two sims are more based on flying techniques, so it's getting into more of "that pilot shit" which is fun. The pic below is of the full motion sim that we get to use. We didn't have any like that at Sheppard so it's a neat thing to see. The people running it are also dedicated operators, so there's always somebody there acting as air traffic control or your other crewmembers (nav / ewo). Ironically, when you're inside the sim and flying around, you don't really notice the motion for the most part. Since our bodies are all so used to what it should feel like based on what we see out the window, the motion feels natural. Of course, you notice real quick when you jocky around all eight throttles and start yanking and banking. I imagine for someone who hasn't flown in a plane, the sim could be a fun ride.

Sometime this week, we'll get handed over to the flight line leadership. The academics are taught mostly by civilian contractors (who are basically retired B-52 warriors). They've all been there and done that, a few times over. Going to the flight line means we'll be working more with the instructor pilots and being integrated more with the navs and ewos in our class. From what I've heard from people in classes ahead, they say that the schedule pacing doesn't change much on the flight line. Like every flying program, weather and syllabus requirements make for a lot of slow weeks and then a lot of jam-packed weeks with no predictability. I'm just looking forward to flying again. It will have been about 7 months of not being off the ground for me. With the sims we've had, the B-52 is getting a little less intimidating of a plane to learn than it was when I first looked up at it over at Sheppard. It's definitely a different type of flying than I'm used to, but the mission is the real deal. Instead of being told to fly with a light hand so you don't rock the plane all over the sky, you have to really grab a tight hold of the control wheel and force the plane where you want it to go. And rather than finessing one or two throttle controls, you're trying to match eight different sets of gages. I'll admit that the copilot role is a little heavy on the paperwork business of flying rather than the hands-on portion, but it's all a part of the process. The syllabus that we're going through here is also relatively new and contains a lot more familiarization with "left seat" type stuff than in the previous syllabus. So the idea is that with less new systems and flying concepts to learn from the other seat, it will be easier/faster for us to upgrade from copilot to aircraft commander.

Buff stuff aside, we're happy to be living in Barksdale. We've got our evergrowing list of stuff we want to do/buy/see now that we know we're staying. A lot of our friends still think we're crazy for liking base housing, but we just ignore it and turn our air conditioner down another couple degrees. Last week, our friends Phil and Nicole moved away to Minot AFB, ND. We had met them back at Sheppard since Phil went to ENJJPT and Nicole worked with Ellen at Bright Ideas School. So it was a bummer to see them go, especially since we have so much in common. But hopefully we'll bump into each other again soon enough since there's only so many places to be in the B-52. We had a goodbye feast at Ellen's Mexican Cantina. Enough enchiladas and margaritas to feed the base.

Ellens been working the Northwest Louisiana teaching scene and has some good prospects pending the paperwork. I'll let her spread the word more about that when everythings official. But we did have celebritory Dairy Queen already... We also saw The Taking of Pelham 123 yesterday on base for 4 bucks a ticket. I did the monthly 5k run on base on Friday and finished at 22:23, so that was good. Still didn't win any of the door prizes though, so I guess I'll have to try again next month. Friday, we also went over to the East side of base to get some nature in. Our friends tipped us off about a lake over there that somehow we missed before. It was pretty nice. We were hoping to catch an alligator spotting, but this lake seemed to be more of a turtle hood. You can see three in this shot-

It also seemed like a pretty good spot to go camping. But it's still about 20 or 30 degrees too hot for that. But we'd love to have company, so come visit us and we'll go venturing!

I'll report back up after I've had my first flight in the B-52. Coming to a dark sky near you! In this picture, behind that awesome jet there, you can see all the forest that's on the base reservation...