The road to my wings
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| Date | 21-09-2009 |
| Location |  |
| Message | (Monday 1520) It was a cold day today, in many aspects... Temperature wise it was only about 5 degrees when I went to work this morning. Then I did the pre-test and failed. I couldn't believe it. The flight itself was great but apparently my ground handling wasn't. I did a couple of check errors on the ground and I also got ticked for things I did the way I always do which apparently weren't ok with today's instructor. Anyway, I did an extra flight, where we did the ground handling, wing take off, and went directly for the landing. That's it! Believe me, it was enough to tear down my pride. The important thing is that I make it happen tomorrow when it counts the most. I'll let you know how it went. /GEA |
| Date | 19-09-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Saturday 1735) The warm weather is holding out nicely. Today we had over 30 degrees again and I hope that it stays like this until next June or so, however unrealistic that is. Yesterday I almost didn't get my flight. My instructor and I stepped, I started the plane and made the radio call to my wingman after the start up checks to find out if he was ready. No answer. Apparently their plane broke down right after start up so they went back to ops to get a new one. Forntuately they had one for them but not without a 15 minute delay. So in the meantime we just sat there in the plane with that fuel thirsty jet engine running and waited paitently. The instructor told me about some stories he had read from earlier Canadian fighter pilots. One of them was about a Sabre pilot where part of his logbook read: "Had my third crash today, spent the night in a barn." They were different days indeed. Another story was about a Canadian F104 Starfighter pilot stationed in Germany back in the days. Once they were transiting to Italy and enroute the Italian air traffic controller tells them to descend to 10,000 feet. The pilot said that if he did so he wouldn't have enough fuel to get to the destination, which was true. ATC insisted, and so did the pilot. It ended up with the pilot switching his radio off. A few days later when they were transiting back to Germany the pilot calls up the same Italian ATC and gets no reply. He tried again and again with no luck. In the end the pilot went: "Luigi, answer the goddamn phone!"Next day there came a NOTAM out stating that ATC should not be referred to as "Luigi." NOTAM stands for Notice To Air Men by the way. For instance, if an airport has a runway closed they put out a NOTAM so that pilots are aware of it. Have a good weekend!/GEA |
| Date | 18-09-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Friday 2200) I had the last form flight for this week and the last one before the pre-test. The pre-test will take place on Monday and then the test on Tuesday. It was a good flight today with lots of fun and I feel that I'm getting the hang of it. We did a few 60 degree bank turns which is good practise as I'll only need 45's for the test. The rejoin to the base was a bit sporty. It was quite turbulent at low level and we flew pretty fast so it was bumpy indeed and hard work to stay in position on his wing. Then after the overhead break we did a touch and go and the instructors took control to have some fun. So they did a fly by between the runway and the control tower at full speed with a 5g break. It was awesome! As you probably know, you only fly half of the flight every time in the form phase. We're not trained in being formation leaders yet, so the instructor flies the half of the flight in which your aircraft is the lead and you just sit there and keep a lookout for traffic. During that part, the other student in the other aircraft flies as wingman, and then halfway through the flight you switch lead and it's your turn to fly as wingman and the other student sits there like a bag of potatoes, hopefully keeping a good lookout. So because the instructors has to demo anything that's being done for the first time, it means that you've probably only done one wing take off before the pre test! However, both the pre-test and the test are flights where you fly from start to finish and you have a dedicated lead aircraft. I can't wait for next week! So far I've snaked all my form flights and hopefully I'll finish this phase with a couple of snakes on the last pre-test and test. Cross your fingers for me!/GEA |
| Date | 17-09-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 2140) I had form 4 this morning. It was a good flight and I felt that I really learned alot but I did have a couple of "hickups". I did a wing take-off for the first time today. It was quite a rush to line up on the runway in close formation with lead and being in control of the aircraft. The take off roll went really good. It's hard to match the speed but I couldn't have done it much better. The take off is done by setting 30% torque on the brakes to do the run up check and then on signal from lead, both pilots release brakes. Then lead adds power as the aircraft accelerates until he has about 80% torque, which leaves a buffer for the wingman to catch up if he starts falling behind. Then as you see the nose wheel strut extending on lead, you start rotating and try to get airborne at the same time as him. All went really well for me until we got airborne. Then I got screwed up with the T6's TAD, which stands for "Trim Aid Device." What it does is auto trim the rudder to a certain extent. As you know propellers cause alot of torque, resulting in both roll and yaw on the aircraft, depending on airspeed and power setting. Now the TAD tries to take some of that out to make life easier for the pilot, but sometimes I wonder whether it makes life better or worse. On some of the aircraft it works really well and when you take off, the rudder is almost trimmed. However, on some of the airframes it's terrible and you almost need to fight it to get trimmed. And guess which one I had today...Anyway once I got airborne I didn't have enough pressure on the right pedal and I was too late in noticing why I was drifting towards lead. Normally in formation flying, if you match the bank angle og lead, you will maintain your lateral position, so that's the first thing I looked for. But obviously, when you take off with an aircraft completely out of trim, you have to really anticipate all that. So I got airborne niocely and started drifting closer and closer to lead until I felt uncomfortable and so did the instructor who said the magic words: "I have control." He got me back in position and gave me back controls. From there it all went well. We did up to 60 degree bank turns with reversals today and it's funny how you feel like a complete retard every time you step up the bank angle. It's like it's something completely new.Tomorrow I'm on for Form5 and all that's left for next week is the pre test and the test, which bring me up on 90 X's, meaning that I'm done with the course! Have a good night. /GEA |
| Date | 15-09-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Tuesday 1850) Another two days and another two trips. Yesterday I had form 2 and today form 3. I learned alot yet somehow I felt that I didn't really advance since the last flight. But it's probably just my own expectations that makes it feel that way. I always raise my own standard bar from flight to flight and expect too much at times. Anyway I'm getting the hang of it and today all of the turns were up to 45 degrees of bank so it was a bit more sporty than the usual 30. When I think about it, the instructors must have balls of steel sitting there with a student who seems like he's continuously trying to bump into the other plane which is only ten feet away. But then if they're over-sensitive and take over control of the aircraft all the time, the student will never learn anything. Formation is probably the hardest part of the course, yet there are only six flights before the test. I'm not on tomorrow's programme, probably because of lack of instructors. /GEA |
| Date | 13-09-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Sunday 2000) Another weekend over. Friday COM and Ida invited all the Danes to their place for some hot dogs and beer and afterwards we all went to the mess and got drunk. After that we went to the Dane bar and got even more drunk. Some of us stayed there until about 0330 when TOP kicked us out because he had to go to bed. It was a good evening. The new Danes have some Italians on their course too. I knew the brother of one of them so it was easy to start chatting about flying and all. They'll all probably end up on the Typhoon after NFTC, unless things "go wrong" and they get to fly the AMX or the Tornado. This week the school soccer team is away in Toronto for the national championships. Three of us Danes are on the school team. Since the Danes on my course normally get about six slots per day it means that the three remaining Danes, including myself, will get two flights each tomorrow. So if we get two X's a day all week, it means that I'll be done with the course by Thursday. Then I don't know if they'll start me with 2B straight away or they'll give me some leave. Either way, I plan on taking a couple of days off in about a months time, in order to visit a second cousin of mine in Toronto. My car is almost sold and I write that with mixed feelings. If you've forgotten, mixed feelings is defined as when your mother in law drives off the cliff in your new car... Have a good night. /GEA |
| Date | 11-09-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Friday 1350) I got cancelled today so I had an easy day. This afternoon a friend of mine showed me the Hawk sim and let me have a quick go at it. It's a sweet plane and I can't wait to get on it. Everything has its drawbacks too, however. The cockpit is like stepping back 10 or 20 years compared to the Harvard. The nicest feature is the HUD (Head Up Display) which makes life so much easier, especially when you're trying to maintain altitude in a turn. All I did was a fly by at full speed down the runway, then an overhead break followed by the final turn and a touch and go. It's enough of a motivator for me to remind me of what's coming to me. For now, however, I can't wait for the next flight where we'll be "Cowboy 71 and 72, flight of two..." Have a great weekend! /GEA |
| Date | 10-09-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 1535) I had my first formation flight. It is so much fun but it's also alot of hard work just to stay in position. When you're flying straight and level you get the hang of it pretty quickly but once you start turning the work load just increases exponentially. Especially when you're on the inside of the turn. The weather was almost perfect for a first form trip. We had overcast at about 20,000 feet meaning that we had good light but the strong rays from the sun which make all the thermals and turbulence were almost non existing. I'm on the sched for FM2 tomorrow so I look forward to that indeed. I decided to call the first form trip a success. I didn't bump into the other guy and I know what to work on for next time, so things could have been worse, I suppose. /GEA |
| Date | 09-09-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Wednesday 1715) So they found me a wingman for the formation phase. I'll be doing my form phase with my drag-racing buddy, Colin. We got briefed about the whole thing today and afterwards we put our heads together and chair flew some formation with all the hand signals and radio calls. The procedures for formation flying are quite different from anything else so it's going to take some getting used to. The phase only consists of six instructional flights and the form test, so if all goes well I'll be done with the test by the end of next week. Then I'm not sure what will happen to me as I'll be the first Dane to have finished the course. Ideally they would say that I should start Phase 2B right away but knowing how things have worked out so far, they'll probably put me on hold until all the others are done with their course, which could be all the way until Christmas. If that turns out to be the case, I'll most probably ask for a vacation. So far I've only had one week vacation since we got here last year so it wouldn't hurt to do some more traveling. That's also one of the reasons why I'm farther ahead than all the others, because I've had least vacation. Anyway, tonight we have a Danish get together at one of the Danish instructors. It's one of many these days where the new guys just arrived. Lots of socializing, lots og cake and lots of calories. I'll let you know how form went tomorrow. /GEA |
| Date | 08-09-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Tuesday 2220) Not much has happened since Friday; not flying wise anyways. Saturday I spent most of the day with SVA, one of the new Danish guys who I've known for quite a while now. I showed him around in Moose Jaw and we spent some time looking for a car for him. Then Sunday he picked up the rest of the gang and now they're all here - all six of them. Yesterday was a public holiday, Labour day, and for Canadians it's almost like Christmas day... Today it was back to business, however I wasn't on the sched. Nor am I tomorrow for that sake. It's good with a little break as it gives me more time to properly prepare for formation flying, which is the last phase that I need to do in order to complete the course. So now I have just eight X's left, all formation flights. After that it's on to Phase 2B where it'll consist of more advanced formation, navigation and a cross country trip. I have three options in mind: Alaska, Seattle and San Francisco. If I can combine more than one of them in the event, it would be awesome, but let's just wait and see. I would also like to see the East coast and Toronto but that would mean long boring flights just to get there, whereas going to the West coast would mean flying through the rockies with lots of great scenery and exciting stops along the way. Stay tuned! /GEA |
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