The road to my wings
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| Date | 08-08-2009 |
| Location |  |
| Message | (Saturday 0950) It was my first day back at work yesterday. Man what a cultural shock to get back from Hawaii to Moose Jaw. The weather had been bad here this week so that in itself was a big change. Actually it was so bad yesterday that I didn't get to fly. That means that I am now entitled to a review flight since it's been too long since my last flight. A review flight is basically a free ride where you practise what you did on the last flight as you've been off the schedule for too long. So on Monday I'm on for IF18RV1. Yesterday we had to do a five minute speech to the rest of the course, our course director, the school commandant and our Danish SNR. I had no idea about this and had only just found out the night before by coincidence. I made a quick power point presentation of the USS Missouri memorial and it actually worked out pretty well. It doesn't take much to talk for five minutes about something. The hardest part, I guess, is having to stay within the time limit. The speech is part of the Canadian officer development programme, where our SNR thought that we should also take part just for the fun of it. Then in the evening we (Danish students only) had a BBQ at TOP's place. It was good fun and the food was great too. My little boy had no problem staying up late as he's still used to the Hawaiian time zone more than the prarie one. JØR and myself have booked a practise sim for tomorrow morning as we're at about the same stage so we'll try work together. /GEA |
| Date | 04-08-2009 |
| Location |  |
| Message | (Tuesday 1535) Just got back from the USS Missouri memorial at Pearl Harbor. Man what a great ship - so much history. I wanted to take my little boy with me there but in a way I'm happy that I didn't. He would have gone nuts just on the 1½ hour bus trip there, not to mention waiting in lines and the guided tour which would have bored him to death. Also for me, this way I didn't have to think about diaper changes or food/water but I could just enjoy myself on the mighty battleship. Pearl harbor is still home of the US Pacific fleet so security is tight, especially in these terror-threat days. The ship itself is impressive. The smell of a warship is so distinct. As soon as I entered the ship, alot of memories came back from my childhood, when my uncle used to take me visit US Navy ships docked in at the harbour in Malta during their stops in the Mediterranean. It had always been a dream of mine to board a battleship as they truly are like no other ships. I had been on destroyers and aircraft carriers among others but never had the opportunity to see a battleship up close. And the Missouri is probably the pinnacle of battleships. It was on its decks that the Japanese leaders singned the surrender documents which ended WWII. It was also from its decks that the first of 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles was fired in Desert Storm in 1991. The Missouri was also hit by a Kamikaze aircraft in WWII and you can still see the dent on the side of its upper hull where the plane hit. When the sailors found the body of the dead Japanese pilot on the deck after the attack they wanted to throw it overboard but the captain of the Missouri said that the enemy officer would get an honourable military funeral, which took place the next day. Those were the days where there was honour in wearing a uniform. It was when you respected the enemy and the enemy respected you. Unfortunately those days have long gone. The enemies of today use civilians as shields and trick children and mentally retarded women in order to use them as suicide bombers - again to intentionally kill civilians. Tomorrow's our last day here at Hawaii. We plan to spend most of it at a water fun park which was voted the number one attraction in Hawaii, so it's gotta be good. It's not cheap, but hey, going to Hawaii is anything but cheap, so we want to get the most of it while we're here. Yesterday we rented a car and drove to the West and then to the East coast. Wow! What awesome beaches and when you drive through the mountains close to the East coast, the views are just spectacular. That's it for now. Next time I write will most probably be from Canada. /GEA |
| Date | 01-08-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Saturday 1520) Just a quick update from the island of Oahu. We're having a great time here and this place is just awesome. This afternoon both the wife and the little one were quite jet lagged so I went down to the beach to have a dip. Man it's wonderful. I always looked at any beach as just a beach, no matter where it was and how nice it was but I must admit that my opinion on the matter has changed. No wonder the sharks like it so much here. Beautiful warm water, plenty of food and plenty of nice ladies to choose from. I saw some F18's, P3's, KC135's and C17's fly by while I was down at the beach. I bet it's not such a bad life being a US Navy pilot stationed here in Hawaii... Most of the tourists here are Japanese. I guess the Americans from continental USA come here during the winter time to get away from the nasty winter weather while it's still practically summer here. One of the next days we'll rent a car and see the non-tourist part of the island. I really look forward to that. I made a detailed plan of what we have to see and in what order to do it so that we waste as little time as possible. Isn't Google Earth just an awesome programme? Later. /GEA |
| Date | 29-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Wednesday 1425) Finally my holidays have arrived. It's my first day off but I had alot of stuff to do here at home. We got an email from back home in Denmark that a water pipe has broken at our apartement and there's water all over the place. The parké floor is damaged and alot has to be done to get it dried up from beneath, get the insurance company to (hopefully) pay for the damage etc. Anyway, I had three missions this week. Two on Monday (a sim and a flight) and a sim yesterday as my flight got cancelled due to weather. I think I had switched my brain to "holiday mode" as none of those missions were particularly good. I got an A-HS for every one of them, so I guess it could have been worse too, but could have been better for sure... When I get back, my first mission will be a flight to Swift Current so I'm going to use a few hours reading about the rules and regulations enroute and over there. But hey, I guess it's not that bad doing some reading in the Hawaiian sunshine. That's it for now. Next time I update will probably be from the volcano islands in the Pacific with a US flag instead of the Canadian one. Aloha! /GEA |
| Date | 27-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Monday 0840) I have IF18 in a couple of hours time. That flight is mostly about upgrading some of the stuff that I've already done. Then this afternoon I have IF13S where I'll learn about IFR flight planning and how to do the "En-route" stuff. This first sim will be a flight to Swift Current, which is about 150km from here. I'll probably have another flight tomorrow but then on Wednesday it's weekend for me as I have a week off. Friday we fly to Hawaii. It's going to be great to get away from here for a bit and just relax before coming back to finish my IF part of this course. The IF part ends with the "BIT run" which stands for "Basic Instrument Test." The flight consists of taking off from here, flying to either Saskatoon or Regina, doing holds, point to points and approaches and then flying back here. So when I get back from my vacation I have about six IF flights before the test. After that it'll be time to start the Low level navigation phase, which only consists of seven flights and the Nav test. After Nav it's on to one, yes only one, night flight and then it's the formation phase, which again only consists of six flights and the test. So as you can see, the end of Phase 2A is almost in sight now... /GEA |
| Date | 25-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Saturday 0910) When you get up Saturday morning and you're full of cuts and bruises and your wife says that you stink of alcohol you know you've been playing crud at the mess the night before. We had a great solo party and I roasted my instructor well without getting too personal or embarassing him too much. I finished off on a good note. My last words about him were about how polite he really is. Here's how I found out: Once I was flying with him and just before a touch and go he tells me "GEA, try to keep the attitude not higher than 5-7 degrees nose up when you take off again." I replied promptly "Yes, sir!," landed the plane, gave power and took off again. And just as I do it I go directly to about 8-9 degrees nose up as I always used to do and while I'm doing it I'm thinking: "Oh shit! He told me just 10 seconds ago not to do this and I'm doing it again..." So I'm sitting there waiting for him to start swearing at me or throwing his approach plates at my head or something but instead he went: "GEA, PLEASE keep the attitude at 5-7 degrees" Anyway we had a few good laughs and a few drinks together. One of our Canadian class mates is getting married next month so we have his bachelor party today, starting with paintball at 1130. Yeah, let's go get a few more bruises... /GEA |
| Date | 24-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Friday 1735) Just got back from the golf course. It was so much fun. I'd never played golf before but I think I can get used to it. So nice and relaxing especially after a day like that. Looking back at the flight, it was one of my better CH flights. I just got my shit together and made it happen - and that's what it's all about. He said that I had a few minor errors but I picked them up as soon as they happened and corrected them straight away. At one point during my Clover Leaf, right when I was inverted on top of the manoever, I see this freakin plane coming right at me at 12 o'clock. So I called "conflicting traffic" and aborted the manoever by rolling to about 90 degrees and pulled hard away from the other guy. I don't even think they saw us as right after I pulled away they initiated a loop. Had they seen us, they would have flown away before doing any aerobatics. The plane was probably further away than I remember it being but it looked huge on my windscreen. That's it for now. I'll taka a shower and head to the mess. /GEA |
| Date | 24-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Friday 1255) OK so I got debriefed by the snapper and it went well. Almost all of the sequences were level 5 and some were "big" level 4's, very close to level 5 so I got the freakin snake. He said it was easily a Standard Exceeded trip so there's nothing to worry about. Now it's time for golf this afternoon, getting drunk and then roasting my instructor for the solo party at 1900. Have a great weekend! I certainly will!! /GEA |
| Date | 24-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Friday 0920) My test is in just over one hours time. I have to be briefed by a Bandit flight instructor and then by the snapper afterwards. The weather is to my advantage. Light winds with little crosswind component, clear blue skies and good visibility. The only things against me are the heat (about 30C today) and thermals which will create a whole bunch of turbulence and make life more challenging at low altitude. That's it for now. I'll update again when I get back down, probably around 1230-ish at the earliest. /GEA |
| Date | 23-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 1130) I did CH18 this morning. All went ok but could have been better. Unfortunately I felt that I wasn't too concentrated so I did a few stupid errors. All minor stuff but they count none the less and on a Pre-test they always count a bit extra. I got an Achieved which is ok but on the good side of things the instructor said that I can snake the test if I do things at my normal standard on the day. So far two Danes have been up for the test and both got an Achieved. Seven Canadians have been up and four have failed, the rest didn't get higher than achieved. The Canadian that failed today failed before he had even taken off. He got take off clearance and the wind had more than 15kt cross wind factor which would put you out of solo limits and on a test you have to fly as if you were solo in the plane. So as soon as he gave power and took off, the snapper told him to rejoin for a stop and that was basically that. It takes so little to fail these tests and even more to just get a bad grade. I hope I get to fly my test tomorrow. My aerobatics were pretty good today and I still feel confident about the test even thought I did a few screw ups today. I'll do some studying and chair flying today and get some proper rest and then I should be good to go tomorrow. That's it for now. Cross your fingers for me. /GEA |
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