The road to my wings
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| Date | 22-07-2009 |
| Location |  |
| Message | (Wednesday 0915) Yesterday I went up to do the remainder for CH17 but once again we had to abort the flight - after an hour this time - due to me not feeling too well. In siutuations like that it's best to get down on the ground. Military flying is very demanding, both physically and mentally, and if you're not on top the best option is to be on the ground. It's better to be down here wishing you were up there than being up there wishing you were down here... So we did the remainder of this flight this morning in the first wave. Next is the ICHT pre-test. I'm not on the sched for it today but I might be put on if the opportunity arises. Other than that we have our solo party this Friday. That means that we'll go golfing from about noon and then afterwards we'll head to the mess for the solo roast. The roast is a Canadian tradition, where the student gets to say all the nasty things he can say about his up-to-solo-instructor from what he has experienced with him during his flights. The bad thing is that when you're done, then it's the instructors turn to roast you with your screw ups. So you have to be careful what to say as what goes around, comes around. I have a few things on him as I was quick to write them down in order not to forget them during the briefings and flights every time he did something abnormal. I do have a fear however, that he knows about my online diary, which in turn would give him ALOT of ammunition. /GEA |
| Date | 20-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Monday 1700) I got airborne today, but not for long. During the climb out at about 8000 feet we heard a bang which sounded like something had hit the plane. None of us had seen any birds and all instruments showed normal indications. So I continued climbing out to the area but as I levelled off and started accelerating to 220kt we could hear a whining sound, like something was dragging in the wind. I thought it was one of the gear doors but eventually we found out that it was a small panel on the side of the fuselage which had come open. Apparently after the ground crew investingated it they found a shoe print on it, so it had probably somehow been kicked and broke. The panel is located close to the "foot" hole which is used for climbing into the back seat so someone might have mistaken it for that. Anyway we didn't get in the air again and we'll do the remainder of the flight tomorrow. I'll upload a few more pictures from this weekends airshow tonight... /GEA |
| Date | 19-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Sunday 2235) I uploaded a few pictures from yesterdays airshow. Unfortunately the internet connection is rather slow tonight so I'll try to upload the rest tomorrow. Hang in there; there's more where they came from! I also uploaded a video from Thursday's flights on Youtube. My Youtube channel is called dkF16GEA if you didn't know. I hope you enjoy watching the video as much as I enjoyed filming it; but let me warn you in advance: You probably won't... Tomorrow it's back to business. Friday I grounded myself because of a cold and the doctor thought it was wise not to fly in case that I couldn't clear my ears up there. Hopefully I get ungrounded tomorrow morning and then it's back to business. I'm on the sched for CH17 which is the last CH trip before the pre-test for the ICHT. So hopefully I'll fly tomorrow, and then I'll do the pre-test Tuesday and hopefully the ICHT on Wednesday. The same way that the IIT is probably the easiest test on the course, the ICHT is probably the hardest one. So far only four Canadians from our course have done it. Two failed and two passed with just an Achieved Standard. I'll do my best as always. The good thing is that I'm flying great at the moment and that I feel really confident about the test. To be honest I really look forward to it. This has been another good weekend. I wish the summer would never end. At one point during the airshow yesterday, I looked at hamster and said: "We're so damn lucky, dude!" He agreed. I'm thankful to be here. Even if this great adventure should end right here, right now, all my life I will look back and think of my time in the Air Force as the best time in my life. I'm not here to prove anything, to satisfy anyone or to try and do something that no-one's ever done before. I'm here for me, for the love of flying and my passion for aviation. I'm thankful to have what it takes and to have had the chance to find that out for myself. No one can ever take all those great times and all those experiences from me. /GEA |
| Date | 19-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Sunday 0950) Hamster and I went to Minot, North Dakota yesterday for the airshow. It was a fun day and the weather was great. The drive there took about 4 hours. We took my Mustang as it's most comfortable and most fun to drive. It's on trips like that when I appreciate what a great car it really is. Most of the roads on the way were as smooth as silk, long stretches of straights with smooth curves and sometimes you wouldn't see a car in either direction for 10 minutes! It's funny to think that the first time I saw a B52 was at the Malta airshow in 1998 (I think it was) and I clearly remember the day before the airshow when we were told that the B52 had just left its base in North Dakota and was on its direct trip to Malta. And now I was going to see the same B52 again, this time at their home in Minot, ND! The airshow itself was actually ok too. I noticed that the main difference between US and European airshows is that over here, the airshows are more about the poeple who perform, rather than the aircraft they're flying. Back home I would only be interested in what planes are making it to the airshow but here it's more about who the guy inside the cockpit is. They're treated like heroes and even though they might just fly a Cessna, the flying was awesome. There were a few disappointments too. The B1 never made it in the air. The B2 and U2 only made a few passes, rather high over the runway, and the West Coast F16 solo display from Hill AFB was just terrible. It neither showed what the plane is capable of, nor what the pilot can do. Nothing like the European F16 demos which really put the aircraft to its paces. Otherwise the B52's were awesome to see! There were also a KC135 & KC10, A10's, F15E's, F16's and the B1 on static display. I'll upload a few pictures later on today or tonight... On the way home we noticed underground silos, all surrounded by fence, cameras, a radar dish receiver and a sign that warns about trespassing and that "lethal force is authorized if you trespass." They were spread all over ND, close to the highways and I had a feeling that they were ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) with nuclear warheads. They were ICBM's indeed and they would be the last thing you'd see if you ever saw them in action... /GEA |
| Date | 16-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 2125) I did CH16A this afternoon and it was great fun. I wasn't in top shape but I made the best out of the trip anyways. My g-tolerance was pretty low. I had alot of symptoms at 5g so I dropped the plan of going to 7g. Among other things I did a full Clover Leaf (4 clover quarters) for the first time. Then after all the aerobatics I went home for the usual pattern work. At one point during the pattern work I asked for a closed pattern directly to high key but was denied because of traffic. So I joined the traffic pattern and half way down on downwind leg tower calls me up and asks if I'm still interested in going to high key, this time from present position. I had never tried that before but it sounded like an awesome plan. So I called back "Affirm, going to high key, thanks, Bandit 802." On downlind leg in the pattern you have 220kt which means that you have alot of energy. So I did a 5g zoom and was up at high key altitude in no time. I kept full power until I was close to high key in order to keep spacing tight with other traffic and when I was close to getting there, I went idle power, did a 4g, 180 degree turn and put the gear down as soon as I rolled out - and I was in position for high key and started my PFL. It's great to experiment abit and be creative while staying within limits. CH16A is a great trip but in a way it's sad too. Apart from the fact that you get to do all the fun stuff on your own, it's also the last solo CH trip... /GEA |
| Date | 16-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 1415) I did CH16 this morning. It was a great trip with alot of aerobatics. After I was done with that, one of the instructors joined up on our wing and the two instructors did some formation training. Fortunately I had my camera with me so I got some nice pictures and video. It was actually hard after the aerobatics to go into formation where they constantly pulled 3-4g's for the 20 minutes duration of formation and you're not flying but just sitting there as ballast. After they were done doing form, I got controls and flew us back for a PFL and a bunch of pattern work. The traffic pattern was quite busy too with planes all over the freakin place, so I was well wasted after the flight. Next on the programme is CH16A in a couple of hours time. I can't wait to get up there and do some more aerobatics, on my own this time. /GEA |
| Date | 15-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Wednesday 2005) Finally I did CH15 after three weeks without any CH flying. It was a good flight and I learned alot even though most of it was repetition of the stuff I'd done up until now in preparation for the ICHT which is the CH test. The ICHT is CH19 so there's not alot of flights left to polish what I know and get rid of all the small errors. Out in the area I started with the g-awareness check to find out my daily tolerance, which was better than I'd expected. Afterwards I did a spin, a loop, a cloverleaf and a couple of cuban eights. All was pertty good. Then the instructor gave me a simulated compressor stall so I returned home for a PFL and after that I did a bunch of pattern work including a flapless approach and landing, closed patterns, PFL's and overhead breaks. Tomorrow I'm on the sched for CH16 and CH16A. Oh yes, 16A is a solo flight where I get to do all the manoevers that I've learned so far so I look forward to that. I'll ask the instructor if I can take my camera with me on CH16 so that I can take some pictures in the air. So by the looks of it, this is going to be a productive week. A sim on Monday, two IF flights yesterday, a CH flight today and two tomorrow and maybe two more on Friday... Friday is also the day where the school gets change of command meaning that we get a new commandant. For the occasion they'll be doing a 12 ship Harvard formation. I've been asked to take my camera equipment with me...so I will! /GEA |
| Date | 14-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Tuesday 1020) CH15 got changed to IF16 as the weather was overcast at 800 feet and 2 mile visibility. It was perfect weather for an IF trip. IF16 is really a practise flight where you practise anything that you need to do with GPS approach as the only new thing. So the instructor asked me what I wanted to do on the flight and I opted for going in the radar square. The radar square is basically where you stay in an IFR pattern around the airport so that you can do several approaches. So we did five or six approaches, all different types. Some were done with vectors and some with point to point transitions. It was great fun to get down to minimas and just barely be able to see the runway lights once you get close. But doing six different approaches with all that goes with them keeps you REALLY busy at all times so it was an intense flight. We didn't get any tornados yesterday but we did get a nasty thunderstorm with heavy rainfall. I took my little boy to the window and we watched the storm from there. He enjoyed it but did seem a bit scared at times... I'm on the schedule for a flight in the last wave at 1640 so I have plenty of time to prepare but let's just wait and see how the weather developes. /GEA |
| Date | 13-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Monday 1845) CH15 got cancelled due to the weather deteriorating this afternoon, so instead they put me on for IF12S in order for me to fly the next IF trips if the weather is not suitable for CH flying. IF12S was basically all new stuff. I departed to Regina, did a LOC/BC (Localizer back-course) approach and then headed to Moose Jaw for a GPS approach. I felt busy all the time even though it was in the sim. The GPS has alot of functions and wven though they're there to help you and increase your SA, when you're not used to using the GPS, it ends up taking alot of your SA while setting it up and getting it to show what you want to see. But like everything else it's all about practise I guess. The sim went well afterall so I look forward to trying those two approaches in the aircraft. I'm on the schedule for tomorrow morning at 0800 for CH15 (again!) but it seems like the weather isn't going to cooperate. That's what it's like in the praries. You could have really great weather in the morning and then by the afternoon, those innocent looking clouds have built up so much that you typically get thunderstorms. Today we even have Tornado warnings for the region so we're expecting the worst. I have a baseball game this evening but I think I'll skip it... /GEA |
| Date | 10-07-2009 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Friday 1205) Did IF15 this morning with point to point transitions as new work as opposed to the usual vectors for an approach. The approaches I flew were the ILS/DME and then on the overshoot I got another point to point transition for the VOR/DME. All went really well so not much to complain about. The instructor said he was sitting there crying because my approach was so beautiful. I told him he was full of crap and we just had a laugh. The weather was cloudy and actually IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) so it made it more fun to come out of the coulds on the approach and find the runway in front of you. Good way to end the week, however as the clouds start clearing I might get put on the schedule for another trip in the afternoon, so it might not be the last event of the week afterall. In this case it would be CH15 if I get to fly again today. I haven't flown CH flights in about two weeks now so I might feel a bit rusty up there with all the CH stuff. This weekend we rented a canoe so we're going down to the river between the city and the base. It should be pretty nice and if the weather keeps improving we'll have a great time. /GEA |
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