The road to my wings
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| Date | 19-11-2008 |
| Location |  |
| Message | (Wednesday 0955) COM was on the flying programme yesterday but his flight got cancelled due to aircraft unavailability. So we figured that he would be put on today's programme but having been outdoors this morning, we doubt if anyone's going to fly at all today. We had freezing rain again last night - not alot of it but still. As you can imagine it's not exactly ideal flying conditions. Freezing rain falls as supercooled water drops, which means that their temeperature is below freezing but they're still in liquid form. The problem is that they freeze to ice and stick as soon as they hit something. Apart from that we have heavy winds and very low, thick clouds so things look quite hopeless today. All we can do is stand by and be prepared to be prepared. /GEA |
| Date | 17-11-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Monday 1310) We had the VFP AR exam this morning, standing for Visual Flight Procedures Air Regulations. I got 100% correct answers so there's not much to complain about there. After that we had a couple of lessons in Flight Safety and afterwards I went and got my egress trainer renewed as we have to get it done every 30 days and mine was about to run out. At lunchtime I went downtown to pick up my car as it was at an authorised Ford mechanic. I had a small problem with the elctric windows and while that had to be fixed I got an oil change and a service and got the wheels rotated in order to wear them down evenly. They also did some electronic upgrades for me, and hell; they even washed and vacuumed the car inside out so it looks new once again! All that for just $108. Unbelievable! Back home it would have costed at least 15 times as much just for a normal family car - and then when they hear Ford Mustang GT they would probably times the number with a new factor just because it's a sports car. It's also strange to think about that fact that I'm paying much less in insurance for it than I paid back home for a family car. Oh well, you have to enjoy such previlages while they last. Perhaps I should wait with putting it for sale. I will hate myself the day it gets sold no matter how much I get for it. That's it for now. I strongly believe that we'll be flying by the end of the week or the beginning of next week. Stay tuned. /GEA |
| Date | 14-11-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Friday 1215) We had the IFP test this morning. I didn't do too well as I only got 92%. 92 might sound good but think of it this way: If all pilots only know nine out of ten things that they should know, and this would also apply to Air Traffic Controllers, aircraft mechanics and other personnell in the flight business; then there would be alot of holes in the system and the errors caused by the human factor would be on the increase. Considering that human errors are responsible for over 80% of aviation accidents and incidents, I'm sure that this number could be reduced considerably if all pilots knew all their shit. Anyway, now it's time for the afternoon Met briefing. Have a good weekend! I got another snake for yesterday's sim by the way. /GEA |
| Date | 13-11-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 1310) In one hour I have the briefing for the first Clear Hood sim where I'll be practising slow flight, stalls, descents etc. The sim itself is in two hours. Otherwise not much news from "the Jaw." Tomorrow we have the first progress test in Instrument Flight Procedures and it's not an easy one. IFP is a hard subject and there's alot of stuff to remember. Among other things there are alot of rules of thumb for how to calculate your ground speed, your turn radius and so on and you have to be able to use them in the air. The best part of the day these days is when I get home in the evening and open the door and my little boy just runs to me and says "dada." Nothing beats that. But man I can't wait to start flying! Tomorrow we have the welcome party for the new guys who just started the course. I think we're going to have alot of fun and hopefully the new guys from 0809 will enjoy it even more. /GEA |
| Date | 11-11-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Tuesday 1925) Today was a public holiday here in Canada, one of the few ones during the year actually. It was Rememberance day where all the fallen Candian troops during WWI and WWII are remembered and people wear a poppy on their chest as a sign of rememberance. It's a good tradition to have as people will always be aware of those who paid the ultimate price for the freedom that we enjoy today. Tomorrow it's back to school and hopefull it won't be long before my next sim ride and my first flight in the aircraft. /GEA |
| Date | 10-11-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Monday 1115) I had my CPT3 this morning and it went excellent. I felt ahead of the aircraft all the time which is the way it should be. I practised all the checks, take off, climb, level off, airspeed changes, turns, climbing turns, landing and all the radio calls. It was good fun and I cannot wait to strap into the real thing and get airborne. Next on my flying programme will be the first Clear Hood sim, where I'll practise slow flight characteristics, stalls and recoveries among other things. From now on I have to be prepared for a couple of flights ahead at least. Apparently the school had decided that our class was going to do the first three flights in the sim instead of the real aircraft due to the flying programme being so behind. However it's not going to be the case for us Danes. I guess our government didn't pay $2 million per person so that we could fly a sim. That's the good side of the contract. Another good side is that we'll be the ones finishing the course at around the date when we should. I fell sorry for my Canadian class mates because of the situation but that's life. Now I'm off to lunch. Later on we have a couple of Meteorology classes and I have the afternoon shift in Bandit flight with a few tasks to be done. /GEA |
| Date | 09-11-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Sunday 2050) We had the baptism of the son of one of the Danish instructors today. The mass took part at the base church and then we attended the party at the instructor's home. We had a good time. So did we yesterday evening when COM and his girlfriend had their House warming at their new home and all of our class was invited and also the senior Danish students. It seems that I'm the only Dane on tomorrow's sim programme, where I'll be doing my CPT3. The sim ride is at 0800, which means that briefing is at 0700. I hate waking up when it's still pitch black outside but I better get used to it. Being the only one on tomorrow's programme means that after my CPT3 I'll be on the same level as the other Danes and not behind anymore. It feels good but at the same it's a bit intimidating as I have a feeling that things are really going to accelerate rapidly this week. Just bring it on! I uploaded another video on my youtube channel by the way. My channel is called F16GEA if you didn't know. The video is from last week's water entry and dinghy drill. Hope you like it. The next video I upload might be from an actual flight, but that might take a while. Two of our mates from the Academy who are now in Alabama doing their helicopter pilot training went solo last week. They started way after us and are now way ahead of us. And I bet it's warmer there too. Do I sound pessimistic?! /GEA |
| Date | 07-11-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Friday 2130) Finally I have internet once again at home. It has been hell not having net at home. I got my grade for CPT2 and it's another snake. I think that all Danes got a snake in all three CPT's but I'm not sure. It's just a WAG. On Monday I'm on the programme for the last CPT and then it's on to Clearhood sims and actual Clearhood flying. Clearhood is basically visual flying where you use outside references like the horizon etc to relate yourself to instead of looking down at the instruments. It's contact flying and slowly evolves into aerobatics after having done slow flying, stalls and spins and unusual attitudes. It's also learning the basics like how to take off and land the aircraft. During my CPT today I got an engine failure on one of my take offs. The Harvard II is really good in this matter. I had just become airborne when the alarms came on so I just lowered the nose and landed on what was left of the runway. The runway was about 8500 feet long and after having taken off, aborted, landed and stopped, I still had over 4000 feet of runway left ahead of me, so it's nice to know that the aircraft accelerates fast but also decelerates fast. One common error for new pilots is that they overspeed the flaps or landing gear. They have to be retracted by 147kts and it really doesn't take many seconds for the plane to reach that speed. Oh yes, WAG means Wild Ass Guess by the way... /GEA |
| Date | 07-11-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Friday 1310) Just debriefed my CPT2. It went ok, yet I had the feeling that it went worse than yesterday. Perhaps it's because I had greater expectations. Anyway, I got a "snake" for yesterday's CPT, which is slang for "Standard exceeded" which is the highest grade. Hopefully I'll carry on this track but only time will tell. I suppose I'll get my grade for today's CPT later on today. What's left on the programme is a couple of lessons in Meteorology and then at 1600 we have a Dodge ball tournament in the gym. It's a chatrity event so all teams pay $10 per player and the money go for charity. It's going to be good fun I think, yet our team isn't taking it too seriously so we're probably not gonna make it too far... We had the cold weather briefing this morning and cold weather is much more dangerous than you might imagine. Frost bites are very common when it's so cold and if you're not careful you can lose limbs, and in worst case you can die of hypothermia. I got my jackets and multiple layers of underwear ready! Back to school. /GEA |
| Date | 06-11-2008 |
| Location | |
| Message | (Thursday 1325) Today I had my first CPT, which is basically the first simulator ride, where you practise cockpit procedures. My instructor for the ride was an ex F18 pilot who he had alot of words of wisdom for me. I learned alot and it was good fun to finally flip some switches and feel the aicraft through the sim. I even got to do a take off, a circuit and brought her back in for a landing. Tomorrow I'm on for CPT2, which will be a bit more advanced, so I'll make sure that I'm just as prepared and always a few steps ahead of the programme. I look forward to it. Apart from that, we have a two hour cold weather briefing tomorrow morning which I'm quite curious about. The weather has been below freezing these last couple of days and the way it looks, it seems that it's only going to get colder from now on. Unfortunately there's been no flying these last couple of days due to icing conditions in the low cloud cover that we have. Hopefully the skies will clear soon so that people can start getting airborne once again. It looks like some of us at least, will be airborne next week if all goes to plan. Let's wait and see. /GEA |
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