Well, we hit the flightline last Wednesday evening and needless to say it has been awesome!  Yes the days are loooong, and yes there is A LOT to try to understand, but I have to be honest, it is fun, because this is stuff that I enjoy learning about.  The amount of information intake has just about tripled.  It’s not too bad if you can remain focused on flying all day long.  Believe me, that is exactly what you have to do. 

            The IP’s are all decent people and I am very impressed with their work ethic. This place would suck if all the students were made to work their tails off and the IP’s were lazy, but that is not the way it is.  They work just as hard as we do.  I am impressed.  I am sure I will learn to hate a few of them, not personally but because they grill my ass when the time comes. 

            On that note, it is hard to get “grilled”, for me anyway, because I actually look forward to being told when I am wrong (not by the wife, but by the IP’s).  Because as long as they take the time to tell me that I am wrong, they are going to take the time to explain to me the right way to do something, which, uhhh, I guess is the point.  Whenever I get a little nervous about doing something, I just say to myself “Do your best and whatever you screw up, try not to screw it up again.

            LONG DAYS.  We have had show times around 5:00am and that makes for an early morning.  You stay in your flightroom for 12 hours mandatory.  You can only leave to go to the bathroom, go to a simulator, go fly, or go practice in the LINKS trainer.  It makes some of my classmates go crazy, and I’ll admit, I miss seeing the outside and breathing the air (So far, no flights for me, scheduled for my dollar ride tomorrow).

            All in all, it is a lot of study and work, but it is also fun if you have a good attitude.  Bad attitude = the big shit time in UPT.  You are here to get wings, yes, but be honest with yourself, you are here to learn to be the best damn pilot in the world.  Be willing to work.

            I’ll give you a mere hint of what we have to memorize every night.  Here are the Notes, Warnings, and Cautions associated with just one of the Boldface procedures that we have to know.  You stand up in front of everyone and spout this stuff off and if you screw it up, you remain standing……like an idiot.

Boldface for “One Engine Failure, Fire, Overheat during Flight (Affected Engine)”

Throttle – Retard

Fuel Shutoff T-Handle – Pull – Off

Throttle – Cut – Off

And here are the associated Notes, Warnings, and Cautions (1N, 5W, 1C)

1W – If Smoke and/or Fumes are accompanied by fluctuating fuel flow, excessive EGT, erratic engine operations, roughness

or

A steady red light in the Fuel Shutoff T-handle that does not extinguish

or

a flashing red light in the fuel shutoff t-handle that does not extinguish, indicating a fire rather than an overheat:

Continue with the Boldface.

2W – If a Flashing red light in the fuel shutoff t-handle extinguishes after retarding the throttle, Abort the mission and land as soon as conditions permit.

3W - If a steady red light in the fuel shutoff t-handle extinguishes after retarding the throttle, continue with the Boldface, unless special circumstances dictate that the engine should remain or is safe to remain in operation.

4W – If the fuel flow indicator does not immediately drop to a reading of 100pph, then it is possible that the fuel flow shutoff valve has malfunctioned, thus allowing continued fuel flow to the engine or fire.

5W – If the fuel flow shutoff valve has malfunctioned, check the Fuel Flow circuit breaker and reset if necessary

1N – If a steady red or blinking red light extinguishes after retarding the throttles, be sure to push the test actuator switches on both T-handles in order to determine if the system is working correctly, if not, then proceed with search for fire.

1C – High outside air temperatures can cause the remaining engine, at Military power, to have an overheat situation when the air conditioning is still engaged.

Now, I know that you read that and are like, hey no big deal, however, imagine concentrating for 12 hours solid, coming home, running or working out, eating dinner and then getting right back into the books for about 3 hours and having not only to memorize this well enough to get up in front of everyone and spout it off (The boldface is verbatim, no umms, or uhhhs, or stutters, or ANYTHING).  Not only that, but what I just wrote is only about ½ of what I have to know for tomorrow morning stand-up at 5:30am.  And, I had to know (memorize) twice as much for yesterdays.  Twice as much for today, and I understand that the Notes, Warnings, and Cautions for tomorrow night are really long.

            So to sum up, and get back to studying, when you get here, come ready to play.

ps – had my first Sim today, it was a blast, I am finally getting into the plane soon, WAHOO!