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Hey everyone. I know it's been a little while but things have been going kind of slow around here. Because
of weather, mechanical difficulties or instructor scheduling, Mike and I have only flown a few times in the
past weeks, and the rides have all been very similar, heading to one of our transition bases, doing some
patterns and then coming back home. Fortunately we check in about 2 weeks so the standard routing will
be out the window and we'll be able to begin to get into the navigation phase of T-1's, which is what is really
the bulk of the program. This weekend we're headed to Naples, FL to go and chill out a bit...Ernesto
decided he wasn't going rock Florida so it looks like the weather should be pretty nice this weekend. Hope
everyone has a good holiday!

Hello there! Ok, so it's been like a month since I've written anything but honestly, it's taken this long before
anything new has come up. Mike and I had our transition checkride 3 weeks ago, and this week was the first
week I've flown since then. The checkride itself went very well. Checkrides in the T-1 are always interesting
because of the way in which the check pilot has to handle his situation as copilot. Because he is an active
member of the crew and has responsibilities for the safe operation of the aircraft even while you're flying
the plane, it is important that he get done what he needs to, however as a check pilot on a checkride, they
dont do ANYTHING unless you tell them to. You basically have to think for 2 people, exercising what they
call "good CRM" or crew resource management. Really what they are doing is teaching us to be responsible
for everyone's actions on board the aircraft as we will be as an aircraft commander...it's just a pain because
they act as though they know nothing, when in real life most copilots will know what they're doing (I hope)!
We flew to Huntsville, Alabama for our checkride and it went smoothly as did the general knowledge session
and EP at the end of the flight.
Since the checkride we had not flown until this week because it was the end of the fiscal year and the
squadron had essentially run out of money for flight hours, so in order to meet its annual budget it cuts
hours at the end of the fiscal year and it turns into a very relaxed week for everyone and turned into a 4
day weekend for us! Now that a new week is upon us it's the beginning of the new fiscal year and flying is
back in full swing, but we have now entered the Navigation phase, so things are a bit different. Planning for
each flight takes at least a few hours, and each day you can expect to be gone on the flight for a bit over 6
hours...much different than our 3 hour flights in transition. The nice thing is that on a normal flight we will
pick a location 3-400 miles away, fly there and do some practice approaches, full stop, grab some lunch
and then take off and do the same thing on the reverse side. Lunch is usually very cheap because the
FBO's at the airport will give us a deal. Since we buy thousands of dollars of gas from them every day, they
contract with local catering/restaurants and will give us lunch for free or at minimal cost to us (usually about
a dollar). So as you may have figured out, most of our flight planning revolves around who has the best
lunch deals...
Anyway, this week we flew every day which was exhausting but a lot of fun. Some of the places we visited
were Ft. Smith, AR, Chattanooga and Knoxville, TN, Lake Charles and Lafayette, LA, Dothan, AL and
Tallahassee, FL. Next week will be more of the same, and I promise I'll try and keep the site a bit more
current! Everyone have a good holiday weekend.

Hey everyone! Been a while again, I know. A lot has happened however, and things are beginning to wrap
up here in the nav phase. It's been very busy but a lot of fun picking a new place to go to every day,
heading off to lunch and then flying back. We had the opportunity recently to have our "team" sortie, a
flight where we're finally allowed to go "solo" in the jet! Ok, so it's not really solo, but close. Basically what
happens is you and your copilot (the other student that you've been flying with for all of nav phase) get to
take a jet up by yourself and go somewhere for lunch with a bunch of other students in your class. The
ride is monitored very closely by your IPs, as they are in one jet that took off well ahead of the group and
then there are a few more IP's lagging behind in case anyone has any problems. All in all however the
team sortie went very well and we ended up in Fayetteville, AR for lunch that day...some darn good
Arkansas barbecue sandwiches for sure!
In addition to nav phase we have also been flying a lot of low levels lately. Around here we're fortunate
enough to be near the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, so we've flown twice on VR1056, a
low level in those mountains which takes you through 4 different states winding in and out of valleys and
small canyons around mountains that reach up to 4 and 5 thousand feet tall. We've also flown a few more
instrument low level routes (routes you can fly in poor visibility) and another off station low level over the
beaches and coastline of Charleston, SC.
A great deal of time has also been studying to prepare for our nav phase check ride, probably the most
difficult check ride we are going to have in pilot training. It is a cumulative check of all the knowledge you
have gained and all of the skill you have attained over the past year or so and is really a 2 day event,
taking one day to plan everything you need for the following day of actually flying it.
Well, I'll be checking next week hopefully so check back then to see how things went!

Well, another checkride down and only one more to go! The Nav checks in our class have been going
exceptionally well, and we only have one more person to check before our entire class is finished, and he
happens to be going tomorrow. For myself, the checkride went very well, doing a low level route just south
of Jackson, MS and then flying a VFR leg down to Lake Charles, LA where we full stopped and grabbed
lunch at Chennault Airfield. We then took off for an approach or two into Acadiana Regional in Lafayette,
LA, then headed home! After the Nav check there wasn't much to do in terms of flying right away at least,
so our scheduler sent me on 2 copilot rides. These rides are designed so we become familiar with the
copilot duties on the aircraft as opposed to always being the "mission commander". The first copilot ride
was to Daytona Beach, FL..back to Embry Riddle! Mike and I were able to work this with our IP who was a
class ahead of us at school, so the 3 of us flew back to Daytona to meet up with some friends and have
lunch at the Ale House. On our way however, we flew an approach into the shuttle landing facility at Cape
Canaveral..check out the pics I posted of that. The runway is 17,000 feet long with the overrun, and we're
only allowed to do low approaches to it, but it was still pretty cool to see the vehichle assembly building
and launchpads etc. from the air as we flew past.
The second copilot ride was to St. Petersburg, FL. This flight accomplished quite a few things I've wanted
to do since we've started pilot training. First of all, there's this fix on an airway as you're headed towards
Tampa called HEVVN, pronounced "heaven". Well, since T-6's when I always heard all these airliners
request "direct hevvn", well, I too wanted to be cleared direct heaven, so we asked for itand were cleared
direct heaven that day....ok, I'm a dork, I know....Next we flew into St. Pete/Clearwater Int'l, did some touch
and go's, hopped over to MacDill and did some touch and go's there with a few KC-135's in the pattern,
then full stopped at St. Pete and went to lunch at the original Hooters in Clearwater. We met up with a
friend of mine I hadn't seen in a long time from Clearwater, then jumped back on the plane and headed
home after quite a trip.
Now I haven't flown for almost 2 weeks and have just been hanging out waiting for the senior class to finish
up air refueling and airdrop...then it's our turn. They graduate next Friday and then we officially become
the senior class. Our drop should come down late next week or early in the following....idk, after that trip to
MacDill it reminded me of how nice Tampa was and how KC-135's to that location would certainly be a
VERY nice assignment....we'll see if there are any in the drop...it just might be near the top of my list!

The drop is out and what a drop it is! There were something along the lines of 14 C-17's, 12 KC-135's, 5
KC-10's, a C-5 and a handful of AWACS and an RC-135 in the drop. It has been a pretty touch choice for
me in figuring out where I would like to go, and we have such a good class that I know competition is going
to be tough. Our IP's explained to us that it is important to think of your second and third choices almost as
first choices, because those are very well what you may end up with. We also have had quite a few
briefings from IP's who have flown several of the aircraft that we have to chose from which certainly helped
make my choice a bit easier. My dream sheet consists of 16 different choices, as the plane and base it is
associated with makes up one choice. My first 3 choices were C-17's to Travis, Charleston and McChord,
but in our class there are 8 people who want them and competition is tough, so my next choice in airplane
and location is a KC-135 to MacDill followed by the KC-10 options, the remainder of the KC-135's and then
the AWACS and RC. Now we just have to wait for xms break to pass and see what it is that comes our way!
Assignment night is the 5th of January so be sure to check back then to see what the result is!

The results are in....and drum roll please.......looks like I'm moving back to Florida!!! KC-135's to MacDill
was the assignment I was selected for and I can not be more thrilled to be heading down there! We ended
up having a great drop with 3 KC-135's, 7 C-17's, 3 KC-10's an AWACS and an RC-135 come down for
us. Absolutely incredible...many of the IP's were saying that this had been one of the better drops they had
seen in a long time, and its to the credit of our flight commander for fighting so hard to get us what we
wanted. I personally, am ecstatic that I am moving back to Florida, but this time I'm going to be on the West
side! All the things that I miss so much about being down there I'll be able to do once again, and this time
it'll be in what I think will be an even better place! The flying will also be incredible. MacDill is a beautiful
base on a peninsula that sticks out into the northern tip of Tampa Bay, surrounded by water. The
KC-135's that they have there are the recently upgraded KC-135R models with the more powerful
engines, and the flying that they do consists of a great deal of time spent in South and Central America
supporting drug interdiction efforts.
I just wanted to say congratulations to everyone who received their assignments last night, especially to all
those guys out at Laughlin that I spent so many months at Moody with. 4 more flights and a checkride and
I'm done! Graduation is on Jan 19th and the fam is coming down for that so I'm excited to show them
around. Keep checking back to see about my class dates for Altus and survival.

Well, that's it! I am officially an Air Force Pilot. I received my wings at our graduation ceremony which was
held on the 19th of January 2007. My parents flew in for it from Maine, and the graduation day was filled
with events for families and friends to see what it is we've been up to for the past year or so. In the
morning a graduation breakfast began the day where Col. Baker, the vice wing commander gave some
opening remarks and a presentation was made about what UPT has consisted of, what it has been like for
us over the past year, and what is in store for us over the next few. We then went to the graduation
ceremony itself where we were presented our wings one by one, and as we were called up on stage our
assignment aircraft and location were displayed on a screen behind us. The graduation went very well and
immediately after we all went out to the WIng building for the breaking of the wings ceremony. The story
goes such that the first pair of wings an air force pilot receives are supposed to be broken in half, with one
half being given to a loved one, the other half kept safe somewhere with the pilot. The idea is that by
breaking the first set of wings an aviator receives, it shall be the only set of wings that he "breaks" in his
flying career.
After the breaking ceremony there were static displays set up for the families to check out the aircraft that
we have flown, the simulators were open for students to bring their families into and show them a little
about how we do things, and of course, the graduation banquet was held later on in the night.
Next up is survival, Altus and then water survival, the dates for those being March 6, March 28th and Aug
28th respectively, and then I finally move to Tampa at the very end of August, beginning of September and
let me tell you....I can't wait to get back to Florida! First up is going to play with the bears in the woods of
eastern Washington however, I can honestly say that the only thing I am looking forward to that is having it
be over with. Keep reading and I'll let you know how survival went!