Prayer for a Pilot - Cecil Roberts

Lord of Sea and Earth and Air,
Listen to the Pilot's prayer-
Send him wind that's steady and strong,
Grant that his engine sings the song
Of flawless tone, by which he knows
It shall not fail him where he goes;
Landing, gliding, in curve, half-roll-
Grant him, O Lord, a full control,
That he may learn in heights of Heaven
The rapture altitude has given,
That he shall know the joy they feel
Who ride Thy realms on Birds of Steel

Change of plan(e)s

My last 4 flights were good memories. They were low-level Out-and-backs to Oklahoma City on Monday and Lawton on Tuesday. I flew my last two with the IP who gave me my dollar ride. The weather was just unbelievable, we flew the whole thing in 2-ship tactical formation and ate Chick-fil-A while stopped in Lawton. Can't ask for much better than that. T-6s ended well.

I had known for about a week that I might get re-tracked to fly T-44s down at Corpus Christi NAS because I struggled so much in T-6s, and I found out for sure yesterday from my Flight Cmdr. I have awhile before the move, but this curveball from life should actually really work to my advantage. The Navy training is a little more self-paced and laid back. I also have a much better shot at actually flying something that being a UAV operator. I'm excited to start something new and live somewhere else, despite the negative. At least Someone sees the big picture. It's lookin' up!

T-6 Checkride Complete

I passed my Final Contact check today with only 3 downgrades - the best checkride I've ever had. It was a lot of fun too. The weather was great, and I knew a ton of people were praying for me and thinking about me. So thanks again! The flight was generally uneventful and my patterns were fine, but some of my area maneuvers and aerobatics weren't very pretty. Being finished with checkrides for now is a great feeling.

We had our official T-6 pictures taken this afternoon. The photographer was willing to take all the pictures we wanted, but had to get a couple official ones without sunglasses, etc. Never satisfied to be at the mercy of another organization, we setup our own camera and my neighbor "developed" these himself.

Bookends

I flew my last instructional sortie today. It went really well. I flew my aerobatics in the high area which gave me a few issues, but I flew all the maneuvers pretty well and came back for some decent patterns. I happened to fly with the same IP who gave me my dollar ride, which lends itself to the narrative. Tomorrow's my final T-6 checkride. I feel good about it. Thanks for all the prayers and support! I'm certainly not doing this on my own strength - and that applies to my entire life.

Counting down

I flew a ton of patterns today. They were totally fine in regards to a checkride, but I will always have things to work on. Everyone always wants to really grease their landings. Mine were on speed, where I wanted to touchdown and definitely safe, but just not great passenger landings. My procedures were pretty solid, but my area work could still use polish. I feel good about the upcoming check though.

My IP was the same one I had regularly way back at the beginning, so it was good to talk with him again and get his perspective on some things. One more prep ride before Thursday.

Checkride Prep

Flew just ok today. Not stellar. I had a solid sortie overall, including an ILS to a low approach and ASR to a touch and go, but my two ELPs were trashy and I was struggling with the crosswind controls.

After flying today, we got a tour of RAPCON, radar approach control, all the people we talk to everyday, but never see.

Form check PASSED!

Feelin' good in the neighborhood...My formation buddy and I both passed our form check today. We had our share of downgrades, but as they say, "A kill's a kill." Let me detail all the typical checkride day events that occurred:
- We were on the opposite runway that we're usually on, especially for this time of year, which changes the departure/arrival procedures and just messes with your typical flow.
- I went to step and found out my G-suit had been condemned and had to get fitted for a new one right then. The life support dudes took care of me though.
- We chairflew the whole profile twice through with me winging out and leading back, but when we briefed it up, the IPs decided to have me lead out and wing back.

Despite all this, we flew a solid sortie, and managed to avoid doing anything hookable. Thank you, God.

To Check

Today we flew our to-check, the final ride before our checkride tomorrow. It felt like we had been sitting for two days, but we didn't do anything too terrible. We chairflew tonight to iron out the wrinkles, so we should be good to go tomorrow. I expect good things. Must relax.

No airplane, no fly

I was on the schedule for the final flight before form check today, but the other guy's aircraft broke on the taxi out, and when they stepped to a spare we realized they were breaking one of the regs that dealt with temperature restrictions and how long they could be outside given the previous sorties the IP had already flown that day, so we had to ground abort. Bummer. Dinner at B-Dub's. Check Friday.

Late night

Pretty much got the runaround today as far as scheduling goes. I showed up not on the schedule, got put on the schedule, switched IP's, switched back, was told the line was canceled but maybe something else would show up, briefed up anyways, was told the line was really canceled, then back to not flying at all. Classic UPT. I was recorder for the night flying go, which ended up being really boring.

Lunch at Hibiscus was nice though.

Rusty Mondays

Flew form again today with some fluid maneuvering. My formation buddy and I were both a little rusty, but we hammered out a few details that should help us on the last two rides. Probably the worst thing I did today was change direction in the middle of leading a barrel roll - so much for wingman consideration. None of that anymore. Fluid maneuvering is pretty cool, since it's the precursor to BFM, but it adds just a bit too much to the profile, so I'm glad to be rid of it for now. I want to focus on the checkride profile.

We're not scheduled to fly tomorrow, which will give us even more time to chairfly our profile and talk it out. Checkride scheduled for Thursday. I really appreciate the prayers.

It's been really hot lately, we're getting the real Wichita Falls weather. I don't appreciate it.

Check out this documentary if you have time:
Speed and Angels

It's about the Navy, but still pretty cool. It's way past what we're doing, but some of it is a little like what I get to do everyday. (Consider yourself warned that it includes language which some may find offensive.)