What if I...er... I mean what if I had a friend who...

It would have been quite silly of me to get up early this morning at 0530, shower, get all my papers together and go to work thinking I was starting today. I would have shown up to the VT-31 hangar, asked where the conference room was and waited around until 0710, texted a buddy to ask where he reported when he started, then called the student control office to make sure I was supposed to be there. They would have informed me that my class doesn't start until Thursday. Yeah, there's no way I did that this morning. That would have been silly and I would have laughed at myself, and I never do silly things, and I never, never laugh at myself.

Study Time

As I study for Systems and read through the NATOPS (flight manual) for the T-44A, my appreciation for the simplicity of the T-6 has grown immensely. Maybe it's the fact that I'm looking back on it, but the T-6 just seems so much simpler. Having two engines adds a fuel crossfeed system, makes the engine starting procedures more complicated, and adds a third electrical system to worry about. The T-44 also has both anti-ice and de-icing systems, the difference being that anti-icing systems prevent ice buildup around the engine inlets, windshield, and pitot tubes, while the de-icing system actually removes ice from the wings after it forms. The de-icing system inflates a rubber boot along the front edge of the wing which subsequently breaks the ice into chunks, so they fall off. Smart.

So the T-6's one generator, single pitot/AOA heater, and comparatively straightforward glass instruments seem like a long-lost dream of simple flying. Hopefully I'll feel differently once I have all these facts and figures tamped down in the back of my brain.

A Pilot Story:

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a pilot who was not totally full of crap. But it was a long time ago, and it was only for one day, and it was only one pilot.

Starting Advanced Multi-Engine Turboprob with the T-44A with VT-31 on 30 Nov

I'm finally starting for sure at the end of the month. I switched with a guy who wanted a better shot at TC-12s, the aircraft that VT-35, the other squadron, flies. In Navy parlance, VT stands for fixed wing training. In other words, if you're a squid you spell "fixed wing" with a V. Riiiiigghhhht. I have my books, so I can start studying now to be well-prepared by December.