SSE and a C-17

After the crazy Texas snow and the monstrous storm that swept through the country canceled us last Thursday and a weekend of leave back up in Washington to attend my grandma's memorial service, I was back up in the air today. We did the standard high work, stalls, ditching practice, and a dynamic engine cut. Then we beat up the pattern at the aux field with full flap, normal, and no-flap landings. The IP introduced the SSE (simulated single engine) procedures today. On the downwind leg of the pattern the IP took the throttle of the left engine and brought it back to idle. I had to fly the rest of the pattern and land the aircraft with only one engine providing useful thrust. It's good training for emergency situations, and it builds confidence to know you can still handle the plane if one engine quits for any reason. That said, it's still not comfortable. The aircrafts performance suffers, lots of rudder input is required, and the workload is higher. This upcoming block of training is devoted to practicing malfunctions and dealing with emergencies in the air, so we should be fairly proficient when checkride time rolls around.

When we returned for the full stop, we saw two C-17s parked on the ramp getting refueled. After the debrief we just walked over to see if the pilots would let us check out the inside. They were just waiting for the fuel trucks to finish their job, so they gave us a brief rundown of the cockpit and let us sit in the copilot seat and look through the HUD. It's really a nice aircraft! It's a strategic transport aircraft with a stick and auto-trim! I new it was nice, but seeing it up close was impressive. It was nice to just be able to walk over and be welcomed into the cockpit. This job definitely has benefits.