The Past Week

This past week was only three days of work, since I had Monday and Tuesday off. Wednesday was cockpit trainer number two. We were introduced to some minor starting malfunctions and all the normal checklists. Wednesday we had a test over aircraft performance chart, takeoff and landing data (TOLD), and survival equipment. Wednesday afternoon was CPT 3, more checklists and some hydraulics malfunctions.

Today we had a burn-your-eyes-out, slap-yourself-in-the-face instrument refresher course(IRC) on IFR followed by an open-book test on flight planning and instrument regs. IRC is a recurring requirement for AF pilots.

After lunch we had egress training, which was really just reviewing the number and locations of various survival and emergency equipment in the aircraft. After the classroom portion, we finally got to see the aircraft up close, see the flight deck, and walk around in the cargo area. It's a pretty big airplane, but a lot more manageable now that I know just a little bit about it.

Correction to the last post: I've come to find out no one does LAPE airdrops anymore, because the danger outweighs the benefits.