Much better

I flew much better today. I cleaned up everything in my gradebook, but I messed up the break entry to the pattern. We waited for an hour to fly, but eventually got a plane. It was going to be a 3-student sortie, but daylight left wouldn't allow for two contacts to go. My wingman got sent home, so I could catch up. He was one ride ahead of me. We flew the highwork, I took all the IP's techniques and advice to heart for this flight and it served me well. The stall, ditching, and engine cut all went fine. We headed back to the aux field and all the SSE stuff was within limits. In an effort to not get slow on SSE landings I was carrying a little extra power on touchdown, which we fixed as well. On the RTB I was didn't get the flaps and gear down quick enough so we were still high on downwind at the perch. I'll fix that tomorrow.

Best Christmas Break Yet

On New Year's Eve I asked my lovely girlfriend to marry me, and she said YES! I am now engaged. I know my blog doesn't usually cover my personal life, but this was much too important to exclude. I look forward to writing about our exploits around the world for years to come!

Back to flying...

After an excellent and much-needed Christmas break with my wonderful family and lovely fiancée, I got back to ground school today. We covered the weight-and-balance forms for the T-44 and most of the performance charts in the back of the NATOPS (flight manual).

In the afternoon, my wingman and I signed up for a prof sit in a sim, a time to get to know the switchology of the aircraft and run through checklists. We took the whole 1.5 hours and made some progress, but it still seems daunting. One of the guys who was getting in the sim after us told us it gets much better though, and that it's really not that bad. We'll keep practicing, but hopefully he's right.