Fuel Logs and CRM

Monday was a great experience. My IP and I were in sort of a mini-airshow to commemorate the anniversary of naval aviation. The irony of my Air Force-ness was subtle but present. We just took off and flew over to one of the civilian fields in the area and waited to be called back for a low-approach followed by a landing. We were fifth, following a Stearman, a T-34, T-6, and a TC-12. The P-3's followed us and the Navy's newest aircraft, the P-8, followed them. I flew the initial break entry and the low-approach, and the IP took the landing. Fun time flying without the evaluation.

Our trip back was hampered and slightly delayed by a massive squall line stretching from the Gulf all the way to Canada. We had to wait for it to pass Jacksonville before we left. I had planned for 60 kt headwinds at altitude and a fairly lengthy leg, but actual 80 kt headwinds forced us to land early in Gulfport, MS. We got some food and gas and made the final leg past Houston and over the Gulf with no issues. I flew the visual back into Corpus and was glad to be finished with a long trip.

Today I had my final sim in the T-44 simulator building. We had multiple emergencies and several ambiguous situations were introduced. For example, I had a wavering propeller RPM, which is not in the book, followed by a flameout on the right engine, and a fuel crossfeed light. The final approach was done without radio comms, because both radio circuit breakers were popped. The point of all this is we're getting into the phase of training where big picture analysis and decision-making comes into play. It's no longer, "My right engine has failed, and this is the procedure." It's more along the lines of, "I'm getting some bad indications from one of my engines, but the weather is terrible and the winds are gusting into the 30's, I'll keep it running for now, because I need the power." Less cut and dry, more ambiguous.

It's good to be done with instrument sims for now.

The airfield is closed this weekend for the Blue Angels airshow on Saturday, so I won't be flying.

Sports Drink?

Tuesday's flight was much the same as Monday's. We did the same things. I wasn't quite as sharp or maybe the IP was just more demanding, but I still felt improvement. I kept angling in on final, but eventually figured out the significant undershooting winds. Only have to clean up 2 more items for the end of block. I got terrible sleep last night after drinking what I thought was a sports drink but in fact was an energy drink. Should have checked the ingredients. So I called my IP this morning and we canceled. End of block tomorrow, sim on Friday, maybe check on Saturday.

Windy Flight

All I did today was finish my flight from yesterday, which consisted of pattern work. It was really sporty though, because the winds were 22 gusting 35 knots. Thankfully, they were almost straight down the runway. That said, they would still knock the plane around in the flare, and that made landing interesting every time. When we switched back to my wingman flying, we had to wait an extra 30 minutes just leave the pattern because of how congested the air traffic was. Overall it was just a tiring day to fly. You need a few days like that to appreciate the good days.