Well, once back from Ukraine, I was supposed to head to IFS not 10 days later. As you can imagine, Jessie was super not happy about me having to leave again so soon. She prayed and prayed that I could somehow stay with her longer...and it worked! I was pushed back into a later IFS class, and got to stay home for 4 weeks. Which, was great!
Leading up to IFS I was getting pretty excited about getting to fly airplanes again. I did the powered flight program at the Academy and absolutely loved it, and the planes that IFS and the Academy fly are pretty similar (relatively). I had all the boldface and ops limits (certain emergency procedures and operating limits that are required to be know backwards and forwards because knowing them could mean the difference between life and death) memorized. I found out that a couple of my good friends would be going to IFS with me and so I arranged to room with one of them, and to drive up to IFS with the other one of them. I was getting excited, but Jessie was getting really sad again. I was going to be sad too, especially since I had just gotten back, but it was harder on Jess.
The day before I left Jessie and I and our good friend, Joe, with whom I was riding up to IFS, went to six flags in San Antonio. It was a lot of fun, and a good last day together. We rode almost all the rides, got some delicious fudge, and ate at the cheesecake factory to top it off. The next morning Joe and I headed off to IFS. It was a long drive, but we had lots of fun. We stopped in Albuquerque to see Joe's mom and grandma, which was awesome, they're so sweet. Then we made it the rest of the way up to Colorado Springs where we stayed the night with my family before heading down to Pueblo the next day to in-process.
In-processing was surprisingly easy, and we were the first people there that day, so there were no lines or anything so we were able to get all set-up and in our rooms and everything really quickly, which was really nice because it gave us time to become familiar with the 1 building (all the classrooms, study rooms, dorm rooms, and flying prep rooms (flight rooms) are contained in 1 building at IFS) and to go to gym and get some dinner. The food was really quite good there, which was awesome and awful. Awesome because it was delicious, awful because it was sometimes too delicious.
I found out that I was assigned to B-flight. I quickly found out that B-flight had a really bad rap for having the meanest, ornery-est, strictest flight commander at IFS. Which was true, to a 't'. The first day we met him we stood at attention the whole time he briefed us on how things would go in our flight, complete with loud "yes, sir"s as a response to his many questioning "is that understood"s. Needless to say we were all more than a little worried. As additional punishment for merely attending IFS, we were on formal release, which means that for the 12 hour duty day we had to be in the flight room or flying or in the chow hall, period, no exceptions. It sucked, mostly because when you have more than twenty 20 yr olds in one room it gets really hard to focus or concentrate really quick. We made a sweet class patch though.
The class ahead of us was way behind so none of us even started flying for almost a whole week, maybe more. But when I finally got my dollar ride I was ready. I was stoked. It was awesome. I didn't get sick, but I did get a lot of opportunity to fly and got-a-hang of the plane and how it feels and flies. I had a blast.
My birthday fell during the time that I was at IFS, which really stinks because Jessie can plan a mean birthday surprise. I was really sad that I wasn't going to get to be with her on my birthday, but I guess that's just the way it is sometimes. Well anyways the days leading up to the weekend of my birthday was stressful both from flying and because something seemed off with Jessie. She told me that she was sending me an awesome birthday package, and that it should get there on my birthday. I checked the mail like 3 times that day, but nothing. I was kinda getting bummed out, so I called my dad and asked if he could come pick me up so I could at least go hang out with him and my family up in Colorado Springs. He said that he could, but then texted me back as I was waiting outside for him to pick me up and said that there had been a small emergency and that he wouldn't be able to come get me for a while. That bummed me out even more, but whatever. Just as I was heading back to my room my buddy Joe found me and asked if I wanted to grab some Dairy Queen. I had my bag full of stuff that I was planning on taking to my dad's with me and so I told him that I'd just drop it off and then we could go. He, somewhat suspiciously, told me that I should just bring it with and that he'd drive me up to the springs after ice cream. I was a little suspicious, but I did as he suggested. We were driving to the Dairy Queen when Joe got a call. His phone is connected to his car through bluetooth and so the dashboard showed who was calling, and it was my wife...that's really weird I thought. He awkwardly dismissed the call and we kept driving. My suspicions were definitely aroused, but I was excited about that ice cream. Shortly after we got there Jessie surprised me by popping out of no where and giving me a big hug and kiss. I was so surprised to see her. I was just shocked. It was so awesome. She really outdid herself this birthday I thought. Well, the rest of the weekend was great. We spent time with my mom and with my dad. We got to spend some time alone on a date just catching up and enjoying being able to be together. It was so surreal. I was so sad to have to leave her though just a couple short days later, but I think it was perfect for both of us, to tide us over until I'd get home a week and a half later. I was so happy that she did come out to visit me. She really is the best.
I studied my butt off because I had promised Jessie that I would get home as soon as I could. The time and effort I was putting into studying and preparing for my flights though was putting a strain on our relationship. I felt so torn, I didn't know what to do, but I knew that I was so ready to get back home to her. The instructors I flew with were very good. Mr. Johnson, my first IP (instructor pilot) was very motivational and helpful. My second IP, mr. DeRay, took some getting used to, he came across as aloof and uncaring, but definitely pushed me hard to do my best, I soloed under his tutelage. My 3rd IP, mr. Hall, was awesome; he was part of the administrative and so he didn't get to fly too much so he was super excited to fly with me. He was really good and motivational and told me that I should try to get an Excellent on my checkride.
After what seemed like an eternity I was finally able to solo and then was quickly rushed into my checkride. My solo was really fun, and uneventful except for the flock of birds that flew through the pattern, but they didn't bother me. I was elated from my solo, but nervous for my checkride, but I felt like I had had a pretty good understanding of flying and the airplane for some time now, not to mention I spent numerous hours studying just for this checkride. I was ready. I thought.
I arrived 30 minutes early to my briefing with my check pilot, he wasn't there. Oh and by the way, my check pilot was my flight commander. You remember the real onry one. Well, I waited for him and when he arrived about 10 minutes before the appointed time I asked if he wanted to start early on the briefing, a common checkride practice since the check pilot often drills you with questions during the briefing before you ever step out to the plane. He responded curtly, "no". when our scheduled time came he yelled for me to come into his office and it began. He asked quite a few questions, but none that were really tricky, the way that I heard some check pilots did for checkrides. Then after not even that long we headed down to the plane. Once we got to the plane he was SUPER nice, like way nicer than I had ever seen him. Cracking jokes, just trying to lighten the mood.
The flight was going pretty well, but I started to have some doubts when, after I completed my normal area work (steep turns, and power-on and power-off stalls) he told me to skip doing the ground reference maneuvers in the area. Although I was a little worried I was also very glad because I wasn't particularly good at those. We headed to the auxiliary airfield where we were going to do the landings. My first normal landing was pretty good. The second one was a landing simulating that my flaps had stopped working, so it's normally a faster landing without the flaps slowing you down. The extra speed can kill you though because you half to land within the first half of the runway and with higher than usual speed that can be bad. As I got close to the ground I knew that I could get the plane down before the halfway mark, but that we would be going WAY too fast if I did that and that wouldn't be safe, so I made the decision to go-around. I was worried that I might have just hooked (failed) my checkride. Instead my check pilot said, "that was a good go-around. Let's make the next one a no-flap landing". I flew the next one as a no-flap with no issues and then went on to the last landing, a simulated engine failure. For this the IP pulls your power to idle and then you have to glide in for a landing, so it requires a lot of knowledge of when and where exactly to turn, lower the flaps, etc. It wasn't my best landing ever, but it was safe. As I was getting ready to turn and fly back to our base the check pilot took the plane from me and said he'd fly it all the way back. I was confused, and worried, but I remembered hearing that some check pilots do this when you've had a really good flight and they've already graded everything that they need to and so they take the plane and fly it the rest of the way so you don't have an opportunity to make mistakes and screw up an otherwise great flight. It was cool.
After debriefing he told me congratulations, and that I had earned myself an excellent. He said he hoped that I would have lots more of those in my career . It was a good feeling and a good challenge, and I was really lucky to have been able to do that, but I was super excited to get back home. I stayed one more night with my parents in Colorado Springs and then headed back home to see my beautiful wife, Jessie, who was waiting for me. It was an good experience, but most importantly I had gotten through it.
Leading up to IFS I was getting pretty excited about getting to fly airplanes again. I did the powered flight program at the Academy and absolutely loved it, and the planes that IFS and the Academy fly are pretty similar (relatively). I had all the boldface and ops limits (certain emergency procedures and operating limits that are required to be know backwards and forwards because knowing them could mean the difference between life and death) memorized. I found out that a couple of my good friends would be going to IFS with me and so I arranged to room with one of them, and to drive up to IFS with the other one of them. I was getting excited, but Jessie was getting really sad again. I was going to be sad too, especially since I had just gotten back, but it was harder on Jess.
The day before I left Jessie and I and our good friend, Joe, with whom I was riding up to IFS, went to six flags in San Antonio. It was a lot of fun, and a good last day together. We rode almost all the rides, got some delicious fudge, and ate at the cheesecake factory to top it off. The next morning Joe and I headed off to IFS. It was a long drive, but we had lots of fun. We stopped in Albuquerque to see Joe's mom and grandma, which was awesome, they're so sweet. Then we made it the rest of the way up to Colorado Springs where we stayed the night with my family before heading down to Pueblo the next day to in-process.
In-processing was surprisingly easy, and we were the first people there that day, so there were no lines or anything so we were able to get all set-up and in our rooms and everything really quickly, which was really nice because it gave us time to become familiar with the 1 building (all the classrooms, study rooms, dorm rooms, and flying prep rooms (flight rooms) are contained in 1 building at IFS) and to go to gym and get some dinner. The food was really quite good there, which was awesome and awful. Awesome because it was delicious, awful because it was sometimes too delicious.
I found out that I was assigned to B-flight. I quickly found out that B-flight had a really bad rap for having the meanest, ornery-est, strictest flight commander at IFS. Which was true, to a 't'. The first day we met him we stood at attention the whole time he briefed us on how things would go in our flight, complete with loud "yes, sir"s as a response to his many questioning "is that understood"s. Needless to say we were all more than a little worried. As additional punishment for merely attending IFS, we were on formal release, which means that for the 12 hour duty day we had to be in the flight room or flying or in the chow hall, period, no exceptions. It sucked, mostly because when you have more than twenty 20 yr olds in one room it gets really hard to focus or concentrate really quick. We made a sweet class patch though.
The class ahead of us was way behind so none of us even started flying for almost a whole week, maybe more. But when I finally got my dollar ride I was ready. I was stoked. It was awesome. I didn't get sick, but I did get a lot of opportunity to fly and got-a-hang of the plane and how it feels and flies. I had a blast.
My birthday fell during the time that I was at IFS, which really stinks because Jessie can plan a mean birthday surprise. I was really sad that I wasn't going to get to be with her on my birthday, but I guess that's just the way it is sometimes. Well anyways the days leading up to the weekend of my birthday was stressful both from flying and because something seemed off with Jessie. She told me that she was sending me an awesome birthday package, and that it should get there on my birthday. I checked the mail like 3 times that day, but nothing. I was kinda getting bummed out, so I called my dad and asked if he could come pick me up so I could at least go hang out with him and my family up in Colorado Springs. He said that he could, but then texted me back as I was waiting outside for him to pick me up and said that there had been a small emergency and that he wouldn't be able to come get me for a while. That bummed me out even more, but whatever. Just as I was heading back to my room my buddy Joe found me and asked if I wanted to grab some Dairy Queen. I had my bag full of stuff that I was planning on taking to my dad's with me and so I told him that I'd just drop it off and then we could go. He, somewhat suspiciously, told me that I should just bring it with and that he'd drive me up to the springs after ice cream. I was a little suspicious, but I did as he suggested. We were driving to the Dairy Queen when Joe got a call. His phone is connected to his car through bluetooth and so the dashboard showed who was calling, and it was my wife...that's really weird I thought. He awkwardly dismissed the call and we kept driving. My suspicions were definitely aroused, but I was excited about that ice cream. Shortly after we got there Jessie surprised me by popping out of no where and giving me a big hug and kiss. I was so surprised to see her. I was just shocked. It was so awesome. She really outdid herself this birthday I thought. Well, the rest of the weekend was great. We spent time with my mom and with my dad. We got to spend some time alone on a date just catching up and enjoying being able to be together. It was so surreal. I was so sad to have to leave her though just a couple short days later, but I think it was perfect for both of us, to tide us over until I'd get home a week and a half later. I was so happy that she did come out to visit me. She really is the best.
I studied my butt off because I had promised Jessie that I would get home as soon as I could. The time and effort I was putting into studying and preparing for my flights though was putting a strain on our relationship. I felt so torn, I didn't know what to do, but I knew that I was so ready to get back home to her. The instructors I flew with were very good. Mr. Johnson, my first IP (instructor pilot) was very motivational and helpful. My second IP, mr. DeRay, took some getting used to, he came across as aloof and uncaring, but definitely pushed me hard to do my best, I soloed under his tutelage. My 3rd IP, mr. Hall, was awesome; he was part of the administrative and so he didn't get to fly too much so he was super excited to fly with me. He was really good and motivational and told me that I should try to get an Excellent on my checkride.
After what seemed like an eternity I was finally able to solo and then was quickly rushed into my checkride. My solo was really fun, and uneventful except for the flock of birds that flew through the pattern, but they didn't bother me. I was elated from my solo, but nervous for my checkride, but I felt like I had had a pretty good understanding of flying and the airplane for some time now, not to mention I spent numerous hours studying just for this checkride. I was ready. I thought.
I arrived 30 minutes early to my briefing with my check pilot, he wasn't there. Oh and by the way, my check pilot was my flight commander. You remember the real onry one. Well, I waited for him and when he arrived about 10 minutes before the appointed time I asked if he wanted to start early on the briefing, a common checkride practice since the check pilot often drills you with questions during the briefing before you ever step out to the plane. He responded curtly, "no". when our scheduled time came he yelled for me to come into his office and it began. He asked quite a few questions, but none that were really tricky, the way that I heard some check pilots did for checkrides. Then after not even that long we headed down to the plane. Once we got to the plane he was SUPER nice, like way nicer than I had ever seen him. Cracking jokes, just trying to lighten the mood.
The flight was going pretty well, but I started to have some doubts when, after I completed my normal area work (steep turns, and power-on and power-off stalls) he told me to skip doing the ground reference maneuvers in the area. Although I was a little worried I was also very glad because I wasn't particularly good at those. We headed to the auxiliary airfield where we were going to do the landings. My first normal landing was pretty good. The second one was a landing simulating that my flaps had stopped working, so it's normally a faster landing without the flaps slowing you down. The extra speed can kill you though because you half to land within the first half of the runway and with higher than usual speed that can be bad. As I got close to the ground I knew that I could get the plane down before the halfway mark, but that we would be going WAY too fast if I did that and that wouldn't be safe, so I made the decision to go-around. I was worried that I might have just hooked (failed) my checkride. Instead my check pilot said, "that was a good go-around. Let's make the next one a no-flap landing". I flew the next one as a no-flap with no issues and then went on to the last landing, a simulated engine failure. For this the IP pulls your power to idle and then you have to glide in for a landing, so it requires a lot of knowledge of when and where exactly to turn, lower the flaps, etc. It wasn't my best landing ever, but it was safe. As I was getting ready to turn and fly back to our base the check pilot took the plane from me and said he'd fly it all the way back. I was confused, and worried, but I remembered hearing that some check pilots do this when you've had a really good flight and they've already graded everything that they need to and so they take the plane and fly it the rest of the way so you don't have an opportunity to make mistakes and screw up an otherwise great flight. It was cool.
After debriefing he told me congratulations, and that I had earned myself an excellent. He said he hoped that I would have lots more of those in my career . It was a good feeling and a good challenge, and I was really lucky to have been able to do that, but I was super excited to get back home. I stayed one more night with my parents in Colorado Springs and then headed back home to see my beautiful wife, Jessie, who was waiting for me. It was an good experience, but most importantly I had gotten through it.
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