Once again we are waiting on the 787 to roll out for real this time, the roll out last year on 7-8-07 was a bit lame now that it has been more than a year and it has not taken to the sky. The other problem is the Air Force's new tanker contract, which I personally think may never be resolved, not really. It has taken far too long for the government to come to a decision about this matter. I read a quote six months ago when the initial final decision was made that expressed something to the effect that if the deadline was 25 January, he should have asked to make sure it was 2008, not 2009. The bureaucracy that goes into these types of matters is absolutely ridiculous.
Enough about that. The last year has seen me transfer from Western Michigan University to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. I'm still pursuing the same degree, with a slightly different title, Aerospace Engineering with a focus in Aeronautics. The move was a good one for me although I have really missed all my flight team buddies from WMU. The move was prompted after finally getting my chance at the military career I've wanted for as long as I can remember. I was able to pick up a full ride Navy ROTC scholarship which has been absolutely great. The NROTC at Embry-Riddle is one of the largest in the country despite it being just 5 years old and it is already producing the largest number of pilots for the Navy second only to the Naval Academy.
A little bit on the flight team business. I started on the flight team at WMU, the Sky Broncos, we took first place in our region, region III, and fourth in the nation. My event is aircraft recognition, you are given normally 60 slides in of aircraft and have to identify the manufacturer, model number, and common name associated with the aircraft. The catch is that you are only given three seconds to view each slide, which makes things a bit more difficult, when you are experience like most of the top reccers, as they are called, this is more than enough time. The first 50 slides are multiple choice and you are given 15 seconds after each slide to make a decision about the aircraft that was seen, the last ten are fill in the blank and you are given 30 seconds to come to your decision about the aircraft. In the regional back in 2006 I took first place followed by three of my teammates, then in the national I took 6 place. This year I only participated in the national competition with my new team at ERAU, the Eagles, I was able to take second, missing first by only one point. If you'd like to view more on this visit www.nifa.us for more information.
Partially as a result of this I have had little to no time to do leisure flying on my own, so I have had very little flight time in the last year, I'm hoping to remedy that over the next month in preparation for the Eagles Flight Team back in Daytona in the fall. This year I flew for the first time a G1000 equipped Cessna 172, very nice, but I miss the round dials. I have only two gripes with the system, I'm to tall and the extended dash makes it impossible for me to see the comm frequencies on the pilots side display, and the fuel gauges are horizontal. To me the fuel gauges should be vertical since the fuel doesn't drain out of them in a horizontal manner, I'm sure it was a space saving design on the screen, but it just doesn't register with my brain.
This summer I was on active duty for a brief stint enjoying all of what the Navy has to offer in a program called Career Orientation Training for Midshipman or CORTRAMID. It was extremely fun seeing everything the Navy does on a regular day to day basis, as well as getting to meet Midshipman from all around the country that I'll soon be serving alongside. Of course for me the best parts were the flying that we were able to do. Every Midshipman that physically qualified had the chance to fly the T-34C Turbo Mentor. Let me tell you it was a blast! You felt cool from the instant you were geared up and walking out to the aircraft, kitted out in flight suit, harness, gloves, and flight helmet, you felt like you were really a Naval Aviator. Each of us got a 20 to 30 minute flight in the Mentor. My pilot was a Marine Corps C-130 pilot by trade who was doing a tour as a primary flight instructor. We took off from NAS Oceana taxiing out through rows and rows of F/A-18 C-Fs watching them takeoff and land through the expansive greenhouse canopy was amazing.
Once we got airborne he held it in ground effect until the end then pitched up 60 degrees in a climbing left turn until we had reached 500 feet and our on course heading. We flew out until we were in Northern North Carolina over the Blackwater compound that is there then climbed to 6,500 ft and did a wide clearing turn. Then he executed an Immelman after which we ended up at about 8,000 ft and 90 knots of airspeed. The stick shaker was going off as we rolled level indicating we were close to stall speed. We then dove for a little airspeed executed a loop followed immediately by a barrel roll, then an aileron roll, and finally a split S. After the split S we made a turn and were now down around 4,500 feet, then he gave me control and we did an aileron roll, that was cool! I then had control from there until 5 miles out from Oceana. Most of the way we were doing 200 knots at only 500 feet. We had to stay below the pattern altitude of the F/A-18s, that is the reason we were so low.Throughout the rest of CORTRAMID we toured squadrons and flew simulators as well as received two more rides, this time in helicopters. We flew the MH-60S all around the greater Norfolk area with the doors open for about an hour, that was pretty neat!
We also flew the CH-53E during Marine week on a short ride, not as interesting as the 60 but still fun for me at least, it seemed to put others to sleep though. It is nicknamed the $h!tter because all sorts of fluids are leaking on to you , in the picture below you can see some of those fluids on one of the guys helmet.
They told us there was nothing to worry about, but that if we noticed it stop leaking we should tell them!Here is a link to a youtube video I created highlighting some of what went on, a lot is missing since we weren't allowed to have cameras at many sights for national security purposes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDzVLHKXh0I
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