I don’t often drink coffee so when I do (as I just did) I
get incredibly jittery and cannot type fast enough. Unfortunately that means a
lot of backspacing because my fingers can’t keep up with the jitter demand. Uncorrected
it looks like this: and thishtsei ywhwyehth I diecided to tkekerp
tbackaosohfodndniong.
I came to Little Rock with no expectations but lots of
excitement. I couldn't nail down why exactly I was excited to get here and, now
that I am here, I still can’t express why I love it so much. A great deal of it
was the first impression - granted, coming from Columbus, the standard for a “fun”
city (considering only what the city has to offer (not including the people))
was pretty low - which went something like, “hey! There’s stuff to do here!”
Little Rock offers an abundance of running trails and runners to go with it. On
even a marginal weather day it would be unusual to see anything less than a horde
of people on the trails running, walking, biking or, occasionally, sleeping
(but usually that occurs slightly off the trails beneath an underpass close to
sunset or just after dawn).
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| My parents came to visit and we "hiked" (mostly climbed) Pinnacle Mountain. Mama didn't bring her shirt. |
When I moved here I did not consider myself a “runner.”
After hitting the trails a few times, though, and reading the book Born to
Run, by Christopher McDougal, I caught the fever. Now, on a weekday I go
for 6ish miles a pop and on a Saturday I’ll run 13-15 miles - that’s roughly 10
times as many miles as used to run in one go (as in the mile and a half during
the yearly Physical Fitness Test) and approximately 13-15 times more than I
ever wanted to run. I’m surprising myself. After reading Born to Run my
goal was to simply enjoy running. I think it’s working.
Amidst the funtivities I still manage to fit some C-130 training
in. Our class is nearing Phase 1 completion and our schedule has started
slowing down. Training here has been immensely more enjoyable than at SUPT.
There are no weekly EPQs or humiliating shotgun questions. I am also more
motivated to know the aircraft systems and performance on an intimate level since
this is the plane I will be flying for the foreseeable future (unless it gets
sequestered, too). Unlike SUPT, we are encouraged to work as a crew and not
trained to do everything solo. Back in Columbus if I as the pilot made a
mistake and the other student sitting co-pilot caught the mistake and tried to
fix it we were both chastised. I for making a mistake and the co-pilot for not
letting me make the mistake. Here they say a crew save is a good save. It takes
away a load of stress and encourages the team environment, which I thrive on.
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| These are the C-130 simulators we use. |
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| This is what it looks like from the inside |
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| And this is what we pretend we look like |
The instructors here are mostly all salty, salty Vietnam veterans
who have been flying the C-130 for over 20 years and instructing on the simulators
for another 15-20 years - obviously a wealth of experience and knowledge.
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| He's probably laughing at a dirty joke |
After
one simulator profile my flying partner, Ross, and I were corrected by the
instructor pilot, instructor engineer and instructor navigator for descending
in the weather during part of the mission. The details are not important but I
found myself wanting to quibble then it hit me that all of these guys had grey
hair. Stress might cause grey hair but you never get old by making fatal
mistakes and dying young. When three grey haired, salty Vietnam vets tell you
what you did was stupid and dangerous it pays to listen (their opinions on how
to best work an iPhone or iPad, though, can usually be disregarded).
One of the few drawbacks to having an experienced instructor
is that sometimes they can talk for, like, ever about the C-130 and take up the
whole 3 hours slotted for a mission prebrief. You can often gauge how long a
prebrief will take by the number of “war stories” told. Want to know about how
to deal with an engine fire or throttle control cable failure? There’s a story
for that. Have a question on the alternate gear-extension method? There are a
few stories for that. Want to know how stupid and useless the Temperature Datum Control System is? Better believe there is a story AND a long soapbox dialogue on that.
Want to hear how to solve the debt crisis and save the Air Force $300 million a
year on C-130 training? There is a whole story and even a slideshow with videos
for that. Oftentimes a student will bring up one of those political rabbit
trails on purpose with the full knowledge it will take the next 2 hours to
fully discuss because, frankly, my ability to learn ended with my patience about 10 minutes into
the brief.
Anything to do with politics is always a winner but every instructor
has a hot button they love to talk about: remodeling a yard, classic cars,
motorcycles, guns, basketball, grandkids, college football, what a pain his
son-in-law’s dog is. If you know you will have the same instructor for more
than one simulator mission the goal is to find his hot button the first go. Keep
prodding until you find it then never let it go. When he says, “Well, that’s
enough about that,” counter with, “what other pieces of your furniture has his
dog destroyed?” This saves mileage on the brain cells down the road and will help preserve
your patience which, trust me, will NOT last for a whole three hour lecture on
how the prop feathers (THOUGHT BUBBLE: “Ok. He’s pausing. Nod your head and say
something like, ‘that makes sense.’”). Or you could spend an hour showing them
the wonders of their iPhone.
