This week also involved and fun ride in the altitude chamber and the Bernie Chair, along with the night vision stuff (not with NVG's). The altitude chamber profile went something like this. Thirty minutes of de-nitrogenation (getting the oxygen out of your system), up to 5,000 ft then back down to help the ears and sinuses adjust, then up to 35,000 ft before heading back to 30,000 ft for the hypoxia demos. Half the room took off their oxygen masks at a time and were asked to complete some easy tasks involving math and other things. Yeah, there's a reason God put us in an environment with plenty of oxygen to breath. My symptoms were lightheadedness, tingling in the legs, air hunger and even slight memory loss. I guess the instructor asked me how many 4 cent stamps are in a dozen, and I said 3. Obviously I was wrong, but the weird thing is I don't even remember him asking the question. Anyway, after that fun stuff we did some visual demos without the oxygen and then were taken back to "earth". By the way, the decreased pressure on the body does some serious work on the GI track and the fumes were definite evidence of that when the masks were removed.
The Barany Chair is something I hope I don't have to come back to for airsickness, even though it wasn't that bad. There are a few different things they can have you do while spinning to acclimate your body and inner ear to such motion as experienced in the plane. I wanted to see what my body felt like after doing a hard "profile" in the chair, and thankfully I didn't feel too bad...nothing close to puking. I had to cross my arms across the chest with my eyes closed, and then move my head around when told to while spinning. Something like "right ear to right shoulder" or "left ear to left shoulder" are a couple of the movements I made. For any of us in the class who experience airsickness, we get to use the chair again until we're used to spinning and pulling G's even if it makes us yack.
The most fun we had this week was parasailing! We all had the chance to practice the PLFs we learned last week in a real setting this time, and it was a blast. When most people think of parasailing they think of a boat and water, but for us it was a Dodge pickup and the earth. =) There's a big open grass field here on the base logically named the parasail field where this took place. We were strapped in, given a little instruction and off into the sky for a good time.
We had a couple chances to practice our procedures. The first ride took us up to about 200 ft and then down slowly for a somewhat light landing. The second was to around 300-350 ft. without a nice controlled decent from the truck. The second ride the truck stopped and we took it from there. The checklist from my last entry would have been used at this time, but we were too low for that. We just grabbed the rear parachute risers, turned into the wind and prepared to land. For us dudes that are a little bigger, our decent rate was a bit quicker than the lighter ones since the same size chute is used for everyone. My landing was fine just like all the others in the class. I wish I could have had the chance to go again! Aerospace Physiology wraps up early next week with another test before we're on to The Basics of Flight.
As the baby class at the base, we're responsible to help out at the graduation for the class that is exactly 1 year ahead of us. In this case, it's Class 04-04. Call me crazy, but just being at the graduation put chills up my back watching them all walk across the stage to get their wings. That will be us in a year!! To help out, some of us were ushers, program guys or distinguished visitor (DV) greeters. I was one of the greeters. We stood outside in front of theater waiting for the base commander and a Major General to pull up. We were called to attention, saluted as the vehicle approached and dropped the salutes after it stopped. After saluting the commander and general as they approached to shake our hands individually we finished up and headed inside for the ceremony.
You all might be tired of me saying this, but I can't believe I have this kind of an opportunity. We're training to fly for the world's best Air Force...being one of those guys to too awesome! I couldn't think of a better job!
The Barany Chair is something I hope I don't have to come back to for airsickness, even though it wasn't that bad. There are a few different things they can have you do while spinning to acclimate your body and inner ear to such motion as experienced in the plane. I wanted to see what my body felt like after doing a hard "profile" in the chair, and thankfully I didn't feel too bad...nothing close to puking. I had to cross my arms across the chest with my eyes closed, and then move my head around when told to while spinning. Something like "right ear to right shoulder" or "left ear to left shoulder" are a couple of the movements I made. For any of us in the class who experience airsickness, we get to use the chair again until we're used to spinning and pulling G's even if it makes us yack.
The most fun we had this week was parasailing! We all had the chance to practice the PLFs we learned last week in a real setting this time, and it was a blast. When most people think of parasailing they think of a boat and water, but for us it was a Dodge pickup and the earth. =) There's a big open grass field here on the base logically named the parasail field where this took place. We were strapped in, given a little instruction and off into the sky for a good time. We had a couple chances to practice our procedures. The first ride took us up to about 200 ft and then down slowly for a somewhat light landing. The second was to around 300-350 ft. without a nice controlled decent from the truck. The second ride the truck stopped and we took it from there. The checklist from my last entry would have been used at this time, but we were too low for that. We just grabbed the rear parachute risers, turned into the wind and prepared to land. For us dudes that are a little bigger, our decent rate was a bit quicker than the lighter ones since the same size chute is used for everyone. My landing was fine just like all the others in the class. I wish I could have had the chance to go again! Aerospace Physiology wraps up early next week with another test before we're on to The Basics of Flight.
As the baby class at the base, we're responsible to help out at the graduation for the class that is exactly 1 year ahead of us. In this case, it's Class 04-04. Call me crazy, but just being at the graduation put chills up my back watching them all walk across the stage to get their wings. That will be us in a year!! To help out, some of us were ushers, program guys or distinguished visitor (DV) greeters. I was one of the greeters. We stood outside in front of theater waiting for the base commander and a Major General to pull up. We were called to attention, saluted as the vehicle approached and dropped the salutes after it stopped. After saluting the commander and general as they approached to shake our hands individually we finished up and headed inside for the ceremony.
You all might be tired of me saying this, but I can't believe I have this kind of an opportunity. We're training to fly for the world's best Air Force...being one of those guys to too awesome! I couldn't think of a better job!
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