As you know, I had my Final Contact checkride at the beginning of the week. Thankfully it all went well, and I came away with a 3 downgrade excellent...3E. My three downgrades came from minor things in acro and a slight overshoot on one of my patterns. I still have a couple more chances for that 0E I'm shooting for! As with last checkride, I was able to read some critiques from past students on the check pilot I was going to fly with, and it did help. The emergency procedure he gave me in the debrief was just like I had read about, and the general knowledge questions were as well.
On Tuesday I had my formation "dollar" ride and saw what it was like for the first time...too cool! Formation I'm sure is going to be the best part of training! It was one of those demo/do kind of flights where my IP would show me what it should look like and then give me a try with the main objective being, don't hit the other jet! =) So, we took off in formation and got up through the clouds to where I could give things a shot. I was given two main tips from other pilots I know to help me out with form: 1. Wiggle your fingers and toes
2. Lower your shoulders
The more you can relax, the better you'll fly is basically what those two things remind you to do. My first try at trying to stay 3-5 ft from leads wingtip was a little shaky and I heard, "I have the jet" from my IP a few times, but soon I was getting a handle on being light with the stick and throttles. The 3-5 ft is in the horizontal plain, so we're a little aft and below lead as we're flying. I wish I could take some pics of that to give you all an idea of how cool it looks from the cockpit. Anyway, the IP I was flying with was a former F-16 pilot, so she had a lot of good tips from all her experience flying fighters. It won't be long until we're pressing up against my form checkride, so check back over the next couple weeks to see what's up...I need to go study some more before bed.
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