Week #3, More Aerospace Physiology

Week three was a fun week. Yeah, we had the usual PowerPoint stuff in class and all, but like last week we were able to physically practice a lot of things being taught in the classroom. First we practiced the emergency egress procedures from the T-37, and worked on getting strapped in and hooked up properly to the ejection seat. Along with that, they gave us a brief demo on what the body would feel when ejecting. They used a seat with a highly pressurized tank of air under it to simulate the ejection. Once we're strapped in with our heads pushed back against the headrest, we pulled the ejection handles releasing the air and went for a ride! The following day we reported at 0600 in order to practice using some of the signaling equipment such as the flares.

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!

Week #2, Aerospace Physiology

It's hard to believe week #2 is over with already...time flies when you're having fun! Monday started with the last day of the weather section before we had our first test on Tuesday. It was a 30 question multiple choice test, which wasn't too bad...I was able to pull a 100%, so praise God! I'm pretty sure our class average was around 97%-98%. There were a couple questions that seemed a little tricky, but thankfully my reasoning skills were working well that day. We also picked up our helmets that had been fitted to us the previous week on Monday. They had us try them on, attach the oxygen mask and hook up to a oxygen regulator similar to what's in the plane to make sure we had no leaks or other problems. Needless to say, it was an exciting day knowing that we were that much closer to getting to the flightline and flying!

On Wednesday, we started a new block of classes in Aerospace Physiology which deals with how the body reacts to no oxygen at high altitudes (we get do the altitude chamber next week) and pulling G's, how to use the ejection seat and parachute in the T-37, how to land properly after ejection, etc. So far, it's been a good time learning the different things and getting to practice on the equipment they have in the room. Our first class in this block taught us how to strap into the parachute and use the different mechanisms on it. At one point, our instructor asked for a volunteer...after a brief moment of silence and no one standing up, I did.

Thursday was more of "death by PowerPoint." I say that jokingly because a lot of the things are pretty interesting. But, you know how it is when you're sitting a lot listening to an instructor talk for hours...it gets a little mundane. Anyway, that day we also had a commander's luncheon where we're welcomed to the base by a few of the different commander's over lunch. They gave a little presentation about what to expect, and had us all introduce ourselves as did they. My introduction went something like this, "Hi, my name is Lt Lance Ferguson. I'm a farm boy from the north, went to Cedarville University in Ohio and then was commissioned through OTS. I'm very thankful to be here and would like to fly an F-15 or F-16 after graduation." The reason I write that out is because most of the guys didn't say what they wanted to fly, which I found strange. But, I wanted to appear confident to the class and commander's and show I have goals I'm striving for. It wasn't a cocky thing, but more of a "hey, this is what I'm here for" kind of thing. Oh yeah, we finally passed two consecutive BOLDFACE tests 100% and were in our flight suits on Tuesday!! They're affectionately called the green bad.

After lunch is was time to put into practice what we had been taught in the classroom. Before we we able to use the stand, we had to practice the parachute landing fall (PLF) sufficiently. Prior to landing, preparation goes something like this. After ejecting and the chute has opened, keep eyes on the horizon, put knees and feet together, point toes towards the ground, place hands over the clamp releases, bend the knees and prepare for landing. Of course the landing is where the PLF takes place. The PLF goes like this...land on the balls of the feet and hit the calf, thigh, hip and back in that order. It's not tough, but I'm sure the real thing will be a little different.

Next we practiced how to release the canopy once down if the winds were strong causing us to be drug along the ground. They hooked us up in the harness to two riser ropes and told us to lay down on the ground. Four people grabbed to ropes and we were off to the races...

At every SUPT base they have a chute stand to practice proper parachute techniques. You can see the one at Columbus AFB in the PLF picture above. I has six sections for six people to work on different things. We practiced the Decent Checklist, forward right and left PLFs, left and right PLFs and rear right and left PLFs. The decent checklist is as follows:

CANOPY - CHECK
VISOR - UP
OXYGEN MASK - OFF (AS REQUIRED)
SURVIVAL KIT - DEPLOY
LPUs - AS REQUIRED (life preserver units)
RISER ROPES - PULL
PREPARE FOR LANDING

Lucas in the above picture (3rd from the left) is one of our Airmen Leadership Pilots (ALPs). This is an exchange program our government had with other countries where they come here for nine months of training in the T-37. I've been helping him out some with rides around base and town and other things. I've come to find out he is also a Christian, which had been pretty cool. No matter the country or the skin color, Jesus is the one true Lord and Savior of all.

Week #1 Complete

Man does it feel great to have started!! I've been here for so long looking forward to this point and it's finally here. The two days of week one we're bad at all. Thursday started at 6:30 and involved checking and signing paperwork followed by some briefings by our Flight Commander, Capt McHough, and the Ops Group Commander Col Holmes. Those two briefings were basically to welcome us to pilot training and explain what kind of things we're going to be experiencing in our year here. After lunch, we started right into the academics with the Aviation Weather section. This stuff is really basic, so as long as a person reads the material and studies some the test shouldn't be hard.

As some of you know, at Columbus AFB you can't wear your flight suits until the whole class passes two Boldface Emergency Procedures tests 100%. Well, class 05-04 is still in their blues on Monday...we've had one to two people per test screw up something little which has kept us out of the flight suits. It's an attention to detail thing and some are still working on that. But, we'll be in them early next week I can feel it! So far, I've had 100% on the four tests we've had. The test is pretty simple and merely consists of filling out a sheet of the Boldface you've memorized. Every letter has to be in caps and spelled right with no dashes missing either. As an example:

Single Engine Go Around:
THROTTLE - MILITARY
SPEED BRAKE - IN
FLAPS - 50%
GEAR - UP
FLAPS - UP 100 KNOTS MINIMUM

To help with training in Phase I, we have both regular instructors in a classroom setting and what they call Computer Aided Instruction Training (CAI Training). This takes place in a big computer lab on a program written specifically for pilot training. So, some class sessions are done completely on the computer. It's actually kind of nice because it builds a little flexibility into your schedule...you just have to have the lesson done before the next scheduled class and the allotted time for the computer lab is usually more than you need. Our weather test is next Tuesday, the 13th.

Friday morning involved some more classroom instruction on weather, and then in the afternoon we were fitted for our flight helmets. That was a good time, and we all looked a little funny in the process. They put on a cap to insulate our head, and then placed a hot plastic mold over it to form to our heads. Then on top of the was placed a plastic cap on which was hung a 20 lb weight for about a minute until the mold hardened. We're getting our flight helmets this early because we need them for next week when we're doing Physiology...that's the cool stuff where we get to experience the altitude chamber and parasailing behind a truck to give us an idea about how to land if we have to eject from an airplane. I'll have more on that next week or weekend sometime. For now, it's on to week two!

Picked Up The Uniforms

Today we picked up our flight suits and other flight gear! The whole process didn't take too long, but I'm glad I was at the front of the pack that arrived a little before 0900 when they started handing stuff out. The important thing was that we tried on our flight suits and boots to make sure everything fit just right because once we left it would basically take an act of Congress to exchange them...don't ask me why. We picked up three flight suits, two flight jackets (winter and summer weight) and a bunch of other smaller things I don't feel like trying to remember. =) Overall I guess everything costs about $1000, and we get it all for free! That's a huge deal because I don't have a grand to drop on more uniforms. Anyway, from there we bought five sets of 2nd Lt rank and headed to the sewing shop to have the rank and velcro for our patches and nametage sewn on. Later in the afternoon I picked up my stuff from the shop and got started on making everything look presentable. The flight suits were VERY wrinkled and had strings hanging off of them all over. So, I threw them in the washer and then proceeded to clip for the next 1.5 hours...fun times.

Dude, the day is almost here!! I've been here in the great state of Mississippi (cough...cough) waiting to start pilot training for the past six months and it's finally here. I was thinking the other day on the flight back from home how awesome it is that I have the chance to fly for the best military in the world, and that ROCKS!! I'm ready for the hardest, funnest and most rewarding year of my life to begin!! I thank God for that opportunity!!

Class 05-04 is Next...Finally!

Well, I'll start by updating you on my trip out west to Seattle...it was great! I had a great week out there relaxing with family and just enjoying a much better place than Columbus, MS. The trip out was a little different than I had planned though. I got up around 0500 to make it on time to the airport, checked in, boarded the plane and the a few minutes later was disappointed to here, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking. We're having some difficulty with one of the airspeed indicators, so we're going to power down and then power up to see if that takes care of the problem." Well, that didn't do a whole lot and we had to deboard and wait for the next flight. I was originally going to connect in Dallas, TX but ended up going to Atlanta, GA instead. Anyway, to make a long story short I arrived in Seattle about 7 hours later than originally scheduled to.

My uncle's place is in Gig Harbor, which is south of Seattle. It's very nice and in an awesome location on one of the many bays out there close to the Tacoma Straights Bridge. The day after arriving I ran in the morning and then headed to McChord AFB to grab some things for the big Thanksgiving meal with my Uncle. If God takes me the T-1 track, I'm going to try for a C-17 to McChord...the base is pretty cool and in a great location. Later that night a cousin of mine flying takers at Fairchild AFB in Spokane, WA arrived. I hadn't seen him in a long time so it was good to catch up some. The next day, we were able to try out a Boeing 767-400 simulator, which was too real. I was even able to pull off some landings...they weren't the smoothest in the world, but hey give me a break. Of course Thanksgiving day was great too and I ate entirely way too much!! When it comes to food I have a hard time cutting myself off.

One of the coolest things about the west are mountains. When the weather's nice you can see Mt. Ranier from the house, and luckly there were a few nice days while I was out there. It totally makes a person wonder why they live in the midwest...other than family and things like that! I was also able to check out the yacht of one of my Uncle's friends.

The weekend before I headed out west, I made a trip with some friends down to New Orleans to check out the sites. We hit up some good restaurants, checked out the local aquarium, took a walk through The French Quarter and GOT TO SIT IN AN A-10!! If you couldn't tell, the best part of the trip was the A-10. Since we're military, we decided to stay at one of the Navy bases in the area down there. Well, this one in particular also shared the base with an F-15C ANG unit and an A-10 AFR unit. One of my friends knew a pilot who had gone through Columbus awhile back, so she called him up. He was able to hook us up and take us out on the flight line to look around. The A-10 Warthog is one bad plane! It's not the most pretty lookin' thing, but it would tear anything/anyone up on the ground it came into contact with. I wouldn't complain if I got one of these out of pilot training at all. Here are a few pics I took.


Well, Class 05-04 starts in approximately 3 weeks from now and I can't wait! A lot of our classmates have been arriving over the past couple weeks or so and it's been cool to meet some of them. I think we're going to try and grab some dinner together tonight. I'm as ready as I've ever been to get this pilot training thing started...I'll do the best I'm capable of and leave God the rest. Check back for pilot training info soon.