Training the Best

Yet another life lesson in be careful what you ask for. All I wanted was a break, a couple days off to relax and recover.

I've been working my ass off for the last two weeks. After finished the first four contact (visual flying, not flying based on instruments) flights, I went straight into the Basic Instrument phase of flight. Seven simulator events, two a day with two practice sims thrown in there, then three flights with no time in between make for a tired flight student.

On top of all that I went straight back into contacts with no break. After two weeks of memorizing procedures and tailoring my flight technique for instrument flight, I was dropped right back into the visual flight world. There are course rules to remember, maneuvers I haven't done in weeks, radio calls I haven't made in just as long, and the landing pattern. All of these skills degrade over time, it's not like riding a bike; you have to be doing them on a regular basis to keep sharp.

The Navy does have procedures in place to allow student pilots to get back in the groove. If you haven't been in the front seat in more than 14 days (weekends count) you get a mandatory warm-up flight. You are required to repeat your last flight and the grades don't count. Then the next flight you fly is an optional warm-up, meaning that if you fly it and knock it out of the park, the grades count. If you do badly, they do not. If you've only been out of the cockpit seven days you get the optional warm-up.

So I flew FAM 4 this morning as a mandatory warm-up and the flight went well. My instructor, Lt. Machinski, and I had initially intended to take off and do some touch and goes in the pattern at home. Normally we would do this at our practice field to the south, Waldron Field, but we could not climb high enough to make it there via course rules. Course rules are pre determined altitudes and routes that we stick to in order to avoid mid-air collisions. The air space around Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is one of the busiest in the country, so course rules are pretty damn important.

So the home field bounces (touch and goes at your home airfield) seemed like a good idea until I tried to climb to pattern altitude at 800 feet. We couldn't even make it up that high; I had to dive down to 700 feet to stay out of the clouds. I did one touch and go and tower informed me that it had been my last one; my next must be a full stop. When the cloud layer is too low they close the overhead pattern; only ground controlled IFR departures and arrivals. So I came back around and landed.

After some discussion, my instructor got an IFR clearance and we took off IFR for the high areas. We got some high maneuvers done, which went pretty well. I felt good back in the front cockpit, with the blue sky above me and the controls in my hand. I screwed up a few maneuvers on the first go around but cleaned them up on the second try. We came back home, landed the plane, debriefed uneventfully. Everything was great until I turned my cell phone back on.

There was a voice mail from the flight surgeon. During my annual flight physical last week, the flight surgeon ordered some tests to clear the kidney stone waiver out of my record. Way back in 2001, I had one kidney stone and the Navy has made the biggest deal out of it ever since. My advice to anyone entering military service? Don't tell them shit they aren't going to find out about anyway. If I hadn't told them about the kidney stone in the first place, I would have been commissioned a lot earlier and would be a lot further along in flight school right now.

So one of these tests was an x-ray. I didn't even think about it at the time, I was just expecting to have this damn waiver out of my record. Well apparently there is something in my right kidney which looks like a kidney stone on the x-ray. I am being scheduled for some further tests to determine exactly what it is and what course of action we will take next. From what I understand right now the worst case scenario is that I will be out of the cockpit for a few weeks. Best case scenario is that the anomaly on the x-ray will turn out to be nothing and I'll be back in the saddle again within a week.

While this is not tragic, this really pisses me off. I am part of a class, with study partners and friends that I made who are moving along at the same pace I am and doing the same flights. Now I may wind up a month behind them before I am med up again. The class I start with doesn't really matter that much as far is the Navy is concerned, but it sucks for me. Oh well, yet another test on my way to wings.

// posted by Josh @ 4/18/2006 04:38:00 PM