Me, with a DAY!
I start off this busy busy day with the same way I do most - off to bed late and waking up early, I eventually shower and shave, toss on my flightsuit and finally complete my transformation from Regular Boring Old Me into a superhero known as "The Zipper Suited Sun God." (TM)
Im ambling out to my ride (because Superheros amble) and a kid stops me at the door and I think "Im being mugged by an 8 year old?" But no!
He asks, "Are you in the Air Force?"
"Well, yes, I am."
Him - "Thanks. Thanks for what you do."
And we shake hands.
"Hey kid, whats your name?"
- "My names Austin, thats my grandma," he says, pointing to a woman just on the other side of the glass, waving.
- "Were just driving through, takin a trip!"
"Well my names Brian, and its good to meet you, Austin. Enjoy your trip with granma, ya hear?"
He waves with the energy only a child has, and runs up the stairs to help her with a suitcase.
Then I go to work.
Prebrief, extra paperwork. Even for the AF, it was extra-extra paperwork.
Why?
- Flying with a Guard unit instead of active AF (Transitional Paperwork)
- Flying a different platform (Differential Certification Paperwork)
- Flying as a student (Trainee Paperwork)
- Flying with an unqualified instructor (Currency Paperwork from Actual Instructor)
- Safety Signatures etc, as its my first time FLYING on the platform. (I said it already!)
So we hop on the C-130, cruuuuuuuuuuuise down the runway at an amazingly slow speed.
- Remember. Im use to a 4 engine jet that goes mid 500's. This is a turboprop plane that was doin low 200's.
Take off, go fly around Idaho for a while... why, Im not sure. Its just where we were.
Four hours later, it turns interesting.
A crewmember on special duty assignment out here has a father, a WWII vet, who lives just a lil' NE of where we were. He just happened to phone his dad and find out he's home, and maybe mention that he go outside...
He overflew "Mud Lake" at 500ft AGL(above ground level).
Our pilot needed Low Level Currency, so we stayed at 500ish feet. In the mountains. We had to look up to see the mountaintops flying through valleys, something I assure you I am *not* used too.
Certain phrases during this phase of flight caught my attention.
- "Hey, look, we're making the cows stampeede!"
- "Is that a goat?"
- "Now, thats one pretty lookin deer... a buck!"
- "Why do I think its bad that the view of the mountain is obscured by the houses?"
Then
- "Why is it bad the view of the houses is obscured by the cars in their driveways?"
- "A cop just got us on radar. The rogue plane will be all over Idaho newspapers tomorrow for speeding..."
Reference to next: IFR typically stands for Instrument Flight Rules
My personal favorite,
"Is this IFR?"
Other: "No, VFR(Visual), duh"
"No, I mean I Follow Road."
Because, for the last two, at that point... we were on the freeway. Mostly, anyway. For fun, we decided that even though were flying, we're takin' I-15 all the way back down from Pokatello Idaho to Salt Lake City, Utah. We had to divert a *little* bit once in a while. The pilot came across with traffic calls of other planes in the area we had to avoid (our fault, because we were below all radar) or another time when we were going head on to a rinky-dink airport, and the tower came out over the radio "Sesna 7173...WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?" We left quicky at that point.
Coming into our airway here was good, too. Not just a regular landing, no sir-e! Not on this flight! Going into land another plane had to land in front of us due to an emergency, so we had to peel off. Fast. Coincidentally, we just happen to strafe the hotels next to the airport.
This was not intentional.
This was not military fucking off.
This was a "Thats a 747. Were a C-130...we'd lose."
It did seem to be a great way to end our flight. We also had a puker. Not me, during this, my first time on new plane. Instead, a guy whose done it a few times that suffered from multiple cases of projectile vomit. Im told its a good sign.
Combat maneuvers at 500ft AGL do that to people.
I thought it was great.
But Im just sick like that.
- Brian
Im ambling out to my ride (because Superheros amble) and a kid stops me at the door and I think "Im being mugged by an 8 year old?" But no!
He asks, "Are you in the Air Force?"
"Well, yes, I am."
Him - "Thanks. Thanks for what you do."
And we shake hands.
"Hey kid, whats your name?"
- "My names Austin, thats my grandma," he says, pointing to a woman just on the other side of the glass, waving.
- "Were just driving through, takin a trip!"
"Well my names Brian, and its good to meet you, Austin. Enjoy your trip with granma, ya hear?"
He waves with the energy only a child has, and runs up the stairs to help her with a suitcase.
Then I go to work.
Prebrief, extra paperwork. Even for the AF, it was extra-extra paperwork.
Why?
- Flying with a Guard unit instead of active AF (Transitional Paperwork)
- Flying a different platform (Differential Certification Paperwork)
- Flying as a student (Trainee Paperwork)
- Flying with an unqualified instructor (Currency Paperwork from Actual Instructor)
- Safety Signatures etc, as its my first time FLYING on the platform. (I said it already!)
So we hop on the C-130, cruuuuuuuuuuuise down the runway at an amazingly slow speed.
- Remember. Im use to a 4 engine jet that goes mid 500's. This is a turboprop plane that was doin low 200's.
Take off, go fly around Idaho for a while... why, Im not sure. Its just where we were.
Four hours later, it turns interesting.
A crewmember on special duty assignment out here has a father, a WWII vet, who lives just a lil' NE of where we were. He just happened to phone his dad and find out he's home, and maybe mention that he go outside...
He overflew "Mud Lake" at 500ft AGL(above ground level).
Our pilot needed Low Level Currency, so we stayed at 500ish feet. In the mountains. We had to look up to see the mountaintops flying through valleys, something I assure you I am *not* used too.
Certain phrases during this phase of flight caught my attention.
- "Hey, look, we're making the cows stampeede!"
- "Is that a goat?"
- "Now, thats one pretty lookin deer... a buck!"
- "Why do I think its bad that the view of the mountain is obscured by the houses?"
Then
- "Why is it bad the view of the houses is obscured by the cars in their driveways?"
- "A cop just got us on radar. The rogue plane will be all over Idaho newspapers tomorrow for speeding..."
Reference to next: IFR typically stands for Instrument Flight Rules
My personal favorite,
"Is this IFR?"
Other: "No, VFR(Visual), duh"
"No, I mean I Follow Road."
Because, for the last two, at that point... we were on the freeway. Mostly, anyway. For fun, we decided that even though were flying, we're takin' I-15 all the way back down from Pokatello Idaho to Salt Lake City, Utah. We had to divert a *little* bit once in a while. The pilot came across with traffic calls of other planes in the area we had to avoid (our fault, because we were below all radar) or another time when we were going head on to a rinky-dink airport, and the tower came out over the radio "Sesna 7173...WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?" We left quicky at that point.
Coming into our airway here was good, too. Not just a regular landing, no sir-e! Not on this flight! Going into land another plane had to land in front of us due to an emergency, so we had to peel off. Fast. Coincidentally, we just happen to strafe the hotels next to the airport.
This was not intentional.
This was not military fucking off.
This was a "Thats a 747. Were a C-130...we'd lose."
It did seem to be a great way to end our flight. We also had a puker. Not me, during this, my first time on new plane. Instead, a guy whose done it a few times that suffered from multiple cases of projectile vomit. Im told its a good sign.
Combat maneuvers at 500ft AGL do that to people.
I thought it was great.
But Im just sick like that.
- Brian