Indoc

I must have been well indoctrinated because we went over the test review today and I totally quit sweating it. I just need to review Takeoff alternates and minimums and derived minimums for 1st and 2nd destination alternates and I'll be good. This computer isn't letting me look at one of my inboxes today :(

I think the first thing I want to do when I get my hands on a bowl and a microwave is eat a whole bag of veggies. Come and join me SPR.

Laundry Excitement

My indoctrination test got pushed back to Thursday. We covered eight chapters of the FOM today, but we couldn't quite make it through. After we got out at 5:30, I had a quick snack and bumped my laundry all the way down the hill to the nearest laundrymat. The inn next to mine has machines for a buck apiece, and I was like "I am so not paying that much!" I was quite surprised to find washers costing $1.75 at the bottom of the hill. Fortunately I was able to contain my suprise and refrained from throwing dirty clothes all over. I merely stumbled the mile home in a daze and fed my quarters to the machine in the inn. Ahh well, I can be like Dilbert and just tell myself that it's not so bad.

Oop. time to study now. Later Y'all

Billings!

Greetings from outer Montana! Life out here is pretty crazy, with classes going from 8:30-5:30, and then homework (12 page essay, short answer) memory items, checklists and flows, and assigned reading to work on until I get to bed. I really should be studying right now, but I found this computer in the lobby of the Inn down the hill from me and decided to give you all an update after I got a little caught up on my email.

In classes we have been reading through the FOM (flight operations manual) and explaining every rule and procedure. I think the most difficult ones are the flight and duty times regulations and the driftdown rules and procedure. Driftdown wasn't really to bad, it was just pretty new to me.

Well I must get back to my emergency memory items now.

ENGINE FIRE OR FAILURE IN FLIGHT
Condition lever............................Fuel Cutoff
Propeller............................................Feather
Firewall fuel valve......................Pull Closed
Fire extinguisher (if required).......Actuate
.............

I leave today

for Evansville, Pennsylvania, and then MONTANA! This means however, that I will be without a computer, for a while, so don't email me anything important.

now a fake picture.
Me while I'm flying:
=)

I just finished the best corn on the cob

that I have ever made.

I graduate in six hours! WOOOOO!

I should be studying or packing right now, but I'm not really motivated to do either, so I'm just sitting here blogging and listening to Jeff 92 (pretty much the best radio station on planet earth).

old rag

Man I am so worn out right now. I could really use a nice vacation, but I have sooo much to do in the next two months. My training class is going to take the equivalent of my last two YEARS of flight training and cram it all into two MONTHS with the additional requirement of expecting me to know the information better at the end of it all. It will be really tough, so please keep me in your prayers.

amazing like ross

Guess what y'all!?

Big Sky gave me a job!
I get to go to Billings Montana on the 21st to start training to be the co-pilot of this:
it is a Beech 1900D, and here is more than you ever wanted to know about it:
General characteristics:
Crew: 1 (2 in U.S. airline operations)
Capacity: 19 passengers + 2 crew
Length: 57 ft 10 in (17.63 m)
Wingspan: 58 ft 0 in (17.67 m)
Height: 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)
Wing area: ft² (m²)
Empty weight: 10,650 lb (4,831 kg)
Useful load: lb (kg)
Max takeoff weight: 17,120 lb (7,668 kg)
Powerplant: 2× Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67D turboprops, 1,279 shaft horsepower, (1,353 equivalent shaft horsepower, including thrust from jet exhaust), 3,950 foot-pounds Torque (955 kW) each
Fuel Capacity: 4,484 pounds

Performance:
Never exceed speed: 248 knots indicated
Maximum speed: 248 knots indicated
Cruise speed: 260 knots (True Airspeed) (300 mph, 480 km/h)
Stall speed: 84 knots (Indicated Airspeed) (97 mph, 156 km/h)
Range: 1,498 nm (1,724 mi, 2,776 km)
Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (maximum certificated altitude) (7,600 m)
Rate of climb: ~2000ft/min (~10m/s)
Maximum operating speed: Vmo = 248 knots Indicated Airspeed (285 mph, 459 km/h) to 13,200 ft (4,020 m), Mmo = Mach 0.48 to 25,000' (7,600 m).

I do ground training for 3-3.5 weeks in Billings, sim training for 7-10 days in Denver, and flight training and initial operating experience back in Billings. Once that is all finished, I get to go to Boston and fly the line!

Between now and the 21st, I will be super busy getting everything ready, but I should be home from late on the 11th to the morning of the 15th, so come by and see me one last time before I am gone forever.

finals week is upon us

and I have been good and busy. I had forgotten how much fun it was to study this much. Maybe the study isin't a lot of fun, but it seems that everything else I do is getting to be a lot more fun. Of course I am doing fun stuff like flying and playing disc golf and finishing our Mark Bible study. Big Sky called on Monday and asked if I was available for an interview! I was like so yes. Then signed up for an interview on Friday morning, but now it sounds like they are going to do phone interviews, so I'm really hoping they call when I am not at work. I wonder if I can work something out with my managers that would let me keep my phone with me while I am out on the floor. My weather exam starts in four hours.
Josh out.