I Select on Thursday

I've flown every day that I've been back and as of yesterday I am finished with Primary!

I had my last flight yesterday, my "Instrument Check-Ride" which is to say that even though each flight I do is kind of like an exam, this one was the Final exam of Final Exams. It was a big deal.

Luckily for me, I flew with a reservist on the weekend. That meant that not only was my instructor a relaxed and experienced guy, but he was just happy to have the chance to fly a cool, small maneuverable airplane on someone else's dime before going back to his real job during the week. Additionally, it was the weekend, which meant that there was almost no traffic in the sky (compared to the week when we send up about 100 planes every day).

I had joked that because I'd taken the time to do a field trip and visit Corpus Approach Control (the big dark radar room that you see in movies with lots of screens and guys talking to planes into headsets) that I could call them up and offer the guys I'd met there a case of beer to take extra-special care of me when I was under their control for my Check-Ride. However, because it was the weekend and my instructor was looking more to judge my abilities than to throw me any challenges or anything out of the ordinary, it wasn't necessary.

It was a great flight, I passed.... I did pretty well actually, and I'm sad to say that I'll no longer be flying the T-34C.

I flew my Cross-Country in the middle of the week. I did not go to San Diego, I did not go to Chicago, I did not even go to Tucson. In fact, I didn't even leave Texas, I went to Austin. I was lucky enough to meet up with my former neighbor from Darien/ Big Kid Down the Street on Pilgrim Road who is about 9 years older and at grad school at U.T. He took me around Wednesday night and we had a really good time. Thursday morning we picked up my instructor and took him all around Austin. My former neighbor, Fritz, was really great about showing us 'hole in the wall' places and we ended up at this place called "Barton Springs" and went swimming for the rest of the afternoon. Totally relaxed and happy, he drove us back to the airport and we flew a roundabout way back to Corpus, landing at about 10:30 pm.

The Cross Country, even though it didn't really help my grades at all, was a huge confidence builder and I was able to see a lot of things, aviation wise, that were outside what I'd grown accustomed to in the Corpus Christi area.

I'm going to go play some beach volleyball pretty soon (yes, we're totally aware of the cliche involved)... in fact maybe later I'll watch Top Gun for the last time in case I don't get Jets. Speaking of which, I spent some time last night with a couple of Jet guys up from Kingsville last night and they said some interesting things. Mainly that there was a huge backup in their "pipeline" and that they were only doing events 1-2 times a week (versus my 9 events in 5 days this week). That coupled with the fact that for the past 2-3 weeks they have been giving out 1 (ONE) jet spot for all of Primary makes things look pretty grim.

You'd think that because I've gone through so many selection processes to get to this point... the Academy, the Prep school thing, the Academy again, Service Selection and flight school in general, that it'd be an easier thing to deal with, just another hurdle. However, having come this far, the closer I get, the more precious each new trial becomes to me. I think it's something to the effect that the higher I climb, the longer the potential fall becomes.

Maybe this'll be the week that they bring things back (so maybe if you know any good prayers or Jet dances...). On the bright side I keep hearing more and more good things about helicopters and P-3s so I know I'll have a good life no matter what I'm assigned. The thing is though, I still want Jets.

... Tune in on Thursday for the exciting conclusion of my life in Primary, all will be revealed!