UPT complete

As of 9 Nov 07, I am a rated Air Force Officer, meaning...I'm a pilot!

It was a GREAT, but hectic weekend, and it was definitely great to have the whole family out here, plus a few extras! Mom, Dad, Erin, Ryan, Grandma Rusty, Anna, and Erin's boyfriend Luke were able to make it out for the festivities, and we all had a blast!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Ryan showing his true colors...

Eating at Cracker Barrel two mornings in a row!

Once everyone got into Wichita Falls and got situated in their rooms, we were able to enjoy the Friday as "Red Carpet Day". This is where all the families of the graduating class get to come into the squadron to see what we do on a normal day. We started off with some OJ and donuts in our flight room and a meet and greet with the IPs. Then the students help a standard morning briefing of the weather, flying status, NOTAM information, alternate runways, threat of the day, word of the day, and the bird status. This was followed by an Emergency Procedure "Stand Up" where an IP gives one of the students an emergency situation and the student has to "fly" his way through the procedures by talking about each detail he would do in the jet. LT Gray did a good job, right up until his wife took over and fixed his mistake...They put on a good show! (even if it was staged...) Afterwards, our flight commander Capt Armstrong talked for a bit to the families and introduced the IPs, as well as giving each of the students' significant other a certificate of appreciation for putting up with the stresses from pilot training. Anna was pleasantly surprised to hear her name called :) Next, we were supposed to head out to the flight line to watch the jets fly, but flying had been postponed due to very low visibility and fog. We still went out to the jet ramp to look at the T-38 and T-37 that were on static displays.

"Red Carpet Day" where I got to show the family what a normal day is like for us...

Anna and I by the T-38

After we had our fill of those, we decided to head on over to the simulator building to give everyone a chance to fly in our T-38 flight trainers. I was able to get everyone into the cockpit to fly around for a bit, doing whatever they wanted to, and Dad was even able to land once (although a pretty rough landing...expected from those Navy guys). After about an hour at the simulators, we headed over to the maintenance hanger to take a look up close at the F-15C, A-10, and of course, F-16!

We got to tour the maintenance hangers like this one, with my future F-16!

Grandma Rusty enjoyed seeing my new toy, and even got up into the cockpit for a bit!

Even Luke got up in my new office, the VIPER!

After everyone got their turn sitting in the F-16 cockpit, we headed back to the flight room for a minute, and then returned to our rooms to relax and get ready for graduation. Also, somewhere in between the flight line and the maintenance hanger tours we ate BBQ with all the families in the flight room.

Just a couple other pictures from the day:

Ryan being his normal self...

The rest of the night was filled with the graduation ceremony, which lasted about 2 hours. We started out with the class video that Mike had put together throughout the year, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. It was filled with pictures and video and music from our class through the entire year of UPT. After the video, one of our commanders, LtCol Less, talked for a bit about the pilot training process, and then got into the dozen or so awards. As it turned out, my flight, Mob flight, took home every single award! Way to go! Jeff and Dell (two of my good friends) each earned multiple awards, including one that I earned as well, the Distinguished Graduate award. Out of the 25 student pilots, the top 10%, or top 3, earned this award. Matt Lowe also took home an award, the Top Formation Pilot award, nice job!

Finishing in the top 10% of my class earned a "Distinguished Graduate" award!

After the awards were given out, it was finally time to call us up to pin on our wings! We had held a couple practices prior, so we didn't look like complete idiots throughout the ceremony. As my name was called, Dad followed me up on stage, as he was my self-chosen "rated military officer" I wanted to pin on my wings.

Dad pinning on my first set of Air Force wings! Thanks Pops!

Once the entire class pinned on their wings one by one, it was photo-op time with the families. We had about 45 minutes for all this before the Wing-Breaking Ceremony over at the O-Club. Here are a few of those pictures:

Mom posing as she pins on my wings with Dad.

Anna takes amazing photos doesnt she...(She really IS that beautiful in person!)

Some good lookin' siblings...

Thanks for visiting Grandma!!

Typical Jason/Ryan picture...

A happy Mom and Dad photo with their newest military pilot...

Once all the photos had been taken, we all headed over to the O-Club for the reception and the rated officers went into a separate room for a bit for the wing breaking ceremony. Basically, the tradition is for a newly rated pilot to "break" his first set of wings for good luck and to separate the two halves. One half stays with the pilot, and the other is given to a close friend or relative (in my case, Dad), and never be brought back together while the pilot is alive. After death, the two halves are reunited with the pilot. We heard some good stories from the commanders and our guest speaker, and then broke our wings. Some people had more trouble than others, and Ilaria, the female Italian pilot, actually had to shove one end into the door jam and hang off the other end to break them, as no one else is allowed to help you break your wings. Once that was done, we all went out to enjoy our last night as ENJJPT Class 08-01 and our first night as Air Force Pilots!

.

Class 08-01

Mob Flight pilots at the reception after the wing breaking ceremony...

The three Riddle friends all heading off to Luke AFB to fly the Viper!

I think Dad had a few too many..."LUMPIA!!!" haha those Navy guys....sheesh

My last chance to hang out with the Mob Flight Italians...they left for Italy the next day!

Well, that sums up my Graduation weekend, full of family, friends, fun, and of course, WINGS! Now starts 3 months of "down" time where I will complete various training around the country including:

.

12-14 Nov 07 - Centrifuge training at Holloman AFB (again, only this time, 9Gz!!! Was rough!)

.

11-13 Dec 07 - Water Survival training at NAS Pensacola, FL (gonna be cold in that water)

.

22 Jan - 8 Feb 08 - Survival, Evasion, and Resistance training at Fairchild AFB, WA (COLD!)

.

22 Feb - 25 Apr 08 - Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals (IFF)

.

After these are complete, I will move out to Luke AFB, AZ to start F-16 training on 20 Jun 08!!! I can't wait!

.

In the mean time, I will fly every so often to update landing currency or sandbag in some IFF flights to get a feel for what I'm going to be doing. I can also get simulator flights to keep on top of instrument flying and Emergency Procedures, and will also sit up at the Duty Desk to help out. I also get to take some Leave for Thanksgiving up in Seattle, and Christmas in Seattle and hopefully over to NC to meet Anna's family!

.

Until next time, have a great night!

The final 5 days of UPT

To cut to the chase, I will be flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon, or as everyone calls it, the VIPER!!!

Here I am, just 5 days from graduating from USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training. I have a total of 2 formation low level flights left, and maybe a checkride. I say maybe, because the rumor around the squadron is that we will not be flying the Low Level checkride due to bird hazards and a large number of the fleet's windscreens having cracks along the rivets that were just discovered recently. Either way, I am totally happy with finishing up with no worries of a checkride!

.

Last I wrote, I had 2 checkrides left: Advanced Formation and the Low Level.

Well, advanced formation was a blast and ended up passing the checkride with 5 downgrades! Not too shabby at all. I flew 90% of the flights with one of my good Italian friends, Michele Pedalino, and we meshed really well by the end. Although, the two of us did go through a very, very rough week...we both busted (failed) two flights in a row just before the checkride and had to do it a third time, which we both passed but definitely got shaken up for that checkride. Considering that the advanced formation checkride is the single most important flight in UPT and counts the most for your mass score (assignment night ranking), we were kind of worried. It's not even that we were doing bad things, just a couple little things we don't normally do wrong were happening, and they were things that we could possibly fail a checkride for, depending on how anal our IP would want to be. Like I said before though, we pushed through it and passed with an average flight. Worst part about that whole deal was we knew we could have done much better, but we were glad to get it over with.

.

Once that was done, on came the low level flights, 4-ship formation flights, and solo out-and-back flight. This was definitely the BEST last few weeks we could have asked for in pilot training. Not only is flying formation next two 3 other jets the coolest stuff I've ever done, we got to fly in the number 2, 3, and 4 positions! No-threat (of failing) flights are always the best kind of flights, especially were your IP flies for a little bit showing off and letting you look around at the other jets. Just as cool is flying 500 feet off the ground at 450 mph! The low level flights are amazing, and a little scary at times with the birds and towers and other jets flying around, but it is totally worth every second! The worst part about the low level phase is we only get 8 flights before going to the checkride (which we probably won't have). That is not much time at all to get up to speed with all the things involved in the planning and flying. On top of that, trying to fly that fast and that low while looking at a self-made low level chart that is about 3 feet by 3 feet big makes for some interesting experiences!
.

The solo out-and-back flight, which we have tried to complete for about two months now, finally got done. We got a break from the weather and winds and whatever else was holding us up and launched 6 solo students and 2 solo IP's as chase ships out to Amarillo for lunch! Flying around solo is damn cool. It's even cooler when you get to actually go somewhere and fly into a strange field and feel like you are an actual pilot! .....Man, these last 5 days are going to go so slow!
.
Let's see, what else happened in October...I just about double turned flights every day to get caught up after breaking so many jets...so that was pretty exhausting. We celebrated Ryan's 21st birthday (in spirit)... OH, we had class 08-01's Assignment Night!
.

Assignment Night is the night all the assignable (non-Air National Guard) U.S. student pilots find out what they will be flying for the next 10 years or more! Finally it was our turn! Our theme of the night was 80's rock and we all dressed in mullets, big-hair-band t-shirts, and chose our favorite theme song to individually walk out to. We also got a hold of 25 beat up acoustic guitars, in which would a picture of a certain jet (our assignment) would be taped and we would actually smash the guitar open to find out! It was definitely a TON of fun, and I ended up getting my #1 choice, the F-16 Viper! I am PUMPED! As it turns out, two of my good friends, both of which I lived with at ERAU (Mike and Greg) both got the Viper as well! The three of us just can't seem to get away from each other. Actually, the 08-01 drop was pretty dang impressive:
.

F-16: 5 + 2 Air National Guard

F-15C: 2

F-15E: 2

A-10: 1

T-38: 1

T-37/T-6: 1

B-52: 1
.

Most everybody was pleased, with a few exceptions...but that's life. Needs of the Air Force is the game. It was a great time and Dave Sustello even made it down from Vance to celebrate with all of us, which was great! The entire ceremony lasted about an hour from start to finish, and of course I busted my face up again in the process. I'm pretty sure it happened when I jumped off the stage and busted my guitar, ending up with it breaking where the neck meets the body and bouncing up into my face. I'm just glad I wore my sunglasses just in case...although I think a new set of sunglasses will be on my Christmas list this year! It may have happened right after that though, when an I-flighter decided to tackle me (tradition for a dog-pile to occur) when I wasn't looking, ending up with us in the middle of the broken guitar pieces. HAHA, it was all such a blur, and I won't deny there being some beverages involved either...but it was a great time and I am totally happy with getting the VIPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.

This week coming up is a big week as well. Wednesday we will get our RIPs (orders) for IFF, survival training, water survival training, centrifuge training, and our RTU (F-16 training). At least I will be able to plan out the next few months for the most part. Also, all the families will be getting in town for Red Carpet Day (kind of like show and tell) and graduation on Friday! The worst part about this week is it is the last week we get to spend with all the great Italians in our class. They move back to Italy the day after we graduate! Fortunately the internet makes it very easy to keep in touch, and I know I will definitely do that with many of them!
.

Well, it's 4am on Sunday, actually 3am with the new time change, and I guess I need to get to bed. One last piece of great news from the non-flying department: I started dating a great girl, Anna Avera, and actually it is a pretty funny story of how it started. To sum it up, we went to middle school together and 9th grade, but then both moved away and didn't hear from each other for 10 years, and a few months ago I ran across her page on facebook (online college networking) and sent a message to see how things had been going. We ended up exchanging phone numbers in mid-August and ended up talking for 2 hours a day (woa) for about a month...then she came to town and visited and we hit it off! She lives in Nashville, TN now and actually got to make it for assignment night which was great and will also be here for graduation! I'm pretty surprised how great things are going between us, and will keep you informed on how it goes! haha
.

Hopefully everyone had a great Halloween and ate lots of candy, I know I sure did!

Until next time....