Pre-week

The week of 30-Jan thru 3-Feb-2006 was known as pre-week. It was the week prior to the official start of class. During this week, I had to go through the new student check-in process. There are a lot of things that have to happen. They give you a check-in card that tells you where to go and who to see. Once you see those folks, they have to initial off on your card and then you move on to the next item. Not a hard process, just time consuming.

On the first day I met a few of my classmates and we headed down to TPS maintenance. They gave us a "seat checkout" which basically means we are now qualified to sit in an ejection seat. In order to get this, they taught us the details of the ejection seat, how to SAFE the seat, how to ARM the seat, and the bad things that can happen if you don't do a preflight check of the seat.

Next on the list, actually get into a T-38C and T-2C to see the cockpit layout and go through our NATOPS (equivalent of a pilot flight manual or operating handbook in the civilian world). This was my first time sitting in a T-2 and T-38. Very different jets. The T-38 was easy to get in and out. Trying to get into and out of the back seat in the T-2 was a pain. The canopy hinges right behind the seat, so you just about have to squeeze in to get in. I suspect you'll hear more about this once I start trying to get into the T-2 with all my flight gear on.

The rest of the week was academics. Get my books, start going through the open book exams for the T-2 and T-38, study the emergency procedures, and learn the aircraft systems.