My life is so weird
When I rented the car a couple of weeks ago, I purchased the fill-up option. I'm s'posssed to. So I did. With that, the primary goal is to return the vehicle back to the rental agency as close to empty as possible. I'm close to there now, but thought I wasn't as close as I was. I thought about stopping this afternoon on base to get gas, but I was just happy to be out of class so I decided against it after a quick glance at the fuel gauge as I approached the base service station.
No sooner had I passed the gas station, the light on the dash came on and the display told me I was low on fuel, so I got to stop for gas on the way back to the hotel. I forgot to close the gas door, so I had to stop and do that, which took a minute. Traffic was it's usual self, and I got to the hotel uneventfully.
As I opened the door to the hotel, I saw a man and a woman walking toward the door. As I held the door open for them, and they walked through, the woman turned to me and asked:
"Do you work at Hill?"
I know this lady because I took over her tool box when I got out of the fuels shop. She was on our crew and shortly thereafter, she left the crew and I took over her toolbox.
It's a big world but a small Air Force.
It's comforting to know people. I've felt like an outcast the whole time I've been here. It's nice to know somebody. It just kind of lifted my spirits. It's been a tough couple of weeks. I've been through the proverbial wringer. I got killed once in the simulator. I thought the kid today was gonna do it again. It was his first time.
It's overcast today in Ft. Worth and the guy had it overcast in the sim. Again, it's the kid's first time flying the "plane" He's kinda all over the place on the runway, but he gets it off the ground. I'm calling out airspeed and altitudes for him as we're climbing. I put the gear up, then the flaps. About 1500 feet AGL (that's pilot talk for above ground level) we are climbing through a cloud. All of a sudden, I tell him we're in a turn. I'm thinking he's turning the plane, but the yoke is straight. Are you pushing the rudder pedals, I ask. He wasn't.
Our instructor flamed out the #1 engine. We're flying blind, and the only way I knew we were in a turn was the instruments. I should tell you that I've never flown a plane before, but I've flown IN the cockpit enough and watched enough "when things go wrong" videos to know kinda what to do; ish... We can't see the ground, remember.
Did I mention this was the first time this kid had flown the "plane". That should tell you how the class has been. I've learned a lot, but learning a lot has been stressful. It's supposed to be. There's a ton of stuff that can go wrong. Like having an engine flame out on your first flight.
We get it trimmed out, he landed, and life was good again. The landing wasn't, but we survived it.
A friendly face was a blessing. Just talking to someone I knew for a couple of minutes made me smile. I needed that.
No sooner had I passed the gas station, the light on the dash came on and the display told me I was low on fuel, so I got to stop for gas on the way back to the hotel. I forgot to close the gas door, so I had to stop and do that, which took a minute. Traffic was it's usual self, and I got to the hotel uneventfully.
As I opened the door to the hotel, I saw a man and a woman walking toward the door. As I held the door open for them, and they walked through, the woman turned to me and asked:
"Do you work at Hill?"
I know this lady because I took over her tool box when I got out of the fuels shop. She was on our crew and shortly thereafter, she left the crew and I took over her toolbox.
It's a big world but a small Air Force.
It's comforting to know people. I've felt like an outcast the whole time I've been here. It's nice to know somebody. It just kind of lifted my spirits. It's been a tough couple of weeks. I've been through the proverbial wringer. I got killed once in the simulator. I thought the kid today was gonna do it again. It was his first time.
It's overcast today in Ft. Worth and the guy had it overcast in the sim. Again, it's the kid's first time flying the "plane" He's kinda all over the place on the runway, but he gets it off the ground. I'm calling out airspeed and altitudes for him as we're climbing. I put the gear up, then the flaps. About 1500 feet AGL (that's pilot talk for above ground level) we are climbing through a cloud. All of a sudden, I tell him we're in a turn. I'm thinking he's turning the plane, but the yoke is straight. Are you pushing the rudder pedals, I ask. He wasn't.
Our instructor flamed out the #1 engine. We're flying blind, and the only way I knew we were in a turn was the instruments. I should tell you that I've never flown a plane before, but I've flown IN the cockpit enough and watched enough "when things go wrong" videos to know kinda what to do; ish... We can't see the ground, remember.
Did I mention this was the first time this kid had flown the "plane". That should tell you how the class has been. I've learned a lot, but learning a lot has been stressful. It's supposed to be. There's a ton of stuff that can go wrong. Like having an engine flame out on your first flight.
We get it trimmed out, he landed, and life was good again. The landing wasn't, but we survived it.
A friendly face was a blessing. Just talking to someone I knew for a couple of minutes made me smile. I needed that.
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