Navy Duty, - Finally a Crew Chief Trainee!!

Nothing new on the studying for the instrument rating rating. But I did finally start my training as a C-40A (737-700) Crew Chief Trainee which is an upgrade from my current role as a Loadmaster. 

 
Basically the job is easy until things go wrong.  I'll be backing up the pilots during take off, landings, and emergencies while reading the checklists.  If the plane breaks it'll be my responsibility to ensure the plane is repaired correctly while supervising the remainder of the enlisted crew.   Getting to this point has taken some effort, gaining various maintenance qualifications. Now I just need to knock out the flying part.  Once I get qualified as a crew chief I'll be able to use 1/3 of my flight time as credit towards the 1500hrs needed for my Airline Transportation Pilot license, and it'll help me gain experience for an FAA airplane and power plant license.   The U.S Navy is the only operator of the 737-700 that uses a three person crew in the cockpit. But its nice considering the hours we fly (continuously) , and where we take our planes compared to civilian operators.   So I'll be spending the next couple months with the Navy training before a check-ride and flying by myself again. 

More studying again!

Again nothing too exciting today, spent the day studying for the written and practical exam.  Ah.. I'm getting tired of this but it seems my brain has a slow absorption rate these day. So I'll keep at it.  I'm getting close but still cutting 80's on the practice tests.  Seventy is passing but I do not want to just skim by, I want to know this stuff cold.   Well back at it.  This weekend will be filled with my Navy duties so I'll have a slight break from the studying.  

Great Simulator Day

Finally I had a good day in the simulator.  After some work flying Microsoft Flight Simulator practicing my instrument landing system approaches (ILS), it paid off.  Dane ran me through my paces flying in the simulator today, I was not 100% happy with my progress but I was happy. I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of it.  Dane agreed that my flying is getting better and told me I was getting close to my check-ride, after we cleaned my ILS approaches.   I agreed that my ILS flying needed some work but I was a little shocked Dane felt I was getting close to the "ride".   I'll keep flying my flight simulator, and get some extra flight time with Brett for some extra practice. 

 Unfortunately I did not feel I was ready for my instrument rating written exam, so I postponed it til a later time.  Well back to studying!

More studying

Today wasn't too exciting just more studying for the Instrument written exam.
Unfortunately my pending divorce is having an effect on me causing some lack of sleep so today was not as productive as I'd like.   But I'm still pressing on. I'm planning on taking the tests tomorrow.

Studying for the Intrument Rating Written Tests

Well today wasn't too exciting.  I spent 95% of the day continuing my studying for my instrument rating written tests.  The written tests are based from the FAA's Federal Aviation Regulations  (FARs) and the Airman's Information Manual (AIM). These wonderful books known as the FAR/AIM have loads of great useful information, but like most government documents lack that attention grabbing pzazz needed to keep the students attention. Borrowing from my study technique used for my private pilot written, I'm using computer programs. For me a major portion of  being successful at taking the FAA's written tests is studying for the test not knowledge needed for real world flying unfortunately.

So I'm using a combination of Sporty's Study buddy (downloaded from Itunes) and ASA's study program (provided by ATP at school) for the test. These programs allow me to spend my time going thru the 900 question deep bank.  This has been my world the last few days, and will be the next couple.  I need to take the tests by the end of the week before drill weekend.  On the positive side, my efforts will allow me to take three instrument related tests in one day, instrument rating (IRA), Instrument Ground Instructor rating (IGI), and the Flight instructor instrument (FII).   A little bit of my evening was spent flying on the simulator (FS) working on my scanning skills that has hampered my ILS flying skills.   Well enough for now..  For those following, I'll get caught on the missing days soon.  Thanks for following along

Sim and Flight..

First the sim then the actual...

Studying.. more studying.. more studying!!!

Well over the last five days I haven't done much besides studying .  I flew for the Navy on Thursday, and was one call for a trip for Friday -Sunday.   After canceling my training for the rest of the week and this weekend I was told my Navy flight was canceled. So I decided it was ok, I'd spend the time studying.  Being a self paced student its my responsibility to stay up to par on my studies. Additionally I didn't want cancel training then call it back on again.
So Friday I started studying my Jeppesen Instrument / Commercial Manual  with intent of getting through the whole book.

I haven't taken the time to get thru the whole book, and all its quizzes, leaving what I felt was little holes in my knowledge.  So I dug into the book after my morning work out.  I kept at studying till today.  I did take off for three hours on Saturday to check out some radio control planes at the club field.  And unfortunately I missed out on a road trip with a buddy yesterday. Oh well I'm hoping all the studying will pay off, I want to take my written test this coming weekend and my practical test by the end of the month.   I've decided that studying for the IFR rating is like getting my private pilots license again and more.  However I do fell that the studying has paid off, I feel like I'm now not behind, and now I just need to find the holes in my knowledge.  So now I can concentrate on flying  verse having to learn and learn to fly IFR too.   So now I'm looking forward to just flying, which is good because I'm scheduled for two trainers and one flight tomorrow!!