Though ground school is filled with a lot of reading and staring at computer screens, it hasn’t been all dull. Here are a few of the fun things that C has been up to lately:
Flares
One morning at 6:00 a.m., C hauled himself out of bed and into an empty field for flare training. They practiced launching both signaling and smoke flares so that they would know how to use them if the need should ever arise.
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| Flare training |
Parachute Training
While jumping off of platforms may not be everyone’s favorite pastime, it certainly spiced up ground school a bit last week. C started by climbing 2-foot and 4-foot platforms and jumping off of them to learn how to land and orient his body to prevent broken bones when landing with a parachute. Then, he moved to the zip line, which he again jumped from to simulate the moving fall of a parachute. He was then suspended from a 15-foot tower and the instructors slowly lowered him, as if he were floating, again to practice his landings. Finally, the class practiced parachute drags. Each student was strapped in to his/her parachute harness and the classmates pulled them along in the grass. The goal was to successfully unstrap themselves as if their parachute was being pulled by the wind and they needed to release themselves.
T-6 Training Device & Walk-Around
To provide a little exposure to the cockpit, rather than strapping in blind, pairs of students were assigned instruction time in the T-6 training device. The device is basically a cockpit mock-up, similar to a simulator. The goal was to learn the various switches and to introduce systems and emergency procedures.
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| T-6 training device |
The students also got the chance to tour the real aircraft in the hangar to familiarize themselves with the body and size of the plane, as well as getting a look at some of the major systems. It’s much bigger than it looks in pictures!
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| T-6 in hangar |
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| T-6 walk-around |
Systems Test #1
Though not necessarily the exciting part, studying for the first systems test has taken up most of C’s time this week. It’s been the first time (of countless to come) that he’s really had to lock himself away for hours at a time. All of that studying must’ve paid off though since he came out of the test with 100%!
