Another Experience At Vance

[cjord2345]

What did the weekends end up being like for you? Did you find that spending 12 hours a day, M-F, on base allowed you to kind of step back and take it easy on Saturday and Sunday, or did it never really stop?

 

[FLY_USMC]

I was drunk at Scooters or at the O-Club or at a house party every weekend, Friday and Saturday. Sunday I "might" study a bit for Monday, but I essentially got all my studying done during the week. I had some great times in Enid, America.

 

[Godspeed]

What did the weekends end up being like for you? Did you find that spending 12 hours a day, M-F, on base allowed you to kind of step back and take it easy on Saturday and Sunday, or did it never really stop?

At first you'll be doing a lot more studying than normal (including your weekends).... Not to get all mathematical, but i'd say that the studying goes down linearly throughout your time at Vance. There is a somewhat steep curve at the beginning because you have to memorize or familiarize yourself with local area procedures and radio calls on top of chairflying your flights.

Overall my plan of attack (which worked fairly well for me) was to use the 12 hour days as efficiently as possible. When I wasn't flying I was preparing for the next flight and studying for the next test or checkride. This really lightened up the load for the weekends. I'd say on average I studied 1-2 hours total on the weekends.

There were times during the first 1-2 months that I studied much more on a weekend here or there (before the midphase checkride for example). The last month and a half or so I don't think I studied at all on any weekends.
Kinda had the mentality that i'd work hard during the week and have the weekends to myself.

Time management is the the key... If you're good at it and the material comes fairly easily, you should have your weekends free for the most part.

 

[Purdue]

On to the PARs. I have no idea what you are trying to get at here. I've done loads of them during my training here at Vance. One of the several fields we use around here for PARs is 15 minutes south.

Which field is that? When I was there in 2006, I got a total of 3 PAR's in the actual aircraft... I got another few in the sims... but only 3 in the air, and all on the same flight.

Also, I got the minimum amount of AOA patterns to graduate... what is it, 6 patterns, all on one flight?

This was the Standard when I was there, nobody got extras... of course... siht changes. Plus, it's not like I use any of that crap in VFR Helo land....

 

[e6bflyer]

Which field is that? When I was there in 2006, I got a total of 3 PAR's in the actual aircraft... I got another few in the sims... but only 3 in the air, and all on the same flight.

Also, I got the minimum amount of AOA patterns to graduate... what is it, 6 patterns, all on one flight?

This was the Standard when I was there, nobody got extras... of course... siht changes. Plus, it's not like I use any of that crap in VFR Helo land....

Every student's mileage may vary, but I don't think Whiting studs get many more than 6 AOA approaches. They are a great teaching tool, but a bit futile when the students are struggling to just land safe. The only guys who get something out of them are the guys that matter anyway (those bound for tailhook).
Students do, however, get a lot of PARs at Whiting. I flew a handful of them at Vance too, I think most of them at Ft. Worth JRB.

 

[scoolbubba]

you could get them down at Lawton if they were open for business. I got a bunch done there on XC and a few on an out and back.

 

[WEGL]

I said it's the same as VOR/DME, not VOR. As long as your NAVAID is giving DME, then it's the same as a TACAN. The aircraft's capabilities are the same. So, explain to me how it's different. Maybe I'm missing something.

In principle they may be the same, but in the goshawk there's a big difference. With the TACAN I get planemetric, meaning I have a line off a waypoint.. I fly to the line, fly along the line, and land on the dot. Sweet. With VOR I have to look at a damn needle and do some tail-radial-turn, head-rise, tail-fall stuff to figure out where the hell I am. Big difference to a polisci guy. But it's all moot now anyway... now I just use waypoints. :icon_tong

 

[torpedo0126]

At Whiting and Corpus, your simulator & academics count towards your NSS. Here at Vance however, ONLY your flights count towards your NSS. Also, you get six freebie flights before they start counting.

For anybody coming to Vance, our sims now count toward our NSS.

 

[CumminsPilot]

So then what are analog gauges on glass displays? (I always thought this was stupid)

I know this is an old post, and that your post was somewhat in jest, but I still had to respond...

The reason, at least in my opinion and in talking to manufacturers of digital displays (specifically Electronics International who build primarily engine monitoring systems), is that you can see the rate of change on an analog display much quicker than on a digital display. It's easier to see how fast a needle is sweeping than to recognize how fast a number is changing. You can also glance at an analog display on a sweep of the panel and notice if the needle is in the right sector, versus reading a number and then deciding if that number is correct or not.

Flying about 100 hours behind an Avidyne system, the altitude and airspeed were just numbers, BUT there was a little bar that would grow either above or below the number depending on how fast that number was changing, thereby showing the rate of change...bigger the bar, faster your speed was increasing/decreasing. Took about 2 hours to get used to, then it was a great system.

Love the inside of those T-6's...hope that when I get to wherever primary will be for me that I can fly the Texan.