Don't forget how different it is for students than instructors in TRACOM though. We certainly have it awesome in the sense that we have few duties to cover and no job outside of flying. But, it definitely sucks to be learning something entirely new and be told how much you suck everyday. It takes awhile to uncheck suck in the T-6.
I'm not trying to sound cocky; but I definitely did it a little earlier than some of my peers and it still felt like it took a very very long time.
I agree, I was a Vance guy so I fucking HATED primary. I despised flying with the IPs, I hated the system, and I felt like I got my ass kicked by the airplane every day until about halfway thru contacts when I flew with an American Airlines furloughed 0-5 AF reserve type who was like "look dude, let's go out there and have fun for about 2 hours and I'm going to teach you some shit. You tell me what you're fucking up, we'll fix it, and I'll add my pointers." That flight was 1. the first time I had fun. 2. the Aha! moment, and 3. when it was reinforced that the dudes with 6-8000 hours probably had more of a clue than the brand new FAIP who screamed because you fucked up a PEL or called departing at the wrong point in the pattern. Those guys, I just used my handy dandy valve stem remover on two of their tires in the parking lot.
He hooked me up and pulled a little bit of juice with Skeds and we ended up flying together a couple more times sequentially, and it was a definite improvement by leaps and bounds over the other flights.
Even without flying with any of the NUBs yet, it's kind of comical to see someone who's all assholes and elbows just walking around. Plus you guys look ridiculous when you walk from your car to the sim bay all decked out in your flight gear to go to an early sim (no shit saw a guy get dressed in the parking lot). I figured I would let him learn on his own that he was being silly. Call it schadenfreude or whatever, but I still laugh at you guys.
Advanced was awesome. It was great to be back in the warm embrace of the US Navy. And then I went to 30...womp womp wompppppp.
Now I'm back to relearning the same airplane you just got done flying, and it definitely still kicks my ass. It is not an easy airplane to fly. I'm used to driving a dump truck, or a Caddy, if you want to be real nice, and this thing is like a roadster. It's touchy, got a ton of power for being so light, doesn't weigh much and gets kicked around in winds, and has some silly ass landing gear. Plus, I'm still scared to death that I'm going to get a harness strap wrapped around that seat and punch myself out over Waldo or something. Ignorance was bliss the first time I flew it.
The only thing that makes it easier is I've got knowledges that let me go 'ok this is what the EP says, now what would a pilot do?" to fall back on. I can also talk on the radios without sounding too much like a jackass, though the differences in Comms in the cradle vs everywhere else seem kind of silly, but whatever.
