Our Dumb Blog

Class is back to the early shift, starting at 6:30am today. I went to bed at 9pm and slept soundly until 2am when someone was yelling outside. It’s times like these that it’s a good thing I don’t own a firearm. It took me a couple hours to get back to sleep.

Our systems instructor was unable to get to work today (it seems that he’s stuck on the east coast), so one of the training supervisors who talked to us last Monday gave us some books (see below) and spent the rest of the class period going through a pre-flight walk around. Yes, he spent 6 hours talking about it and showing us slides.

Things start in earnest tomorrow, I think. Our instructor today managed to drive me absolutely crazy by pronouncing the final t in the word pitot. Seriously.

Lunch is at 10am, at which point the “Burrito Express”, otherwise known as the “Taco Wagon”, or more affectionately, the “Roach Coach”, pulls up outside the building. It appears to be a bad/authentic Mexican restaurant inside a bus, with a proprietor that leans out the side in order to peddle some theoretically edible goods. I purchased a Mexican coke, and received a John Adams dollar in change. I didn’t know such a thing existed– it looks like even more of a disaster than the other previous dollar coins, being roughly the same size and weight as a quarter and only slightly golden colored. The cool feather is the pound-sterling-esque lettering on the side. (Took me a long time to find the mint date)

I’d planned to read through the CFM before class tomorrow, but that’s probably not even possible if I weren’t to sleep. And we got a systems manual as well, which is also the same size. Flying a plane involves a ton of paper.

We also got our seniority numbers. I’m currently the 4th least senior pilot in the company!

Eli is on The Incredible Human Machine on Sunday night on the National Geographic Channel. Among other things, the program will “study top-notch individuals who have harnessed the power of their body through rigorous training, including U.S. Olympic pentathlete Eli Bremer, who trains at more than 6,000 feet above sea level…” It looks really cool. I don’t have the National Geographic Channel (or a TV for that matter), but maybe I’ll get to watch it on video sometime.

I aced the test. I got a bit freaked out when I got my paper back, and had stuff scribbled all over it. After a second I realized it was a smiley face, and I didn’t miss any of the 40 questions.

We start systems ground school for the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet CL-65 (CRJ 100/200) on Monday morning. It’ll take three weeks. We got a study guide full of 23 pages of rote memorization, and he suggested we complete as much as possible before Monday morning. Woohoo!

Tomorrow we’ve got a test on all of the boring stuff so far. If I pass it, I get to start systems class on Monday. If I flunk it, I get to pack my bags and go home.

I’m not terribly worried, though certainly anxious. This’ll be brief because it’s 10pm, and class is early tomorrow at 10am, and I don’t plan on staying up too late. I’ve been keeping up with the studying so far, assuming I’m reading the signals right about what’s going to be tested.

From talking to folks who have been around awhile, there’s a huge backlog of students waiting for the simulators. So, assuming I pass the test tomorrow, and another one in three weeks, and pass an oral exam after that, I could have a couple months off. Paid, with flight benefits. One guy just started the sims this week and had finished ground school in July. He said, “Yup, just been flying around the world. I get up in the morning, hop on an empty plane.” Not a bad gig if you can get it.

The serious down side to all this time, is that the simulator portion of the training is where most people wash out, and it’s substantially harder after a long break from ground school. Without using it, all that information goes away, even if you try to study.

So, if I pass my tests and you live in an interesting place somewhere near an airport with any sort of airplane I can ride on (and I’ll be able to ride on anything, including FedEx and UPS), you might be hearing from me:)