January 10, 2008 by T Love.

Next Thursday we PV. I’m nervous. Monday and Tuesday I felt pretty good about pushing tin on LC and GC. LC is the tougher position. Wednesday was a set back. The instructor on my last LC run - I dread working with him. He doesn’t shut up. He’s the only instructor that I can say that I don’t gain anything from when we pair up. Infact, its a set back. Wednesdays problem was manageable but the 4 guys in the pattern really screwed me up and about half the class. If you are able to stay on top of it and know the correct sequence of your pattern traffic, you probably did ok on the problem.

Next week we are on Days again. yay. Monday and Tuesday we run regular senarios and on Wednesday we run a senario that is similar to the PV. The problems this week were much busier traffic wise than what the PV will be. Though there will be less traffic in the PV, the PV does cover most of the major points. This includes wake turbulence, intersection departures, crossing runway departure, getting a vehicle across the 2 runways, coordination between LC and GC, separation, execution of phraseology, and other stuff.

Well, time to get ready for class, again. Getting to bed at 130-2a every night and waking up at 12p actually sucks. In that respect, I prefer day shifts because I have more usable time.

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January 7, 2008 by T Love.

This past week we were in the TSS and EDS labs. Each day is a new senario and consists of 7 runs. Of those 7 runs, I alternate between LC (Local Control) and GC (Ground Control). Ground control is fairly simple compared to LC. Everyone at some run or another goes down the flaming shitter. Its that the senarios are really that tough, it more that we are not fluid enough or smooth enough to efficiently do the senario yet. Its rough. Pad management either breaks you or makes you. All you can do is laugh at the end of each run and at the end of the day.

We PV 2 thursdays from now. I’m nervous. We are able to practice in the labs on our breaks and lunch, so that helps. The PV is not as tough as the senarios we are running.

I secured an apartment in West Palm Beach. I have my address also. More on this later.

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January 1, 2008 by T Love.

For safety reasons, the academy didn’t want us to be let out at midnight. We had dismissal at 11p. We are gathering at a classmates place for drinks and poker I think. Happy new years.

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December 18, 2007 by T Love.

Man, Table tops and 3D kicked my mo fo ass Monday and Tuesday. We run 7 - 40 minute senarios each day split up between Table Tops and 3D. 3D is the computer simulator. On Monday, Ground Control in 3D kicked my ass man. Holy moly. Local control in Table tops was just as bad. However, my 2nd time around at GC in 3D was a little better. Tuesday, Local in 3D was rougher than ground. Holy moly. My 2nd run at Local was a little better. Flight Data (FD) in both labs, I do pretty good in. Thats my confidence booster.

There are a few basics that I need to work on such as pad management, getting the correct call signs on the first call up, and being comfortable with phraseology. These problems that we run increase in dificulty each day. Each day, we are pluged in with instructors listening and critiquing and offering their “technique”. Its frustrating as hell and overwhelming at times. However, we take the many critiques we come across not personally, but with an open mind and figure out what works well for the individual. Being only Day 2 it seems like a lot and the end of the world, but in 4 weeks when we PV (Performance Verification), we’ll be running senarios and moving airplanes like it was 2nd nature - hopefully. In 4 weeks, we’ll look back on these first few senarios and say how easy or simple they were. For now, we have a lot of information to process and get comfortable with. Phraseology, call signs, and pad management are the basic keys.

BTW, I recieved my first paycheck! yay. Not very much based on an $18K salary but its something. Did I mention I also get $79/day per deim? Well, its 930p, time for bed.

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December 15, 2007 by T Love.

Friday concluded our 3rd week of acedemics. Monday we start Table Top labs. Table Top labs are a mock up of a controll tower overlooking a scaled down version of Academy Airport. The airport is about the height of a table but measures the size of about 10′ x 15′. The airport include runways, taxiways, heliports, buildings, lighting and scaled down airplanes that we physically hold, move, and slide not only on the airport but also the airspace surrounding the airport. The control tower consists of Local, Ground, and Flight Data stations along with integrated asos, Low level wind shear alert system (llwas), plug-ins for our headsets, and is mostly enclosed in plexiglass serving as windows in the control tower. The tower sits about 2 feet higher than the airport to simulate the tower guys looking down at the airport and airspace.

Did I lose you yet? Our objective is to simulate an airport environement inside a classroom. We have a tower that overlooks a scaled down version of the airport. We use people to move airplanes around.  We have headsets that are on the appropriate ground and local frequencies in which we talk to pilots and tell them what to do.

What else is going on? Well, not a whole lot. This past week we were on days. I tell ya, it was a little rough getting up at 515a and going to bed by 10p. Even coffee wasn’t helping during class. My head was bobbin and legs twitching. It was funny. Next week and the day after christmas we will be on Days. After xmas, we will begin TDS and EDS labs. These are computer simulators using only 3 people on the Ground, Local, and Flight Data positions. The 3 positions pretend they are in the tower overlooking the aiport on the screens 160 degree screens in front of you. We had similar training at ERAU also.

Well Kathy made pancakes this morning that I should be eating now. We will be reviewing alot of phraseology in prepartion for Moday’s lab today and Sunday. A little dusting of snow on the ground today and the weather is cold.

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December 15, 2007 by T Love.

We played poker for about 6 hours starting just after 8p. About 5 of us guys from class met over at Joe’s for poker. We played a variety of games. I tell ya, I haven’t enjoyed playing poker that much since way back when I moved to Daytona Beach and played with Don and a few others. This was so much better than anything at my old place at the Barrington Apartments and for a few good darn reasons. 1) We all gathered to play poker. Well, thats what we did. That was our primary objective. Anything else was secondary such as socializing. 2) I was able to get in on table conversation. 3) number 2 happened b/c the guys paid attention to the hands and bets therefore relieving me of the duty of constantly reminding people it their turn and what to bet. This duty that I mentioned is what I did alot at the Barrington apts when we played poker. It sucked man, it really did.

So yeah, great time last night.

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December 10, 2007 by T Love.

http://www.tlove.wxobs.info/Weather%20Phenomena/OKC%20Ice%20storm%20121007/Frames/index3.html

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