DONE...well, almost!

I have been a slacker again, but it was on purpose. I wanted the next entry to be a joyous one that proclaimed I was done with my graded flights...but it took a little longer than I had hoped. The wheels kind of fell off at the end for me. I had a couple of bad flights, one of which I had to do again, and the whole process ended up taking a week longer than I had expected. The flights at the end (review stage) are everything you have learned thrown into four flights. The IPs try to find your weaknesses (I would give them high marks on their efforts) and then exploit them. They turn up the pressure to see if you can handle it. They turn off engines at the most inopportune times (some would argue that turning off a good engine at anytime is inopportune) and give all sorts of emergencies while you are supposed to fly normal procedures. Long story short, after those four flights they give you a checkride (which I did my best to mess up) and then a navigation solo. I passed the checkride on the prayers of many and moved on to my solo. I flew with another student to College Station (GIG 'EM AGGIES...that was for Strube) for lunch and then back. Here is a picture of me smiling because no IP was taking one of my engines away for a whole flight and then one of Corpus Christi Bay, with the aircraft carrier the USS Lexington, when we were flying back home.

The nav solo was the last flight that we had to get done for the syllabus, so I am technically done. The Air Force pilots have seven low level/tactical formation flights to complete after the solo. They are to get us ready for the C-130 mission and get a taste for flying low, but they are not graded. I completed the first one on Friday and it was a blast. They take a lot of work to plan and prepare for, but it is worth it.

So after all of that, I took Candi for a sun filled vacation to South Padre Island. We live on Padre Island and so we went south to South Padre Island. The actual town of South Padre Island is obviously south of where we live on this island, but you have to go into the main land then down and back over to the coast. It is about a three hour drive, but we just had to see what it was all about. We drove three hours to see that it is like wondering if your front yard looks like your backyard...and since you used the same grass seed, landscaping, and fertilizer...it looks almost identical. There were more tourist shops and higher condos, but everything else was the same. See for yourself.

We didn't actually get to see the sun, but we made the most of our time and didn't let a little rain dampen our spirits. On the bright side, we had the nature walk to ourselves. Unfortunately, the birds and wildlife were trying to stay out of the weather as well.

Other than that, not a lot has been going on for the Presley's. I have been studying a lot for those last few flights, so I haven't been doing much else. I did take the dog for a kayak ride, which lasted until a fish jumped and then we both went into the water. The dog after the fish and I capsized.

Well now comes the fun part...YOU ARE ALL INVITED TO MY GRADUATION! It is September 28th and it is pretty much the biggest thing in a pilot's career because without graduation, you never really become a pilot. I expect you all to be there or have a really good excuse...like you can't make it because it is in Corpus Christi and you aren't made of money and you don't have the time even if you were made of money. I will be sending out an announcement soon and I hope to have a link from my blog, so check back soon. If not, I will send it out through e-mail, so if you want a copy and you weren't on my e-mail list (because you never send me an e-mail) just send me a quick line to the e-mail at the top of this page. Until then, I will be flying low and chasing cows.