I know its been a while since I've written, but as I was getting ready to start instrument ground school, my parents called to say my grandfather was killed falling down the stairs and I was in Miami the very next morning. I stayed for a week there and I came back too late to start the next class so I sat around for a week after I got back from Miami.
     Since I wrote last I did my formation flights. There was a bit of studying to do since we had to learn new course rules for area 2F and we had to know the parade sequence and all the checkpoints for each stage of each maneuver. You only study for the first day since you do the exact same thing for the 6 flights (well you will rotate lead and wing so know both). Me and my form partner were double pumped and finished the whole stage in 4 days. Form 1  was on Monday and the IPs help you out with the checkpoints and stuff. They fly it first and show you and then you try it. When I first got on the controls, I was able to stay pretty much in a formation, but I was moving the controls and the power so much that I'm surprised I didn't get my IP sick =). We got out into the area and started the sequence. A simplified version is 4 turns alternating directions, cross under, 4 more turns, cross under, break up and rendezvous, and then a lead change, then you do it all over again with the other guy as wing or lead. You do one sequence per flight.  Tuesday we had form 2 and 3.  It was my turn to lead out and all went well especially since everything is so scripted. We did the sequence and when we were done, we went over to Florala which is a tiny airport east of area 2. It seems there's a lot of military traffic that goes there especially army stuff because on their wall inside the FBO, there are pictures of just about every army helo there is....plus a Russian hind and some other wierd Russian helo. While we were eating there, an AH-64D Apache landed right next to us which was pretty damn cool. I dunno how that gas guy knows where to fill all these things up like on the hind. Anyway, We then took off, got back into the area and did it all over again. Big improvement on the third flight. Wednesday was 4 and 5. The fourth flight it was pretty effortless. We even did 45 degree turns which we aren't supposed to do until the 4th flight but we were doing well. The only thing that really sucks about the 45 degree turns besides being really hard, is the sun. You'll know what I'm talking about. After those turns, the 30 degree turns seemed so much easier. One thing about the area...you want to stay around the town of Atmore, just a little north. Best place to stay oriented. After we were done with our sequence, we went over to another little airfield north of area 2F. We ate and when we were ready to start, I noticed the fuel pressure light wasn't on before I turned on the electric fuel pump. I told my IP and he checked everything and I double checked everything then he came over and checked everything for me and then we told the other airplane to shut down their engine and our mission started. We opened the engine compartment and looked at the fuel boost transmitter and it looked fine. We called maintenance and they had to call us back. We were waiting for over and hour. We called back and there was some mess up and they hadn't gotten the message. Anyway, they told us we had to bang the pressure switch hard to make it work again. Great. We got a big hammer and a long metal rod and banged that thing so hard it dented. But whaddya know, it worked. We took off and flew our sequence and went home. Thursday we were supposed to do our form solo, but since they were expecting low ceilings, we had to do a shotgun solo. One IP flew with each of us but they didn't say one word. At one point I forgot he was even there. It wasn't bad, but I wish I could have been solo. So much for the bragging rights. That Friday I went to a 10 minute brief about RIGS (radio instrument ground school),  but that night I was called to Miami. Nothing has happened since. I went to the same briefing yesterday and Monday I start the class. Its a lot of stuff to know and the computer lessons really suck. They are even worse than for the other stuff. The workbook teaches you a lot better. This coming Friday is my last test and I need to score a 90 or better to get the 97 average I need to get the academic award. It would be nice if I could pull off another 100 and graduate with that average, but we'll see. This is the hardest test .