After a brief delay in getting a piece of paperwork signed off, I finally was able to start my training flights a couple of nights ago. Those really just consisted of two takeoffs and two landings with someone standing over me and watching. I already know how to do the actual takeoffs and landings; it was really just a matter of learning the local procedures and some good techniques for getting through the checklists faster. The big difference between here and back home is that back there they are very strict about making sure there is a clear step by step process throughout the checklist and you can't move ahead to the next step until everything is completed. Whereas out here, we just want to get things done as quickly (and also as safely) as possible. So I pretty much do my stuff and the sensor does his or her stuff and we meet up at certain points to make sure everything is done. It works a lot better, I think. What took about an hour and a half to do the old way, now can take as little as twenty or thirty minutes.
So being fully signed off, I was on my own last night. It really wasn't that big a deal. I did a few takeoffs and a landing. It is interesting to see the process from this side, but at the same time, I can see this getting very old and repetitive very quickly. We just take off and hand it over to the people back in Vegas. So we never really get to fly mission-related stuff. Well, actually, there is one mission here that stays in the local area for base defense, but that is mostly during the day shift, and I am on the night shift.
The guy I replaced went home, so I will be moving out of my temporary room into his room today. Then I can finally unpack all my stuff.
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