Hey All!
I am knee deep into Raptor training now at Tyndall AFB in Panama City, FL. I have had two weeks of training and so much information has been put into my small brain that is feels over filled...but stuff is finally beginning to sink in with some simulator training starting up. Myself and the McLeeses just moved into our rental house on Saint Joe Beach about 20 minutes East of the base, so it will be a much better living situation thru November.
Crystal is having a blast with the kiddos down in Martin County with all the family. I of course miss them all, but work is keeping me from about 7 am to 9 pm daily...so not much time for family anyway with academics. They will be arriving up here this weekend though...so we are all excited about being together again! That is about it right now.
We are all enjoying Florida weather while getting some much needed tans. I love learning about the Raptor and can't wait to fly it in a couple of weeks (God willing)! It is truly an engineering marvel. Hope everyone is doing well, thanks for the read.
-Tyson
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Florida Fun
Well, we all arrived in Florida safely last week after an exhausting 12 hours of traveling with two children, 7 checked bags, 4 bags of carry-on luggage, and a double-jogging stroller. It was fun. Actually, the kids did great & slept most of the way with Alaska Airlines doing well with good service the entire way...much smoother trip than anticipated.
Since back at Florida, we have been seeing all of our families before I go up to Panama City tomorrow. As of yesterday, I think we have finally made all the "rounds." Trinity & Jack love it here and have been outside every day not able to get enough playtime under the 90 degree sunshine. I think it will be difficult for Trinity to leave in December!
I have begun a new hobby since arriving with some interest in R/C Planes. I couldn't start out with the slow beginner Cessna, but had to go with the F-27B military style plane that can go nearly 50 mph. I fly fighters...should have no problem, right? I have had two outings so far:
- First one with 4 flights (3/4 ending in crashes). The first two crashes weren't bad, a poor hand launch right off the bat, then a hard landing followed by a good landing. But, the final crash was a head-on collision with a tree trunk going about 20 mph. Oops. End of that day with repairs needed.
- Second flight just happened this morning (1/1 ending in spectacular crash). It was going great after reading up online about how to improve upon some lessons I learned the first time. Unfortunately, I am a fighter pilot and felt after 4 minutes of flying that I needed to make it more exciting. After a simple roll, I lost the orientation on my plane and did a spiral dive into the roof of the park restrooms breaking every piece of plastic off the plane. Oops. End of day two with repairs needed. Luckily she still runs fine, but I need to do some gluing.
Time to pack up for Tyndall...again.
Since back at Florida, we have been seeing all of our families before I go up to Panama City tomorrow. As of yesterday, I think we have finally made all the "rounds." Trinity & Jack love it here and have been outside every day not able to get enough playtime under the 90 degree sunshine. I think it will be difficult for Trinity to leave in December!
I have begun a new hobby since arriving with some interest in R/C Planes. I couldn't start out with the slow beginner Cessna, but had to go with the F-27B military style plane that can go nearly 50 mph. I fly fighters...should have no problem, right? I have had two outings so far:
- First one with 4 flights (3/4 ending in crashes). The first two crashes weren't bad, a poor hand launch right off the bat, then a hard landing followed by a good landing. But, the final crash was a head-on collision with a tree trunk going about 20 mph. Oops. End of that day with repairs needed.
- Second flight just happened this morning (1/1 ending in spectacular crash). It was going great after reading up online about how to improve upon some lessons I learned the first time. Unfortunately, I am a fighter pilot and felt after 4 minutes of flying that I needed to make it more exciting. After a simple roll, I lost the orientation on my plane and did a spiral dive into the roof of the park restrooms breaking every piece of plastic off the plane. Oops. End of day two with repairs needed. Luckily she still runs fine, but I need to do some gluing.
Time to pack up for Tyndall...again.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Pictures Added
Well, over on the left side are some links to our online picture album. I've uploaded 3 sets of pictures so far. One cool thing you can do in the album is click "view map." That will show you exactly where I took the picture!! Pretty sweet. The first is of our camping/hiking trips this summer in Alaska. They are self-explanatory. The 2nd was just taken yesterday of the 1st King Salmon I caught just before filleting it at the house.
As mentioned in the previous post...I was going fishing that evening and the Lord provided me with an awesome fish. We were at Sheep Creek and it was about 1:00 am (and twilight) when I hooked it. Immediately the line took off...so I slowly tightened the drag up being careful not to let the line break. After reeling him close to the bank, he took off again across the stream. This happened twice more (and many jumps out of the water later) before I finally brought him in. I knew then that this King was the best fish I had ever caught. Oh...and I caught a rainbow trout for the first time prior to the King. That is one beautiful little fish (but felt like a minnow on a King pole).
The 3rd set of pics so far is from my final("fini") flight in the F-15C on the 22nd of June. It was a glorious flight and many Alaska mountains enjoyed the sounds of the Eagle as we passed by. After landing and taxiing back to park, the family and squadron was there to greet me. Then the tradition of spaying down the pilot with Champagne and H2O commenced. It was a great memory, but bittersweet. The Eagle is a phenomenal aircraft and I REALLY enjoyed flying it. Everyone says "yeah, but the F-22." Well...it will be different and I am VERY excited/blessed to have an opportunity to fly it. I compare it to a brand new corvette (someday maybe it will happen) where as the Eagle will always feel like my first '68 Mustang (unforgettable & first time accomplishing a real goal).
Wow...long post. I guess I need to get back to work, obviously have too much time on my hands now.
As mentioned in the previous post...I was going fishing that evening and the Lord provided me with an awesome fish. We were at Sheep Creek and it was about 1:00 am (and twilight) when I hooked it. Immediately the line took off...so I slowly tightened the drag up being careful not to let the line break. After reeling him close to the bank, he took off again across the stream. This happened twice more (and many jumps out of the water later) before I finally brought him in. I knew then that this King was the best fish I had ever caught. Oh...and I caught a rainbow trout for the first time prior to the King. That is one beautiful little fish (but felt like a minnow on a King pole).
The 3rd set of pics so far is from my final("fini") flight in the F-15C on the 22nd of June. It was a glorious flight and many Alaska mountains enjoyed the sounds of the Eagle as we passed by. After landing and taxiing back to park, the family and squadron was there to greet me. Then the tradition of spaying down the pilot with Champagne and H2O commenced. It was a great memory, but bittersweet. The Eagle is a phenomenal aircraft and I REALLY enjoyed flying it. Everyone says "yeah, but the F-22." Well...it will be different and I am VERY excited/blessed to have an opportunity to fly it. I compare it to a brand new corvette (someday maybe it will happen) where as the Eagle will always feel like my first '68 Mustang (unforgettable & first time accomplishing a real goal).
Wow...long post. I guess I need to get back to work, obviously have too much time on my hands now.
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