It's finally time for my last update from Phoenix! Here's this week's
song of the week; it's about troops coming home, but seeing as this is one of the longest detachments I have ever done, I think that I can justify using it for my blog!
We started off the week with a proper southern-style barbecue at the insistence of our Marine Corps instructors. Rudy's BBQ Restaurant is Phoenix's number one restaurant (source: TripAdvisor) and it was very nice! All of the barbecue meat is sold by the half-pound and is served in a basket. I had mine with a side order of sausage:
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| Pork and pickles in a basket |
The simulator training went well this week and we ended up reducing the number of training sorties required which enabled us to start working more sociable hours on Wednesday and Thursday. Previously, we had been starting each morning at 0630 and completing two 4-hour simulator sessions each day. It was actually quite draining, so we were glad that the intensity subsided somewhat by the middle of the week.
By Thursday, we had completed all of our training requirements and we even managed to bunk off work early and catch another Kansas City Royals baseball game, this time against the LA Dodgers. The real shame here is that I watched a Dodgers game in LA a few years ago and bought myself a genuine club jersey but I don't have it here with me, so I had to go disguised as a Royals fan instead!
We have been slowly learning more and more about baseball rules and customs. Here's a video of the
seventh-inning stretch; an opportunity to stand up, stretch your arms and legs and sing a song about peanuts:
And so by the end of Thursday, Maps and I were both qualified Instructor Pilots on the F-35B. Unlike Maps, I am also qualified on the F-35A from the first part of our course and I think that makes me the only instructor on the planet qualified to instruct on two variants!
After work, Maps and I had a few beers at the hotel to celebrate the end of our course and the start of the preparations for coming home!
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| We done! |
This weekend, there was an air show on the base and Friday was the practice day, open to military personnel, their friends and families. I didn't realise when we arrived, but there was also a large contingent of children and their parents from the
Make-a-Wish Foundation who ended up sitting near us to enjoy the air displays. At one point, a servicewoman from the Public Relations department came up to me and asked if I would like some water. I answered yes and she came back with two bottles of water for me. Everyone else seemed a little peeved as they had each paid $3 for a bottle of water. Only then did I realise that I was wearing a blue T shirt almost the same shade as the Make-a-Wish Foundation guests and I guess that the PR girl thought that I was also dying of a terminal illness.
Here's how the airshow looked:
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| Maps fooling around with a bomb |
I met a chap called Ken Roth, who owns this fantastic
L-39 Albatros. He imported it from the Czech Republic and now flies it for fun. He told me that he was too old to join the USAF by the time he realised that he wanted to, so instead decided to buy a fast jet! I dread to think how much this would cost to run and maintain.
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| L-39 Albatros |
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| L-39 Albatros |
This is a home-built Vans RV-8A. It took the owner eight years to build in his garage and has given me inspiration for my next construction project!
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| Vans RV-8A |
Here is an
A-10. This is what my TLP buddy Rivet now flies out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson:
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| A-10 |
The A-10 specialises in Close Air Support and the airframe was built around its huge gun:
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| Gun! |
The nosewheel is offset to one side to allow the gun to sit straight down the centre of the aircraft fuselage. This is what the gun looks like when it is not installed in the aircraft, VW Beetle for scale:
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| Gun vs Beetle |
Here's an F-35. This is the closest I have ever been to one!
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| F-35A |
And here she is taking off with rock music playing in the background. America!
For the first time in 25 years, the
Blue Angels put on a flying display at Luke AFB. It was mostly rubbish, but they do fly nice and tight in formation, which is impressive.
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| Blue Angels |
The
Red Bull Air Force also put on a show - it was amazing!
Kirby Chambliss, flew an
Edge 540 whilst sky divers wearing wing suits jumped from the Red Bull helicopter, which then flew around performing rolls and loops, something not many helicopters (or helicopter pilots!) can do.
There was also a display from an aircraft called the Screamin' Sasquatch. It's a modified 1929
Waco 10 with a
GE CJ610 turbojet engine underneath. For the display, it uses 10 gallons of aviation gasoline for the piston engine, 50 gallons of Jet-A1 for the jet engine and 24 gallons of smoke oil. As the fuel burns off, the aircraft has a power-to-weight ratio in excess of 1:1, so the pilot can hover the aircraft and then accelerate vertically upwards. Mad stuff! Here she screams:
This weekend, I spent mostly trying to undo the damage caused by two weeks of eating junk food and working too much, so I spent a lot of time at the pool. The YMCA is currently displaying an exhibition of art suitable for the most discerning collectors of water-safety-themed oil paintings:
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| Disgruntled lifeguard in oil. $7.50 + tax |
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| Bored swimming instructor with someone who can't use a float properly in oil. $8.99 inc |
And then on Saturday evening, I went out with Dearders for dinner at Litchfield's restaurant which is on the Wigwam Golf Resort and caters for people with more money than sense. They do make great steaks, though. This is us arranging a ride home:
Taxi!
And that's it - all I need to do now is pack. Check in. Book transport to and from the airports. And then get home. I really cannot wait!
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