Week 32 - August 15 to 22

Last week, we finished the EW (electronic warfare) class, including a lecture by Shamu himself (the TPS commandant), submitted our EO/IR exams, and took the EW exam. Then we had two briefs for new FTTs (the air to air combat system sim and the EO demo in the F-16). Both sim and flight should begin over the next couple weeks. And finally, we begun the "integrated navigation systems" class.
On the flying side, there was more checkrides for the pilots in the T-38, more of the VSS flights, including the famous "fly-off" : since we have validated our FCS designs, pilots get to test 4 of them and vote for the best. Of course, they all try to guess if the design they are testing is the one they worked on ....
We also had some more labs, including EO labs and IFAST radar lab. IFAST is a facility here at Edwards that has an F-16 radar stuck on an outside wall. Rather convenient to work on it without being restricted by flight time or the number of people on board !
Finally, the first FTEs had their "first flight checkride". The objective is to perform the first flight of the C-12 (even though we all flew a  lot in that aircraft). That is a good challenge and requires a lot of work.
We have to present a brief the day prior to the flight, and based on IPs feedback, we then need to change our test cards for the next day, which is the checkride itself. We also have a chase for this ride, which had a good amount of planning. As always, planning is really important, and about 55% of the grade is decided before we even board the C12. And since it's a checkride, the grade is worth about 35% of the whole flying qualities part of the curriculum !!

Next week, we'll have : the end of the navigation systems class (and the exam), and the beginning of integrated avionics. More checkrides (both pilots and FTEs), gliders FQ demo, and many labs and sims.
And since we finally got feedback on our Lat-Dir 5314, we'll have to submit our Lat-Dir  group technical reports.