It was standing room only in the room, so I was standing by the door. All sorts of folks were there. Tim Savage, Brad Deckert, the Red Daggers skydiving flag team, just a ton of warbird guys. So Jordan says publicly, the one thing to mark off for the weekend is to get me through to a FAST card. I was really surprised he just said that to the room, and I was a little embarrassed, and waved awkwardly at everyone. But he put it out there, and people rallied. It was mega hot, nasty, muggy out. And flying was tough because of it. But right out of the gate, we did a three ship. I was #4, with a phantom #3, with JP as #1 and Tim Gillean as #2. I didn't do great on this flight. The Phantom #3 confused me, I hadn't been #4 in years, I was rusty as heck. We came back and debriefed, and they decided I needed another flight, with 4 ships. So we waited for Mark Novak to land, and as soon as we did, we roped him into it, and the four of us went up. I thought the second flight was rougher than the first, but they were all pleased with it. Many of my issues were from #2 and 3 doing various things that they admitted later, but I kept with it, flew smoothly, got back into position quickly. Tim said after the first flight that I was smooth, not jerky, that I could control my plane well, and that he would fly with me any time. Which I greatly appreciated. At the end of that second 4-ship flight, they turned it into a "Recommendation Ride". They lined up a guy from the JLFC. Joint Liaison Formation Committee. L-birds. He was my check pilot, and he worked hard to print out all the paperwork and get it all ready to go, he made sure all the i's were dotted and that the paperwork wouldn't get kicked out. I filled out literally a dozen sheets of paper, handed over $25 to join the organization, and sat there and got really nervous. I knew the things I wasn't as good at as I wanted to be, and I was afraid of how embarrassed I'd be if he didn't pass me. It gets worse, because ALL the line guys and pilots and people on the grounds knew I was going for a checkride too. I mean, no pressure here! Then, by the time they got around to doing it, Steve and Nathan and everybody from Kokomo was on the ground there too, watching! I'd been flying a lot, I was hot and tired and nervous and I kept thinking "One more flight, just one more flight".
Each of those flights started with an element takeoff, where you take off right next to the other T-6, and stay in position with them the entire time. I hadn't done one of THOSE in ages either, have probably done like 3 of them ever. Fortunately I pulled that off. We ran through the routine. There were a few things I didn't get quite right, most things I did. One time on a rejoin, #1 and #2 were in quickly, and I was lined up to get right in position, but #3 was way out there. So I had to maneuver around a bit, slow down, stay on that bearing, and just wait for #3, and make my move. My check pilot Mike piped up "NICE job" from the back seat. Later in the debrief he said that was the moment he knew I was good to go for this, and that I'd make a good Lead pilot some day. I appreciated that.
When we did the maneuvers, they put me into the "slot", or #4 in the diamond position, and we flew right over the top of the field. Where everyone was standing, watching, etc. I haven't had the best luck of being and staying in position when cameras are out, and I often cringe and see myself out of position. This time apparently I nailed it. When we got on the ground, I had a bunch of different people tell me it was "Sierra Hotel" which is airplane talk for really good. ;) Jordan said when he saw it that I'd BETTER get my card or he was going to riot. lol. Brad Deckart whom I don't know that well came up and complimented me, which meant a lot because he doesn't compliment loosely nor does he do it without meaning it. LINE people came up to me to congratulate me. It was actually really cool, because like the whole airport crowd seemed to know who I was and what I was doing and that it went well. :D
The debrief was a little odd because the check pilot had more things to say about some of the other guys than he did me, and while I appreciated that from my own perspective, I also didn't want them to feel weird. But the check pilot was super complimentary, we sat and talked for a long time at the party later. He kept telling me what a pleasure it was to fly with me, and what a good job I did, and how I should start teaching two ship Lead soon, etc. Kind of wild! But at the plane he said "You've got a new Wingman!" and they all clapped and I smiled and it never really sank in. I've waited 11 years to have a FAST card and now I do and it happened in ONE DAY thanks to the efforts of JP, who called about the JFLC stuff, Jordan who declared it was going to happen and then helped make it so, Mark and Tim who were willing to fly a ton on a nasty hot day, and Mike, willing to stick himself out there for strangers and be a check pilot. I owe the next round of steak dinners.
The only time there was some tension other than Tim being annoyed by Mike's assessment of a couple things in the flight, was when Mike said for the 13th time that this wasn't a "gimme" thing, that they didn't want any impropriety or hint thereof, etc. I finally said "This isn't something I thought looked fun and hope somebody gives me after a day. I've been working on this for over 10 years." He said he understood, he wasn't trying to say I was looking for that, etc. I got a little uptight about it because I did have a RPA Lead pilot tell me "You wouldn't want us to just give it to you", after I spent years flying with them, going to a ton of events, spending money I didn't have, working hard at it, being told I was ready for a checkride *multiple* times and then never having it happen because of this, that or the other, and I was offended that he said if we did the ride now they'd just be 'giving' it to me. As if. So after we got THAT cleared up, we had a good rest of the day. lol
I told Jordan I was nervous, but he didn't believe me. Steve told him I was nervous, and Jordan said "She said that, but she's not acting nervous. She doesn't look nervous." Steve said "Oh, she is." And oh, I was. Really so. But I can hide my nerves really well most of the time, which I take as a compliment. ;) But I'd been waiting for this for so long, and if you never take the checkride, you can't be embarrassed if you fail it, especially in front of the whole world down there watching you. Eye yi yi.
After the successful checkride, Elliot comes over and says "Laaaaura. Whatcha doin?" I'm sweating and red and tired and said "Nothing, why?" He asked if I wanted to hop in BOB and do a four ship formation photo shoot. Now I can legally do that, because...I have a FAST card. ;) JP was going to but got busy. So I said sure. I mean, I have a whole 10 hours in the plane and have never flown formation in it and have a formation card 5 minutes old, but why not?? :D So they loaded up three passengers in my plane, including a very eager guy who wanted to be in my right seat. Mark N was the T-6 photo ship with the photographer. Jordan was in his polished one, and Elliot was in the other. And the four of us went up and did a photo shoot. I had sweat running down my face, into my eyes. My right seater was touching stuff and being very distracting and I was annoyed, all the way up to the point where I actually needed help and utilized him. Then I was glad he was there, because I got behind. We had a good photo shoot, and then I brought the three of us in to land safely.
THEN I was exhausted. Long, hot day of intense flying, all day, every couple hours. They had an after party, and I decided to stay and spend the night at JP's house, because Greg wanted to do another photo shoot in the morning. So I sat in the hangar and socialized with people for awhile, which you know I'm bad at. I looked like the wicked witch too, no makeup, sweated through fourteen times, hair a disaster, but...I have a FAST card, and it may need renewed in 2022, but for now nobody can take that away. ;) I am going to turn it into NATA and see if they will issue a NATA FAST card out of it, so that I can possibly go to Oshkosh and fly in the big formation there next year. They SHOULD issue it because it was a four-ship of T-6s. But we shall see.
I had forgotten deodorant in my bag, of ALL things, so JP had to stop at a Meijer for me to pick some up at 11 pm. We got to his house, I went to bed, and promptly woke up at 4 am and was awake the rest of the night. And so it goes. But what a day.
These are out of order because I stole them off of FB, which just assigns them a weird number, not in order.
Coming in to land
I'm #4, the last one
Jon looks ready to attack
The money shot
The Daggers jump team
Another nice close up
Before I left Saturday morning. Shadows.
Some of the party. The band in front of the C-47
My right seater took this picture and it made me and Kaylee laugh. My nostrils are flared, my lips are tight, I am seriously focused on my formation flying here.
Taken from the other plane
Beautiful shot of the DC-3 under the sky.
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