Rough Sim Today

This afternoon I had a sim starting at 12. However, I've been totally wiped out lately so I ended up sleeping in a little later than I first planned. So, I could have used about an extra hour or so today to get ready for this one, because my radio calls, checklist fluidity, and my pattern familiarity can all use some work. Starting tomorrow night and then on Saturday I plan on putting in a good 4 or 5 hours plus of studying and chair-flying in to try and get some of these things to become more second-nature so I can focus more on the flying instead of trying to remember those little bits and pieces of info.

Anyways, I had a very interesting instructor today who definately started off a little on the surly, derogative, and negative side. Though, I'm certainly not a stranger to criticism and certainly can't claim to have 'thin skin', so it wasn't like it overly bothered me or anything but he didn't seem to be making this a little 'fun' like some of the other instructors have. However, once we got into the sim, I began to realize that a lot of his 'abuse' was just sarcastic and was meant to be more of just a game and I was able to relax a little bit more and play along. I just know in the future when I sim with him again what to expect a little better. All in all it was a good flight, and my first time in the OFT which gives about 180 degrees of screen to look at, and was really cool! However, my straight-in landings left a little to be desired, and we kept resetting and trying those over and over again; which I appreciated as it gave me a good chance to really practice them. By the time we were done I was getting really close to having them down and had definately improved a LOT! However, he still marked me as Unsat for those, and they needed to be up to a Fair level by this ride. So, that means there is some push on me for my next flight to get those straight-ins up to a Fair level or else I may run into some problems...no pressure!

Tomorrow we actually most of the morning free so Ryan and I are planning on heading to the gym. I got in a good hour and a half of racquetball with Rob again tonight, and we had 3 hard-fought and very close games! Right now overall the tally 3 games to 2 in my favor, and I have a feeling that will fluctuate even more as time goes on. Talk about a good workout! Both of us were complaining about knees and other joints like old men by the time we left too! All in all, another good day of UPT gone by. We already hit the flightline next Thursday!