still grinning like and idiot...

[michaels601]

So I'm on a cross country with my CFI and we stop in Gainsville, grab the keys to the courtesy car, and get ready to start scrounging up enough change for food when i pick up on a couple of birds with "NAVY" stenciled on the tail parking on the ramp. Being the eager little candidate I am, I made it a point to introduce myself to the pilots. I got twice as pumped when I saw USMC on their flight suits, so I spent some time talking to them and they let me walk around their *****in' T-34. The guys were incredibly friendly, gave me some encouragement and advice, and basically made my day.

Not a whole lot of point to this post, not in any sort of useful sense, but I'm still pumped from meeting these guys and felt compelled to share. All you guys flying now, I can't speak for every candidate, but I'm positive I'm not the only one that respects and looks up to you as much as I do, and I want you to know what kind of impact it had on me that these guys talked to me and let me get my first good look at a T-34 in person.

I've got to fly home now, and I'll bet anything I fly better than i did getting here, 'cause i'm trying that much harder.

 

[RevnR6]

So I'm on a cross country with my CFI and we stop in Gainsville, grab the keys to the courtesy car, and get ready to start scrounging up enough change for food when i pick up on a couple of birds with "NAVY" stenciled on the tail parking on the ramp. Being the eager little candidate I am, I made it a point to introduce myself to the pilots. I got twice as pumped when I saw USMC on their flight suits, so I spent some time talking to them and they let me walk around their *****in' T-34. The guys were incredibly friendly, gave me some encouragement and advice, and basically made my day.

Not a whole lot of point to this post, not in any sort of useful sense, but I'm still pumped from meeting these guys and felt compelled to share. All you guys flying now, I can't speak for every candidate, but I'm positive I'm not the only one that respects and looks up to you as much as I do, and I want you to know what kind of impact it had on me that these guys talked to me and let me get my first good look at a T-34 in person.

I've got to fly home now, and I'll bet anything I fly better than i did getting here, 'cause i'm trying that much harder.

Dont worry man, I know exactly what you are saying. This kind of thing is exciting, something you won't ever forget. That is awesome that you had a chance like that.

 

[Brett327]

Dont worry man, I know exactly what you are saying. This kind of thing is exciting, something you won't ever forget. That is awesome that you had a chance like that.

Reading that just makes one think of how experience changes perspective. Anything to do with a T-34 (or a snot-nosed 2Lt.) is highly forgettable. Sorry, I just had to get my curmudgeon fix in.

Brett

 

[michaels601]

Reading that just makes one think of how experience changes perspective. Anything to do with a T-34 (or a snot-nosed 2Lt.) is highly forgettable. Sorry, I just had to get my curmudgeon fix in.

Brett

no need to apologize, things work out the way i want then i'll be saying the same thing down the line, but you have to understand that parked opposite their T-34 on the ramp was my 160 horse Piper Cadet (literally, my nose facing theirs). contrast had to play a pretty big part there.

 

[Gatordev]

T-34's in Gainesville? Hmmm...interesting. Anybody know if they have contract fuel again? Oh this opens up some possibilities if they do...

 

[Brett327]

T-34's in Gainesville? Hmmm...interesting. Anybody know if they have contract fuel again? Oh this opens up some possibilities if they do...

IFR Sup anyone?

 

[nittany03]

According to mine they have contract Jet A . . .

 

[Gatordev]

Sweet, that's good news. Unfortunately any Sup I have will only tell me if there's fuel available in Guam.

So let's see, as I recall there was a Hooters being built in G'ville when I passed through there last....

 

[michaels601]

...SE 1st st. nice place.

...there's also a place to get five dollar haircuts.

...doesn't feel right that i know this stuff about gainsville. oh well.

and i just picked up on my typo, "still grinning like an idiot ." got me wondering if everyone noticed and just let it slide, or if the title's just confusing. eh.

 

[Banjo33]

and i just picked up on my typo, "still grinning like an idiot

Like, I just figured that's the way you like talk. Since it seems like the norm for like many of the college kids.

ps I still dig it when I see a T-34 out and about somewhere! I loved flying that thing!

 

[michaels601]

Like, I just figured that's the way you like talk. Since it seems like the norm for like many of the college kids.

ps I still dig it when I see a T-34 out and about somewhere! I loved flying that thing!

nah, superfluous "like"s are for losers. if i'm guilty of any irritating speech habits, it's using words like "roger" and "affirmative" instead of "gotcha," aviation terms in general with people who aren't flyers (fliers?), and using a 24 hour clock. the guys at the bike place where i work give me hell for being "too lazy to write out am or pm."

back to the T-34's, though, where do they fall on the training time line? say, when i get to Pensacola (fingers crossed), i get the basic "how to not drill an airplane into the ground" lessons in the kind of stuff i'm flying now (roughly a lawnmower with wings), then what?

my school started offering a "transition to turbines" flight course, which i'm pretty heavily considering once i knock out my Multi. are the T-34's used for a similar purpose?