Monday we didn't have any Shuttle training classes, but I did have a Russian class. I spent most of the day getting organized and starting my reading for the rest of the week. Our training is moving from the introductory classes to the first level of operations classes. The focus being nominal operations - what the procedures look like, what switches need to be flipped to turn things on and off, as well as what indications are available to the crew and where those indication are located. In the afternoon I had a T-38 flight - over to Lake Charles and back. After the flight, I headed home and did more reading and two computer based training exercises. It was a long day.

Tuesday was not any shorter. The morning started of with the results from our test last year. I am happy to say I did well. It was as I expected; I missed just a handful of questions. They were mostly silly mistakes and not because I didn't understand the material. Big sigh of relief. Now I can turn my attention to the next test. The one class I had today was on the operations of the communication systems. And, then it was back to the books for the rest of the day and long into the night.

Wednesday morning was filled with a class on the orbital maneuvering system operations. In the afternoon we had a class on what is called flight rules. These are the set of preplanned guidelines for each mission. If something breaks or goes awry, the rules are designed to have plans for these situations so that folks don't have to spend what may be precious time discussing options. The amount of "what-iffing" that goes on prior to a launch is impressive. The flight controllers and design engineers spend quite a bit of time trying to analyze failure scenarios in order to have rules to spell out actions that need to be taken should anything happen. We did not cover the substance of the rules, as there about a zillion of them, but rather we covered why we have the rules, the kinds of things that are contained in them, and how the rules are laid out. In the late afternoon I had a class in one of the single systems trainers on the data processing system (the computers). We went through where all the switches are, how you power them up, how you load software, how you shut them down, etc. I think I finished that class at about 6:30 at night. After a short break for dinner, I started my reading again and did two more computer based lessons.

Thursday went like Wednesday except instead of a class on the orbital maneuvering system operations it was a class on the reaction control system operations. And, instead of a class on flight rules it was a Russian lesson. And, instead of a single system trainer class on the data processing system it was a single system trainer class on the communications system. We put into operation the information we covered in the communications class earlier in the week. There are communications switches all over the flight deck of the Orbiter. This evening I only had one computer based lesson to complete in addition to all the reading I was required to do.

I was surely glad when Friday rolled around. I had a class on the operations of the electrical power system in the morning. I was supposed to fly a short flight in the afternoon, but the weather did not cooperate. That gave me a short a short break in my day. Whew! I finished up the day with another late afternoon class in a single system trainer. This time the class was on the orbital maneuvering system. Again, putting into practice what we covered in class earlier in the week. When I emerged from that class it was around 6:00. A couple of my classmates were also finishing up their day then, so we decided to go have a beer and unwind a bit. After that, I went home and collapsed and tried to catch up on sleep.

My week wasn't actually over on Friday. I went flying on Saturday. Since our days are so booked with training classes, it can be really difficult to find a hole big enough to squeeze in even a short flight. I was fortunate enough to find a pilot who was planning on getting some flying time in over the weekend. And, luckily, there was no sign of the fog that kept me on the ground on Friday. We cruised over to Midland, got gas, and cruised back (an hour each way). I am hoping to get ahead on my required flight hours so that I won't have to worry about flying when our next test rolls around next month.

I spent the majority of my Sunday trying to get ahead for all the classes I have next week. At least I took some time this weekend to do my dishes. . .