In order for an aircraft to be allowed to fly with the reduced separation, it must have certain equipment on board. Unfortunately, NASA's T-38's do not have this equipment. So, we either have to get waivers each time we want to fly in that altitude band (it is not expected that waivers will be granted very often) or we have to stay out of that region. If we are just zipping around the local area, we normally do not fly in that altitude range. However, whenever the T-38's go cross country (such as to El Paso for the pilots to do the Shuttle Training Aircraft training or to KSC where folks obviously go a lot), we do try and fly in that altitude range for improved performance (i.e., can fly farther on the same amount of gas). So, starting in about a week and a half, we are going to have to start planning flights as if we are not going to fly at our preferred altitudes, which means that we probably won't make it to El Paso or KSC in one hop - we will have to land somewhere and get gas, which, of course, increases the overall time it takes to get to wherever we are trying to go. Is this going to be a big deal for us? It remains to be seen.

The other topic was a review of many of the critical emergency procedures. We do not currently have a T-38 simulator so it is difficult, if not impossible, to practice emergency procedures. In order to make sure that we aren't getting soft in our emergency preparation skills, we had this review. I tell you what, going through the ins and outs of why certain steps are done in the emergency procedures sure highlighted to me how much of my T-38 systems knowledge has been pushed out by my Shuttle training. I need to try and find some time to review my T-38 information periodically to keep that knowledge current.

The T-38 safety meeting took up most of the morning. Following that meeting, I spent about an hour by myself in one of the single systems trainers. I had the folks that control my life via my weekly schedule arrange some time for me in one of the trainers so I could review switch locations and configurations outside of one of our training classes. We go through things very quickly and there is so much information covered in those classes; I wanted to methodically review all the panels and switches that we had covered so far to try and help me remember where everything is. I know that in a very short amount of time we will move from basic operations to dealing with malfunctions and having a good handle on where all the panels and switches are will make that training go much more smoothly.

After that bit of self study, I went to a class on the operation of the auxiliary power units and hydraulic systems. This class followed the same format as the classes last week. First there was a very quick review of the system followed by a discussion on the procedures for all the normal operations of this system. The hydraulic systems, which are powered by the auxiliary power units, are used to do such things as actuate the aerosurfaces on the orbiter, deploy the landing gear, and brake and steer the orbiter once it has landed.

Following that class I planned on going flying. I am not sure how it happened, but I ended up with my schedule free for the day from 2:30 onward. These days, that is quite unusual, but it does present a good opportunity to get some flight time. Unfortunately, I did not get to fly. I woke up with some sort of sinus infection and the flight doctor did not think it was a good idea for me to fly. I was forced to agree, since I was feeling rather puny. So, instead of taking to the skies, I went home and took a nap. Afterwards, I felt much better, so I dived into the required reading for my Tuesday classes.

Tuesday started bright and early at 7:00 with a single systems training class on the operations of the reaction control system (the small jets used on-orbit to control the attitude of the orbiter). Immediately following that class, I had a class on the types of procedures used to deal with malfunctions. As you might expect, there are a ton of procedures all located in different books. The reason that all the malfunction procedures are not in one location is that you use different sets of them based on what portion of the flight you are in. During the very dynamic ascent and entry portions, the malfunctions need to be at your fingertips and they are designed to make sure that the affected system is safe. When you are on-orbit there is generally more time to deal with issues, so the malfunction procedures are geared towards not only making the system safe, but also with trying to sort out the cause of the problem. The on-orbit procedures are much more involved. So, the class covered how to find what when and how to read a malfunction procedure.

I had a short break in which I actually had time to eat lunch and then finished my day with another single systems training class on the caution and warning system. Then, it was back home to read and prepare for Wednesday's classes. Luckily, I have been able to get a little ahead on my reading and preparation, so I am halfway prepared for Thursday's classes. That takes a little of the pressure off. Although, I always feel like I need to be studying more. . .

Wednesday started early also. I was out at Ellington at about 7:15 to prepare for a flight. My sinuses were better (or, at least, better enough). We got off the ground by 8:30 and zipped down to Corpus Christi, flew a couple of approaches, and flew back. There was a front heading across Texas and the wind was pretty gusty by the time we got there. But, it was not too much for us and we made it back unscathed.

As soon as I was done with flying I headed off to JSC for a class in the operations of the main propulsion system - the three main engines. Immediately after the class I had a single systems trainer class on the data processing system, part 2. This training class covered more of the operations, switch flipping, and data entries for the computers. The class we had last week dealt with the operations from launch until the Shuttle is officially on-orbit and this class took us from being on-orbit until after landing. We will have a third class soon where we will be formally evaluated on the full set of normal operations. By the time class was over it was after 5:00. I did a little organizing in my office and then went home to read about the Shuttle's audio system.

My Thursday morning was filled with a couple of non-academic briefings. The first one we had covered the types of evaluations that are going to be done on us as we progress through the practical portions of our training. As it turns out, we are going to have semi-formal evaluations to ensure that we are learning the required material and that we are progressing as expected. And we are going to have formal evaluations to ensure that we truly know and understand the procedures and can follow them appropriately. Both of these evaluations will be conducted in the simulators during one-on-one training sessions with an instructor. These evaluations are in addition to the periodic written tests that we will be taking.

The other briefing that we had this morning was a safety briefing on the operations of the motion base simulator. This simulator is used for ascent and entry training. It is a high fidelity simulator of the flight deck of the shuttle and, as its name implies, it can simulate a certain amount of motion. We will have training in the motion base simulator starting in a couple of weeks.

My afternoon consisted of hands on training on the audio system of the Shuttle. We covered how to hook up the variety of headphones and microphones that are used during a flight as well as how to configure all the associated switches of the audio system.

Friday was another early morning. I had a 7:00 class in a single system trainer on the electrical power system. Following that I had a hands-on class on all the books of procedures and other information that are flown on the Shuttle. The class covered where the books are stowed during the various phases of flight as well as the locations all the pieces of the procedures that are velcroed to flight deck during a launch. It was an interesting class.

I finished up my week with another T-38 flight. This was a fun flight (actually, they all are). Instead of going somewhere and practicing instrument procedures, the pilot and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go out to the NASA working area and do some aerobatics. The first thing we did while we were out there was practice stalls. The pilot let me fly while in a stall so I could get a feel for how the controls react. When in a stall, the ailerons don't have much control, but the rudders do. Certainly something to be aware of when flying a pattern for a landing. Following the stalls, we did some cloverleafs, some high-g maneuvers, and some inverted flight, among other things. It was good for the pilot to get to practice his skills and it was good for me to experience these maneuvers again, especially the high-g maneuvers. It is easy to get out of practice counteracting the g's. During the high-g maneuvers (basically, a very tight turn), the pilot would start out with about 3 g's then move to 4 g's, then 5, then 6. Boy, did I feel smooshed.

On the way back to Ellington, we simulated an engine failure. We took one of the engines to idle and talked through all the emergency procedures that you would go through should we have had a real engine failure. We then did a single engine go-around on our first approach in to Ellington. I thought it was really good to go through the emergency procedures. I don't think I do that enough during our regular flights. I know the pilots are well versed in all the emergency procedures, but as a relatively new person to the world of backseat T-38 flying, I am sure I could use more exposure to the procedures. At any rate, fun was had by all and we got a lot of good training in during our flight. It was a good way to end the week.