Sorry it's been awhile since a brotha updated....but in a brief synopsis, here goes...
Last time, y'all heard from ol' boy....he was embroiled and immersed in the Air Traffic maze that OKC was throwing at me. I was getting hit, and throwing left hooks at any and everything those grumpy, disgruntled retired controller-instructors were throwing at me. Extended downwinds, got you.....wake turbulence calls, I eat those for breakfast...I was pumpin and bangin planes left and right before the final test...the dreaded "PV".
I had a run with my lead instructor the day before (my name had been drawn first to face the FAA monsters in the lab) that in his words, was "flawless".....coming from "Big John" that meant a lot. This guy was an instructor with an unblemished record, and was a veteran of the insane O'Hare Airport...
On PV day...I'm nervous....I didn't get any sleep the night before, because when I did slip into dreamland, I had visions of extended upwinds, traffic calls, and runway crossings. I wore my "money green" old navy polo with the light khaki linen pants...I'm ready to roll. My classmates give me the look...the one a man gets right before he lays on the gurney and gets the needle. I plug in my MP3 and start playing my warm up music..."NBA on NBC", "Ravishing Rick Rude theme" and "I Really Mean It" by Dipset.
I walk down the long hallway to the simulators, looking like a fighter ready for the ring, without the robe and hoodie and trainers of course. Freddie, one of the best students there, was assigned to be my ground, so those ops are covered. I step into lab 4...my strips are setup...its just me, Freddie, the FAA lady (cool lady from Detroit) and the ghost pilot.
They ask if I'm ready.....and I am.
First 10 minutes....easy traffic, big boys landing outside of WOODY....a guy comes in for touch-and-goes.....easy...
Then...the storm comes...
About 8 different people call me from EVERYWHERE....touch-and-goes....STOP-and-goes....one airliner goes around.....I freak out....I call departure, and tell them what happened (good awareness). Hell almost breaks loose before the instructor calls A-through-F (Air traffic's signal for, "ok your done"). I brief her, and then I'm told to leave the room for about 15 minutes.
In my mind, my career is over......
All the late nights, early mornings, the studying, the pain the suffering the hard work. GONE.
I ran to the EDS labs, to reply what I did wrong....some of my classmates asked me how it was.
I didn't crash anything......no operational errors...no runway incursions....was I ok?
After wandering back to the scene of the crime....my instructor says "hey, where'd you go , we're looking for you."
I go in with my instructor, sit, down...and wait......for the rest of my career to either begin or end.
"First off.....I passed you..."
............silence
Euphoria......naw man...I can't even find a word for this....everything she told me about afterward didn't matter.
I passed...
Right now, I'm in Cedar Rapids.....typing my greatest achievement out onto a blank screen, and I'll give you blow-by-blow deatils of the time until my arrival in the following posts...just know that ya boy is legit!!!
