Darrell's weblog

My current job is the first I’ve had where I get paid overtime. Overtime, I’m discovering, is rather nice. I had 35.5 hours of overtime last month, which made for a nice jump in my paycheck. Speaking of overtime, I just worked two 15-hour days in a row, so I am already up to 14 hours of overtime in just two days. It was worth it, though, as I racked up almost four hours of night vision goggle time during two night flights. The first night was just a cross country flight around the local area for 2.5 hours. Last night, however, was actual mission simulation, which was a lot of fun. Well, fun for me at least. Other people might have different opinions about trying to guide a pilot into putting one wheel of a helicopter onto the roof of a small cement blockhouse and holding it there for 30 seconds (using night vision goggles, mind you).

I got an after-action review from my direct supervisor and he said he was “pleasantly surprised” at how well I performed given my lack of prior aircrew experience. So I’m a happy (abeit tired) camper.