Those Texas Rumors...

By now many of you have probably heard those nasty little rumors going around, that we may be moving to Texas. Well those rumors are true, and the probability that we are moving to Texas has now recently turned in to a certainty. So I am sure everyone is wondering, what? Texas? We thought you'd be in Florida for a least a year....Ya well, us too. So here's the story:

First, let me just break down the 4 phases of flight school, so everything is easier to understand:

1. IFS -Introductory Flight Screening, which as you may remember I told you all about in my last blog. IFS is a condensed version of a civilian private pilot's course, including both classroom and flying time, and which Jordan has now completed.
Location: Milton, FL

2. API- Aviation Preflight Indoctrination, the next school Jordan will be starting on Feb. 3rd. This will be 6 weeks of intensive classroom studying and tests, where the same high standards as IFS and each student aviator must score above an 80% on every test, or risk again losing his flight contract. The course material will cover basic aviation training in aerodynamics and turbine engines. In other words, it's going to be more detailed material than was covered in IFS and more focused on military specific aircraft. 
Location: Pensacola, FL


3. Primary- Primary, no acronym here! This consists of 6 months academic, simulator, and flight training. At the end of primary, student aviators will pick their flight platform: jets, helicopters, tilt rotors or turboprops.
Locations: Milton, FL , Corpus Christi, TX & Enid, Oklahoma

4. Advanced- Training commences on the specific aircraft platform picked from Primary. This training is completed at various locations depending on the aircraft platform, including:
Jets-Kingsville, TX or Meridian, MS
Helicopters-Milton, FL

Only after all of this and Jordan's completion of advanced school, will we FINALLY get a duty station, where we will be able to stay put in one spot for a whole 3 years!

Well upon first moving to Florida we had assumed we'd stay here for Primary, which is the reason we picked the house in the location we did in Milton. Our house is halfway between the two bases Jordan would be commuting to, assuming he'd be completing Primary here.  However, by now we should have known, you can't assume anything when it comes to the military. Yesterday, Jordan came home and confirmed that'd we'd be moving to Corpus Christi for his Primary flight training.

Jordan and I both strongly believe everything in life happens for a reason, although it may be hard to see the overall picture through our immediate frustrations, we just need to trust and have faith in the path that is laid out for us. We had a teacher at Santa Margarita that used to always say, there is no such thing as coincidence, just God-incidences. So with that mindset, Corpus Christi, TX is another adventure that we are looking forward to experiencing. It is along the Gulf Coast, and we have set our sights on finding a place on Padre Island.  I am so thankful at the end of the day to have the opportunities we have had so far to experience all these amazing parts of the country. And while it has been and will continue to be frustrating to not feel settled for awhile, I am sure we will look back on these experiences with fond memories we wouldn't change for the world!

Jordan's First Solo Flight

*For those of you who normally read the blog by email, we have included a special video in this update, so you may need to follow the link in your email to the actual blog to view it. I have also changed the font, so I hope it is now easier to read. 


Jordan has officially completed phase one of flight school, IFS. IFS stands for Introductory Flight Screening. It consists of 3 weeks of book study and tests, culminating in the FAA exam, and 13 flight hours over 2 weeks, culminating in a solo flight. Essentially over the past 2 months Jordan has completed a condensed version of the private pilot training course, which normally is completed over a 6 month period.  Having to cover the same amount of book material in only 3 weeks was extremely taxing. In addition to covering, and more importantly processing and comprehending, this large amount of material at lightening speed, the Marine Corps requires each student aviator to pass all 5 of the tests with at least an 80%. People who received a failing grade ( a 79% or below) on any of these tests, had to go in front of a review board. Typically the review board of commanding officers will allow the student aviator to retake the failed test one time; however, a second failure on any other test, results in the loss of one's flight contract and a re-designation to another MOS, or Military Occupational Speciality (essentially a job within the Marine Corps, but by now you all know the USMC and their obsession with fancy acronyms for simple words). So for those 3 weeks, studying was Jordan's full time job, literally. Jordan's only duty requirement for 3 weeks was to study from home. And while it may seem nice to be able to stay home from "work" for 3 weeks, I think I can speak for Jordan when I say, it must have been pretty overwhelming not only to learn a 6 months course in 3 weeks, but also to have to teach it to yourself!


Thankfully, Jordan passed with flying colors. His lifelong love affair with airplanes and genuine interest in aviation and aeronautical engineering helped him get through those stressful 3 weeks. After successfully passing the FAA exam, the real fun was about to begin. Jordan finally was going to get to fly! Jordan has been lucky enough to get to fly a few times in the past with my Uncle Brett, as well as one of his friends who has his private pilot's license, and most recently a retired Marine pilot who is a family friend of my Aunt Nina and Uncle Randy. Needless to say, Jordan has the flying bug, and he has been so anxious to get up in the air after many years of anticipation and all the steps he has taken in the Marine Corps to get to this point. So, after completing the "classroom" portion of IFS, Jordan spent the next few weeks clocking his required flight hours, where he learned all basic manuevers such as take-offs, landings, touch and goes, and radio communications. He also learned more advanced maneuvers such as recovering from airplane stalls and other emergency procedures, including what to do during equipment/engine failure, and locating and landing in non-conventional places in the case an emergency landing is ever required. Jordan gave one local farmer quite a scare when they practiced this emergency landing procedure when he buzzed about 15' above said farmer's house before landing in his field.


In addition to learning all these aspects of flying, the airspace over Pensacola and the gulf is said to be the busiest airspace in the country. With multiple military training airports in the area, including the F-18 Blue Angels squadron, and a number of civilian and commercial airports, plus  two international airports, there are very strict regulations on communications, frequencies, altitudes, and airspeeds just within his local training area. With this being said, flying was a bit more overwhelming at first than Jordan had previously anticipated. Especially since, on top of all the added technicalities with navigating through these numerous and overlapping airspaces, he was completing a 40 flight hour private's pilot program in just 13 flight hours. After quite a few delays in finishing his hours due to the break of the Christmas holiday and lots of bad weather, Jordan was finally set to complete his solo flight on Friday, January 13th. Yes, that's right, his first ever solo flight was scheduled on Friday the 13th. However, as I said to him that day, I think 13 may just be his lucky number, we were married on June 13th afterall!


When solo day finally arrived, we woke up bright and early and headed to the airport. The winds were starting to pick up and we were worried that flights would again be grounded at the airport due to the high wind speeds. Jordan narrowly was able to get his pre-solo/check flight in the previous day, before they grounded the rest of the planes for this very reason. I really need to try and blog more often to document this experience better, because Jordan's pre-solo/check flight is a pretty funny story in itself.  Well, seeing as you're probably now wondering what in fact this story is and why it was so funny, I'll try to give it to you quickly in a nutshell. Off on a tangent we go...

Every student aviator must complete a "check ride" with a different instructor to be tested and then cleared for a solo flight. As Jordan  sat on the runway that day, and went through all of his pre-flight procedures for his check ride, his testing instructor got on the radio to check the weather conditions. It was a clear day, but the winds were starting to pick up again. At this point, Jordan began to foresee his flight being cancelled AGAIN because of bad weather, for the 5th day in a row. Milton airport does not allow planes, even when flown by experienced pilots, to take off or land when a crosswind exceeds 15-17 knots, because as Jordan's dad would say, these planes are like kites, they just toss around haphazardly in any sort of windy conditions. Frustrated with all the weather delays he'd already experienced up to this point, he just couldn't stand the thought of not flying again today, especially since he was so close. Having finished his pre-flight checklist, he was now sitting on the runway READY to take off! So in typical Jordan fashion, he made the decision that he WAS going to fly. Before his instructor could get word back on the weather (because the radio connection had died!), Jordan hit the throttle and took the plane up! Because afterall, as Jordan rationalizes, his instructor didn't say to stop take-off procedures. Once they were up in the  air, Jordan went through all of his check ride requirements and maneuvers, and although completed, they were a bit less refined than he is normally capable of, as he battled against the winds and the less than ideal conditions that he had willingly gotten himself into. After finishing all the check ride test maneuvers, all he had to do was land, easy right? Normally, yes; however, at this point the winds were now at 20 knots with 30 knot gusts. And while many times, instructors will fly to another nearby airport to land and wait out the conditions, I think this instructor, a retired, salty (experienced) Navy pilot, was just as hard-headed as Jordan, and together, they were determined to put this plane down! Well thankfully, I can write and say they did land safe and sound, but apparently it was quite a sight, as all the other "grounded" pilots and personnel at the airport came out to watch these two knuckleheads try to land!

So there's the story, now back to solo flight day.... The winds, although taunting him with the threat of their fickle nature, stayed safely at bay, and so Jordan and his instructor proceeded to prepare for his solo flight. I cozied myself up in a rocking chair on the porch of the small airport building, bundled up to my nose in a thick scarf, warm coffee in hand. I was committed to sticking it out in the 30 degree, slightly windy weather so I could watch this experience first hand! I didn't get out of bed at 5am to sit inside a building while he flew afterall! As I sat there, I began to grow frustrated as the boys tinkered around in the airplane, "Let's just get this show on the road," I thought to myself, "I'm FREEZING!" Well come to find out the engine on Jordan's plane wouldn't start. Maybe Friday the 13th was not going to be a lucky day for Jordan afterall. Being that it was still only 7 am by this point, and the sun had only just risen, they thought perhaps the engine was still frozen from the overnight cold weather. So after blowing hot air on the engine for 20 minutes to try and warm it up, they got back in the plane to attempt this solo flight again. Well, after more tinkering, Jordan and his instructor got  back out of the plane, and with their shoulders shrugged and heads bowed slightly lower than before, proceeded to walk back towards the building again. (Later, we would find out that the plane had not started the second time because it had a dead battery as well!)

Jordan's instructor, now equally frustrated, was determined to get Jordan his solo flight that morning. After talking with the airport personnel about using one of the other airplanes of the same model (a Piper Warrior for all you airplane people), they allowed Jordan to fly the other plane, although it was currently in-shop for routine maintenance. Just our luck, right? We sat around again (this time thankfully inside the comfort of the warm building) and waited for the plane to be prepped, and put back together, for flight. Two hours after first arriving at the airport, it finally looked as if Jordan was actually going to get to fly today, and fly he did! Check out the video of Jordan's very first SOLO FLIGHT:


*Click play on the video below. For full screen, hit the center of the video a second time and it will direct you to youtube, where you can view it larger.

**After watching the movie again myself, I felt like I needed to add an additional note to clarify Jordan's "note" ha ha. " Get Some" is an unofficial Marine Corps saying. It's used when someone is pushing past their physical limits and personal records in physical fitness, or as in this case, is just overly motivated ;)