6:10 PM - Saturday, Aug. 31, 2005
Hello from new-hire training!
ASA Ground School
Atlanta, GA
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Well, the fire hose has been turned on here at new-hire training for ASA in Atlanta! It's only Day Three of Basic Indoc and already I'm falling behind in the studying. My eyes are wide and I'm gulping with the rest of the class, and so far feel like I'm still at the top. :) It's pretty ego-boosting (yeah, like pilots need more of that!) to be the only girl in the class of 16 and to be one of the few with mostly right answers. :) So far. Though I realize that could all very well change as things progress.
Em and I are settled in here in room #423 at the:
Red Roof Inn, Atlanta Airport North
1200 Virginia Ave.
Atlanta, GA 30344
(I keep getting asked for the physical address, so here it is. And care packages are greatly appreciated!) :)
It took the cat a few nights to chill out, but she's feeling at home in her 4th-story room with a view of the parking lot. The first room we had was less than desirable, so after a bit of negotiating with the front desk (can we say cranky?), Em and I moved to a much better room. Further from the elevator and away from the yapping little dog. "Uncle Carlos", my good buddy from ASA, was here yesterday and over-night, so Em had company while I was in class all day. It's very boring for her to spend 24 hrs in the same little room for a few months at a time, but she's a trooper. Minus the 0500 frantic purring, howling and mommy's-face-licking episodes we're doing well in our cell! Each day she seems more and more at ease and doesn't seem to miss her little brother, Junior, who got left home with Momma J. and the dog.
Class is enjoyable, in a masochistic kind of way. Our main Basic Indoc instructor, a funny captain by the name of Walt, has a great sense of humor and really knows his stuff. He's been here for over 15 years and has flown everything in the fleet. It’s a pleasure to have such able tutelage, but each day brings me thoughts of both confirmation and doubt about my longevity as an airline-pilot-wanna-be. I'll feel comfortable and knowledgeable about some particular thing, and I'll think to myself, "Sweet, I can do this. I'm actually going to be flying a jet for an airline in a few months!" And then a few hours will pass and I'll get all wrapped around the axle about something, and doubt will creep in, "Ugh, how have I even made it THIS far without someone seeing right through me?!" It is heartening for me to see that some of these guys are so young, with such little "meaningful, real-world" flight experience and they’re trying so hard! I am SO grateful that I didn’t come from flight instructing to ASA, but that I had the extreme good fortune of hanging out in a jet in the Northeast for the last 18 months. It’s made all the difference.
The good news is that I am senior enough in my class to have been awarded my aircraft and base of choice: the CRJ-200 50-passenger regional jet and I’ll be based here in Atlanta. Salt Lake City is our other domicile but I’d much rather be hot and muggy than cold and “minority”! Of the 16 in my class I am old enough to be #5. Seniority at ASA is all based on date of hire, and for those of us in the same class with the same hire date, it’s done by birth date. The oldest in our class is a 41-year old retiring Army Blackhawk helicopter instructor pilot. And then there’s a 35-year old retired Navy P-3 pilot. Two more just a bit older than I am, and a class full of young ‘uns! I suspected I’d be in the top third seniority-wise, which was good because I’d hate to think I’d have to fly the ATR-72, a gangly high-winged 66-passenger turboprop. Thankfully we only had 2 pilots from our class have to join the ranks of the “prop trash”! ?
So, life at the Red Roof Inn isn’t so bad. It’s a lot of studying, a lot of trying to pay attention for 8-10 hours of dense and sometimes obtuse lecturing each day, but in the end it’ll be a good thing. Atlantic Southeast Airlines is a class-act, they respect and treat their pilots well, and they understand that it’s about 5 months worth of information we learn in a matter of 10 weeks. They’re here to ensure that we make it through the program, and keep reminding us that attitude is 80% of it. If we show up prepared, with good attitudes, even if we have trouble in systems training or in the sim, they’ll make it work.
Amazingly I’m closer and closer to becoming an official airline pilot with each passing day. Today we got our company ID badges. This Friday, after our cabin fire training (whoohoo – crash axes and portable breathing hoods!) we’ll get our Airport SIDA badges that will let us jumpseat all over the world. If I had the time it would be fun to hop a Boeing 777 jumpseat home to SEA for a day! Soon, I’m sure….
It’ll be nice to have Jeanne join me here in ATL for the weekend. In between digesting manuals we’ve got an appointment with a realtor to look at homes in a nice little town about ½ hour south of the airport. She’ll likely have an hour-long commute into downtown, but it’ll be a nice compromise to live in a decent neighborhood in a well-built house. Mostly I’m eager to have a bit of a diversion spending time with my sweetie! I hope she’s able to find a good job here (if you know of anyone looking for a great fraud investigator, lemme know!) and get moved sooner rather than later. It’s hard to be a partial family, each of us with only one cat….
For now, I appreciate the emails and care packages that have already arrived. I’ve not done any of this aviation career alone, and your support and encouragement mean an awful lot to me. I’ll keep you updated as I have the time.
Meanwhile, thanks for the thoughts, care packages, phone calls, emails and good vibes. And for those of you with loved ones in the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama area, godspeed.
