Shoup Airlines » IERW

I’m On Vacation, Damnit!

Shoup — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:44:43 +0000

Ok, so the photos you keep asking about are finally up in the Gallery. Go peruse at your pleasure. If there is anything you like, email me and I’ll send you a copy of the original. For those who aren’t quite sure, yes these are the Ball and Graduation photos. Now let me go ski!

Mandatory Fun

Shoup — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:34:54 +0000

What your tax dollars are paying for these days:

That’s right, it’s all about me! Wait, if that was the case I wouldn’t be within 50 miles of this. Planning this is the bulk of the reason why I can’t get out of here until the 19th.

Parole Board

Shoup — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:31:53 +0000

Barring I don’t fail my PT test on Monday, they’re releasing me back into the wild on Feb. 19th.

Is it February 19th yet?

Sikorsky Is Rolling His Eyes

Shoup — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:14:20 +0000

It’s official, Igor and Uncle Sam have found me of unsound mind and body to fly their fancy machine.

And yet I still have no clue when my parole date might be. Stay tuned for further developments.

Realism

Shoup — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:16:03 +0000

I got to land the Blackhawk on a helicopter carrier yesterday.

In the dark, under NVGs.

While it was raining.

With winds off the port bow gusting to 45 knots and swells at 15 to 20 feet.

In the sim.

But the pit stains and frustration were ALL TOO REAL!

I Got Nothing

Shoup — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:36:21 +0000

Two days back in the lovely little town of Enterprise and we still haven’t flown. Only in the deep South would you get pea soup fog one night and then massive thunderstorms the next in the middle of JANUARY! Tonight is supposed to finally be the big break in weather, but of course I’m starting to come down with something and not sure if I’ll even make it to the helicopter.

So I’ll leave you with a short I saw a while back and found eerily interesting. I bring it to your attention only because I have nothing else and Hollywood has gotten a hold of it and left their greasy paw prints all over it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And here’s the mainstream trailer for the curious:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Night Ops

Shoup — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:02:44 +0000

This is about what it’s like under NVGs. That is if we were actually flying these days.

Yahtzee!

Shoup — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:33:06 +0000

You want the good news or the bad news first?

Screw it, like you thought this was a choose your own adventure deal or something. You get the good first!

I didn’t get put on hold for the final phase of Blackhawks. We found out tonight and in typical Army tradition, started things at 7 pm taking an operator’s manual test and sitting through all the in-brief crap. Did I mention tonight is Friday? And I just got out of there at 10? And there are still people finishing the test? Guess, I can’t complain, the light is suddenly growing at the end of the tunnel.

Oh yeah, the bad news. This is the night phase. Means night vision goggles. They don’t mix too well with a camera’s flash, so you’re probably not going to see a lot of photos this time around. I know, I know, it sucks but there isn’t much I can do. Sorry!

Keep It Tight

Shoup — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:37:15 +0000

As promised, the rest of the photos from the formation flight, and then some, are up over here.

And What Did You Do Today?

Shoup — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:00:52 +0000

The lengths you will go to to get the shot! 80 knots of wind constantly wanting to push the zoom lens back, hanging halfway out the crew chief window and temps in the 40s. Thank God for the monkey harness! Make sure you maximize the browser window on this one! More to come over the holiday, just too many photos to edit right now.