Most of the guys left Wednesday afternoon. There was only the captain and one other guy from my class there till Thursday, though the captain was staying for the next class as well. A bunch of them arrived Wednesday afternoon as well, so at least I got to meet most of the rest of the crew. We ended up going back out to Gateway to the same restaurant we had eated at Tuesday night, but at least I didn't have to pay for it.
When we got back, I headed for my hotel room and packed up the rest of my stuff. I woke up kind of early, casue I wanted to get the 0800 shuttle to the airport in case security lines were long. I'm kind of glad I did, cause they were long. Still, I had plenty of time to chill, and got my seat changed to a window seat (I hate aisle seats). The flight back was pretty uneventful. I spent the time reading, sleeping, and listening to my iPod. I have to say though, that 5 hours in a plane at one time is a bit much, and I was getting pretty figety by the end. It was raining in Baltimore when we landed, so the last hour or so of the flight was a bit bumpy.
Chris was waiting for me when we landed, and I retrieved my bag (luckily, it didn't get lost) and we headed home.
And that was training.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Wednesday (almost done!)
Wednesday was the day to go home for most of the class. In the morning, we took a ride back to the airport to meet up with the 109th again, and take a look around an LC-130.
It was very interesting. The flight deck wasn't much like the one for the KC-135 we saw last week, but it wasn't all that dissimilar either. It was nice, though, to see in person what the firefighters had been telling us about yesterday.
Now the skis are put on during manufacture of the plane, and can be raised and lowered so the plane can use the wheels. They end up raising the plane about 2 feet or so higher, and it's pretty high to begin with. I had trouble with the troop door on the side, and it required a little jump to reach the handle. It'll be even tougher with full gear on and the damned thing 2 feet higher. This is one of the taller guys in the class and he's about 6'3" or so (maybe taller?).
Here's a shot of the inside of that door. It's heavy as anything, and I had a hard time getting it to go up. I did find it amusing that it says "air and ground use only." Ummm...where else are you going to use it? Space? Underwater, perhaps?
This was the 'nose art'. Obviously, this plane is made specifically for the Ice. Here's a close up of the skis.
And if you have to go to the bathroom while you're in flight, this is where you go.
It was very interesting. The flight deck wasn't much like the one for the KC-135 we saw last week, but it wasn't all that dissimilar either. It was nice, though, to see in person what the firefighters had been telling us about yesterday.
Now the skis are put on during manufacture of the plane, and can be raised and lowered so the plane can use the wheels. They end up raising the plane about 2 feet or so higher, and it's pretty high to begin with. I had trouble with the troop door on the side, and it required a little jump to reach the handle. It'll be even tougher with full gear on and the damned thing 2 feet higher. This is one of the taller guys in the class and he's about 6'3" or so (maybe taller?).
Here's a shot of the inside of that door. It's heavy as anything, and I had a hard time getting it to go up. I did find it amusing that it says "air and ground use only." Ummm...where else are you going to use it? Space? Underwater, perhaps?
This was the 'nose art'. Obviously, this plane is made specifically for the Ice. Here's a close up of the skis.
And if you have to go to the bathroom while you're in flight, this is where you go.
Tuesday...Classroom day
Tuesday we were in the classroom all day (so sorry...no nifty pictures).
First thing in the morning we went over the videos from our burns to comment on some stuff. No bad commenting, since they really were treating us like we knew what we were doing. They also showed us the video of the night they had the propane tank catch fire.
I think we also did some more Antarctica stuff, and then broke for lunch.
After lunch, we got to meet some firefighters from the Air National Guard 109th unit, from upstate New York. They're the guys who we'll be meeting down on the Ice anyway, although the firefighters don't get to go. They showed us some pictures and went through how to shut down the LC-130's and C-17's and such. We actually broke pretty early, and got some time off for the afternoon.
We ended up going back to Gateway to the same place we had gone my first night there. The ANG guys came with us, and we played in the arcade area while we waited for the rest of the group to arrive.
I did some more laundry Tuesday, and I think Tuesday was when we all got our camera memory cards to the appropriate people to get all the pictures together.
First thing in the morning we went over the videos from our burns to comment on some stuff. No bad commenting, since they really were treating us like we knew what we were doing. They also showed us the video of the night they had the propane tank catch fire.
I think we also did some more Antarctica stuff, and then broke for lunch.
After lunch, we got to meet some firefighters from the Air National Guard 109th unit, from upstate New York. They're the guys who we'll be meeting down on the Ice anyway, although the firefighters don't get to go. They showed us some pictures and went through how to shut down the LC-130's and C-17's and such. We actually broke pretty early, and got some time off for the afternoon.
We ended up going back to Gateway to the same place we had gone my first night there. The ANG guys came with us, and we played in the arcade area while we waited for the rest of the group to arrive.
I did some more laundry Tuesday, and I think Tuesday was when we all got our camera memory cards to the appropriate people to get all the pictures together.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Day 6: Monday, Night Burns
Monday morning we got to get some extra training time on the trucks, which was really nice of them. I got to drive some more, and had the quickest knockdown time of the day.
By the way, this is what the controls for the turret look like.
After that, we got lunch, and most of us took a nap before our night burn.
This was the best. After our class picture, we all got our stuff together and got our assignments for the burn. On the first one, I got to be the driver. IT didn't go the greatest, but keep in mind, I've never operated a pump before, so I wasn't sure what I was doing.
Here's video of us coming in for the first burn of the night. I'm driving the truck with the flashing lights.
The second night burn, I was a member of the RIT team. In fact, they made me be in charge, though my captain helped me a lot, since the biggest scene I had ever been in charge of was an sick person.
On the last burn, I was on the engine again, and had the nozzle for the interior attack. My captain and the instructors said I did really well, so I wasn't too upset. There was a bit of confusion during it, when my captain and I came out because he was low on air. We took the hose back down, with a little help from the SAR/ladder team, and did some attack from the outside, and backed up the 2nd engine company, who was going for fire in the front cargo hatch, just under the cockpit. Then they wanted us to go back in, but they didn't hear us tell them that both our low air alarms were going off. We went and changed bottles, and were going to go back, but then they said not to worry about it. So we took our gear off and started organizing what we could to help clean up, and then they said to get back in gear cause we were going to do another scenario. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough spare air bottles to go around, so we couldn't do another one.
The one funny thing that happened was that the instructors decided to make things interesting for us by putting dummies in the road as victims. The first truck through (which would have been us, but we were told we had a 'mechanical issue') didn't see the bodies until they had run over them. While the audio (which I'm not posting because there is a lot of cussing in it) is hilarious, they never told us about the bodies in the road. Our driver saw them just in time, and slammed on the air brakes, but our captain was out of his seat belt, turning on his air bottle. He slid off the seat and had so much momentum that he hit the windshield. Luckily, we weren't going very fast, but it was fast enough to stun him. He got up, shook the cobwebs out of his head, and said "My bad, should have been wearing my seat belt."
Anyway, here's a video of the last scenario in our night burns. I took the hose up the side that had the collapsed wing, and was in the cockpit where you can see the fire from the co-pilot's window. Watch for the 'fire tornado' to the back and left of the fuselage.
By the way, this is what the controls for the turret look like.
After that, we got lunch, and most of us took a nap before our night burn.This was the best. After our class picture, we all got our stuff together and got our assignments for the burn. On the first one, I got to be the driver. IT didn't go the greatest, but keep in mind, I've never operated a pump before, so I wasn't sure what I was doing.
Here's video of us coming in for the first burn of the night. I'm driving the truck with the flashing lights.
The second night burn, I was a member of the RIT team. In fact, they made me be in charge, though my captain helped me a lot, since the biggest scene I had ever been in charge of was an sick person.
On the last burn, I was on the engine again, and had the nozzle for the interior attack. My captain and the instructors said I did really well, so I wasn't too upset. There was a bit of confusion during it, when my captain and I came out because he was low on air. We took the hose back down, with a little help from the SAR/ladder team, and did some attack from the outside, and backed up the 2nd engine company, who was going for fire in the front cargo hatch, just under the cockpit. Then they wanted us to go back in, but they didn't hear us tell them that both our low air alarms were going off. We went and changed bottles, and were going to go back, but then they said not to worry about it. So we took our gear off and started organizing what we could to help clean up, and then they said to get back in gear cause we were going to do another scenario. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough spare air bottles to go around, so we couldn't do another one.
The one funny thing that happened was that the instructors decided to make things interesting for us by putting dummies in the road as victims. The first truck through (which would have been us, but we were told we had a 'mechanical issue') didn't see the bodies until they had run over them. While the audio (which I'm not posting because there is a lot of cussing in it) is hilarious, they never told us about the bodies in the road. Our driver saw them just in time, and slammed on the air brakes, but our captain was out of his seat belt, turning on his air bottle. He slid off the seat and had so much momentum that he hit the windshield. Luckily, we weren't going very fast, but it was fast enough to stun him. He got up, shook the cobwebs out of his head, and said "My bad, should have been wearing my seat belt."
Anyway, here's a video of the last scenario in our night burns. I took the hose up the side that had the collapsed wing, and was in the cockpit where you can see the fire from the co-pilot's window. Watch for the 'fire tornado' to the back and left of the fuselage.
The weekend
I had actually made no plans for the weekend. Some of the guys were going to go hiking, and I had wanted to go with them, but I decided the huge blisters on my feet from walking on Wednesday needed a break. I was wandering around the hotel wondering what to do, and ran into a couple of guys who were going to the Black Diamond factory and store, and then to the copper mine up in the mountains, so I tagged along with them. One of the guys had rented a cat for the weekend so we could cruise around a bit.
The factory store was nothing much to look at, and in fact I could get better prices either online or at REI. I wasn't much impressed. However, the copper mine was impressive, if not exciting. IT was actually kind of depressing in a way, to know that this 3 mile or so hole in the ground was once a 9000 foot mountain. I must say I was highly amused by the spin doctors they had working to make their 'demonstration video." After all the talk of how much copper the mine produces (2% in a whole day! Out of something like 200 tons or something ridiculous like that), they went on to say how the company that manages the mine is so eco-friendly and is working hard to improve the environment. Oh well...
Anyway. The machines they use are huge, and I'm pretty sure I've seen them on Discovery channel or something similar. I took lots of pictures for Chris, since I know he likes that kind of stuff. What really amazed me was the synchronization that's required to keep all those trucks moving the way they were. It really was kind of like a ballet.
This is me in front of one of the tires they use on a hauler (seen below).
Here's a shot of the side of the mine, verses the mountains it's in. Trust me, this doesn't do it justice. I couldn't get the whole mine, top to bottom, in one shot.
After leaving there (after all, how long can you sit and watch dump trucks, even big huge ones?), we drove around Salt Lake City for a bit, and then went back to the hotel to see who else wanted to get dinner. I had wanted to go to Hard Rock Cafe, even just to get the shot glass. A bunch of us ended up going, taking 2 trips to get everyone there in the car.
Here's your sign.
And this is how you get 7 people in a Ford Focus. The worst was the giggling coming from the back. Everytime those of us in the car would get quiet, the 2 in the trunk would start giggling again and set us all off.
After dinner, a bunch of us decided to go to the go-kart track just down from the hotel. I didn't race, but I took all the pictures. These little cars were FAST! Gasoline powered, and they went about 45 mph. Some of the guys decided to suit up all the way.
Then it was back to the hotel to go to sleep, though I stayed up pretty late to do some laundry.
Sunday I watch a bit of 'The States' on the History Channel, and ironically enough, they were doing Utah. Some interesting stuff there, let me tell you. We actually ended up just wandering around the city, about 6 of us. We went to the Mormon Temple, saw where the Tabernacle Choir sings, and went to the Church Museum of History and Art. Say what you will about the Mormons, but they had some pretty incredible stuff, and it was all very well preserved.
This is actually an odometer from a wagon wheel to tell how far you've traveled in a single day.
And that was pretty much the weekend. We headed back to the hotel after walking from the Temple down to the Gateway center for a late lunch at the food court there. And then it was back again to get a good night's sleep for Monday.
The factory store was nothing much to look at, and in fact I could get better prices either online or at REI. I wasn't much impressed. However, the copper mine was impressive, if not exciting. IT was actually kind of depressing in a way, to know that this 3 mile or so hole in the ground was once a 9000 foot mountain. I must say I was highly amused by the spin doctors they had working to make their 'demonstration video." After all the talk of how much copper the mine produces (2% in a whole day! Out of something like 200 tons or something ridiculous like that), they went on to say how the company that manages the mine is so eco-friendly and is working hard to improve the environment. Oh well...
Anyway. The machines they use are huge, and I'm pretty sure I've seen them on Discovery channel or something similar. I took lots of pictures for Chris, since I know he likes that kind of stuff. What really amazed me was the synchronization that's required to keep all those trucks moving the way they were. It really was kind of like a ballet.
This is me in front of one of the tires they use on a hauler (seen below).
Here's a shot of the side of the mine, verses the mountains it's in. Trust me, this doesn't do it justice. I couldn't get the whole mine, top to bottom, in one shot.
After leaving there (after all, how long can you sit and watch dump trucks, even big huge ones?), we drove around Salt Lake City for a bit, and then went back to the hotel to see who else wanted to get dinner. I had wanted to go to Hard Rock Cafe, even just to get the shot glass. A bunch of us ended up going, taking 2 trips to get everyone there in the car.
Here's your sign.
And this is how you get 7 people in a Ford Focus. The worst was the giggling coming from the back. Everytime those of us in the car would get quiet, the 2 in the trunk would start giggling again and set us all off.
After dinner, a bunch of us decided to go to the go-kart track just down from the hotel. I didn't race, but I took all the pictures. These little cars were FAST! Gasoline powered, and they went about 45 mph. Some of the guys decided to suit up all the way.
Then it was back to the hotel to go to sleep, though I stayed up pretty late to do some laundry.
Sunday I watch a bit of 'The States' on the History Channel, and ironically enough, they were doing Utah. Some interesting stuff there, let me tell you. We actually ended up just wandering around the city, about 6 of us. We went to the Mormon Temple, saw where the Tabernacle Choir sings, and went to the Church Museum of History and Art. Say what you will about the Mormons, but they had some pretty incredible stuff, and it was all very well preserved.
This is actually an odometer from a wagon wheel to tell how far you've traveled in a single day.
And that was pretty much the weekend. We headed back to the hotel after walking from the Temple down to the Gateway center for a late lunch at the food court there. And then it was back again to get a good night's sleep for Monday.
Day 5...FRIDAY!!!
Today we didn't actually do any burns. Instead we took some field trips. The first one took us to the Utah Air National Guard base on the airport grounds. We got to check out a KC-135 (mid-air refueling jet) up close. Two of the of the Ut ANG showed us around, and we got got to sit in the flight deck, including the pilot's chair. We also got to wander around the cargo deck, and we checked out where the refueler actually sits (or rather, lies down). It's such a small space! The thought of having to crawl down there in full turnout gear plus SCBA and then pull that guy out gives me the willies.
Anyway, here's some pictures from the KC-135.
Here's the plane, or at least the front of it. We weren't allowed to back up far enough to get a shot of the full plane.
This is the design someone painted on the side. Each plane had some sort of 'nose art' of sorts (though it isn't really on the nose, persay). This was the best of the lot though. The next shot is of the UT ANG shield.
Here's a shot of the bed the guy controlling the refueling wand lays in. There's a small chin rest, and a joystick on one side (near the bottom), and a set of buttons above. And a tiny little window to look out of while he controls the wand.
When we were done with the KC-135, we headed to the Delta flight training center. This is where Delta airlines trains their pilots and flight crew. There were a lot of interesting things to see. We learned how the flight crew gets training in fighting fires aboard planes, and how they learn to open and close those huge doors in an emergency and when to open a door and when opening a door will get you an emergency slide in the face (they are stored in the doors and on some older models will jump out and hit you if you don't disarm them first). They had a mock-up of first class, so the flight crew could practice. They also had a mock up of the escape hatch in the tail of some smaller planes. And we got to see how those huge emergency slides can transform into rafts for water landings.
Here's some shots of the class trying to open and disarm the doors and windows in the mock-up room.
Anyway, that was Friday morning. In the afternoon, we had some question and answer time about Antarctica and what to expect, bring, etc.
Anyway, here's some pictures from the KC-135.
Here's the plane, or at least the front of it. We weren't allowed to back up far enough to get a shot of the full plane.
This is the design someone painted on the side. Each plane had some sort of 'nose art' of sorts (though it isn't really on the nose, persay). This was the best of the lot though. The next shot is of the UT ANG shield.
Here's a shot of the bed the guy controlling the refueling wand lays in. There's a small chin rest, and a joystick on one side (near the bottom), and a set of buttons above. And a tiny little window to look out of while he controls the wand.
When we were done with the KC-135, we headed to the Delta flight training center. This is where Delta airlines trains their pilots and flight crew. There were a lot of interesting things to see. We learned how the flight crew gets training in fighting fires aboard planes, and how they learn to open and close those huge doors in an emergency and when to open a door and when opening a door will get you an emergency slide in the face (they are stored in the doors and on some older models will jump out and hit you if you don't disarm them first). They had a mock-up of first class, so the flight crew could practice. They also had a mock up of the escape hatch in the tail of some smaller planes. And we got to see how those huge emergency slides can transform into rafts for water landings.
Here's some shots of the class trying to open and disarm the doors and windows in the mock-up room.
Anyway, that was Friday morning. In the afternoon, we had some question and answer time about Antarctica and what to expect, bring, etc.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Days 3 and 4...Scenarios!!
Although we did start the day on Wednesday by doing some more dual-line/dry chem work, since not all the groups had a chance the day before to practice with it.
Then we broke up into teams and did actual scenarios. Incident command, tower control, and 2 crash truck (engine) crews, a ladder crew and the RIT team. If I remember right, we only did 2 scenarios, one of which I was on the engine crew, and got to be on the nozzle, and one when I was on the back-up crew, and stayed outside hauling hose.
The next 2 days were like this...Scenarios for our live fire training. They give us a situation, and the incident commander tells us what he wants us to do. Thursday we did another one and I got to drive. That didn't go so well, but the instructor with me said if I had the time to work on the truck for a week, I'd know my way around it. I wasn't too upset...It's not like we're going to have these kinds of trucks down there. One of the last evolutions of the day on Thursday I was on the engine crew, and we had to go up on the overwing to get in the plane. Through some serious mis-communication, I ended up on the ground instead of going up on the wing with my crew.
If you look carefully in this picture, you can see me. I'm on the left side, obviously the shortest one...Yep, that's me!
After Wednesday, I was feeling pretty tired, so we decided to walk to a place pretty close to the hotel. Our captain came out and walked with us, and when we made like we were going to this place, he shook his head and kept walking. So we all did the same thing. For 2 miles! I was wearing my Birkenstocks, and got a huge blister on the sole of each foot...it was horrible. However, when we finally stopped, we were at a restaurant called the Red Iguana. The line was horrifically long though, so we ended up splitting up anyway. A couple of guys kept walking to the Gateway (only about another half mile or so) and some of us turned around and found a little Mexican restaurant called the Chili Verde. Great food.
There did seem to be a plethora of Mexican restaurants in Salt Lake City, mostly small ones tucked away.
But yeah...so much for the nice quiet slow early night on Wednesday night.
Thursday we went to our instructor's station on the airport. Nice station! Each crew member has their own room, the kitchen is huge, and they have a racquetball court (that they can't use anymore for insurance reasons). We sat in the engine bay and one of the instructors gave us a demo of the flashpoints of different fluids used on planes; fuel, hydraulic fluid, etc.
Here's a nifty video of what would happen if a plane with aviation gas (flashpoint of -50*F) that was leaking into a ditch, and you drove over the ditch and created a spark.
Pretty impressive, huh?
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