bitchin ditchin

well....survived ditching day.... barely.

had to be at the base at 0515.... onto a bus to the pool. was the coldest day here yet. rain.. still dark.... you can imagine this is not the most inviting morning for a swim.

we get to the pool and my stomach is so tied in knots. i hate the water.. totally hate the water... having almost drowned twice as a child, i guess i have a good, if not unneccessary fear for the water. im not the strongest swimmer. another bloke in my course..darren is exactly the same. we would just look at each other across the aisle of the bus..and the look in our eyes said volumes, but tried to be supportive of each other. was a great time for scott and i to be having a disaggreement, and this was adding to my stress. (things calm now tho)

we get to the pool and change, and all too soon im standing at the side of the pool. thankfully the indoor pool area is heated...and the water seemed quite warm.

the drill seargent of an instructor lead us through an hour and a half of hell. first of all we had to get into the pool at one end and swim to the other end, without touching the sides or bottom. 25 metres. now normally im not a strong enough swimmer to make that without going thru panic. i got about half way and felt the panic rising. so flipped onto my back and did the 2nd half in backstroke.. the look of sheer horror i was to find out, was seen by one of my crewmates. but i did it. then we had to get out, and put on a life jacket, and pull the toggle to blow it up. and roll into the pool and make our way to the centre of the pool.. which was fine since i had a flotation device, there was no fear or panic and i felt quite comfortable. we did various exercises basedon water survival.. and then i had to be dragged one length of the pool...i teamed up with darren so we could support each other. and then i had to drag him back the other way.. was totally exhausted by this stage.. hes a big hefty muscle boy. then we had to remove our life jackets and swim to the centre of the pool and retrieve a rolled up life jacket floating on the water, and tread water while putting it on and manually blowing it up using the tube. amazingly i just aced that.. had it on and blown up quicker than some guys who are good swimmers.
last but not least we had to swim to a life raft in the centre of the pool and haul each other in, and row to the side of the pool. great fun in the end. glad i never have to do that again.

we all passed !!!

then we got taught PELDS.. portable equiptment location diagrams. we have 3 types of airbus and we have to learn 194 specific locations on them by monday. from memory. fudge fudge.. its hard. this is the one section i think i might actually fail. some girls in the class are saying they can already plot them all. im about half way. and its just not sinking in.

today we took a trip to heathrow to go visit an airbus a340. a real aircraft. we got to open and close a door. arm and disarm a door (oh yes and lets not forget that all important crosschecking!!)

we gto to go down to the crew rest area, and practice climbing out the escape hatch. i think this was real fun as we were on a real plane. got to see a few things that the average punter doesnt know about.

going to a hanger tomorrow to spend more time on the plane, and im hoping i wil have more time to explore all the drawers and stowages so i can picture these bloody locations.

tomorrows test.... doors and exits... how to open and close, how to arm and disarm.. pre flight checks and how to evacuate each of them (there are different specific phrases to say for each)

sigh.. im exhausted and weary and my brain is pretty full. if i can survive it all., i have 2.5 weeks left til graduation.

thankfully next week is service week.. now im not saying its easy.. but certainly less of a brain strain than the last 2 weeks.. its not so cerebral and is more based on customer service and our personalities than facts and figures. plus, we get to serve each other meals and drinks for a few days so free lunch!!

danny - do what you have to mate.