The Aviator

Yesterday was Ben's first flight as a Pensacola student WSO. (WSO= weapons systems operator- he is Goose in Top Gun).

He has been studying really hard and has had to memorize countless emergency procedures -which are very tedious & operational things like how fast you can fligh at this altitude, or how much gas you have to have to take off or fly. I don't think I can adequately describe how much he has had to fit into his brain & reproduce for his instructors. Its really incredible.

He has to be able to spit off all this knowledge to his instructor while he is trying to fly the plane, do maneuvers, call in radio calls and keep an eye on all the gauges! Talk about multi-tasking!

He has definitely been stretched. But is learning a whole lot & becoming more of a first class aviator every day :)

Yesterday, his flight & brief went really well. He passed and really liked his instructor (which is a very big blessing)! It was exciting for him to be in the plane and to attempt all the things he had been studying. They even pulled like 4 G's when he was up in the air! He loved that.

His stomach did get a little queasy & we think his helmet is too tight or something, b/c it is causing him to get these really painful headaches. So you can pray that God would miraculously fix his helmet. If you think about it, something like that can really mess you up-- being at so high an altitude, your brain is already going to be getting a little fuzzy and possibly dizzy, but to have a splitting headache on top of trying to fly a plane, listen to the instructor & make all the radio calls, that really throws a wrench in things!

But God is so gracious and he passed & still enjoyed it, despite the splitting headache. We are just praying for that to not be an issue/distraction anymore.

He has a few more flights to get through this week, so I am sure we will have more on this later :)