Chapter 7: Tuesday to Friday

Todd caught up with Steve and Dale at breakfast. He had Steve’s schedule for the next four weeks. As Steve read it he frowned. It looked like his next two weekends would be shot as they had Steve pencilled in for flight training on both.

His schedule for the rest of his first week was mostly remedial tutorials to bring Steve up to the same level as the rest of his class. The following three weeks had him participating in the normal curriculum.

Steve passed the schedule to Dale, “Looks like I’m not coming home Friday.”

As Dale read he frowned, “This week looks OK. Next week we’ll probably be on the move. At this stage we don’t know how next week will play out.When I have something concrete I’ll let you know.”

“Steve we’ll work your coursework in to meet Dale’s operational needs. Don’t sweat it. If you miss a week or a few days then we can make it up,” Todd said.

Dale could see Steve didn’t look happy and guessed it was not seeing Sandra as planned, “Steve it’s not the end of the world. Tonight you call Sandra and I’ll call Becky and we’ll give them the bad news.”

He thought about it, “OK I’ll call her tonight and let her know. Do you know what shift she’s on?”

“Night shift for the next five days, she should be home by six thirty,” Dale said. Steve smiled just thinking about talking to Sandra made him feel better.

“Todd can you let whoever know that I’ll be away possibly for all of next week?”

“Done Steve, I should’ve told you earlier let me know and I’ll make it happen,” Todd said.

“If the flight training is an issue it can be rescheduled, they are always opportunities to fly,” Todd said.

“No that’s OK, I made plans before you gave me my schedule, I can live with it.”

Todd nodded, “Now as I understand it we have a G-5 and an instructor pilot scheduled for the weekend. I’m told you’ll fly left seat on some flights and between them you’ll do some classwork. A set of manuals will be delivered to your room today so you can study,” Todd said.

Steve took a breath and said, “OK, I guess I had better get to class.”

They all stood and Todd pointed Steve in the right direction to his first class of the day while Dale left for a meeting in Washington. On the way to class Steve called Sandra.

Sandra was understanding and asked, “What about the following weekend?”

“They have me scheduled for another weekend of flight school.”

“OK Steve I knew we would be apart but it’s a little hard to take.”

“I have to travel next week and if I’m going to be in Jacksonville I’ll call. I’ll try to give you some warning if I can.”

“Alright Steve, just call me when you can, love you.”

“Love you too, bye,” Steve said as he hung up.

That’s how the rest of the week went for Steve, classes, firing range, more classes, study at night and a call to Sandra at five thirty.

Thursday

The pattern was broken Thursday afternoon when Todd intercepted Steve on the way to a tutorial on Legal Search and Seizure at four pm, with him was another agent who was introduced as Neil.

After the introductions Todd said, “Steve you’ll be flying with Neil this weekend, I’ll let Neil explain.”

“I understand you have flown G-IIIs and G-IVs but not the G-5,” Neil asked, getting a yes from Steve, “and you’ve been studying the G-V manual?”

Steve smiled remember the complicated avionic, “Well I’ve been through both, I’m a little stuck on the avionics though, I need to get my hands on them,” he said.

Neil nodded, “Most people are the same the big difference on the flight deck is the cleaner uncluttered displays, they’re four larger displays than on the G-IV. Another difference in that early G-IVs didn’t have the Enhanced Vision System (EVS) heads up display (HUD). It makes your life a lot easier on those dark stormy nights,” Neil said with a grin.

Neil handed Steve four stapled sheets and said, “This is what we we’ll be covering over the weekend. As we have a six o’clock Friday flight to LA. Saturday back to Washington then Las Vegas. Overnight there Sunday fly to New York and back to Quantico. Between flight we’ll cover the avionics and flight systems.”

Steve was looking over the course outline sheets and said, “This looks like it’s going to be a busy weekend.”

Neil smiled, “I’m told that you have two G-550s being delivered soon and your ear marked as one of the pilots. I was asked to get you up to speed on your new birds.”