Every once in a while an IP has to remind the student that it's supposed to be fun too... Not barrel-of-monkeys fun, but it's arguably one of the coolest ways in the world to earn a paycheck.
Formal release... *points* ha-ha!!!!
Remember to sign out.
Don't let the answering machine pick up the phone (answer on the second ring)
Sign out when you leave the room, even if it's just to go to the bathroom
Sign back in when you get back (trust me, you'll forget at least once and get fined for it)
Be ready to fill out a boldface at any time
Don't lock your knees during standups
If you're not called for the standup, pay attention and don't fall asleep or you might get stood up as a special guest speaker
Do NOT exceed 12 hr duty day or show up for work less than 12 hrs after you leave.
Busting a boldface or too many EPQs doesn't just get you fined, it may get you back into blues.
Don't go DNIF (ie. be careful what you do in your free time and don't get hurt)
Don't get caught self-medicating to avoid the doc - if you're sick see the doc, but carefully consider modifying your behaviors to ensure you're not sick very often
Eat breakfast even if it's just a pop-tart
Caffein during the summer is not a good idea especially if you have to double-turn. Drink water instead. The worst headache I ever had in my life was after triple-turning on a 105 deg day, because I had a coke between my first and second sorties. Even though I drank as much water as I could between second and third sorties and flew with a water bottle, I was still badly dehydrated after the third sortie and I still had all 3 gradesheets to fill out (12 hr duty day doesn't apply to IPs, just the 12 hr crew rest recovery period)
The T-6 is a bit like a fragile P-51A... flat-rated 1100hp and that pesky PMU reduces output to keep temps within limits.
Hint - make SURE the parking brake is on and the brakes are pumped up BEFORE you start the engine and BEFORE you do the overspeed governor check. You can kill someone starting the engine with the brakes not pumped up, and creeping forward during the overspeed gov check is embarassing and can be dangerous.
Don't hide stuff from the IPs during sorties... If you have a question or something isn't right before during or after flight, bring it up and in the worst case the ride ends early. You'll get fined (or earn a silly name) if you do anything dumb, anything you say that is dumb or has weird double-meanings will get written down and shared with everyone, and you'll carry around a tire if you try to perch with the gear up, but if you hide something from an IP you might get booted from the program.
Do not drink and drive. For that matter, consider either cold sobriety or setting a very very firm limit of one beer per 24 hr period. Nothing destroys a career faster nowadays than an alcohol incident. Well, maybe second fastest... Rapists go to jail before getting kicked out, but alcohol abuse is a contender for second place so don't be that guy. Hell, don't even sit next to that guy and don't even consider getting into a car with that guy. The best bet is to be your own designated driver, and that means don't drink or drink a small quantity far far below what could get you busted.
We had some European students (underage) get plastered in their on-base dorms a little while ago. It probably would have gone un-noticed except they got a pellet gun from wal-mart, set up lawn chairs in the second floor stairwell, and started shooting rabbits. They didn't know a year prior, the base commander had to crack down on rabbit harassment and word went out that since they were on base, those were the WING COMMANDER's RABBITS! After everyone stopped laughing those students got in a lot of trouble. I don't think they got sent back to Europe but a US student probably would have been disenrolled and discharged from the service.
Have fun on the dollar ride. I dunno how they do it there, but our syllabus is so jam-packed we actually make the SPs do almost everything. They get enough sim time that they darn well better be able to at least try to do everything. We don't expect much since real-world flying is much different than the sim, but a good student with natural flying abilities will probably end up flying the majority of the time except when I'm demonstrating something. As for the dollar, try to be creative but don't give the equal opportunity office a chance to interfere. If you'd feel comfortable having the IP show the dollar to his mom, you're on the right track.
And for formation solo (you guys do that, right?), consider giving him a nice bottle of booze since having you solo on his wing is probably the scariest thing he'll ever do and he might need a good stiff shot after the flight.
