I've been here before

De ja vu. Here it is, ten till 5 in the morning again. Except that it feels like ten till 5 in the afternoon to me. The only difference is, the ready room is quiet and it's dark outside! Normally, the ready room (particulary the ops corner back here where my computer is tucked) is bustling at 5pm, as the flight schedule is coming together for the next day, crews are briefing before or debriefing after a flight, meetings are being held. A crew is getting ready to brief, but it's still pretty quiet. I landed around 0330. I've been up since about 9pm last night. I've now gone from no circadian rhythm to one that is 12 hours offset from my normal schedule (if you can call it that). And over the next 36 hours, I'll likely shift back to a "normal" pattern. My goal is to just stay up straight through today until about 8pm, then sleep until I wake up to reset. It's amazing what the mind and body can endure when you push it hard enough.

We had a pretty uneventful flight. I had a chance to excercise some aircraft equipment we don't often use, including a Heads Up Display for my NVG's. Many people don't like using the HUD because it adds even more weight to the already heavy image intensifier tubes hanging off the front of the helmet. The HUD projects a customizable display of flight and engine instrumentation information into the NVG image, freeing the pilot from needing to scan inside the cockpit, under the googles, to see information like altitude or engine power (two things helicopter pilots are always watching closely). The 2 1/2 hour flight went by pretty quickly.

Now I'm back in the ready room, chivering under the VERY effective air conditioning, sipping a mug of Tazo Chai tea, waiting for breakfast to open in half an hour. I think today will be a caffeine management drill. I just have to figure out when to cut off my intake so that I can still fall asleep around 8 or 9 tonight. That sure feels like a long way off.