PCATD?

GMascelli

GMascelli

En-Route
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
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Ocean City, MD
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Display name:
GaryM
On the 8710 form what is PCATD ???

Listed under: III Record Of Pilot Time

Not only am I tired, I'm at the end of my rope! :crazy:

It looks like tuesday may be a no go for the IR ride......:incazzato: I hope the "one day notice" can get me in this week. I just keep telling myself that it will all be completed soon and I can finally get back to fun flying. :D
 
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Personal Computer–Based Aviation Training Device​


Duh...the light came on :rolleyes2: ​

Did I mention I was tired.......:sleep:​
 
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Would that be time you may have had in the SIM at Brandywine? I think so. I didn't think MS Flight Sim on a home based computer counted.

Hope it works out for you this week. Sure is a hot one. Get some iced tea and some rest.
 
Rob Schaffer said:
.....I didn't think MS Flight Sim on a home based computer counted. Hope it works out for you this week. Sure is a hot one. Get some iced tea and some rest.
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:D

Got everything completed tonight with the paper work. I am officially SIGNED OFF for the ride.:thumbsup:

I'll call the DE and discuss a plan for the oral this week since it's so hot and flight early next week. Or just knock it out in one day....kicking back tonight and following the "RELAX" portion of Ron's check ride advice.
 
Excellent Gary!
You'll do just fine.
Have fun and enjoy the ride.
 
GMascelli said:
kicking back tonight and following the "RELAX" portion of Ron's check ride advice.
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I've never seen such advice...where's that pot-stirring smiley...

Good luck, we're all counting on you.
 
Excellent!! Don't think you will need luck to pass!!

Gary

GMascelli said:
:D

Got everything completed tonight with the paper work. I am officially SIGNED OFF for the ride.:thumbsup:

I'll call the DE and discuss a plan for the oral this week since it's so hot and flight early next week. Or just knock it out in one day....kicking back tonight and following the "RELAX" portion of Ron's check ride advice.
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Rob Schaffer said:
I didn't think MS Flight Sim on a home based computer counted.
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It doesn't. AFAIK, MS FlightSim is not FAA-certified as ATD software, which would mean it can't be used at all for time logged as PC-ATD (or the new terms BATD and AATD).
 
Ron Levy said:
That's an FAA-approved Advanced ATD (AATD), and unlike most ATD's it's good for 20 hours, not just 10, towards the IR.
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It's good for 20 hours towards the IR, yet you only need to log 15 hours for your IR...what am I missing here...

Oh...20 towards the 40 of instrument time, not the 15 of CFII time...
 
GMascelli said:
:D

Got everything completed tonight with the paper work. I am officially SIGNED OFF for the ride.:thumbsup:

I'll call the DE and discuss a plan for the oral this week since it's so hot and flight early next week. Or just knock it out in one day....kicking back tonight and following the "RELAX" portion of Ron's check ride advice.
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Gary, your maiden name hasn't changed recently has it? Just making sure!

Good luck on the ride! You're gonna do great, I know it!
 
JeffDG said:
It's good for 20 hours towards the IR, yet you only need to log 15 hours for your IR...what am I missing here...

Oh...20 towards the 40 of instrument time, not the 15 of CFII time...
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...and five hours in an AATD with an instructor is usually both cheaper and more productive than five hours in an airplane with a non-instructor safety pilot.
 
Ron Levy said:
...and five hours in an AATD with an instructor is usually both cheaper and more productive than five hours in an airplane with a non-instructor safety pilot.
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Yep...hard to "simulate" an approach where you have to actually assess the situation at DA/MDA and decide whether to go missed or not, and you waste a bunch of time getting back set up for the next practice approach too.

Another thing that's good in the sim is instrument failure. In the plane a critical part of the equation is lost: recognizing the instrument has failed...you simply look down and see a post-it where the instrument should be and that's a "failed" instrument.
 
JeffDG said:
Another thing that's good in the sim is instrument failure. In the plane a critical part of the equation is lost: recognizing the instrument has failed...you simply look down and see a post-it where the instrument should be and that's a "failed" instrument.
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When I was teaching at the university, we had a Frasca 142, which could do a realistic simulation of a vacuum pump failure. It was truly amazing how the first time they got hit with it, it took several minutes flying more and more erratic paths through the sky (and often a departure from controlled flight) before the student realized what was wrong, at which point the light went on like a 100MT bomb going off. Even more amazing was how once bitten, they were thereafter able to recognize and adapt to that failure almost immediately. Brings home the statement that "Learning is a change in behavior as a result of experience," as well as understanding those "vacuum failure in instrument conditions" accidents, probably involving pilots who'd never seen a realistic presentation of that failure before.
 
Ron Levy said:
When I was teaching at the university, we had a Frasca 142, which could do a realistic simulation of a vacuum pump failure. It was truly amazing how the first time they got hit with it, it took several minutes flying more and more erratic paths through the sky (and often a departure from controlled flight) before the student realized what was wrong, at which point the light went on like a 100MT bomb going off. Even more amazing was how once bitten, they were thereafter able to recognize and adapt to that failure almost immediately. Brings home the statement that "Learning is a change in behavior as a result of experience," as well as understanding those "vacuum failure in instrument conditions" accidents, probably involving pilots who'd never seen a realistic presentation of that failure before.
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It's never going to happen, and I understand why, but it would be really nice if planes could have a vacuum cutoff mounted in a place where only the instructor could reach it, and limit the use of those planes to training. I'm sure that Murphy's Law is the reason that such things do not exist.

Bob Gardner
 
Bob has a great idea but he's probably right that it will probably never happen. That being said, good luck to Gary on the checkride and be sure to keep your vac gauge in your auxillary scan. I've had only 2 vacuum pump failures. But both were in IMC. Once in a twin, no big deal, I had a spare. The other was in a Piper Arrow... at 10k, in IMC, over the middle of Lake Michigan. The vac gauge was at the far right hand side of the co-pilot panel, but I was (am) in the habit of keeping it in my scan with the engine gauges. I simply alerted Chicago Center, maintained my heading via the compass, kept the wings level via the TC, and decended through the layers to VFR conditions that I knew existed at 6k. The shoreline appeared ahead just as we broke out. No sweat. Keep a good scan and always know your "outs".

BTW, nice to see/hear from you again Bob, your advice was always helpful and welcome back over on the old Rec. groups when I was working through my certs & ratings. Thanks again.

Jim
CP/CFII/MEI
 
bobmrg said:
It's never going to happen, and I understand why, but it would be really nice if planes could have a vacuum cutoff mounted in a place where only the instructor could reach it, and limit the use of those planes to training. I'm sure that Murphy's Law is the reason that such things do not exist.
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It is. The FAA was approached with this idea some years back, and their response was not only "no," but "Hell, no!" Their concern was, as I'm sure most of you would expect, that someone would leave the valve in the cutoff position, and the next person would launch into the goo, lose control, and crash/burn/die.
 
Ron Levy said:
It is. The FAA was approached with this idea some years back, and their response was not only "no," but "Hell, no!" Their concern was, as I'm sure most of you would expect, that someone would leave the valve in the cutoff position, and the next person would launch into the goo, lose control, and crash/burn/die.
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Gotta be a way to solve that...maybe make the cutoff electrical so it defaults to fully functional as soon as the master goes off...

Alternatively, maybe some mandatory sim (and by sim I mean the full gambit of sim/atd devices) with some failure recognition as part of the syllabus.

One of the cool settings in X-Plane is to fail individual instruments/systems at random points in the flight. If you get the full-up certified version the CFII/IGI can sit at another computer and fail stuff while you're flying too, but at least if you're just practicing yourself, you can throw yourself a few curve-balls.
 
Vacuum failures are interesting :eek:. I was flying back from a photo mission in a C177RG in what was rapidly becoming marginal VFR and got to see it for real. We actually ended up deciding to land about twenty miles short of our destination.

Ryan
 
Ron Levy said:
It is. The FAA was approached with this idea some years back, and their response was not only "no," but "Hell, no!" Their concern was, as I'm sure most of you would expect, that someone would leave the valve in the cutoff position, and the next person would launch into the goo, lose control, and crash/burn/die.
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Given the myriad of accidents primarily initiated by the CFI using the fuel selector to simulate engine cuts, I can understand the "Hell, no!" position.

EDIT: however, to assuage the FAA's concern's about manual vac cut-off, it becomes another item on the pre-flight checklist. Still, I wouldn't bet my life on it cuz it's one more crucial item that may fail and take the whole system with it.
 
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JeffDG said:
If you get the full-up certified version the CFII/IGI can sit at another computer and fail stuff while you're flying too, but at least if you're just practicing yourself, you can throw yourself a few curve-balls.
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You can do that with the regular full-version. Of course it's not loggable but neither is the "certified" software without all the hardware. The software/hardware combination is then certified.

I've found it to be a rather useful tool and it's vaccum failure is somewhat realistic in that it takes a little time for the DG to get out of whack and it's not that noticeable until it's too late. (Unless you're aware of the signs and on top of things).
 
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