Someone's going to be an airline pilot!

Last maneuvers training lesson was last night. It was basically a mock MV. The only new thing we did was windshear escape which was pretty rough but my sim partner and I both escaped on severe windshear. I got as low as 110ft AGL but somehow I was able to escape. We did rejected take offs, high altitude stalls, dual engine failure to a relight, hand flown single engine ILS, hand flown single engine VOR approach, two engine go arounds, two engine ILS to an engine failure on the go around. This simulator was a little touchy on the flight controls so it took me a little while to get used to. The instructor signed us off for the MV and said we shouldn't have any issues passing. He said it's all relatively easy after MV as the sessions are going to be line oriented. I have a few days off then MV is July 4th. After that, we have nothing on our schedule. They are really backed up here in the sims. My original LOE was scheduled for July 1. Pending a successful MV we have 4 LOFT sessions then LOE. I'm ready to be done! I started training more than two months ago.
 
Sim more touchy on the controls, you went to MSP, didn't you?
 
jordane93 said:
Yep. I had 4 lessons in PHX and the 5th one in MSP. Seems like if I tapped the rudder, the plane would yaw like crazy.
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Yeah, the MSP sim sucks. A little hint, keep some forward pressure on takeoff. For some reason the trim settings they typically give you end up causing the plane to almost rotate itself nearing V1.
 
Happy 4th everyone! I passed MV today. It was a very straight forward check and there were no surprises. I thought I was going to be rusty after not flying for 4 days but I ended nailing everything. I was PF first and we started off holding short of 13L at JFK with a low visibility takeoff. We did a two engine climb out and the instructor repositioned us at 30000ft for a high altitude stall then gave us vectors for the RNAV 22L two engine. After a full stop we got vectored for the ILS 13L for a CATII approach. We did a go around then he put us on the runway for 13L. We did a rejected takeoff followed by a reposition to same spot to a V1 cut and climb out for vectors ILS 13L single engine hand flown. He extended us to about a 10 mile final for a zero flap landing. Last we did windshear and that was the end of my MV. He said I did a great job and told us to take a break and we swapped seats. My sim partner pretty much did the same thing and we both got signed off. We have 4 LOFT sessions then LOE. As of now, we have nothing scheduled for the rest of July so time to head home.
 
I called up training scheduling and asked if they had anything planned for my sim partner and I and she said not yet. Another pair is also screwed up so she has to deal with them first and then she'll get to us. I asked her if it was alright to go away for a few days and she said go for it! Dad got a trip to Dominican Republic so I decided to go. Flight was oversold but somehow I got first class. Just as I was getting comfortable, the gate agent told me I needed to deplane due to payload optimization. They not only pulled off 3 non revs but they also took off about 7 revenue customers. Dad tried to take some fuel off the plane but dispatch or whoever he called said no. I'm going to meet him back at JFK tomorrow morning and fly to Puerto Rico with him for the night. I'm hoping this next leg will work out!

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Really enjoying this thread, keep it up! Good luck tomorrow. Is that a 737 btw?
 
jordane93 said:
Thanks man! Just ready to be done already. Yes, it's a 737-800.
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Trust me, we are ready for you to be done too. We need more people on the line ASAP, the trips have gone sideways, in terms of quality of trips.
 
jordane93 said:
Flight was oversold but somehow I got first class.
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Somehow? You don't know why you got 1st class? Might have been something to do with the Capt perhaps? ;) :D

Sucks they took you off. I've had that happen a few times, once on a damn 757. I've also had to do that way too much on the 200. 700 and 900 a lot better for W&B. I hated taking passengers off, especially revenue passengers.
 
mscard88 said:
Somehow? You don't know why you got 1st class? Might have been something to do with the Capt perhaps? ;) :D

Sucks they took you off. I've had that happen a few times, once on a damn 757. I've also had to do that way too much on the 200. 700 and 900 a lot better for W&B. I hated taking passengers off, especially revenue passengers.
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Hey we went by seniority order! Yea the instructors tell us a fully loaded 200 in the summer doesn't work too well.
 
jordane93 said:
Hey we went by seniority order! Yea the instructors tell us a fully loaded 200 in the summer doesn't work too well.
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I've yet to kick anyone off this summer. Winter, short flights with an alternate is where you start taking payload hits
 
Generally summer weather means your going to fly around weather, and thus burn more fuel. Winter weather isn't that way.
 
We work EXTREMELY hard to keep all jump seaters on. We don't cross the legality line, but we do push it to the brink.

Side story: once I was jump seating on a crj 200 and they were concerned about W&B. I asked if I could help by asking the FA for a child count. They had no clue what I was talking about. That seemed very strange to me.
Anyway, they made it work.
 
Kritchlow said:
We work EXTREMELY hard to keep all jump seaters on. We don't cross the legality line, but we do push it to the brink.

Side story: once I was jump seating on a crj 200 and they were concerned about W&B. I asked if I could help by asking the FA for a child count. They had no clue what I was talking about. That seemed very strange to me.
Anyway, they made it work.
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Yes, we do. We've had passengers swap seats, moving families with kids forward to help us get a jump seater on. We've also hauled 500 lbs of sand 1,000 miles to make it work. I think it's a karma thing. You're thinking about the next time YOU want to get home via the jump seat.

But sometimes you just can't make it work. I was trying to jump seat back to my hometown for Thanksgiving last year after coming in on a standup Thanksgiving morning. All flights were booked to the gills. The captain ran the numbers at least a half dozen times trying to make it work but we were either too far forward on the CG or we were overweight. He was very apologetic. I assured him I understood the problem and was grateful for all his effort to get me on. I missed Thansgiving dinner but made it for leftovers later that afternoon.
 
Kritchlow said:
We work EXTREMELY hard to keep all jump seaters on.

Side story: once I was jump seating on a crj 200 and they were concerned about W&B. I asked if I could help by asking the FA for a child count. They had no clue what I was talking about. That seemed very strange to me.
Anyway, they made it work.
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Yup, done that many times, and even added almost 1000#s once to make it work. But then I commuted for 24 years. :D
 
LDJones said:
Yes, we do. We've had passengers swap seats, moving families with kids forward to help us get a jump seater on. We've also hauled 500 lbs of sand 1,000 miles to make it work. I think it's a karma thing. You're thinking about the next time YOU want to get home via the jump seat.

But sometimes you just can't make it work. I was trying to jump seat back to my hometown for Thanksgiving last year after coming in on a standup Thanksgiving morning. All flights were booked to the gills. The captain ran the numbers at least a half dozen times trying to make it work but we were either too far forward on the CG or we were overweight. He was very apologetic. I assured him I understood the problem and was grateful for all his effort to get me on. I missed Thansgiving dinner but made it for leftovers later that afternoon.
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Yea I fully expect to work holidays. Hopefully Boston Market will be open!
 
jordane93 said:
Yea I fully expect to work holidays. Hopefully Boston Market will be open!
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Haha, Boston Market, not in the cities you'll be flying the 200 on holiday at 9E...


But in terms of playing the ACARS W&B game, the more you actually understand how W&B works on the airplane, the easier it becomes to make it work in a way you want it to. Like understanding that even if you're over max takeoff weight, you can add ballast, by simply burning off the fuel you needed to get to MTOW plus the weight of the ballast. Assuming you have the fuel to burn (some regionals don't get a lot to play with)
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Haha, Boston Market, not in the cities you'll be flying the 200 on holiday at 9E...


But in terms of playing the ACARS W&B game, the more you actually understand how W&B works on the airplane, the easier it becomes to make it work in a way you want it to. Like understanding that even if you're over max takeoff weight, you can add ballast, by simply burning off the fuel you needed to get to MTOW plus the weight of the ballast. Assuming you have the fuel to burn (some regionals don't get a lot to play with)
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Darn. I wish there was someway to replicate the ACARS in the sim. I still don't have the best understanding of it. I did ask the pilots when I went on my jumpseat flights to show me a little more. It cleared up some confusion.
 
jordane93 said:
Darn. I wish there was someway to replicate the ACARS in the sim. I still don't have the best understanding of it. I did ask the pilots when I went on my jumpseat flights to show me a little more. It cleared up some confusion.
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Yup... It takes several trips before you will be completely comfortable with ACARS (at least for me). But once you get it, it's simply awesome.
 
Let me know if you ever make it out to KDFW. I'm workin' on the ramp for JetBlue this summer, and Endeavor operates in and out of the same terminal as us. Haven't seen a 200 yet but ya never know. Would be great to say hi, even if only in passing.
 
AerialGhost said:
Let me know if you ever make it out to KDFW. I'm workin' on the ramp for JetBlue this summer, and Endeavor operates in and out of the same terminal as us. Haven't seen a 200 yet but ya never know. Would be great to say hi, even if only in passing.
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I'm pretty sure the 900 goes to DFW but I'll definitely let you know if I'm there.
 
My partner forwarded me an email from training scheduling today and it's not looking good. She said the earliest sim she has available is July 27 and she has to work 3 more crews before us whose written tests are expiring at the end of the month. The only good thing is I'm making monthly guarantee and not doing much work. I'm still keeping fresh by doing some flows daily and reading the systems manual in prep for the oral.
 
Go travel, have fun. Because as soon as you finish, you'll be down to 11 days a month off.
 
Im amazed how long it takes to move through the training process. My oral was 1.5 weeks after systems was finished. It felt like an eternity. I'm sure you're feeling like you're losing information everyday that will be oral material.
 
NJP_MAN said:
Im amazed how long it takes to move through the training process. My oral was 1.5 weeks after systems was finished. It felt like an eternity. I'm sure you're feeling like you're losing information everyday that will be oral material.
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Yea it usually shouldn't be this long. I'm still reviewing systems and some oral questions trying to keep fresh. Also I'm still gaining seniority.
 
NJP_MAN said:
Im amazed how long it takes to move through the training process. My oral was 1.5 weeks after systems was finished. It felt like an eternity. I'm sure you're feeling like you're losing information everyday that will be oral material.
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Lack of sim availability, at an airline that until 12 months ago, hadn't done much serious hiring in years. They brought another CRJ2 simulator on line, but apparently even that hasn't totally solved the problem.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Lack of sim availability, at an airline that until 12 months ago, hadn't done much serious hiring in years. They brought another CRJ2 simulator on line, but apparently even that hasn't totally solved the problem.
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I understand the hiring bonanza going on right now. It just really must get these new guys all backwards trying to remember stuff from weeks prior. I applaud those who walk into the oral and checkrides dialed in and knowledgeable after big delays.
 
Well, after 3 weeks off, I'm finally back in the sim tomorrow (27th). Scheduling was nice enough to give us a "warm up" session because we've been off for so long. We have two days off, then back again for the first of four LOFT sessions starting on the 30th. They gave my sim partner a checkride date of August 5th and mine is August 6th. Everyone else in our class is either done with IOE or finishing up real soon! I'm just glad it's almost over.
 
Been gone for 3 years but I thought LOFTs were after the check ride? Maybe I'm thinking of the QLOFT, if they even have that anymore. This at a different airline though. I hope they get you up to speed on all that SE stuff 'cause that's what your check ride will be, a type.
 
mscard88 said:
Been gone for 3 years but I thought LOFTs were after the check ride? Maybe I'm thinking of the QLOFT, if they even have that anymore. This at a different airline though. I hope they get you up to speed on all that SE stuff 'cause that's what your check ride will be, a type.
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Yea I have a few friends at Republic and they had their LOE then a few LOFT sessions. We have LOFT sessions then our LOE which to me makes a little more sense.
 
Jordane when do you do the type ride, which has V1 cuts, SE approaches etc? I would hope you received training on all that as you lead into your type, or is it just a check ride?
 
mscard88 said:
Jordane when do you do the type ride, which has V1 cuts, SE approaches etc? I would hope you received training on all that as you lead into your type, or is it just a check ride?
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It's my initial ATP/type. We did all the V1 cuts, single engine precision/non precision during maneuvers training. The first half of the sims are maneuvers then the last 4 are LOFT. Manuevers validation was a fun one.
 
Oh ok, they were just starting the maneuvers training/vaidation right before I retired. Makes complete sense now. Thanks Jordane. Good luck and have fun on the line. Watch out for those FAs, most of the young cute ones are working on their MRS degree. ;)
 
mscard88 said:
Oh ok, they were just starting the maneuvers training/vaidation right before I retired. Makes complete sense now. Thanks Jordane. Good luck and have fun on the line. Watch out for those FAs, most of the young cute ones are working on their MRS degree. ;)
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Thanks! I'm 22 so I think it will be one big party! Right now there's seems to be a shortage of cute FAs at my airline unfortunately.
 
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