Started ATP on May 19th

[3enginejock]

I started the ACPP at ATP this week at RAL. Im 5 days in so far. AMEL add on scheduled for this coming wednesday.

So far my first impressions are pretty good. My instructor is good, explains things well prepares me for the checkride well. We spent about 4-5 hours in the sim practicing maneuvers, checklists, and engine failures.

I feel confident in my knowledge so im not really worried about the oral. I havent flown the seminole yet because the weather down here the last couple days has been terrible, we even had a couple tornados here which is pretty rare for southern california.

Hopefully ill get to fly this weekend so I can get used to the plane enough before the checkride.

Any suggestions for the checkride practical exam or oral?

[jac]

Just be sure you have the emergency (engine out, fire, etc) procedures and all the manuevers memorized cold. Seems like a no-brainer but don't just be familiar with them - have them locked down. If you can hop in a sim or dry fly an airplane in your spare time it'll be time well spent. Good luck!

Originally Posted by 3enginejock

I started the ACPP at ATP this week at RAL. Im 5 days in so far. AMEL add on scheduled for this coming wednesday.

So far my first impressions are pretty good. My instructor is good, explains things well prepares me for the checkride well. We spent about 4-5 hours in the sim practicing maneuvers, checklists, and engine failures.

I feel confident in my knowledge so im not really worried about the oral. I havent flown the seminole yet because the weather down here the last couple days has been terrible, we even had a couple tornados here which is pretty rare for southern california.

Hopefully ill get to fly this weekend so I can get used to the plane enough before the checkride.

Any suggestions for the checkride practical exam or oral?

[ftyflyboy]

Repeat after me…

Maintain directional control, pitch attitude, airspeed
Mixtures full forward, props full forward, throttles full forward
Flaps up, gear up
Identify, verify
Fix or feather (fix above 3,000 AGL; feather below)

No matter how good the sim is, you will freak the first time your instructor pulls an engine on you…we all do.
Have a pretty good understanding of the factors that affect Vmc. The SMACFUM works great here.
Have fun and good luck on your checkride!

[surreal1221]

SMACFUM?

SMACGUM?

Flaps & Gear Up. . .Gear & Flaps Up

Ah - either way, some animal.

[N826AW]

And make sure when you go to feather the prop, you feather the inop one. And if you feather the wrong engine don't worry about it, you will most likely never make that mistake again.

[jetguy35]

Originally Posted by surreal1221

SMACFUM?

SMACGUM?

Flaps & Gear Up. . .Gear & Flaps Up

Ah - either way, some animal.

I have it memorized as SMACFUM but I always give myself and other a good laugh when I explain SMACMUF to them. Hehe, good luck. It'll be a piece of cake. It's not very hard. All very straight forward.

Ben
Panama City

[NJT916]

If you are with one of the two primary examiners (SH or TH), make sure you know PAST as well. Do all you weight and balance stuff the night before, and be ready for an engine cut on your first take off once you start rolling.

The AMEL checkrides at KRAL are straight forward compared to other ones later in the program. Just know how to get out to Lake Matthews, know when to change your frequency, and keep a CONSTANT scan for traffic. Who is your instructor?

[3enginejock]

My instructor is gabe. Im taking the checkride with Tom something, forgot his last name.

[NJT916]

In my opinion, you have the best instructor. He was mine (tell him Nick from Vegas says hello), and I found him to be one of the better pilots I've ever flown with. In addition, TH is the best guy to have for a checkride. He is REALLY big on watching for traffic, so keep your head on a swivel. Make constant positions calls when you are over the practice area, and you will be fine. Also, keep an eye on the mountains. He may try and take you close during your Vmc demo to see if you know to turn around. Again, TH is the best guy to have. He is totally laid back, but know his stuff.

As I said before, its almost a 100% guarantee that TH will do a simulated engine failure on your very first takeoff, so be ready.

Gabe will make sure you are ready.

Good Luck!

Nick

PS: Ask Gabe if there is going to be Ballet Parking at KRAL anytime soon.

[BobDDuck]

It makes a lot of sense when you think about it, but when you get your engine failure, just fly the plane. Take a few breaths... get in a nice zero sideslip position and verbalize "hmmm... we seem to have an engine problem." THEN go into your immediate action plan of mixture/props/throttles full forward, flaps up/gear up, identify, verify and then stop. Take a second to think, where am I, what am I doing and do I want to try to fix it or do I just want to feather it.

The key to a good engine failure recovery is taking your time and thinking through it. Yeah sure, the first few times you get it in the pattern on climb out (simulated of course... funny story about that, on my PMEL ride the DE killed it for real) it's pretty spooky. But up at altitude, once you get the plane flying straight you've got PLENTY of time to take care of the problem.

[3enginejock]

Well my checkride just got pushed back to early next week. Some guy took my checkride date so they need to schedule a new one for me. He said it will probably be with Jim Reed(?). Kinda bummed as I was going to have a few days off because my partners got pushed back before mine did so id have some time to get ahead of the game by reading up on the instrument stuff. Oh well.

[SRA_kbad]

Originally Posted by 3enginejock

My instructor is gabe. Im taking the checkride with Tom something, forgot his last name.

Gabe's awsome!!!
Tell him Ken said hey

[DE727UPS]

"Im taking the checkride with Tom something, forgot his last name."

Hamm. Tom Hamm. UPS management Capt. Tell him I said hi. He's my boss. Very nice guy. He passed my on my 767 Capt line check. He's as down to earth as they come.

[3enginejock]

Multi checkride passed. Was pretty easy nothing special. Time to move on to the Instrument.

[Sled14]

Congrats, I'll be there in a couple weeks. How was it getting use to the Seminole?

[3enginejock]

Its not bad, mostly just getting used to flying a complex aircraft. Forgetting to put the gear up the first few takeoffs etc.

Anyway, working on the instrument now. I have to do 40 hours of sim time before I get to fly again. Done about 5 so far.

[meyers9163]

Originally Posted by 3enginejock

Multi checkride passed. Was pretty easy nothing special. Time to move on to the Instrument.

Congrats.... Get ready for the sim! Make sure you do all the hours and do not have an instructor who will just fill out that you did. It will put you far ahead of most if you really sit and do all the hours. ANd not just let the sim run and thus log it.

[3enginejock]

Just another update.

Almost done with the 40 hours of sim. Got the approaches down and single engine stuff down, and my holds are good, just need to work on the partial panel stuff. Spent about 4 hours on that this morning. Have 6 hours and change left of sim time to work out the kinks.

I flew to San Luis Obispo and back the other day and also did 10 night landings at Ontario International.

Tomorrow we plan on going to Fresno, Modesto, Sacramento and Half Moon Bay.

Instrument checkride scheduled for the first week in July.

[BillH]

Keep chugging along! Before you know it, you'll be commercial MEL!
This part of the training was one of the best times of my life, well most of it until CFI school.

[NJT916]

Originally Posted by DE727UPS

He's as down to earth as they come.

I could not agree more. IMHO, Tom is the best examiner I've ever had. His laid back, but firm and knowledgeable, approach really puts students at ease.

[NJT916]

Originally Posted by 3enginejock

Just another update.

Almost done with the 40 hours of sim. Got the approaches down and single engine stuff down, and my holds are good, just need to work on the partial panel stuff. Spent about 4 hours on that this morning. Have 6 hours and change left of sim time to work out the kinks.

I flew to San Luis Obispo and back the other day and also did 10 night landings at Ontario International.

Tomorrow we plan on going to Fresno, Modesto, Sacramento and Half Moon Bay.

Instrument checkride scheduled for the first week in July.

What ever you do, DONT let Gabe get the Chowder at Half Moon Bay..

In all seriousness, the Half Moon trip was one of the best XC's I did from RAL. The flight back down the coast at night is still one of my best flights EVER.

[3enginejock]

Just a quick update, Instrument checkride schedules for this tuesday (July 8th) with Steve Holmes. Im feeling confident so I dont anticipate any problems. Ill post an update on tuesday, hopefully with good news

[3enginejock]

Instrument checkride passed!

[Captain_Bob]

Originally Posted by 3enginejock

Instrument checkride passed!

Woohoo!! Congrats!

Bob

[3enginejock]

Passed my Commercial Multi and Single on Aug 12th.

Opted out of CFI.

Interview at IBC Airways in Miami, Florida in September. Assuming everything goes well should be assigned to eather a Metro or Saab 340.