Metroliner tips?

[Autofeather]

I am very new to this board guys, stumbled on it about a day ago and have been reading all the great info everybody puts out there, but not much on the Metro---How difficult/easy is the road getting typed in a Metro? What kinda quirks are out there that would be nice to know ahead of time? Busy single pilot cockpit? Fun to fly? I have been to FS for a KA-200 and have a couple hundred hours in that, how will they compare? any help or input would be greatly appreciated.

Thx in advance

[dc3flyer]

Never flown the Metro, but welcome abaord!!!!!!!!!!

[citabriapilot]

The Metro is like anything in life: Once you learn it's easy...

It can be a challenging environment initially, but once you have a good knowledge base and can do the flows efficiently, the airplane isn't that difficult to fly. It has a bad reputation in some circles and brings a lot of "you fly THAT single pilot?!" responses, and its easy to just nod your head and continue to let them THINK that you are God's gift to aviation, even though you know you aren't....

Emergencies, on the other hand, can get quite sticky when you are by yourself, but a good autopilot will help with this. There aren't very many memory items either, so organization and an ability to work through a problem without rushing will get you through it.

There are some quirks about the airplane, but nothing you can't handle. PM me with more questions if you'd like.

[gomntwins]

Metro's a fun airplane to fly. I've been single pilot metro for a year now and have really loved it. As for the type training: it's not that bad. The systems air somewhat straight forward. Some of the systems are hard to believe-- ex. fuel crossflow. There's no pump. Just a valve you open and slip the airplane to transfer. Easy enough, until you start thinking of how uncomfortable that had to be for passengers back in the day. Other system that's confusing is on the metro III and newer-- the computer used for starting it. Push the button and it starts- makes sense. Try and figure out what's actually happening through that start sequence can be a challenge (how the actual system works). Probably the worst system on the airplane is the hydralic nose wheel steering. It's dangerous. A lot of metro pilots have taken their plane through the weeds when that system fails. Lord knows you wouldn't design the nose wheel to fail straight-- you design it to fail hard left. Why hard left?? If you're on top of it, you can save it (I've had 1-- tough to deal with though). I think if that happened the first 100 hours flying alone you'd need your fair share of luck to not take it off the runway. You still need some luck no matter when that system fails.

Emergencies can be a handful. The company I fly for has 10 metros-- none of which have an autopilot. You have an emergency and you're doing everything. Not a whole lot of emergencies go on though, thank the lord. Hydralic failures, pressurization not working, and every once in awhile a wing overheat seem to be the standards. Oh yeah... and taking a bird through the engine is the other fear-- that seems to happen about once a year for us.

Learning the flows are the most important. If you aren't taught a specific flow make your own. This airplane almost requires a flow-- if you don't have one, it'll take you forever to do anything. The cockpit is not the most organized. Deice-- half the switches are up and half are down to have everything on. Why? I don't know. The bleeds are on the other side under the copilot's yoke. Not the end of the world, but sure not in an easy place. The gen and battery switches are behind your yoke-- why? You can't read the switch-- you have to learn what's what.

Fun airplane. I really enjoy it. Just don't be afraid to manhandle the thing. It's like flying a mack truck. It's the least responsive airplane I've flown. and it doesn't trim for crap.

[N8389P]

Originally Posted by gomntwins

every once in awhile a wing overheat seem to be the standards.

I sure hope not or its time to go somewhere else to work?

[gomntwins]

Sorry... the wing overheat is a light that comes on for a few reasons. One of which is hot brakes. YOu ride the brakes, you pull the gear up, the light will come on. Also, these sensors tend to get on the fritz every once in awhile-- not a big deal usually. go through the checks and the lights tend to go out.

[tinman]

Best tip? Fly the 1900 instead!

[JayAre]

Originally Posted by tinman

Best tip? Fly the 1900 instead!

Amen should be there by Feb.

BTW if your at AMF and doing the metro some pilots do fail just had two 99 come back from metro school

[belliott]

I would have to say that if you can fly the metro.... you can basically fly anything. That being said I think that it was not designed to be a single pilot aircraft. I think that there are some major design flaws ie. nose wheel steering system. But I thoroughly enjoy flying the metro.... it is fast, noisy, and kind of ugly looking.... not to mention sometimes beating AMF's 1900 back from Venezuela to PR (depending on how congested the Maiquetia airspace is::: inside joke.) and how many other types operating right now can perform a CAWI T.O.?

I would say this aircraft has definitely found its place in 135 freight haulin'.

[BuickCFI]

Originally Posted by gomntwins

Metro's a fun airplane to fly. I've been single pilot metro for a year now and have really loved it. As for the type training: it's not that bad. The systems air somewhat straight forward. Some of the systems are hard to believe-- ex. fuel crossflow. There's no pump. Just a valve you open and slip the airplane to transfer. Easy enough, until you start thinking of how uncomfortable that had to be for passengers back in the day. Other system that's confusing is on the metro III and newer-- the computer used for starting it. Push the button and it starts- makes sense. Try and figure out what's actually happening through that start sequence can be a challenge (how the actual system works). Probably the worst system on the airplane is the hydralic nose wheel steering. It's dangerous. A lot of metro pilots have taken their plane through the weeds when that system fails. Lord knows you wouldn't design the nose wheel to fail straight-- you design it to fail hard left. Why hard left?? If you're on top of it, you can save it (I've had 1-- tough to deal with though). I think if that happened the first 100 hours flying alone you'd need your fair share of luck to not take it off the runway. You still need some luck no matter when that system fails.

Emergencies can be a handful. The company I fly for has 10 metros-- none of which have an autopilot. You have an emergency and you're doing everything. Not a whole lot of emergencies go on though, thank the lord. Hydralic failures, pressurization not working, and every once in awhile a wing overheat seem to be the standards. Oh yeah... and taking a bird through the engine is the other fear-- that seems to happen about once a year for us.

Learning the flows are the most important. If you aren't taught a specific flow make your own. This airplane almost requires a flow-- if you don't have one, it'll take you forever to do anything. The cockpit is not the most organized. Deice-- half the switches are up and half are down to have everything on. Why? I don't know. The bleeds are on the other side under the copilot's yoke. Not the end of the world, but sure not in an easy place. The gen and battery switches are behind your yoke-- why? You can't read the switch-- you have to learn what's what.

Fun airplane. I really enjoy it. Just don't be afraid to manhandle the thing. It's like flying a mack truck. It's the least responsive airplane I've flown. and it doesn't trim for crap.

which route do you fly? Call sign Dakota _____?

[sate]

I was wondering if someone could please post some pix of the Metro. Inside and out would be cool.

thanks
sate

[tinman]

Originally Posted by JayAre

Amen should be there by Feb.

BTW if your at AMF and doing the metro some pilots do fail just had two 99 come back from metro school

Jay, where you learn talk, Dixie H.S.? (Or worse, PVHS)

[SIUav8er]

Originally Posted by sate

I was wondering if someone could please post some pix of the Metro. Inside and out would be cool.

thanks
sate

airliners.net

[Autofeather]

Thank you guys for the good input....

[gomntwins]

Originally Posted by Autofeather

Thank you guys for the good input....

Just curious... who do you plan on flying metro's for?

[Trybysky]

Wing Overheat often?! That sucks...QUIT RIDDIN BRAKES !! I can't remember the last time I used the brakes on the metro.

It is a very interesting airplane and it took me a good 100 hrs in it to get "comfortable". But like was said earlier....it's like anything else, once you learn it and get into it for a while it's quite enjoyable. I love the metro. Good luck!

[gomntwins]

Originally Posted by Trybysky

Wing Overheat often?! That sucks...QUIT RIDDIN BRAKES !! I can't remember the last time I used the brakes on the metro.

It is a very interesting airplane and it took me a good 100 hrs in it to get "comfortable". But like was said earlier....it's like anything else, once you learn it and get into it for a while it's quite enjoyable. I love the metro. Good luck!

Wasn't me. We did buy an airplane awhile back that had problems with the those sensors though. I think they looked back and found it had been a reacurring problem with that plane. I personally have never seene wing overheat light (thank the lord). The only lights I've personally seen during flight have been cabin altitude and the hydraulic lights. I saw the nose steer fail light on the runway once... I didn't really see it as I saw a light come on through the corner of my eye and the airplane started going left-- very left.

The wing overheat can be a really bad deal though-- it took down that metro in Canada a number of years ago when the crew took off with the parking brake on and the wing melted/fell off. I think that was the worst metro crash in history-- killed the crew and all the passengers (I don't remember how many people were riding).

[Trybysky]

yeah, I read about that also... not a good situation. I haven't seen an overheat light either (knock on wood). Can be a scary light! I'd much rather see the cabin alt light! With the age of these things, I think it's pretty common to see a cabin alt light if you get high enough. We have a couple that if you take em over FL200 they can't keep the cabin below 10K... oh well.

[30West]

Here are some great metro pics...great because they were all taken of me flying it.

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...452843&nseq=12
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...460657&nseq=10
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...527940&nseq=41
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...494755&nseq=53
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...461388&nseq=73

[Trybysky]

those were some sweet pics.... it looks like the second one was taken up north? good
'ol 473AF

thanks for the new wallpaper... but good luck beating the pic I have for my avatar!

[EatSleepFly]

Originally Posted by Trybysky

those were some sweet pics.... it looks like the second one was taken up north? good
'ol 473AF

Those are nice pics...

I didn't care much for 473... or it's sister turd 476. The only thing good about them was the heat in the winter. My personal favorite was 428MA, but unlike the AF sisters, the heat in that one sucks! I froze my ass off in that plane all during peak last year, while citabriapilot staked his claim on 473 and stayed nice and toasty.


428MA in Elko last fall:

[citabriapilot]

Ah, yes, she was mighty toasty. Of course you had to bring a heat shield for you knee so it wouldn't melt off...

Although now they all suck... Give me an APU and packs any day!

[30West]

Back in the day I would have taken 556UP over any of those dogs! I think someone hit a bird with it recently though so it probably flies crooked now... what a shame

[EatSleepFly]

Originally Posted by 30West

Back in the day I would have taken 556UP over any of those dogs! I think someone hit a bird with it recently though so it probably flies crooked now... what a shame

Maybe slightly crooked, but pretty good considering the damage that was done to it. I liked it a lot better than some of the others... that flat floor with the fixed center rollers was niiice, especially on my DHL run where I didn't have to crawl back there to help out. I think behind 428, I have the second most hours in 556.

I liked 573G, too. Ironically, I flew it to Alaska when I was on IOE, then less than a year later, I flew it for like a month straight all over the eastern U.S. and Canada after I transferred to CVG. Those old birds get around!

[jtrain609]

Originally Posted by 30West

Here are some great metro pics...great because they were all taken of me flying it.

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...452843&nseq=12
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...460657&nseq=10
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...527940&nseq=41
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...494755&nseq=53
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.p...461388&nseq=73

Pat up in Burbank has the first one as his desktop wall paper. I always thought it was one of the best Amflight Metroliner pictures out there and wondered where he got it from.