United's "Pilot for a day" program???

MattC · October 7th, 2006, 12:49

Does United still offer the pilot for a day program where you can get 2 hrs in one of their sim's???

BlueStreak · October 7th, 2006, 14:03

I'm not sure if United actually does anything like that these days. But, I did attend a 2 day course at the United training center back in '00 that was put on by ATOP Inc. They had an agreement with United that allowed the use of the facilities and open sim time. The Airline Training Orientation Program was basically a 2 day B737 mini-ground school. We covered 737 systems and operating procedures during the day, and then went into the procedure trainer and sims in the afternoon. The course is operated by Wayne Phillps, who writes a lot of career articles for Flight Training magazine and AOPA. He's a really great guy and the course is a lot of fun.

He has sinced moved his operation from Denver to the Continental training center in Houston. The course outline appears to be the same as it was when I went, but they are now using the 737-800 instead of the 200/300 we had. Check out the webite for more info!

www.b737.com

MattC · October 7th, 2006, 15:03

here's a link to what I was talking about...

http://www.avsim.com/pages/0900/pilo...ay/777sim.html

kellwolf · October 7th, 2006, 16:33

I know the ATOPs program is still going, but I don't know about the United one. Wouldn't be surprised if TSA has put some locks on things like this since 9/11. They've taken the fun outta just about everything else....

woodreau · October 7th, 2006, 20:37

I remember the United's Pilot for a Day program on United's United Services website. But I specifically remember the program disappearing from their website after 9/11/01. It was there one week before, and by the time I got around to checking up on the program it was gone.

NTXPilot · October 7th, 2006, 20:42

I did the ATOP program 2 years ago down in Houston. If I remember correctly the PPL was a must have.

Mavmb · October 8th, 2006, 02:07

They should have a "flight attendant for a day" program too.

Maximillian_Jenius · October 8th, 2006, 05:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mavmb

They should have a "flight attendant for a day" program too.

....must resist,must keep resisting!

ComplexHiAv8r · October 8th, 2006, 10:28

How did you like the ATOP program? Was it educational or not?

MattC · October 8th, 2006, 20:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodreau

I remember the United's Pilot for a Day program on United's United Services website. But I specifically remember the program disappearing from their website after 9/11/01. It was there one week before, and by the time I got around to checking up on the program it was gone.

Yeah I was kinda thinking that maybe it wasn't there anymore due to 9/11...

OldTownPilot · October 8th, 2006, 20:47

There are stll ways to get into a sim at an airline.

A few of us from my station got into the sims at the airline that I work at (as a ramp rat).

One had his Comm, one had a PPL, and the other two were student pilots.
We also knew some of the systems to run the APU, packs and hydraulics, in order to relocate the planes on the ramp before hand so it actually was not too hard flying. We mostly did pattern stuff.

We each had 2 hours in the box to play around. The way our traning is set up is that we pay a fixed amount for X many hours of sim time to an outside company whose facility is accross from our G.O. So in other word it didnt cost the company anything bor for us to go in, since we were downsizing and had guys on furlough then.

NTXPilot · October 8th, 2006, 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComplexHiAv8r

How did you like the ATOP program? Was it educational or not?

I really enjoyed it. The 737 sim was certainly a step up from the cessna. In my class there were a few CFI's Flight Safety, 1 PPL from the West Coast, and a few business owners that flew down in there cheyenne. So a wide variety.

As far as educational, there is only so much you can learn about the plane in one day. More so it was educational in the sense of the training experience. At the end of day one they give you a small amount of info to study for the sim ride...some callouts and profiles, limited stuff that helps for the sim.

During the ride, the instructor will throw some emergencies at you. I had a hydraulic failure and had to use manual reversion (not sure if thats right, all I remember was I could barely turn the plane). You get 2 approaches. On the second approach you can choose how "nasty" you want to get. I told the instructor to just lay it on...so I got a crosswind, rain, visibility 1/2 mile, overcast 500 ft. But again, entirely up to you.

If you get a chance, I'd recommend the program, it was a lot of fun.