R2F's American Eagle Training Updates

[Captain_Bob]

Congrats Stan and enjoy the SIMS!

JH called me today to let me know about friday... I start a trip then... but I'll be there when you finish your final checkride!

Bob

[crashmbern]

yes now there are 12 atr guys coming in behind me. shouldn't be sitting reserve to long. good luck stan.

adam

[aloft]

Originally Posted by Mr_Creepy

I hope you got the RTU inop question - that's a good one and a lot of people would get that one wrong. They would all go to comm 3 (wrong!!!)

The correct answer is the FMS radio page, no?

[BobDDuck]

Correcto. Works well for when they give you a new tx code in flight. The only problem with that is that the input only will go to the left side, even if the transponder is working off the right.

[ready2fly]

Day 21
Started sim today. All I can say is WOOOOOOO!!!! MAN what a plane!!!

Set up was this:
Flight from DFW to OKC (first three lessons are FTD= meaning not full motion - just simulated motion= meaning thing doesn't move, just the visuals).

Did everthing:
First flight of day Cockpit safety scan/flow
Establish power
Initialize FMS
Origination flow
Get ATIS/clearance (these are probably a little out of order)
Program FMS
Before Start checklist
Engine start/pushback
Taxi flow/checklist
Before takeoff flow/checklist
"Normal" takeoff. (I was flying - wasn't really "normal" )
Level off at FL200
Get acquainted with the autopilot - what to do and what not to do.
Descent
LOC approach into OKC
"Broke out" somewhere around 500 ft or so - wasn't looking.
Go visual and "land".

Went visual and got a little squirrelly, but corrected and "landed" okay.

Tomorrow = more of the same. Flight back to DFW from OKC with a missed approach then back around to landing...... time permitting.

Having a blast!! Lots of work, but still loving it!

R2F

[BrianNC]

Does the sim have sound too? Is there a muffled whine of the engines in the background with power changes?

[ERfly]

Can't speak much for the CRJ, but at least in the ERJ, the airplane flies so much better than the sim. I was all over the place in the sim the first few times. I finally got the hang of it and it was ok. The first time I got in the airplane it was a totally different world. At XJT, we did FAM flights (3 T/O and landings in an empty airplane) when I was going through training (they don't do it anymore). We did ours in an empty 135. You want to talk about a rocket. It was awesome. Even my first flight with PAX was cool. The planes fly so much better than the sims. I had forgotten how bad the sims fly when I did my PC this year. It was a mess at first.

Congrats on everything and good luck with the rest of your training. Its all worth it out on the line. I wouldn't trade my worst day flying for anything else.

[kellwolf]

Tues passed my systems test, memory items (all 25 of them) and limitations test. Now, it's on to CPTs.

As far as the FMS tuning, no problems with left/right for us. We only have one....

Low and behold, I have about 40 people below me in company seniority and at least 20 below me in MEM. The other classes haven't been awarded bases yet.

[AP2B]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

.Low and behold, I have about 40 people below me in company seniority and at least 20 below me in MEM. The other classes haven't been awarded bases yet.

Awesome, great timing or what?

[blee256]

Originally Posted by Captain_Bob

Congrats Stan and enjoy the SIMS!

JH called me today to let me know about friday... I start a trip then... but I'll be there when you finish your final checkride!

Bob

SIMS!! I so hate the box. I despise (sp?) it. When i was instructing i got a chance to fly an MD-11 full motion sim. it was awesome. but if i had the opportunity again, i might pass on it. But then again if its a new plane, and i aint being graded with engine failures, electrical failures, loss of cabin pressure, and etc,.....it might be fun.

[Mr_Creepy]

Originally Posted by aloft

The correct answer is the FMS radio page, no?

Aloft gets today's prize!

[ready2fly]

Day 22

Today's lesson was to add more piecesto the puzzle.

All the aforementioned flows & checklists & FMS happy good stuff....normal takeoff, etc.

That's where all "normalcy" ended.

En route, we dealt with the following failures:

DC bus failure = no means of extinquishing an engine/cargo fire - elected to land at nearest airport which seemed to satisfy the Master.

Loss of all AC power = memory item = "ADG manual deploy handle.....PULL" Eventually got all power restored with the APU, did the ADG override thing, and booyah - back up and running.

Other minor failures, then it was time for the approach.

Today's flight plan took us from OKC back to DFW.....LOC approach to 18R, down to about 75-100 ft. AGL and "Eagle Flight 801....go around."

I have to say, after all the review I did last night of the profiles, that was a non-event (funny how preparation makes otherwise stressful situations non-events. ).

Came back around and the wx had miraculously gone visual. Shot the visual back to 18R....lined up beautifully! Had all my speeds nailed - set up nicely.....got down to (I kid you not) about 20 ft. AGL and "Eagle Flight 801....go around."

CRAP!

Did it all again - just like before .... and got a "Nicely done! Very nice!" from the Master.

This time, Master took us to DAL where we shot the visual to ....umm...31???? I forget.

Lined up, cross the threshold, mains touch, nose touches, thrust reverser deployed and I hear "don't forget the brakes".... I apply the brakes and .....WOOOHOOOOOOO!.....hold on Lady! We goin' for a riiiiiide!

Had that been real life, I need not say...we woulda been on the news.

I got a little batty with the brakes. Gonna have to nip that in the bud pronto.

More tomorrow.

R2F

[aloft]

This thread's starting to give me a bit of a woody!

[Mr_Creepy]

Stan don't worry about the brakes. Sim brakes are definitely not realistic!

[shooter13]

I agree with aloft, though I of course can't verify that it is true for him.

Keep at it you guys. I want to make sure I get a flight on one of your airplanes someday Stan!

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by ready2fly

Day 22


Loss of all AC power = memory item = "ADG manual deploy handle.....PULL" Eventually got all power restored with the APU, did the ADG override thing, and booyah - back up and running.

That's it? ONE item for that? Dude, we've got 5 different things to remember in that situation. Then you pull out the QRH and do it all again. I'm starting to think I got hosed on the whole memory item deal.

I'm off to CPTs in about an hour, which are located in Flight Safety next to the sims. I still have about a week before I get in the simulator due to the insane amount of initial/upgrade/recurrent that's going on around here. Heck, we normally do CPTs in paper tigers at the training center, but they need those rooms for interviews right now. So, we luck out and get to go to Flight Safety, which is about 5 minutes from my parents house.

Blee, you're starting to harsh my buzz on the whole sim thing with your oh so kind words about the box.

[Kristie]

Originally Posted by ready2fly

Did it all again - just like before .... and got a "Nicely done! Very nice!" from the Master.

This time, Master took us to DAL where we shot the visual to ....umm...31???? I forget.

I find it interesting and yet funny that you call him "master"...hehe just sounds funny...like "brian" funny (family guy)

[ready2fly]

Originally Posted by aloft

This thread's starting to give me a bit of a woody!

I find this disturbing........yet.....strangely......amusing.

Day 23
So far, my best day!

Today's flight plan was: ORD (howdy Amber! ) to SGF (Springfiled, MO).

Normal takeoff, climbout, level off...

First assigned alt was 5000.....then 10,000, then 17,000.

Got to 10,000 and the FMS read "ALTs CAP" (flashing) = autopilot has caputred that altitude and unless you select CLIMB, it'll stay there.

We'll... I didn't..... so.... That prompted The Master to query me as to why. I froze. Couldn't come up with the answer. Finally came around to (DUH!) "select speed/climb mode" and VIOLA - off we went. Pretty much my only snafu.

The cool thing about today was the simulated rapid decompression at FL310. Steve - you'll dig this - Memory item = "Oxygen Mask ....ON 100%, Crew Communications...Establish."

Ripped the headset off, grabbed the O2 maske, put it on, lost my glasses , set the ALT to 10k, selected speed mode to DES (Descend) and away we went.

Pretty bitchin'!!

Couple of aft/forward cargo fires. One that Capt. handled, one that I handled. Pretty straight forward stuff.

Then, we shot the DME arc to RWY 02 at SGF, got down to 100 ft. AGL... 50.........."Eagle Flight 802, (Say it with me) Go around." (blind man coulda seen that comin' ).

Did that, came back around for the GPS to RWY 14, here's where I got the gold star for the day.

I was so far ahead of the plane on this approach, had it configured, and actually WAITED for the next ALT....that The Master never said a word.

Landed....stayed ON the runway and we were done.

In the debrief, The Master said "based on today, especially the last two approaches, I can easily say 'you are getting this!'. On your last approach, Iwas in MY comfort zone. Really the shining star!"



He said that my missed approach procedures were text book and that usually, at this stage of the game, he is still debriefing on what went wrong, but that he could tell that I really studied this. (which I did).

I'm not bragging. Just proud. This stuff ain't exactly easy or second nature yet.....so bear with me if I pat myself on the back every once in a while, K?

Tomorrow- all bets are off. We go full motion.

More later!

R2F

[ASpilot2be]

Sounds like you are having way too much fun with this

[JEP]

I have heard this somewhere before, but

Out-FrigginStanding!!!!

[aloft]

Originally Posted by ready2fly

I find this disturbing........yet.....strangely......amusing.

So long as you don't find it similarly arousing, we're cool. No Brokeback Airport stuff here, man...

Glad to see you're adhering to the clearance I issued earlier regarding training, bro.

[BobDDuck]

Originally Posted by ready2fly

The cool thing about today was the simulated rapid decompression at FL310. Steve - you'll dig this - Memory item = "Oxygen Mask ....ON 100%, Crew Communications...Establish."

Ripped the headset off, grabbed the O2 maske, put it on, lost my glasses , set the ALT to 10k, selected speed mode to DES (Descend) and away we went.

Pretty bitchin'!!

Ah yes, the Darth Vadar Emergency Decsent. Got to love it. Wait until you get the motion on and he have enough time to confirm no structureal damage and move the speed bug up to the red line and pull the spoilers. I think I saw 9000fpm down one day. It alt caps about 2000 feet prior to your level off altitude.

Sounds like you are getting the system down. I still make mistakes withe the vnav stuff. Like hitting vs mode to climb and wondering why it goes into pitch mode. Some times it takes me hitting the button two or three times to realize the altitude selected is the altitude we are at. It's sort of hard to climb at 1000fpm from 12000 to 12000. Oh well.

[kellwolf]

Well, my CPT yesterday turned into an impromptu landing session in the sim.

CPTs went as planned. My sim partner and I had been working our asses off on flows, checklists and profiles. So, we get in the CPT, run through them and learn all the little things that go in between that we didn't know about. We also had the opportunity to get a lot of grey areas cleared up like who controls the flaps PNF or PF, etc. Basically, the PF has the FCP (minus the ALT knob), the thrust levers and the flight spoilers. Everything else belongs to the PNF. We got the "Thanks for coming in so prepared, guys. You made this session easy," which boosted our egos. Then we were treated to landings in the sim, which promptly brought mine right back down.

Okay, I can grease a Nole and a Cessna in, but it gets a LOT different screaming in at Vref+5 in a sweptwing aircraft. BTW Stan, we DON'T have leading edge devices. You suck for getting the -700. The lack of the leading edge stuff makes this a tricky bird to land without floating or bouncing, which I did quite a bit of. By the 4th or 5th landing, I was starting to begin getting the hang of it.

Oh, and if you use the touchdown markers as your reference point, you're looking WAY too close. We were told it's easier if you use the end of the runway from the START instead of transitioning your view there in the flare. Makes sense seeing as there is NO flare really.....

[ready2fly]

Originally Posted by BobDDuck

I think I saw 9000fpm down one day. It alt caps about 2000 feet prior to your level off altitude.

Like hitting vs mode to climb and wondering why it goes into pitch mode. Some times it takes me hitting the button two or three times to realize the altitude selected is the altitude we are at. It's sort of hard to climb at 1000fpm from 12000 to 12000. Oh well.

Well, with my glasses hanging around my neck, I barely "saw" anything. Had to squint to set new headings.

OH...... as The Master has informed me.....ahem...."Here at American Eagle....we do not "hit" anything..... we 'select.'"

[kellwolf]

Had another CPT session wind up in the sim (motion off unfortunately). Some of the CPTs tend to become possessed and indicate the wrong things. So, instead of confusing us poor newbs, if there's a sim available, we'll go in there and run the flows and profiles. Well bonus is there are yokes in there, whereas the CPTs don't have them (if they did, they'd be FTDs and cost more I guess).

So, we did engine starts, push backs, and all the normal stuff. Then we got hammered with engine fires (both before V1 and after V1), emergency descents, stalls, steep turns, dual flame out with a windmilling re-flight (ala FLG3701 but with better results), single and two engine ILS approaches and a SE go around (some idiot in a delivery truck pulled out on the runway in front of us).

Basically, I got beat down for 4 hours. I've got my last CPT tomorrow, my oral on Wed and then it's onto the sims....with motion.