Kellwolf's Pinnacle Updates

[ASpilot2be]

Congrats

[caliginousface]

Awesome and congratulations man!

[JEP]

Steve,


A big CONGRATS to you. Give me a holler when your travels bring you to MSP.

[Alchemy]

Way to Go! Awesome job.

[Captain_Bob]

WooHoo! Way to go dude!

Bob

[GaTechKid]

Congrats Kell!

[wheelsup]

SWEET!

[ERfly]

Awesome job!!! Congrats and welcome to the club!!

[WestIndian425]

I have to throw in my congrats, too!!

I'll tell Matt the good news.

Neil

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by WestIndian425

I have to throw in my congrats, too!!

I'll tell Matt the good news.

Neil

Heh, he actually called me right in the middle of the checkride, but we've been playing telephone tag since then....

[todd584]

congrats steve, IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU FINISHED, YOU SURE DID TAKE YOUR SWEET TIME!

[jtrain609]

Nesquik

[ready2fly]

I'd be remiss if I didn't say......OUTSTANDING....bro!!! Congrats!! Welcome to "the dream" .

[KLB]

Congrats.

[WestIndian425]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

Heh, he actually called me right in the middle of the checkride, but we've been playing telephone tag since then....

He told me the same thing....LOL. He said someting about a former student of his and wanted to know what was going on.

Neil

[fender_jag]

Congrats, kellwolf!

[JEP]

Kellwolf,

Have you hit the line yet? Or is the schedule still shrouded in mystery....?

[kellwolf]

Shrouded in mystery once again. I did my jumpseat flights last week to observe the crews on the line. It was nice to see a lot of the stuff we learned put into practical application, even if I was lost during the ACARS stuff.

Today I did my orientation stuff. Went through all the OE paperwork, made sure that was in order, made sure all my manuals and Jepps were up to date, learned how to check in and out on the computers, glanced over the current bidding system (pref bid is still a mystery to me, and it's also something I hear horror stories about), and learned how to do the airplane walkaround.

Right now, I'm waiting by the phone to hear back from scheduling about when my OE is going to be and who it's going to be scheduled with. Hopefully, my uniform will come in today or tomorrow. The uniform company lost the order, and it's been a fight over the last week to track it down.....

[OldTownPilot]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

Right now, I'm waiting by the phone to hear back from scheduling about when my OE is going to be and who it's going to be scheduled with. Hopefully, my uniform will come in today or tomorrow. The uniform company lost the order, and it's been a fight over the last week to track it down.....

Let Me guess...Cintas? We had several problems with them and recently went with a new uniform provider. A lost order seems to be a minor problem. We had one guy (new hire) that did not get anything for 2 months, so he flew to CVG, went to the flight station and bought new stuff. And their sales people are a-holes too.

Anyway congrats on a job well done to get that far.

[DE727UPS]

"even if I was lost during the ACARS stuff"

Your best bet with the ACARS is to see what functions the line guys use on a regular basis and get that down cold. Probably 75 percent of the stuff you can do with it you will never, or rarely, use.

When they put ACARS in the 727's in the mid-90's, I was a F/E. They sent us a manual and said "you're now officially trained".
At first I hated it. Once you figure it out, though, you'll love it.

[kellwolf]

For those of ya curious, I haven't fallen off the planet or quit. It was slow up until last Friday when I started IOE. The annoying thing (from a logistics standpoint) is that my IOE is based out of DTW while I am based out of MEM. So, I have to deadhead to DTW to get to my first leg.

First day, met my IOE captain (VERY cool and laid back guy, BTW) and went to the gate to go over the paperwork for the flight. I did the walkaround (which I learned in orientation back in MEM about a week prior), and climbed in to MY seat. Started learning what to do with the ACARS to set everything up, and then went though all the stuff I learned in the sim to get the beast rolling. First trip was to Lansing, MI from Detroit. So, my first leg ever in an RJ was flown at a Seminole-ish altitude of 8000 ft. I did the non-fly stuff on the first leg, but the leg back to DTW was mine. Nothing gets the blood pumping like sitting on the runway and hearing the captain say "Your controls."

Visual approach into DTW (of the three days on OE, ONE approach was an instrument approach), and the landing was....okay. The hardest part for me right now is in the flare and holding the damn center line.....

Took off out of DTW and overnighted in Moline, IL. Caught the hotel shuttle to the airport and flew back to DTW early the next morning. Then the fun began....

The flight TO Springfield, MO was pretty uneventful. It was the flight back that sucked. What should have been a 1.5 hour flight turned into an almost 3 hour flight. We were evaluating whether we should divert to Ft Wayne, Indiana for fuel when we finally got released from our second holding pattern. Yeah, SECOND. That was AFTER we were told to slow to "slowest possible speed" and given delaying vectors. Seems a t-storm rolled into DTW and decided to wreck our day. Good learning experience, though.

Stayed at a hotel in DTW and got up the next morning for the last day of the three day. First flight was to MDW, which the CA took the landing. My leg back to DTW, so I got some more landing practice. Better, but still needs a lot of work. Took off again and flew to Portland, Maine. Weather, not so good. ILS approach down to about 700-800 AGL with a (gasp) decent landing. Took off shortly after that, and hand flew up to about FL230. The check airman had a sense of humor and decided to remove my flight director at about 18,000, so I had a bit of raw data flying tossed in. So, yes you CAN fly this thing without the AP on.

Approach in DTW for the visual 3R, which was probably my worst landing....ever. It's one of those things I'll get eventually, but it's just ticking me off now. Managed to catch the next flight home to MEM.

I go back to DTW for a two day FRI-SAT with an overnight in CVG Fri, then hopefully I'll be done with IOE.

[deserteaglle]

Now when you say bad landing...how bad we talkin'?

Like swervin' down the runway bad, or bouncin' a couple times bad?

[frog_flyer]

or flaring 8 feet off the ground in a 757 and when you finally BANG down on the ground a mask dispenser explodes as the lights flicker on and off?!

[CFIse]

Originally Posted by deserteaglle

Now when you say bad landing...how bad we talkin'?

Like swervin' down the runway bad, or bouncin' a couple times bad?

It's very hard to bounce an CRJ (which is what I think is being flown here). When you get enough weight on the wheels to start a bounce the wing explodes and takes away all the lift.

No - there are 2 types of bad landings in the CRJ. Flare too high and run out of airspeed. Worse case you get the stick shaker (well worse case you get the pusher, I've heard rumors of that) and it hammers onto the runway. Don't flare at all and hammer it into the runway. I've done both - although so far I've never had the shaker.

What works for me? First of all you have to get used to the fact that the plane appears to be on a suicide mission when in the correct approach attitude, very nose down. At 100 ft I pull out a little power, at 50ft start to GENTLY flare and pull out the power so that at 20 feet you have no power left and you're in level pitch attitude through 10 feet and then it's just keep flaring till it rolls on. Early on I flared too high because it just looked all wrong. Later on I flared too late bcause I was over-compensating holding the nose down attitude. Oh yeh - once you get the flare right and have the right pitch attitude at 10 feet you'll over flare and balloon a few times, that goes away after a while as well :-)

You'll get it - some people are born to land CRJs, for most of us it takes a little while.......

[wheelsup]

Kell, sounds like your OE is going well. I got the airspeed klacker my first day, second leg. At 4000 feet. Yep you read that right! LOL. My first ever landing in the plane was absolutely beautiful, on runway 35 @ PHL (5400'). From then on it's been downhill! One thing about my OE instructor - he didn't really instruct in how to "land" per se, just let me do it. I wish he had given me a little more guidence.

About landing - I seemed to float a LONG way down the runway at first and landing on 26 in PHL (5000') you just can't do that. So I subscribe to the "pound it down" type of landing now unless there is a lot of runway available (8000'+). Then I use CFIse's technique to but you have to be careful - you can drive the mains onto the runway if you flare TOO much, too early. Plus with our typical ref speeds you're lucky if you touch down in the touchdown zone LOL. Add in a crosswind and its not the best technique IMO for landing, although it does produce "greasers".

I'll be honest, I just passed 400 hours or so in the airplane and I'm starting to actually get much more comfortable with it. One thing I recommend - start flying without the AP or FD on takeoff's and landings once you get a feel for the plane, typical pitch attitudes, etc. I'll go without the automation while ATC is still climbing/turning us on takeoff/climbout, then turn the autopilot/FD on once we get "direct XYZ" and on approach click it off when cleared for the approach.