Kellwolf's Upgrade Updates

[bike21]

Well put Dale! No worries Steve, just show that guy how its done. As much stress as it adds, we all step it up when needed and show these guys we earned it

Just don't walk near any giant magnets with those steel cahones

[kellwolf]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I'm pretty much just gearing up to go in there as prepared as possible. If I bust....I bust. I'm not planning on that, though.

Today was more systems. Covered the hydraulics (how many systems, what powers what, what happens when we lose one (or two), emergency situations, etc), landing gear (manual extension), brakes, anti-skid, air conditioning, pneumatics, pressurization and ice and rain protection. Went into a lot of failures, looked at a lot of MELs (I had no clue we could defer an anti-ice blow out plug, but there it was) and read through a lot of QRH procedures. Nessa brought me lunch, so I got to steal a little extra time with her. I'm the only MEM guy in my class, so everyone else was kinda grumbling that I got to eat lunch with my wife and they had to go to McDonald's or something.

After lunch, we hopped back in the GFS to check those failures from earlier and look at schematics on them. During the first break, we managed to get hooked up on a cel phone with the company conference call about the merger. Needless to say, that break was more than the planned 5-10 minutes. After the call was over, we talked about it for a bit, ran through the last system and called it quits for the day.

Tomorrow, we meet at the airport to do the door popping and emergency training on the plane. The company ASAP guy is coming in to talk to us, and we're getting some last minute stuff knocked out. Then it's the written test, and the ground school part is over.

Friday is CRM and security training, and then I'm done going to the Corporate Education Center. Everything else will be at Flight Safety.

[IFly85]

Goodluck, I'm sure you'll do fine on the ride Kell.

[kellwolf]

Today was the last day of the "ground school" portion. We met at the airport instead of the classroom so we could pop all the doors, go over the panels and remember what it looks like inside of an actual airplane. Only two of us had MEM SIDA badges, so I wound up trying to find a ramper so we could get ground power on one of the planes. Heh, looking for a ramper to put power on a plane. Sorta like being back flying the line.

Anyway, after popping panels and opening doors, we went back over to the classroom. We went through some severe weather stuff and did the general emergency training. Most of this is so we can check the box and consider the upgrade class as our recurrent training for the year as well.

The company's rep for the ASAP/FOQA program came in and talked to us. Some rumors have been floating around about guys getting the axe due to FOQA, and he pretty much put those to rest. Kinda hard to fire someone when you don't know who was flying the plane, what the flight number was or the date it flew. ALPA is the gatekeeper for that info, and you'd have to pry it from their cold, dead hands. So, lots of questions about that asked and answered, plus examples of how FOQA and ASAP have helped alleviate some problems we'd been having (like guys trying to take off at flaps 0 or landing with the TRs not armed).

Then we took the written test. Since we were working through lunch in order to get finished on time/a little early, the company sprung for lunch again. Wasn't on the plan, but when they found out we were gonna be working during lunch and just ordering pizza, they stepped up to the plate and bought our lunch for us. Unexpected surprise. Written test wasn't easy, but it wasn't hard either. Everyone passed it, so that box is checked in the training folder.

Tomorrow I've got the day off, then we have CRM and security training on Fri. Probably take some time to scour the FOM tomorrow and start getting ready for my oral on Sunday.

[kellwolf]

Just a half day today, and I can only really talk about half of that.

Started off with CRM training. Mostly it consisted of video and discussions of United 232 (heh, funny considering the bombshell Doug dropped this week), techniques of threat and error management during flight, setting the tone for the crew as a captain and ended with some video created using our FOQA data from two of our flights. I didn't even know the CRJ COULD descend at idle power from 10K to the flare. There's a CA out there that proved it will, but no thanks. I'll take my stabilized approach anyday.


Seconds half of the day was security training. Went over company security procedures and techniques.

They ordered pizza for everyone in the training center since we has a 100% completion factor in all four hubs yesterday. Performance has been a focus target for us lately, so this was a big deal for management. Too bad our class got out at 12:30 pm and we only got to see 25 empty pizza boxes.....

[blee256]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

They ordered pizza for everyone in the training center since we has a 100% completion factor in all four hubs yesterday. Performance has been a focus target for us lately, so this was a big deal for management. Too bad our class got out at 12:30 pm and we only got to see 25 empty pizza boxes.....

Ha, for 100% completion factor, the yahoos in Management/training/scheduling/new hire F/Os and F/As get free lunch. But the pilots and F/As on the line, ground crews and gate staff get nothing. How typical.

maybe I'll see ya around FSI. Good luck on your oral.

[kellwolf]

Oral was today. My sim partner went first this morning, and he passed. We had the same guy, so he was sorta telling me how it went and that it was pretty laid back. So we go in, and he asks for my medical, certs, passport, FCC license and logbooks. Wait, what was that last one? Oh crap. I went through the hell of the 8710 (which thanks to the technology of Logbook Pro, that "hell" was a button click) but I forgot my logbooks. So, I call my wife to get her to bring them up to Flight Safety for me.

In the meantime, I got a weight and balance problem to work out. Pretty straight forward. Only difference was there was a jumpseater, but that was it. He took a look at it, said "Looks good. You can throw that away now" and w&b was done. Moved onto the airplane walkaround. Had me name the panels as we went through a powerpoint-esque slide show while asking me limitations, systems and memory items as we went around. After that we went to the overhead panel. Same drill with the limitations, etc. After that we did some FOM stuff. When do we need an alternate? What do we need to accept a LAHSO clearance? What is 3585? Duty limitations. What landings does the CA have to do with a low time FO?

After all was said and done, I passed. I missed three questions, and they were pretty much boneheaded misses. What's the limitation on how many people on the door? How much weight on the door? How long does the passenger O2 last? 4, 1000 lbs and 13 minutes are the answers.

I'm off for a couple of days, then I start CPTs.

[kfour]

Congrats on the pass! Enjoying the thread, keep it up!

[E6BAV8R]

Congrats Kell! Thanks for the write-up.

[bike21]

Well done sir!

[Bumblebee]

right on . . . very good sir.

[wheelsup]

You guys do your oral before any sim training? Are we the only ones that do it on the same day (oral + sim)? I think PSA does it like you guys too.

[blee256]

I think ASA has oral and checkride on the same day. I like it better having them split up.

[Sig]

Congrats, Kellwolf.

And FWIW, PDT has two checkrides in the sim, oral and 2nd sim checkride (type) occur on the same day.

[MusketeerMan]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

You guys do your oral before any sim training? Are we the only ones that do it on the same day (oral + sim)? I think PSA does it like you guys too.

During my training...we did the oral during sim training (CA's as well as FO's)...ours was after sim session 2.

[kellwolf]

So after two days off, we got back in the swing of things by doing what we call "GFS." This used to be called CPT (cockpit procedures training,) but they changed the name when we got the nifty touch screen things.

So, started off doing first flight of the day checks as if we just walked up to the airplane from an overnight. External AC was connected, so I didn't start the APU. Unfortunately, I also forgot to check for the dreaded "APU FIRE FAIL" message. Soon as I went to check the APU fire loops the APU shut itself down. Guess who won't make THAT mistake again. Rest of the flight deck inspection check went off without a hitch. Took a major effort to get back in the swing of doing things to get ready for a flight. It's amazing how you start forgetting the little things like getting a clearance, ATIS and programming the FMS when you haven't done it for almost a month. Oh, yeah. And you're in a different seat. Normally, the FO would do this, but my sim partner was enthralled by me doing the flight deck inspection check, I guess. Honestly, if the roles had been reveresed, I might have done the same thing and been too busy following along.

Get all the checklists done, get ready to push back, get the clearance to start the engines. Shocker. No light off. So we go through the procedures on that one. MX says "Try it again, just use the other ignition." Well, I see the ITT shooting through the roof, call it a "hot start" and follow those procedures. The instructor pointed out that the ITT never hit 900 and I never got a "hot" icon, but I did the right thing. I saw the trend and stopped it. His advice, though, was in the training world to wait until you see a "hot" icon. Otherwise, the QRH has no guidance. I thought that was kinda odd, but whatever.

After finally getting the engines started, we did the taxi checks, before takeoff checks, and got cleared onto the runway. No surprise, but we got an engine fire before V1. So, we aborted, went through the QRH procedures, then talked about when we evacuate and we we wouldn't evacuate on the runway. In case of a fire, you don't really know if it's gonna flame up again, so it's not a bad idea to evac. On the other hand, people generally get hurt during evacs. So, if the fire's under control, you could taxi to a remote area and get the people off through an expiditious deplaning method. Ruling: it's up to the CA and the situations.

We get in the air and do some intercepting and tracking of radials using the FMS. Sounds basic to you 172 guys, but it's odd how you set it up in the FMS to make it track inbound/outbound. If you want to track inbound, you tell the FMS to go direct to the fix, but change the course to the reciprocal of the radial. For example, you're told to track inbound to MEM on the 180 radial. You'd tell the FMS to go to MEM on a 360 course. If you were told to track outbound on the 180 radial, you have to build a fix for it to go to. You have to enter something like MEM180/99 as a fix for it to navigate to. Clear as mud? Yeah. Flying's the easy part.

After that, FA calls and says we've got a guy having a heart attack in the back. I say "Okay, we're declaring an emergency and diverting to Jackson, MS." Instructor leans up and says "Crap. I didn't know you were that far south. Just go to MEM. For the record, Jackson is a better call, but, uh, I want you to go to MEM." So, I'm juggling the FA, ATC, my FO and dispatch, and get everything set up for the approach into MEM......an approach I never got to fly.

The rest of the time was spent going over profiles like stalls (both in the takeoff and landing config), steep turns, SE and two engine non-precision approaches, SE and two engine precision approaches, engine failures after V1, ILS PRM approaches, and SE and two engine go-arounds. Basically, he wanted to see if we knew the profiles or not.

So, tomorrow, it's back in the GFS for more training there. Friday, I've got a stage check in the GFS. After that, it's in the sim on Monday.

[kellwolf]

Day two of GFS (Goofy Flight System as termed by the instructors) started off in the normal Pinnacle fashion. Training scheduling called my sim partner and I yesterday to let us know that our session had been moved up to 12 pm instead of 1 pm and it was at Flight Safety. So, we met about 45 minutes early to go over the syllabus and run through things together before our session started. Well, about 15 minutes before noon, my phone rings. Yep, you gueesed it. Training scheduling dropped the ball. The session was still at noon, but it was at the education center......15-20 minutes away. Sad thing is I drove right by there to get to Flight Safety.

So, after we finally made it to where we were supposed to be, things weren't too bad at all. We knew a little bit more of what to expect, and we were both starting to get back in the swing of thing as far as setting up for a flight went. We both got to run through the flight deck safety checks and flight deck inspection checks. We practiced takeoff briefings, which are a little different from the left seat since you have to brief abort procedures, etc. Both of us did the before start, cleared to start and after start flows and checklists. We both got to do simulated pushbacks and engine starts. We talked about all the different engine start problems we're going to see in the sim and how to handle those. Then we went through all the profiles, and I got to practice the one I always get confused on: the emergency descent profile. It's more like kung-fu flailing than a flow. Talked about APU deferral procedures, unpressurized takeoff and landing procedures and cross-bleed starts. Went over step by step how to do steep turns and the different stalls.

We also discovered that a new revision was snuck out, and it wasn't a minor one either. They changed four of our profiles since we started training: normal takeoff, rejected takeoff, Engine fire or severe engine damage after V1 and inadvertent thrust reverser deployment after V1. Due to an AD that came out on the CRJ, we no longer takeoff with the FD on. We hit the TOGA switch to update the FMS, but then the flying pilot turns the FD off and we fly (GASP!) raw data. Once we're in the air, we turn the FD back on, though. Also tossed in some new limitations in regards to the wing anti-ice. Now we takeoff with the wing anti-ice on if there is icing conditions (fog, clouds, etc and OAT of 5C or less) below 400 AGL.

So, tomorrow is the phase check in the GFS, and I'm done with that part of training.

[Pilotdude3407]

Too bad our company doesn't have enough faith in their pilots to let us take-off raw data.....we just had a new checklist item come out because of the same AD. Now when we get cleared on the runway one of our calls is the FO says Pitch set 10 degrees....and CA says indicating 10 degrees. This means we have to manually set the TO pitch. That is jacked up. I just takeoff raw data regardless. if you want to use the flight director then your in luck on the first set of calls....gear up speed mode...gee simple fix to that problem. wish our company could see that.

[kellwolf]

Yeah, I was surprised they didn't have us taking off in pitch mode, too.

[t-cart]

Kell, are you training in Memphis or somewhere else?

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by t-cart

Kell, are you training in Memphis or somewhere else?

Memphis. If/when I'm done with training, I'll still be based here as well.

[kellwolf]

Today was the last day of GFS. Show up at Flight Safety and run through all the profiles and the syllabus with my sim partner before the session started. Get things started with me in the left seat doing all the pre-flight checks. Got set up for a simulated flight, briefed the takeoff, pushed back, started the engines up.....hot start. After we went through that procedure, taxiied out, cleared for takeoff, aborted t/o for a L engine fire. Went through the immediate action items for that, and then did the passenger evac procedures.

Repositioned at the end of the runway, did a normal takeoff......to an indavertant thrust reverser deploy that didn't stow. Reset to cruise flight, and we discussed the stall profiles, steep turn profiles, SE and normal approaches and then got vectors and set up for an ILS to 36L. Normal landing, and we were done.

We were scheduled for 4 hours, but we finished up in under 2. This was a phase check to make sure we were where we needed to be before heading to the sim. My sim partner and I both like to be overprepared, and this was one of those days it really benefitted. We got to leave almost 2 hours early b/c we went through the whole syllabus for the day, no questions, no problems.

Start sims on Monday.

[Bumblebee]

Originally Posted by kellwolf

Today was the last day of GFS. Show up at Flight Safety and run through all the profiles and the syllabus with my sim partner before the session started. Get things started with me in the left seat doing all the pre-flight checks. Got set up for a simulated flight, briefed the takeoff, pushed back, started the engines up.....hot start. After we went through that procedure, taxiied out, cleared for takeoff, aborted t/o for a L engine fire. Went through the immediate action items for that, and then did the passenger evac procedures.

Repositioned at the end of the runway, did a normal takeoff......to an indavertant thrust reverser deploy that didn't stow. Reset to cruise flight, and we discussed the stall profiles, steep turn profiles, SE and normal approaches and then got vectors and set up for an ILS to 36L. Normal landing, and we were done.

We were scheduled for 4 hours, but we finished up in under 2. This was a phase check to make sure we were where we needed to be before heading to the sim. My sim partner and I both like to be overprepared, and this was one of those days it really benefitted. We got to leave almost 2 hours early b/c we went through the whole syllabus for the day, no questions, no problems.

Start sims on Monday.

. . .and I remember when you were trying to get your flight times up for a regional, working the ramp for SWA.

I'm very proud of you Steve

[kellwolf]

Okay, so sim 1 was tonight. First thing.....HOLY CRAP I'm rusty. I haven't flown an airplane since the end of March, and I haven't flown the sim in over a year. It showed.

My sim partner started off in the left seat, so I was pretty darn comfortable in the zone over in the right seat. Yes, you DO see every mistake from that seat. Then when it's your turn, you don't see anything. Anyways, we did the whole flight deck inspection, set things up, pushed back and started the engines. Or tried to. First one was a no starter cut out malfunction. Next one was a weird one. Started fine, then the ITT started to skyrocket. Shut off the fuel....still going. Only one thing left to do, hit the engine fire push switch. That did the trick. Only thing is, you're supposed to dry motor the engine. Seems we've gotten the Marquis de Sade for our sim instructor. He gave us the malfunction at 55% of N2, which is where the starter cuts out. Neither one of us noticed it, so the engine wasn't dry motoring anymore. Man, if this guy keeps us on our toes like this for our sims, there's very little the APDs are gonna be able to toss at us on a checkride.....

So, taxiied out, up and away with a normal takeoff, level at 5000 feet for the steep turns. This was one I was worried about since I'd never done it before. It's now my new favorite. I lost MAYBE 10 feet on my altitude. The trick is when they want you to go from a steep turn to the left into a steep turn to the right, you REALLY have to push the nose over b/c of the excess power you've got in there. So, not really stressed about that one anymore.

Takeoff stalls.....STILL the bane of my existence. These things have haunted me since initial training, and I still suck at them. I'm getting better, though. After my fourth one tonight, I think I was starting to get the hang of it. Clean stalls and landing stalls, bring it on. I lost 5 feet on each. Now, I just need to at least get my takeoff stall in PTS.

Did some intercepting and tracking with the FMS, did a hold, and got set up for the full NDB 35 into PNS while we were in the hold. Cleared for the approach, did that just fine. Had to go around at 50 feet, and that was a little shaky. Not catastrophic, but needs fine tuning. Published missed, set up for the ILS 17 while holding. That went okay up until I ATTEMPTED to land from the left seat for the first time. Damn. Sight picture was all jacked up, and my right hand was saying "You want me to do WHAT? Thrust levers???! I'm used to moving the yoke ya dummy!" Needless to say, the approach was NOT pretty. Probably just another thing that needs practice.

Reset on the runway in MEM, told to taxi to M6, clear the runway and contact ground. Did that, and the after landing checklist. Taxiied to the gate and did the shutdown and terminating checklists.

Someone in there we got some electrical issues. We had an AC Bus 1 failure, so we ran the QRH and did procedures for that one. After we switched, we had a Gen 1 failure. Had an inadvertant stick pusher on t/o one time, too. So I got my rejected take off in.

All in all, I'm glad we didn't do anything crazy. As jacked up as I was in the left seat, if I had lost an engine, I might have spun it into the ground.

Tomorrow is sim 2, so I'll take my lessons and lumps in with a humble attitude and try to do better tomorrow.

[BobDDuck]

Kel, sim 2 is normally a bit better. I pretty much thought I was going to fail my upgrade after the first sim session.

It's hard flying with your left hand. And it's even harder adjusting the damn seat.