Just finished about another two hours of flash cards and I’m going to head back to the training center in order to start the “systems validation” aka “system oral” at 1000.

I figure if I don’t already know it, I’m not going to figure it out the last minute so I might as well have a nice breakfast, head on over and dig around my notes until the evaluation begins.

I’ll have more details later this afternoon.

Actually wasn’t so bad. I think the key is being able to sequester yourself, no television, no computer (except for budgeted amounts of time to check in on Jetcareers) and keeping a positive attitude.

The systems review went great, there’s just a couple of things that I need to crank down on and review which is normal and we might even get done early which will allow me to fly home and see Kristie for a little over a day, but we’ll have to see.

We had a total of three instructors, one in the cockpit procedures trainer, one for weight & balance and MDM (mechanical dispatch manuals) and another for the pre-oral.

I think I noticed something interesting about the social mix here around the training center.

And it’s about buttons.

Generally, if you wear anything from the company “Duck Head”, chances are you “mash” the button when you describe something.

If you have a really flat “continental” (geography, not the airline based in Houston), generally you’ll “press” a button.

But if you’re the rebellious southerner, you’ll most likely “smash” the button.

The 757/767 has a series of buttons and switches (some call them ‘wafer switches’) so I’ve heard a variety of “smash”, “press” and “mash”, it’s slightly entertaining.

All twelve of us have pretty high morale over the material, we all do our one-on-one “systems validation” (aka “oral”) tomorrow, have a day off and then start with the FTD’s, or ‘flight training devices’.

It’s not quite a simulator, but more like a “super Frasca” with all of the buttons, switches, screens, controls, except it doesn’t have motion.

Gonna go grab some food, perhaps more rambling later.

Thanks for reading.

….and I’ve already gotten an hour and half of studying done.

Perhaps a full night of sleep next month? Class starts at 0800 so it’s memory items, trying to get down verbatim ‘Entry door evacuation slide system must be engaged and girt bar verified with door sill prior to taxi, takeoff and landing whenever passengers are carried…’ Yes, sometimes you have to memorize some very silly items because the FAA insists that something be in the limitations section. And if it’s in the limitations section, you have to know it cold and be able to rattle it off verbatim by memory.

Methinks it had a lot to do with a lot of former Eastern pilots working at the Atlanta FSDO and that’s why they like busting our chops.

Man o man, another long day.

The problem with training is that you’re learning systems you’ve never used before, procedures which are foreign and you’ve got to find ways to manage your time and study effectively.

This morning, I got up at 0600, studied until about 1030, took a shower, had lunch, class from 1200 to 1630, took about a 30 minute break to grab a coffee, BACK to the training center. Then we did procedures and failures from 1700 until 2030 and even though I’m dog tired, I need to review materials for the practice oral starting at 0800.

So basically in order to get a full 7 or 8 hours of sleep, I need to pretty much hit the sack NOW. But then I’ve got a lot of systems material to try to hone my knowledge of systems and procedures so I don’t look like a dumbass in class during the final systems review and I haven’t had a chance to have a bite to eat.

Welcome to my world!

The big challenge is that the training materials say learn certain systems, but then each individual ground school instructors says, “Nah, that’s not right, learn THIS instead” but then it changes the next day yet again. So the safe method is simply trying to learn everything.

So tonight, I’ll review materials, powerpoint presentations on my laptop and attempt to get a few hours of sleep before class at 0800 tomorrow.

The systems oral is in two days so it’s pretty much down to the wire.

I’m back in Atlanta after a two day break over the weekend.

I dropped by the employee cafeteria for lunch and it was cool because I saw my friend Nancy that I knew from when I was a new hire. Nancy’s got an infectious excitement about going to the 767ER as well. “OMG! You can bring Kristie, I’ll drag out Jeff and we’ll have to do trips, the four of us!” Naturally, she was wondering when our friend Bill Smith is going to join the rest of us on the ER in NYC.

A raise, an easier commute, a nap, two meals in-flight and long layovers in Europe. Exciting days ahead.

I’ve noticed that if I try to learn something, spend some time letting it gel in my brain, in a day or so I have a pretty good grasp on what I was trying to learn. I figure I have fairly crappy short term memory and much better long term memory.

Today was another systems review with a different ground school instructor. Each day that passes, I feel I grow a better grasp of the information and feel a lot less like a dumbass so letting the information marinate in my brain is actually working quite well.

This evening was another trip to the cockpit procedures trainer and I’m starting to develop a better flow with the basic “Before Start” procedures, doing a better job understanding how the EICAS status page works and have a much better understanding of setting up the engine bleed/pneumatics panel for two-engine start, single-engine taxi and all sorts of “less than normal” situations.

The instructor also introduced various AC bus failures and suprisingly enough, I’m able to sew in systems knowledge with the AC bus failures fairly well.

We’re flying along in flight and the autopilot kicks off and the EICAS system has what seems to be a few thousand messages on it, but looking at the first message to pop on the screen, I knew that the autopilot failed because we had just lost two FCC’s (flight control comptuers) and that the autopilot needs two independent FCC’s (there’s a total of three) in order to operate the autopilot.

Holy cow, this crap is starting to come together.

My systems oral is on thursday so tonight I’m going to do another systems review here and continue honing my “immediate action items” and limitations.

You can somewhat wing it on systems and procedures, but “A Man’s Got to Know His Limitations” — cold. If you don’t know 100% of the limitations and immediate action items *verbatim* you might as well not even show up for the systems oral because you’re not going to pass.

What works best for me is writing things down. I’m a “tactile learner” so if I’m able to manipulate a switch or write down the way the system operates, magically it stores in my brain for later retrieval.

Today was a lot better. I felt I had a better grasp on the material because after the first day of class, I had a more reasonable idea of expectations.

So far it seems like a very intuitive aircraft. The 767 seems like it’s got a couple of ‘gotchas’ that I’m surprised that Boeing didn’t fix or correct before launching the 757/767 line. Apparently, they’re intrinsically the same aircraft, but some of the systems and backup features are different, plus the systems react differently depending on if you’re on a 757, a 767-300 and especially a 767-300ER because they all have type-specific nitnoids you’ve got to be aware of and anticipate.

It’s nearly close to perfect, but it’s not perfect which is a shocker after all the hype I heard about it before training! ☺ I’m not a big fan of what you’ve got to do to deselect approach mode after glideslope and localizer intercept. Sounds like a pain in the butt however I guess it does make it klutz-proof. And if you lose your hydraulic driven generator over the ‘pond’ and you have a dual AC bus fault in addition, it’s going to make a lot of sparks upon landing in Keflavik. Hope the runway’s long! ☺

That’s a little weird.

Again, today was a four hour systems review and another 3 1/2 hour lesson in the cockpit procedures trainer. We practiced powering up a ‘electrically dead’ aircraft, before start, engine start malfunctions, takeoff, climb, route changes, descent and a category three approach.

Of course it had to be a CAT III approach because the CPT doesn’t have a yoke. I’ve got a picture or two of what the trainer looks like from the photo blog entries at http://pix.jetcareers.com from April 6th.

Cat III’s in the 757 are a lot different than they are in the MD-88/90. As long as you understand what happens thru the process, you more or less just watch it do the magic whereas on the mad dog, there was this precise ‘mental dance’ that the non flying pilot had to watch, closely watching sequences of annunciations and if a single thing was out of sequence, it’s “FLAG! GO AROUND! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GO AROUND! YEEEEOOOOOOWW!!!”. Literally, the FO does 99.999% of the work on the mad dog on autolands, but the captain gets all the kudos.

But on the Boeing jets, geez, look for the “LAND 3″ annunciation, everything’s more or less hunky dory as long as you don’t have any bus faults below 200 feet RA.

Now I’m on a flight home positive space because I have a 48-hour break in training. Naturally, I’ll have to spend most of the weekend on index cards and things that will help assist me in preparing for the systems oral next week. I could have stayed in Atlanta if I liked to, but all I would have probably done is sit around Virginia avenue, drink far too much, stay up too late tinkering with the computer, go for runs (so I tell myself) and procrastinate until Sunday evening without hitting any books. At least flying home for the weekend, I get to see my wife (bow chicka bow bow), sleep a couple nights in my own bed, hit a office supply store for stuff I need back in Atlanta and a few hours sequestered on an airplane to review study materials.

I tend to ‘over study’ because I always feel like a dumbass in class, even when I know the systems cold. It’s probably latent training anxiety that I developed at ERAU where the instructors were altogether too happy to play ’stump the dummy’. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of the baggage from bad checkride experiences, but it’s something I have to live and work with.

My next training event is Monday. I’ll fly back to Atlanta on Sunday night, probably go by the CPT’s to work on some flows and review systems on my own time and hit the sack until class at noon.

I forgot to mention that there are 12 people in my 767 class. Most of them are from the 737NG program and i’m only one of two former MD-88 pilots.

So the ongoing joke is: “And you mad dog people, relax a little in the seat, you’re not trying to do 147 things before the captain calls for the before start checklist. Consider yourself on vacation, and the ER guys get a meal and a snack.”

The MD-88 is about the busiest airplane in creation. It’s basically a 1960’s-era DC-9 with glass.

And before anyone writes me on JC and asks about the bum in the bathroom story, it’s all true.

Today was the first day of ground school. Well, it’s more of an abbreviated ground school with pre oral assessments, an overview of the syllabus and emergency equipment demonstrations. Basic stuff like how the 757/767 doors work on actual door mockups, etc.

A little later in the afternoon we went to the cockpit procedural trainer. Worked on “flows”, normal procedures and did several VNAV and flight level change departures and first flight of the day procedures.

And of course, the standard gossip/gouge chats inbetween lessons. Rumors certainly fly fast and furious during ground school.

The captain and I ran across the street to McDonalds to get a quick bite to eat during a training break because the employee cafeteria was closed by the time our break time was. So I’m washing my hands after using the bathroom and apparently this bum walks into the bathroom and starts demanding money from the captain.

What…the…hell…

I guess he didn’t see me around the corner so I screamed “GET THE HELL OUT”, scared the piss out of the vagrant and he ran out of the restaraunt.

Yay, it’s going to be a fantastic five weeks. Note to self, bums are uncouth.

Finally arrived in Atlanta for training.

Basically what my airline does is leases out several floors of a hotel nearby the training center that are for pilot training only. There’s a personal workout room, a “private lounge” (whatever the heck that is) and laundry room.

Fortunately, our special floors and rooms require a pilot key so I don’t have to worry about drunks slamming doors at odd hours of the night.

It’s a pretty good sized room, good study area and lots of lighting and special touches like a corkboard where I can post notes, my cockpit diagram and other stuff to make it a productive study environment.

The hotel produces a few discount cards for some of the local restaurants and has a packet of the privat amenities and a shuttle schedule to and from the training center.

Tomorrow, we’re meeting at 1pm for our first day. I really have no idea what the first day is going to entail, but I do know we’re going to the procedures trainer and some other basic stuff.

I may get up early to go get a sized for a new uniform coat and drop by manual services in order to get my international conversion kit for my Jeppesen airway manuals.

I do have to admit that it’s weird being back on Virginia avenue since my last long course of training back in 2000. It’s cleaner, more amenities, places to eat and the hotel is better so I’m pretty happy so far.