Another checkride passed (AQP manuevers validation) so my brains fried and I’ll write something tomorrow.

one more to go!

We more or less practiced what we practiced yesterday so there really isn’t anything new to report besides the fact that we have a ‘manuevers validation’ tomorrow which is a checkride.

Probably the most interesting thing from the past couple days is the fact that I’ve been senior to both tonight’s instructor and yesterday’s too and they were wondering why the hell I stayed on the MD-88 for so long and why I wasn’t bidding MD-88 captain.

Strange.

During the simulator break, the instructor and I traded some regional flying stories as he flew Jetstreams for Chautauqua prior to getting hired at Delta.

Tomorrow’s another checkride and after that, we have a few days off in between our LOE (line-oriented training).

Thanks for reading! Sorry about the short update, but I’m a little beat.

It’s amazing how much more enjoyable simulators become when your brain clicks on, “system dumps” how the old aircraft flew and your hands learn the new one.

Today was another day of RNP approaches, V1 cuts, V1 goes and a bunch of windshear events, almost like yesterday.

But today was something a little interesting. Since I’m getting a full pilot-in-command type rating, I did a ‘left seat certification’ this evening.

Basically, the captain and I switch seats, I do a few rejected takeoffs, which is weird because I’m used to relinquishing controls to the captain, but I’m the one making the call, taking control from the FO and completing the maneuver. Also, a number of visual approaches and about 10 minutes of learning to taxi at CVG with the “tiller” and the rudder pedals. 90 degree turns, high speed taxiing and parking procedures. It’s actually pretty fun after you get the hang of it. The FMS seems a lot easier with my right hand.

I’m a “righty” — whoodathunkit.

I was a little short with the blog last night because it was fairly rough.

A new airplane is a little ‘interesting’ to get used to, especially when I’m going from a low-riding MD-88/90 to a plane that literally feels like you’re on the third story balcony flying an apartment building.

So I couldn’t get the picture, kept unconsciously doing the ‘flare, retard throttle, flare a little more then push a little’ routine that greased on MD-88’s, but is the kiss of death on a 767. Speaking of 767’s, we don’t have any more 767-200’s but the sim we were in was a -200 and not a -300/-300ER. It’s a little “75″ and a little “76″ but the basics are about the same.

This evening we were introduced to V1-cuts, V1-goes, balanced field length aborted takeoffs, RNAV-GPS RNP approaches (very cool… We’re doing Quito tomorrow!) and single engine landings.

Surprisingly, the 767 isn’t that bad single engine. With the hydraulically powered flight controls, it’s not such a callus-building, thigh-muscle working aeronautical fiasco like the other plane I flew.

Something else interesting today.

As an international pilot, I need to carry around a “Shengen State Visa” aka “The French Visa”. So I took a trip down to the French Consulate this morning in order to have it done.

Boy, what an experience.

My passport photos were about a millimeter too small (Visa sizes and passport sized photos are DIFFERENT unbeknowest to most) so I had to literally run (yes, run, because it was getting close to lunch time at the consulate) to a post office to have my photos redone. Also, there was a slight shadow which invalidated the picture. Great.

At the post office, the lady said, “Well, we ain’t gonna guarantee that the French consulate will take this and you don’t get no refund.”

I showed her a copy of the template that the consular gave me and she said, “I’ll try”.

So I told her that if it wasn’t right and she refused to retake it, might as well expect a non-payment on the credit card.

Luckily, they took the new picture, I got the French Visa and was able to get back to the hotel about four hours after I left.

Loads o fun.

Stalls, upset recoveries (unusual attitudes more or less) and a lot of non-ILS/non-VASI visual approaches.

I’m beat to death so I’ll have to keep it quick this evening.

The plane flies very nice, but that’s actually a problem at this point because I tend to want to over-control the airplane because of the demons in my head from flying the MD-88/90. The seat picture is a lot different because the airplane is a lot higher, the flare is way different and a litany of other differences, but I like the aircraft.

I don’t have a physical familiarity with it, but I like it. More later. Maybe!

I haven’t started training yet today, but over on my union’s forum, a pilot asked where 767 simulator #2 was.

The answer was something like “Whew! At least you don’t have 767 sim #1!”

Wait… I have 767 sim #1 for the next five days… Eek!

Because I’m at home for the day with my woman, woo hoo!

Tomorrow’s the first day of full flight simulator training.

Today was the “Procedures Validation” which is another phase of the AQP style of flight training. I really have no idea what it stands for and as I’m writing this onboard a flight home, I have no method of looking it up!

Google is your friend.

Today started with a electrically “cold” aircraft, so we had to do all of the normal “first flight” checks, an electrical power up and prepare the jet for a flight from Atlanta to Orlando.

Fairly standard stuff, includes some wacky ATC commands like cleared direct to the ATL 180 degree radio, 25 DME fix, hold at SINCA, route changes and speed changes, all to test skills with the FMS and the aircraft’s automation. This is good because good FMS skills are important in a highly automated aircraft and if you don’t have the basics down, you’re going to waste a lot of time (read: money) when you go to the full flight simulator.

We also had some systems failures like “pack trips”, generator problems and such which provided the evaluator with an opportunity to see that we have sufficient control of the aircraft and systems when we need to ‘divide’ the cockpit.

Naturally, you never make your destination so the scenario for the captain was that Michelle Burns, former CFO, demanded to be picked up back in Atlanta so flight control had us return to the airport, however the glideslope was out so we were to set up for a ILS LOC OUT approach.

Again, no visuals in the FTD so the approach terminated with a missed approach.

The glideslope mysteriously fixed itself and we conducted a Cat II approach and then a Cat III AUTOLAND approach.

We took a quick break and then it was my leg to fly.

More or less we followed the same profile, except we conducted a VOR approach into JAX and a Category I ILS.

Passing your procedures validation is more or less like graduating from 8th grade. The real work hasn’t begun yet, but in two days, the heat gets turned way up in the full flight simulator.

The first full flight simulator is a 767-200 simulator, which should be interesting.

So, a couple days off at home, then the real fun starts!

The training center was on fire today. Lots of new flight attendants, a new class of 25 and a lot of smiling happy faces, which is a delightful change over the attitude over the past 24 months.

One of the new hires I met was a charter pilot for Millionair out of SLC and the other was a former Continental pilot. According to their first day briefing, the 767 international category is going to open up as a new hire position because the last two bids have gone unfilled and with the international expansion, they don’t have enough warm bodies in seats so hiring is going to continue for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for reading, hopefully you’ll find it helpful. And uhh, sorry for the poor English, I’m a little beat.

Today was more or less like yesterday, except that we departed Seattle for Salt Lake City, and how shocking, we diverted to PDX for holding practice, VNAV approaches and a few ILS-GS OUT’S and a Category 2 and 1 approach.

What was interesting about today is that we had a different instructor. But the new instructor came with another instructor who was checking the other one out on the 767. So not only were we being evaluated, our instructor doing the evaluation was being evaluated by another instructor because he was new.

The FTD instructor was a Delta pilot who retired, went to work for MaxJet, discovered “Man, this uhh, kinda stinks!” and then came back to work for DGS (Delta Global Staffing?) as a 767 instructor. Previous to retirement he was a 777 captain.

I had a better feel for the aircraft today as I finally learned to relax a little and understand how simpler, but different the maneuvers are in the 757/767. It took some getting used to but sitting down with the books, listening to a little “Yo Yo Ma” in the training center brought everything together and I think I kicked some ass today.

Yesterday, I did pretty well, but I felt like I was about 5 miles behind the airplane so I didn’t really get a ‘warm fuzzy’ with my performance. But today I performed well, was able to have good situational awareness and was able to backup the captain very well during his legs flying with no cajoling from the FTD instructor.

Tomorrow is a checkride called a “Procedures Evaluation” where they evaluate just what we’ve been doing in the flight training device all week. After this “PV” (as they call it), I’ll graduate onto full flight simulator training and actually start the meat and potatoes of qualification training.

Lots more hand-flying, engine failures, distractions and yes, another evaluation.

I went out and had dinner and a beer with the captain, traded some stories, laughed about the experience we’ve had so far and are both positive we’ll do well during tomorrow’s evaluation.

The captain is a former USN S-3 “Viking” pilot. For some strange reason, most of the guys I make “fast friends” with in the airline business are usually Navy guys. Strange. Perhaps the Navy method of “The book doesn’t say you CAN’T do it” rather than other branches of the military that say “The book doesn’t say you CANT do it” is more compatible with my technique. I don’t know!

Today was another “line oriented flight training” day. Took off from Las Vegas on the COWBOY departure with a “low altitude hold down”, and then proceeded enroute towards Atlanta.

A ‘low altitude hold down’ is when instead of climbing initially to say, 10,000 feet, we’re stopping at 1500′ AGL which can be a BEAR in a light 767 because the aircraft… I mean flight training device… climbs like a homesick angel with the PW4060’s.

Naturally, during training, you always end up diverting to another airport so we practiced some FMS procedures, a hold entry and diverted into PHX. Strangely, PHX had 1/2 visibility in blowing sand and all of the glideslopes were out which meant we were going to execute the ILS 26 GS OUT approach.

Since the flight training device doesn’t have a visual, obviously at DA (Yup, VNAV approaches use a “DA” which is actually “MDA”) it was “go around power, flaps 20″ to the holding pattern.

Sometimes during training, the instructor will take a ’snapshot’ during some point on the approach in order to ‘rewind’ or ’snap back’ to that configuration, airspeed and position on the arrival. This enables him to give the captain the aircraft and have him practice the same approach.

Obviously it involved a missed approach which the captain called out “TOGA pow…”

BAM!

What the heck?

Apparently the instructor believes in a little negative reinforcement so he had slapped his hand against one of the manuals and reminded us that it’s “GO AROUND POWER” and not “TOGA” because there IS no “TOGA” button in a 757/767.

Remember? They’re THRUST LEVERS not THROTTLES even though we have AUTOTHROTTLES.

It scared the crap out of me, but I guess the trainer got his point across and John and I were able to get the missed approach accomplished without incident even though the verbiage was a little off.

We took a break, came back and shot some LOC/BC approaches into Daytona Beach and a few electrical malfunctions.

Basic after landing and shutdown flows and called it a day.

Tomorrow we have another instructor and apparently, the new instructor is being observed by another instructor for training so chances are that it could get a little interesting.

It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow because we’ve got about 7 hours of stuff in a four hour flight training device period and we have a “Procedures Validation” (checkride) in the flight training device on tuesday afternoon before we’re cleared to begin full flight simulator training.

Now if I could just get used to how the seats work, I’ll be happy…