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.

No big updates beyond having a week off between my last MD88/90 flight and showing up for ground school.

Lots of study guides, loads of ‘gouge’ and luckily, some of my friends that are on the 757/767 are calling to offer me their own pointers, study sheets and talk to me about the aircraft.

In fact, most of the morning was spent talking to another pilot who lives about two miles away that went through the program last year. To say I have 200 additional pages of stats, figures, gouge, procedures and memorization tricks would be an understatement.

More later.

On more to go.

I was able to get the 757 systems CD completed on the trip to Virginia and on the flight from Virginia to work in SLC so it’s done.

The 757 systems CD also includes some 767 differences, but as I think I said earlier, most of my training will involve the 757 with a short differences course afterward. Or something like that.

The first training DVD was “Fleet Common” or basic refreshers like Ops Specs, regulations, yadda yadda yadda. Basically all of those things that aren’t fleet-specific.

The second training DVD, which I just completed, was the 757 systems presentation.

The last DVD I’ll complete will be “World Wide Ops” or WWO. It’s more or less, well, I’m not really sure as I haven’t started it yet, but it’s going to probably cover trans-oceanic training, European and South America theater-specific ops, etc.

I’ll let you know when I find out more!

About time!

Every 8th of the month we throw our preferences into PBS in order to form our schedule.

Training planning blocked out April 4th thru May 5th for 757/767 school! About freeking time!

I really don’t have any details but I should have a “Welcome to the 767 Program” letter in my mailbox at work. I’m flying from Virginia to Utah tomorrow morning to start a trip so I’ll be able to report if I have anything “Uber Official” from flight training planning.

So between now and then, I’m going to finish the training DVD, get the completion code for that and start cramming in limitations, systems and flows into my brain so I can hit “Virginia Avenue” running.

In case you didn’t already know, “Virginia Avenue” is kind of pilot-speak for the flight training center as it’s all on Virginia Avenue in Atlanta.

Actually, after I wrote the post, I got off my fat ass and got some more studying done.

I’ve found what works for me is doing a module on the DVD training, then reading the “Learning Objectives Document” to re-inforce what I just watched.

What a LOD or “Learning Objectives Document” is, is a document which is broken down system by system of “need to know” information for the oral evaluation. So the DVD’s contain lots of information, but the LOD shows you what data is important to know for evaluation purposes.

I’ve gotten about four systems done so far and things are going very well.

I’ve got to fly back east for some family-related stuff so I’ll have ample opportunity to crank out some more stuff!

Here it comes!

*cricket*

*cricket*

It really hasn’t been much as I guess I require a firm training date in order to provide extra motivation for studying.

I’ve browsed and reviewed data during “downtimes” on trips, but I need to get back into the groove of studying.

That’s really all I have!

Not much to update beyond digging into the books, but I’ve re-discovered that a real good source of training information gouge are other pilots that have recently been through the program.

We shared a van with another crew enroute to the hotel. Fortunately, for me, the other FO was in the middle of IOE on the domestic side of the 757/767 program and had finished training last week.

So I got a chance to pick his brains. What books to read, what I NEED to know, things that I need to shuffle away to the “read when you’re superbored AFTER training”, etc.

That’s really going to help a lot because a lot of information is thrown at you on the training DVD’s and 757/767 manuals that I don’t have a good grasp on that I need to know this in order to pass my type rating oral, flight training and checkride.

Speaking of that. If I didn’t already mention, I will be type rated so I’ll go thru the same exact training that the captain is going to go through.

There are minor differences between SIC (co-pilot) training and PIC training but traditionally only the captain recieves a type rating as part of the training.

Another note is that even though the 757 and 767 are essentially a ‘common category’, there are seperate 757 and 767 manuals and slight differences in the checklist and procedures.