When you take your checkride, I assume that isn't with your training partner, and the FAA guy acts as the FO? Actually, is it even a FAA examiner or a company guy who knows your procedures?

Great updates - keep em coming as time allows. Would love to get your general thoughts on the 737 vs. your old ride.

We will be checked as a crew, and it's actually done in two parts. First is the evaluation ride for the 300 series, which we will have on Saturday the 24th. This is called the Maneuvers Validation. The four hour sim session will be split into two distinct parts, with each of us performing the role of PF (pilot flying) and PM (pilot monitoring). We'll have a 5-10 minute break at the halfway point. Each of us perform the following maneuvers:

• Normal takeoff
• Engine failure after V1
• Engine out CAT 1 ILS to a landing
• Non precision approach (e.g. LOC, VOR or RNAV) to a landing
• Non-precision approach to a missed approach, with a flap malfunction during the missed approach
• Visual approach with flap malfunction
• Visual approach without malfunction
• Rejected takeoff
• Windshear encounter after liftoff or on approach

During this sim session, the instructor can reposition us as necessary. For example, after performing the ILS to a landing, he will reposition us to a point a few miles outside the outer marker (which is approximately 5-6 miles from the runway) and let us reconfigure as we would be for that point on the approach. He will have us on "flight freeze" until we're configured and then turn us loose for the ILS to a missed approach. Similarly for the visual approach with a flap malfunction, he will clear the malfunction, reposition us, and then we repeat the visual without the malfunction.

The guy performing the evaluation could be an FAA examiner, but the vast majority of the time it will be a company check airman who has been authorized by the FAA to conduct type rides and issue airman certificates. This guy is referred to as a Designated Examiner, but that's becoming an outdated title. They're called APDs, which stands for Aircrew Program Designee. Occasionally, the FAA sits in on the ride for the purpose of spot checking the APD and the way he conducts the flight check. Believe me, the APD is essentially a Fed from our point of view and he won't cut us any slack if we don't perform to FAA standards.

If anything goes wrong during the Maneuvers Validation, we can repeat an event once, time permitting. Also, before the second attempt, some brief "training" is allowed to be provided by the instructor/check airman. If any maneuver results in an unsatisfactory grade, it will throw off our schedule a bit as we will be put through more 300 series training, culminating in another Maneuvers Validation. I've never had to do this, and I'm not sure what happens if the second ride has problems, but it could be a career ender. BTW, this is same thing we go through every nine months during our two day recurrent training, now referred to by the company as CQ (Continuing Qualification). Every time we come here, it's a jeopardy event, meaning our job is on the line.

Also, we are graded individually, so if one of us passes and the other needs more training, they might split us up and assign a seat sub (someone from the training department) to act as our partner for subsequent training.

So, passing the 300 check ride satisfies the first part of our evaluation to get the 737 type certification added to our license. The second part is the 400 series check ride which is called an LOE, Line Oriented Evaluation, which we will have on April 1. The lesson summary says:

The LOE will be two flights (each of us acting as the flying pilot for one leg) done in real time. So we will show up just like we're checking in for a line flight. We'll get the dispatch release and the weather. We'll have to deal with deferred items (e.g. an INOP APU or one generator INOP), perhaps requiring special procedures and the weather is probably not going to be great. We will preflight the cockpit and give full briefings, with the examiner playing the role of flight attendant. We will pushback, start engines, taxi and takeoff just as we would in the real world.

At that point, something is guaranteed to go wrong and we're expected to deal with the problem, diverting to another airport if necessary. The examiner has an entire list of events that we're being graded on, with a numeric system of 1 through 4. Getting a 1 on any aspect of the flight means a bust. Up to two event sets with a grade of 2 can be repeated once, time permitting after the completion of the "flight" (i.e. the examiner is not going to stop things when he grades something as a 1). If there are more than two event sets with a grade of 2, the ride is a bust.

Over the years, I've had things like an engine failure, generator failure, flap failure, cargo fire, and medical emergency. During the emergency, we still have to deal with it like we would in real life, so that means splitting duties, talking to ATC, contacting the company, making PAs, briefing the FAs, and running the appropriate QRH procedures.

Now that I've written this, I'm realizing I'll be very glad when it's all over.

Do you know yet the airport you are going to be based out of? Where are most 737/738/739 based?

All of that sounds extremely intense. Which brings a couple questions im sure you've answered here and I've been following a long time but don't recall seeing.

What type of failures have you personally experienced in the air as a pilot, or before as a FO. Have you had flap malfunctions, complete engine failures, electrical failures, anything else? If so, how serious were these situations and how was it handled.


Thanks a lot


Best of luck to you also!

Is there any training at all that a new hire has to undergo and you don't?

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.3869869

I know the environment in a helicopter is going to be different from that of an airplane, but does it seem like a serious design flaw that a fuel shut-off control would be at a place where something sliding on the floor could trigger it?

Can you draw an arrow on the flight trainer showing where the fuel shutoff is?

Am I understanding this right?

I always figured everybody in the cockpit were captains, in terms of being able to fly the plane. Just that some days, Bob might be in charge of the crew, and some days, it might be Sue, with Bob in the co-pilot's seat.

Not true? A captain is always in charge, a co-pilot is always a co-pilot (until needs at the airline are such that a promotion happens, at least?)

There are no copilots. They are first officers.

I'm staying in the New York base. It's an easy commute from D.C. The other 737 bases are: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Seattle and Salt Lake.

I've ever had an engine failure as an airline pilot, though I did have a couple as a GA pilot (the stories have been posted in this thread). I can think of one time I had a flap malfunction, on a visual approach into Las Vegas in a 757. We went around, ran the QRH, and we were able to fix the problem and land. I've had a failure of the main electrical system once. That was in an MD-88 while on the descent into LGA. It was good VMC and standby power was more than sufficient for the approach. So I've been lucky...nothing too serious in all my time flying people around.

I had two medical emergencies both resulting in diverts while flying a transcon flight (JFK-LAX, divert into Denver; LAX-JFK, divert into Kansas City). It went just like a simulator flight.

They go through a few weeks of Indoc, which covers company policies and, I believe, also covers FARs. There is a also a day spent on FMS (Flight Management System) training which I didn't have to attend since all of our fleets have some form of FMS.

There is no fuel shutoff on any transport category plane I've flown. There are fuel pump switches, which are located on the overhead panel and not susceptible to accidental movement. Plus, we have low pressure warnings for the fuel pumps (lights and aural alerts), so we would be aware if there was a an issue.

What Didace said.

The term copilot is not used in the industry, though I realize it's common among the flying public. Copilot connotes a pilot of lesser ability, which is certainly not the case. My training partner is a First Officer, but he is going through exactly the same training that I am going through and he will get his 737 type rating as a result, which means he could legally act as Pilot-in-Command. To get that type rating, he will have to perform certain tasks from the left seat at some point on the day of the check ride (e.g. an aborted takeoff, which is always performed by the Captain).

Every day I go to work on the 737, I will be in the left seat. The guy in the right seat will upgrade to Captain when a seat becomes available. That happens in one of two ways: expansion of the airline (each new airplane means about six new crews are needed on the seniority list) or attrition (senior pilots retiring or dying).

I was in the right seat at my first airline for four years, while the guys who joined the company just 12 months before were upgrading when I joined. Timing is everything in this business and I haven't been particularly lucky on that. I was in the right seat at Delta for about 13 years before upgrading because hiring was so stagnant for years after 9/11. My current training partner will probably be able to upgrade in 3-5 years as there are going to be record retirements for the coming decade or so.

Hypothetically, had you not been cleared to return to flying, could you have become an APD? If so, would you have considered doing so?

Great! That is my current home base too.

Current 737 destinations seem to be as follows: (from tomorrow schedule).

EWR - SLC

JFK - ATL, AUA, DEN, FLL, LAS, MBJ, MCO, MSY, PDX, PHX, PUJ, SAN, SEA, SDQ, SJU, SLC, STI

LGA - ATL, DEN, MCO, MSP

Could be some more that I am missing.

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I think you have to be an active pilot on the seniority list to be an APD. When I was in the training department at ACA, I was given the opportunity to be an APD and, in fact, I conducted one type ride for a guy upgrading to Captain. That ride (in the sim) was observed by the FAA guy who was our airline's POI (Principal Operating Inspector, the guy we answer to) and the purpose of having me give a type ride was to certify me as a Sim Check Airman, authorized to administer LOEs (Line Oriented Evaluations) during recurrent training.

Had I wanted to, I could have taken the mantle of APD, but I didn't really want to be in the position of giving a guy a pink slip for a busted ride. Anyway, that's more than you asked, but I don't think an inactive pilot can serve in this position. However, we do have retired pilots work as instructors in the training department. For example, this morning for module 205 I had a retired Delta Captain as an instructor. He had nearly 40 years with the company and had a wealth of experience to share. I would definitely consider a job in the training department after leaving the cockpit. But I might also just be happy stepping back to General Aviation instructing.

The ideal gig would be a nice corporate gig. That flying is done under FAR 91, which has no age limit. You just have to pass the yearly medical exam.

It's hard to imagine this thread could just continually hit higher peaks, yet here we are. These updates are awesome! Neither tedious or boring in the least.

This. Thx. Congrats on climbing back into the saddle.

Most small turboprop or turboshaft aircraft have a 'fuel condition lever' which functions as a fuel shut-off lever for shutting down the engine. It can also adjust the idle setting for flight idle vs. ground idle. On airplanes it often can be used as a rudimentary backup power lever if the fuel control unit fails.

You can see a photo here that includes the fuel condition lever, I believe it is either the yellow one or the red one to the right of it:



In that photo you can see a large metal and plexiglass guard has been placed around the controls to keep passengers from hitting them. Passengers hitting controls has caused a whole lot of helicopter crashes, but in most cases it is impossible to know, and it would just be written off as pilot in error. You can see that a handbag strap could find its way around the fuel shut off and screw things around.

Here's another AS350, viewed from the backseats, without any guard installed. This one has dual controls so the front left seat will have a pilot in it, which explains why there's no guard.


I talked to an AS350 pilot today about it, and he said that he once had a lady drop an ipad onto the fuel condition lever while it was running on the ground. He was stepping out of the machine to walk around and let the passengers out, and the ipad knocked the lever forward from ground idle into flight idle. This speeds up the rotor blades to flight speed, and made the machine lurch around a bit though it stayed put. It scared the **** out of the pilot obviously.

Hero: Thanks for the information and the great pics!

Not me. I'm too fat to fit. I always marvel how my buddy, 6'2", flight instructor for Alaska, can fold himself into the pilot's seat.

Thanks W0X0F!

My favorite thing about your posts is when I am fascinated about your post and you end it with 'I might be boring you'. None of your posts have ever been boring and I am glad you are on your way back to flying. Hoping to hear lots more stories and explanations from you.

So for the next week pilots in Las Vegas are down to the weather station at the airport...

That's very kind of you to say. But I wasn't just being self deprecating with that comment; I was actually a bit concerned that I was getting into too much detail to be of interest to the casual reader of this thread. But, since there are obviously some, like you, who are enjoying it, I'll keep up the posts about training.

I'm in Texas, heading back to Atlanta this evening, and I've got tomorrow off before starting the 300 series of training on Tuesday. From here on out, we will be in full motion sims, which also include visuals. This will also be my first exposure to using the HUD.

I plan to post an update tomorrow, telling you about the last couple of FTD sessions, including module 241 which was the progress check ride.