Originally Posted by
USMCFLYR
What was the AF guy's background and how long had it been since he had flown a GA aircraft?
USMCFLYR
He flew KC-135's, U2, B1B, and maybe one other airframe. Not in that order. I don't think he had been in GA for his entire 22 years, but I don't remember.
Originally Posted by
USMCFLYR
When I first retired out of the military I hadn't ever seen or worked with any Garmin product. I too found the simulator on-line and worked through the entire package and read the user's manuel and found it to be an incredible help. In my current job I am now using a Trimble 800 GPS and there is no information on-line (probably too old
), and continue to have to relearn some aspects nearly every time I go flying it seems.
USMCFLYR
The Air Force pilot was applying to FedEx and was busy trying to work that connection. I offered free extra training to him to help him with the GPS simulator. That was his weak spot. He refused the extra training.
He was also weak on VOR knowledge to the point that he wasn't sure what a VOR was. I found this a little confusing since I flew in the Navy for twenty years as a C-130 and B707 flight engineer and I knew what a VOR was. He was familiar with TACAN's so I had to explain the similarities to a VOR and DME. I didn't understand why his VOR knowledge was weak. As far as I know the Air Force uses VOR's like everyone else, but I could be wrong. I didn't ask why he didn't know about VOR's.
His experience and prior training carried him through.
The more training my students did before showing up at the school, the better they performed. But it also helped to know exactly what to train for which is why I worked with the DPE when I set up the course.