Crappy Sim Times/Powernaps
Just wanted to take a minute to share a tip for those unlucky enough to be given the dreaded 10pm-2am or 2am to 6am sim slots at airline training.
I just had sim training at my new 121 carrier and got through with flying colors. I think this was largely due to taking Chair Flying Powernaps before each session. Being tired as hell throughout training with my sleep schedule all screwed up from going to bed at 5:00 am everyday, I was barely able to eke out 4 or 5 hours of broken sleep.
What I did was I would arrive at the training center about an hour or more before my brief and found a quiet/dark place to nap, I would go over in my mind every little detail of what I was going to do when I got in the sim. I would imagine myself walking over the bridge, hearing the sound of the sims' fans whirring, buckling in my seat, taking a deep breath, putting my flight bag away, getting my 10-9 chart out, getting the ATIS/clearance, setting up the cockpit......performing all my callouts, executing perfect missed approach procedures, V1 cuts etc. When my hour power nap was up I felt amazingly refreshed and able to perform an excellent sim session.
The dreaded sim slot doesnt have to be something to be overly stressed about. I hope this helps.