Originally Posted by OldSF3Dude

When I did my Saab type oral at Mesaba when I upgraded in 2001 it was 5 hours long. EVERYTHING was covered. Silver/Pan Am is about 90 minutes and much more relaxed and straight forward. Since everybody now gets a PIC type there is no difference between what captains or first officers get at Silver. The oral at Silver/Pan am isn't a big deal. However, there IS a big difference between getting a left seat ATP PIC type and the old right seat SIC type. I think this is especially true in the Saab where the left seat performs all the first flight of the day checks. Now, perhaps the examiner might even skip this in a ride. In my partners case though he was out between 5 and 6 because he couldn't do this kind of stuff yet consistently and never got to the ride. But, in any case, you have to know it at some point. It seemed to be a difficult task for some people. Plus ATP standardsare ststricter in general. In SIC rides and PCs you can train during the ride. Not so in PIC type rides.