Thread: Ameriflight
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Old 01-03-2019, 05:40 PM
  #4858  
dera
In a land of unicorns
 
Joined APC: Apr 2014
Position: Whale FO
Posts: 6,401
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Originally Posted by Part135Flyer View Post
The company instructor made it clear to us that AMF desires to train
the best Brasilia pilots in the world. A lofty goal, to be sure. There is certainly
quite a bit to cover in the class in the time allotted. We were told that some
students, who were rated in the aircraft with thousands of hours in it, had
said that they had never been instructed in such detail before at their previous
carriers. It is AMF’s desire to teach you how to ‘disassemble’ the systems
because the Brasilia is a complicated, older aircraft. Yet, in flight, if there is
an issue, aside from a few memory items, all actions after those items have been performed will be followed per the QRH, which you will learn how to navigate since some guidance may not be logically presented (i.e. single-engine landing after
engine fire)

As a pilot for AMF, since they operate under Part 135, you will be relied upon to obtain your own weather (your flight plans are usually already on file with Center), to be in control of how your aircraft is loaded (you will need to be there while that is done), and that’s in addition to pre-flighting the aircraft and making sure it is properly fueled, and checking that maintenance items have been properly addressed.

Before leaving for initial Indoc training, the company will send you a box of information that includes a large portion of the airplane flight manual, two smaller binders (general ops manual and an SOP for the airplane), and large posters of the cockpit layout. There will also be a letter that states that you should know the flows, memory items and systems before coming to class. The more that you study before getting there, the better the aircraft-specific class will go for you.

This may be an eye-opener for some of you (especially if you are coming from
positions with Part 121 carriers). The Part 121 dispatcher figured out for you
all the aircraft weights for takeoff alternates, destinations and landing alternates, then decided which landing weight was the most restrictive, then told you what
the payload would be, and what the CG was, along with V speeds for takeoff and landing. Then you received the package, reviewed it, and then you departed on your way. However, at AMF, all of those computations will have to be figured out by hand (even though it is otherwise accepted industry-wide to use computers or iPads to do this), keeping in mind, differences in altimeter settings, winds, deferred MEL items, etc. The SOP has a chapter that somewhat addresses this, but it doesn’t go into the details about exactly HOW to do it. For practice, at the end of the day, for homework, we were given the basic information for a fictitious flight and the forms and left to our own devices in coming up with the answers that were needed. Some in the class caught on earlier than others on how to come to the satisfactory conclusions, while others had difficulties. The problem is, you may not get the answer you need going from “A to Z”…the process may go from Z to N to Z to B, etc.
That sounds like how most quality 135 IFR companies work and train their pilots.
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