I just finished on Sunday. I’m on IOE now. I absolutely LOVE it. With respect to training, I would have done a few things differently but most of it will be guided for you so don’t worry about it.

- you will be issued an iPad by the company; keep it up to date and with you always, it’s got most everything you need (POH, FOM, etc...)

- you’re going to need to know POH limits cold; all bold items are memory items and you need to know how to find non-bold items; you will receive a packet of info with flows before you get to Ohio, make flash cards and memorize the facts, don’t waste time waiting until you start to learn, you don’t have time to waste.

- think you’re going to be taking weekends off? Hahahahahaha! I would take no more than one night. No one at PSA will tell you what schedule to work, but let me tell you some facts: never put off until tomorrow what you can do today and NEVER trust a peaceful moment in a sim.

- memorize what Brian (the systems instructor) wants you to know in systems, but don’t get wrapped around the axle; Brian gives out quizzes during your first day or two with him, just memorize the questions and answers, there’s only ~125, and doing that will give you a solid base to grow your systems knowledge on. He knows the ships and he’s really good about answering questions; memorize his stuff and then read the associated sections, followed by asking him to fill any gaps.

Flows and call outs are huge. There’s not many of them, but you absolutely need to know them well enough to whip them out and use them in SIPS, sims, and out on the line. It is the language that we all speak, the commonality that allows perfect strangers to fly together seamlessly. Set up your paper tigers in your hotel room, learn where the buttons and switches are, and general cockpit layout. Do your flows with them, chair fly with them. Yes, you have to learn the captain flows too. Memorize all your limits and systems quickly so you can focus on call outs and flows. The limits and systems are important, but learning systems and limits is like learning words in a language; learning callouts and flows is like learning to speak with those words. It was easy and fun for me to memorize facts. It was torture to spaz out and vapor lock with the callouts and flows because I knew them but just needed more practice with them.

Example:

*sim instructor says “balked landing”*
- I’m supposed to say “toga, set max thrust, check spoilers” while I toga, firewall the thrust levers (the pilot monitoring will adjust), and make sure the spoilers are put away.
- instead, I say “set max spoilers, toga, ****!”; I’m so task saturated trying to fly while talking about what I’m doing that I no longer know what planet I’m on.

Lmfao, it only goes right after you memorize it and say it about 987 times. You’ll look back and not understand why you couldn’t just say “500’, bug zero, sink 800 ft., stable”, but the truth is, you just need to say it...a lot. Chair fly often.

- there are a lot of techniques taught and a lot of good instructors with buku knowledge to share, but as with anything...verify everything you hear with the literature provided to you on your iPad. The iPad is your bible now.

- I don’t care how far your drive is, bring your car

Good luck! It’s very doable, but you’ve got to want it.