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Old 07-19-2008, 07:28 AM
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bryris
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Joined APC: May 2008
Position: Hotel
Posts: 714
Default Need seasoned opinions on sim

I am with a regional and just went through my first FO recurrent. I flew through the oral, but struggled with the sim. In the end, I did pass, so I must have done something right.

However, the check airman ripped me up pretty good and in so many words told me that I should relish every paycheck the company gives me because my flying skills aren't worth crap. He didn't say it would always be that way and sort of attributed it to being new still.

First off, its different when you fly the sim everyday like these guys do. The sim doesn't fly like the airplane, it doesn't even feel like the airplane. Its also 5 times as sensitive. So, that is the first problem after 800 hours of flying a 50,000lb actual airplane, vs. a computer program.

Secondly, I haven't done 90% of what we did in the sim since I was last in the sim a year ago. How do you practice V1 cuts on the line? How about single engine approaches? I haven't even done a go around for real on the line yet. Stalls, steep turns? How am I supposed to practice this stuff out there?

I do my job and I feel I do it well, commensurate with the experience that I have (1,500 hours or so). Every captain I fly with tells me that I do a good job, etc.

Yet, in the sim, I walk out feeling like I should just hang up my hat and toss my licenses in the trash.

Does it get easier the more sim flying you do? How do you prep for these sim profiles that you NEVER do online? I can "armchair" fly all day, but it doesn't really help in the actual sim.

Last edited by bryris; 07-19-2008 at 07:49 AM.
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