Help!!!
 

I’m a 50 year old career changer. Learned to fly many years ago. Between life and family obligations I put an airline career on hold.

I decided to give it a try and got on with a Part 135 operation, upgraded, etc. and made the leap to the regionals.

I was washed out of training and got a second chance at another regional and it looks like I might not make it here. My challenge both times is automation and keeping up with all the flows, callouts, etc. I’ve not failed any check rides and just passed my oral.

If this doesn’t work out, I will not try to get on with another regional. I cannot put myself, family through this a third time, nor am I interested in this type of flying anymore if given a third chance (and I know people who’ve gotten third chances at regionals). What might be a good option for a person like me? I have turboprop time and any jet time I have is sim.

Thanks

Grab your study/sim partner and go visit the “paper tiger” cockpit mockup and “chair fly” the various scenarios as much as possible in your free time. You must not give up here! You need to learn how to “think ahead” , make the required callouts, appropriate automation managment and ultimately be able to think at least 8 miles per minute to stay ahead of the jet. Not easy, but YOU CAN DO IT with practice and support from your class (team) mates.

What did you fly in 135, turboprops or piston? If steam gauges are more to your liking, that might be the way to go... 135 and then maybe 91 corporate (if you can find a long-term gig with better QOL than typical 135).

If you haven't flown old-school turboprops, it is a bit busier and more complex than typical piston planes but typically slower and with fewer techie bells and whistles than modern glass jets.

I would advise you to carefully assess your natural aptitude (flying is not worth getting killed over), but since you flew 135 I assume you're comfortable with complex planes in IFR.

It's tougher to learn when you're older, I've observed that as an instructor and experienced it myself. I've had success by living a very healthy lifestyle before and during training... plenty of cardio exercise, minimal crap food and booze, lots of veggies and brain food. You can literally feel the cognitive improvement after about one week of living right.

But if you're still in the game... flows, callouts, and FMS procedures is the meat of what you need to learn. Practice those your buddy (a must!) and maximize use of whatever FMS trainer is available.

You could look at corporates, but training in bizjets is just as complex if less anal in doing everything like a machine. We went thru CL 200 school for the CL 850 (corporate CRJ) and repeatedly wrote up the program. “Call for push”; we don’t push, for example. But the type courses are shorter than airline training and require a pretty high level of proficiency in jet ops.


Gf

I wasn't suggesting bizjets, but rather props in 91/135.

Like stated above, go get a large cup of coffee and spend an exhausting amount of time in front of the paper tiger (or the FPT if they'll let you) practicing call outs and procedures. Mentally walk through the steps of the automation. Walk through how you join a LOC inbound when you're in FMS, when you're in HDG, etc. Do all you can to pass.

If you don't, you don't.

And if you don't, maybe airline flying isn't for you. That not necessarily a bad thing. It's easy to be discouraged, but think about it honestly; if you can't pass through this, would you feel comfortable in the real plane with people on board?

Plenty of other options for someone like yourself. You've got to have a good attitude and be able to exploit your network. Much will depend on where you live and what you're willing to put up with. But honestly, just pass this stupid check ride. I believe in you. Do it.

I did see that his experience was in 91/135 turboprops and that could work, but the environment in bizjet ops is more relaxed, less time-critical, less choreographed, which was my point. A type course isn’t easy, if he wasn’t jet experienced but he might fit in better.


GF

Thanks everyone for your responses. I was out of flying for over ten years when I got the 135 job flying a turboprop. As of now, I’m current as I did a lot of flying on the turboprop gig and got a good bit of time with instructors before I started that job. My challenge now is automation and keeping up with all of the flows, callouts, procedures. My sims have been non events outside of the automation. At the first regional it was callouts, automation and aircraft control.

Don’t want to come across as to much of a hard ass, but theres 100% no excuses for not having call outs and flows down, I have seen it before and the case is always lack of effort or work. You should be chair flying and setting at the paper tiger on 100% of your free time until you get it, sim partner doesn’t want to help, to bad, still do it by yourself or someone else, it’s all on you, no excuses, as for harder to learn when your older, I’ve been in the sim and on line with a lot more sharp 60 yo pilots then 35 yo lol

There's always individual variation, and successful older guys tend to learn how to adapt to changes. Especially if they're like me... between airlines and military I've had training events of one sort or another about every two years for my entire career.

But the older guys who have the most trouble have been away from flying for a while, or were flying one plane (typically an RJ) for 15-20 years. The trap they fall into is trying to do things the same way they did when they were 25 (often in the company of 25 y/o olds). Wouldn't work for me, rote memory takes more work now (fortunately it still sticks once I get it).... and I'm not even that old. You have to take a more deliberate approach, and of course work a bit harder.