That's not the normal call at all.
That is the minimum engagement height.
In the thousands of hours I have here I'd say that maybe 20 percent of the time it is called for right at 600.

 

That's what happens when we pay 1.9% of your salary to the Delta Air Lines Pilot Association.

 

Agreed and what DAL did to 9E pilots was also and a failure of ALPA. But why did the Delta MEC feel a need to make changes to ALPAs merger policy? Maybe it was good timing he did!

 

It only hurt them in the end, thousands of their pilots wound up on furlough, meanwhile RJ pilots at Comair/ASA made six figures, and eventually moved on when things improved.

 

How have new hires been doing with stuff like VOR13L or XV31LGA? Mad topic change.

 

We needed a topic changed.....I've been here for almost 2 years and in recurrent MV had to do the expressway visual. Man did I ****** that up...its much harder to sense descent rate in the aim. Seems unfair to be having new hires do it

 

Glad I'm not the only one. I usually can do it with no drama in the airplane but god help me in the sim. I cannot judge the rate of descent.

 

Yeah, you have to cheat it by doing some quick mental math, and setting a descent rate. In real life you can just eye it up.

 

Just fly the airplane to 10,000 (or above) and stay fresh. Even if those SIDs have a lot of turns it's better for your proficiency. The only time I really turn on the AP early is if there are a lot of turns and it's extremely bumpy...at that point the AP is giving the passengers a better ride than I am.

Even so "early" AP use for me is sometime past flap retraction. That 600 feet (if we are talking Bombardier) is min use, as has been stated earlier in this discussion, but is helpful during a single engine problem on TO.

 

Fly the plane using situational awareness. A 6am flight and gorgeous wx from an outstation may be raw data to FL180+, a midday flight on an rnav dept out of a mid-busy apt may be handflying with the FD through 10+, a complex departure out of NYC at night w/wx may be 600' AP ON. Common sense must prevail, just let the other guy know what your intentions are so everyone is on the same page. Same for arrivals and approaches. Stay current in all levels, based on the situation. We should all be "pilots" at this point so use some SA and CRM/TEM... and all is well.

In the sim, I agree the visual approaches are the most difficult, but since doing them foqa has been flagged much less on the line. Is it training or line practice? Dunno, but it seems to be working to address the problem areas, which is what AQP is all about.