PSI questions
 

I'm considering taking a position at Envoy as a sim instructor. I have 5 years at Skywest in the CRJ but have never flown the E-175.

Can anyone share their experiences working as a PSI or being trained by a PSI?

What is the training course like for new sim instructors?

Anything helpful that you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

As a new DEC last spring I believe I had 8 CPTs and 10 sims with a new instructor every 1-3 lessons. I had one PSI for one lesson, and while he followed the syllabus, he was noticeably less knowledgeable and helpful than all the other Envoy instructors and apologized several times for that. I have flown the CRJ and the E175 FMS and guidance panel are much more complicated to learn and to use. People joke that the E175 is the Wonder Jet--"I wonder why it's doing that?" Once you learn to use it well, it will plan and initiate your step down descents for you. The difficulty is learning when you should be in which mode and what the limitations are, and monitoring when a different color on the guidance panel means it isn't going to do what you want.

PSIs are few and far between at Envoy. I am sure it can be done, but a couple hundred hours in the airplane would make a much better instructor.

To the best of my knowledge, PSI's go through the same QC course that all new hires go through. So, you'll be in class with FOs and DECs - 1 week of basic indoc, SPCs, CBTs, systems, FMS lab, CPTs, etc. My class had two PSIs going through training and both seemed fairly knowledgeable. I believe you also get to "backseat" some CPT lessons with other PSIs. The E-175 is a pretty easy plane to learn but as Ravenwing said, the hardest part is understanding the guidance panel/autopilot/FMS. Knowing when to be in what mode depending on type of approach (RNAV LNAV, LOC, VOR, etc.) can get complex depending on the situation. Most of the PSIs I interacted with had already flown the 175 and came from other companies that flew the 175 (Mesa, RPA, SKW). I'm sure it can be done without having any experience in the 175 but it definitely won't be easy.

My personal experience, was with two PSIs that had never flown the airplane, and it showed. The procedures and limitations they taught were very incorrect after getting on the line. This of course isn't indicitive of ALL PSIs, as I'm sure many have experience in the 175. If you have no time on the airplane, I'd say really dig in and learn it. Like Ravenwing said, really learn the ins and outs of the FMS and GP.