Like eating an elephant, don't try to swallow it whole, take it one bite at a time.

Go into it with a good instrument scan, practice the flows repeatedly so that you can divide your attention when there is a lot going on. The systems you will go over multiple times, in ground, on your own and with your training captain. Not to say it is lower priority, just that it is a work in progress, while scan and flows you want to nail down early.

BTW, geek moment here, MSFS has a king air, divide your torque numbers by 20, ie 70 percent for climb, 55 cruise, 40 for hold, 20 to 25 on glide slope, 15 for step downs, don't forget to bring the speed levers to low idle. Have fun.

Thank you very much!

Forgot to ask.
I see the top priority for training is being familiar with the Indoc materials, but I'm having trouble finding them... Are they plainly labeled or mixed in with something else. Looks like I have everything.

BTW, geek moment here, MSFS has a king air, divide your torque numbers by 20, ie 70 percent for climb, 55 cruise, 40 for hold, 20 to 25 on glide slope, 15 for step downs, don't forget to bring the speed levers to low idle. Have fun


What do you mean here? Percent torque?

Any current guys able to verify the pay scale that is on APC. It says first year pay on the metro or beech is $57,000 with a 10% annual retention bonus. So $62,700 1st year? Seems like a huge bump from the last few years.

My girl has an amazing job offer in Florida and we might be moving this winter. I see lots of job postings for sa-227 PIC postings there. Any info on these as well.

Currently fly 135 in Alaska and like the lifestyle. Thanks in advance!

First year you don't get the bonus. Just the quoted salary. The pay scale on APC includes the bonus on years 2+. You don't get the first bonus check until the end of year 2. So take away 10% and that's what youll actuslly be making.

Right, the BE99 torque is in hundreds of foot pounds, the king air is in torque percentage. Another interesting note, those percentages of torque work well for the Metro as well, with the exception that take off climb and cruise are set by EGT, not torque. Speaking of which, it is the condition levers you want at low idle on the Beechcraft turboprops, I had Metros on the mind when I said speed levers.

Questions...
 

Hi all,

27 year ATC'er getting ready to retire. I have 400TT with Instrument rating. I will finish up my Commercial and CFI in the next 6 months.

Is this a valid 2nd career choice as I will have a full pension behind me when I leave ATC?

I am living in PHX so this makes the best sense to start with Ameriflight.

Any other suggestions?

Buy a boat, hook up with a hot 26 year old, enjoy retirement... And BTW, "Thanks for the help..."

Yoda's plan isn't too bad, particularly with the pension.

That being said, you still have a few hours to go before you would really fit our profile. You did say you still need to get your commercial and you don't mention if you have your MEL rating yet. You would need both of those to come here. On top of that, you are about 2-300 hours shy to come on as an E120 FO and about 4-500 hour shy of what we look for our other FO positions.

Let me explain. The goal with every pilot we hire is for them to be captain in one of our planes. The only plane we absolutely need an FO to fly every day is our E120s. We like to hire E120 FOs at about 600-800 hours because then they will be in the 120 for about a year before they hit 1200 hours. That is the magic number for Part 135 operations. That is what you need to be an IFR captain on a 135 flight.

For our other aircraft, the main reason we hire FOs is to get pilots in the door and get them up to their 1200 TT as soon as possible with as little expense on our part. We don't want you flying around in the right seat drawing a pay check for a year or more. We would prefer 3-4 months. That is why we look for pilots closer to 1200.

All of that being said, when you get closer to the numbers we are looking for, PHX would probably be a great location for you. We currently have two E120s operating from there and once you get 1200 hours and move to the left seat of a BE99 there are plenty of runs to fly.