DEC in the 99
 

I'm wrapping up my ratings this fall and will be at about 1050 hours. I own my own plane, so i'll be working up quickly after that to 1200 and 135 mins. Thanks for all the informative posts here (and FreightDogs for the PM's and advice). Hoping to learn more about the potential DEC opportunity on the 99.

Question for the group; since this would potentially be my first commercial flying job...how do guys generally fare in training going directly to the left seat in the 99? Is this a big leap or is the training built to accommodate someone in their first commercial role? Training success rate?

About me; i'm no Bob Hoover, but i'm pretty confident in my stick and rudder ability. Most of my time is in TW and have done quite a bit of mountain flying. Also ex-military (Turbine Tech) with a B.S. in Engineering (G.I.Bill) and comfortable drinking from a fire hose academically. That said, i know commercial flying is a whole different ball of wax; i'm prepared and expecting to be humbled.

Thanks in advance everyone.

Jumpseat
 

If you come to Empire your family gets to jumpseat also. Fellow pilot took his family to Hawaii last week, total bill out and back $7.00

Forgive my ignorance, but what is Empire?

And normally 3-4 days in hotels waiting for that empty seat out of HI.

Anyone got a take on what it would be like for a DEC to the 99? First commercial flying job?

Thanks

Jumpseat
 

He went out and back in 3 days but thanks for asking prior to opening your uninformed mouth

Your family cannot "jumpseat"

You are...
Your family cannot jumpseat. And your fare is too low for a ZED fare. So you are...

Being able to fly an airplane is important, but it’s more about your instrument ability. You’ll want to have a strong knowledge of instrument rules and procedures. Be able to handle a garmin (not sure what Ameriflight has in there airplanes). You’ll want to practice flying under the hood or in a sim with a 6 pack/HSI. You won’t have time to learn instrument and the 99 at the same time. The 99 is a very easy airplane to fly and the emergency items are straight forward. You will need to become standardized and somewhat robotic/automatic when doing things. The airplane is flown with a very light touch, and always trim off the control pressure. You’ll want to know the power setting and appropriate air speeds for various stages of flying.

Thank you very much. My plane (which I have done all my training in) has a Garmin 650 and an old six pack. I pretty much spend all my time flying under the hood and doing cross countries, still trying to build night time.

Not sure if it still applies, but back a few years in this thread there was a lot of discussion about training failures; one number thrown out was 50%. That’s a little sobering, don’t know if that was fact or fiction though.