Originally Posted by LowerLoon185

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.

Originally Posted by dera

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

Originally Posted by Del Aviation

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

Originally Posted by Del Aviation

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

Originally Posted by LowerLoon185

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

Thanks

Originally Posted by TeamSasquatch

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.

Originally Posted by LowerLoon185

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.

Originally Posted by FreightDogs

In the 99, it will be a Garmin 650 or a Garmin 750.

That training failure rate is not accurate. Each aircraft is going to have a different percentage.
Our recruiters will go through your experience with you and make sure the BE99 as a DEC is the right fit for you. With what you've mentioned so far, it sounds like you'd be a great fit for the BE99.
AMF training is tough, but only because they need you to be trained/prepared. Study what they send you, have a good attitude, and you should be good to go.

Originally Posted by flyingpotato

Hi All,

Wasn't able to find much information on the Louisville base. I was wondering if anyone knew how long it would take to get the SDF base? Also, how much flying is done out of there? Are all Ameriflight aircraft flown out of there?

Originally Posted by LowerLoon185

Thank you FreightDogs, really appreciate it. I’ve been scoping out my next step, looks like AMF is great fit.