If you are a CFI, your flight school should have a simulator that you can use for free. Just get another instructor to give you some vectors and fly some procedures. Interview gouges will give a run down on what to expect during your sim and you can basically flight a mock sim session. Thats what I'm doing for my interview on Thursday. I know what approaches and procedures to expect and a buddy of mine is going to run through it with me. And it's free. Just a thought.

 

Yea for years Ive been an MS FS2004 junkie, and can now properly program routes, departures, arrivals, holds and etc into the mock FMS's that come with all the popular third party addons (PMDG 737, LEVELD 767, FEELTHERE CRJ & ERJ). Ive pretty much got the scan to a comfortable level, but what ive always wondered is how will this help when it comes time to do a sim eval on an interview???

Any insight??

 

Like I said, it helps for the instrument flying that they will be evaluating you on. I have friends who are MSFS junkies too, who will sit there for hours flying 747s across the continent or whatever it is that they do. That's not really the point here.
People screw up the sim evals because they can't hold or shoot an approach and get situationally confused.. believe it or not, some people can't even fly straight and level because their scan is lacking. and that's where MSFS comes in, because u can practice all this and then see what your hold or approach looked like.
if you read interview gouges, you will see how some people failed the sim eval portion because they lost situational awareness and screwed up on the approach somehow.. at my first 121 interview, the other guy failed the sim portion cuz his scan was weak. (he hadnt flown in a while and hadnt practiced beforehand.) I mean you could practice in a real airplane with a fellow CFI watching over you.. but why.

 

Show up drunk and wing it.

 

It will help with scan, situational awareness, and instrument procedures. You still need to know how to fly a real airplane, MSFS is not realistic in that regard.

For this to work, you need to select an airplane with similar speed and instrument layout to the sim you will be flying. The concord will not help you prep for a frasca or ATC simulator....

A real sim like a frasca would be better prep, but MSFS is cheaper. Ideally do some MSFS first then get some real sim time. If you work at a school that lets you use the sim for free, do that instead instead of MSFS.

 

Thanks guys.

 

I'm using this old thread because it seemed the most appropriate one that I could find in this forum.

I have my private but am otherwise a complete outsider to the industry. I am inquiring about this to help a relative who is just starting to apply to various regionals. He has what he needs (1500+ TT, ATP written completed, etc.)

Specifically, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience or feedback on two "airline prep" courses, one is a 7-day course at ATP and the other a 14-day course at Aerosim. Both are expensive, of course, and I'm aware that such a course is really not necessary to start training at a regional should a job be offered. But like all of you, a lot of effort and sacrifice has already been invested in pursuing this career, and if I can help provide some extra confidence through familiarity going into the 121 world, I think it may be worth it.

Both courses offer about the same amount of sim/FTD time (12 hrs left seat/12 hours right seat), but the longer Aerosim course seems to offer a lot more classroom work. Oddly, the Aerosim course is less expensive.

If anyone knows anything about these course, I really appreciate hearing it. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I'm a military guy, prepping now for a SkyWest interview this week. They use a Frasca 142 for their interview.

Couple of lessons learned:
The Frasca is extremely unstable in pitch, so your scan has to be FAST, and you can't spend a lot of time looking at approach plates. I would actually say that it has been money well spent doing the sim prep. The company I am using knows the different airlines' sim profiles, and they can really get you prepped. What you are buying is CONFIDENCE, and that will significantly reduce the stress you feel going into it.
Second, I would strongly recommend Emerald Coast Interview Prep. That course is worth it's weight in gold. Don't think about it, sign up and do it, you're welcome. Trust me on this one.

Good luck!

 

If you're a pilot in the military the sim will be waived for you along with other prior 121 folk unless you give them a reason to administer the sim.

 

Haven't flown since '06 (been doing staff jobs), do you think that will force them to give me the sim?