HercDriver130

Just wondering because when I worked for AE sometime ago I took my Initial FO check in the aircraft. We DH'd to Hilton Head and after the crew went to bed me and my sim partner and the Check Pilot flew our checkrides over at Savannah and at HHI. Or... are they just doing everything in the SIM now? I still remember my FIRST IOE flight was from JFK to BOS... raining like hell.. ass holes and elbows.....man thats was fun.

btwissel

most places do everything in the sim now, as it's cheaper.

if you fly an older prop, you might actually do real landings in the AC without paying pax onboard due to the lack of an exemption from the FAA.

rickair7777

SKW still does it the airplane, even for FO's. Not sure if they prefer that, or if the FAA hasn't authorized a sim-only program.

HercDriver130

It was kinda cool and intimidating all at the same time ...being a checkride and the first time actually i the aircraft ..... but the ATR is much like a baby Herc so it wasnt bad. I was just wondering.

SharkAir

According to the rumor mill, this isn't going to last much longer.

JetJock16

It may not, but it's a huge confidence booster having some experience in the a/c before 50+ Pax climb on board for your first 121 landing.

Before I moved over to the RJ I flew the Bro (EMB-120) for SKW, our initial a/c check out was pretty cool. My sim partner, I and a check airmen took a Bro around 9:30 p.m. local time in Carlsbad, CA and ended up flying all over Socal (Southern California for those who don't know) until 4:30 in the morning. We didn't fly then entire time; the a/c needed new tires so we flew it to PSP where we shot visuals & VOR’s until the max number of landings for the tires was met. Then we proceeded to ONT for the ILS and my sim partner took it over to YUM. After a stop and go at YUM we needed to burn some more fuel off so we climb to 8,000’ north of Carlsbad over the ocean and practiced steep turns. The check airmen and I ended up competing with each other on climbing then descending steep turns to headings. A competition that I won, only because I had been practicing in the sim and his job mostly dictates that he observes (not really hands on). After we reached the desired fuel load I flew a Flaps 45 short field ILS to mins back at Carlsbad, due to the marine layer, to end the night.

For my RJ check out we started in Grand Junction, CO; but the ILS was down so we ventured down to Farmington, NM where we shot both the ILS and LOC to missed approaches (not authorized to land the RJ in FMN), finally jetting back up to Grand Junction for the visual approaches and landing portions.

I thoroughly enjoyed both nights because they were stress free environments designed to build confidence. Thank you SKW for spending all that money so that we as adrenaline junkies can continue to get our rock off. LOL!

BTW, there was a full moon on both nights. Absolutely beautiful and surreal flying low, fast with AP off and a hand on the throttles. I love my job!

HercDriver130

I have to agree with JET.... I love flying at night anyway...as much of my military time was at night.... so it was like old hat. My sim partner...well he passed but it was obvious he hadnt done much night flying in and out of the goo .... he passed but the check airman was giving some instruction thats for sure. I wasnt so worried about having pax in the back as i had tons of hours hauling pax around it was just that I had never been in a situation where I was taking a checkride and hadnt even really started the engines...LOL.

JetJock16

I love flying at night! Especially on clear nights where it's almost like being in a fish bowl with the lights below and above as you cruise along at FL390, knowing that you’re only 7+ miles above the earth’s surface and that there’s still hundreds of thousands more feet until you’re in orbit. I hope that in my life I get to leave the restrains of the earth’s atmosphere to enjoy the view from way above. I hope that it will be reasonable ($) for a retiree in 30 years to afford that dream.

Deez340

Now that sounds like fun! ah memories! Sadly they won't let us go for the "$100 er...uh..$20,000 hamburger" in the maddog.

flynavyj

have always thought that doing the check in the airplane would have been tough, but i've heard it was much easier than the sim from most of the pilots i've talked to. That might have just been what i'd think about the jet, but the t-prop, guess that'd be pretty fun.