Serious question for regional pilots
 

This is a serious question for those who have entered the regional industry recently or for those Captains who are flying with those who are new.

I would like to know if there are certain areas that could have been better covered in your primary training or formal type training that could have better prepared you for line flying. It seems that I hear more and more that airline's are preparing you to fly your particular aircraft only as a new hire and leaving out information that's not required but would certainly be helpful.

Think book knowledge or simulator training. I am doing research on this right now and am interested in areas that need emphasis. ie. radar operation, jet aerodynamics, systems descriptions, etc.

Thanks for any input on this.

Right off the bat, I would say radar usage in the sim. I know how to turn it on, but I don't have any technique for how to use it to avoid thunderstorms, etc. Keep in mind, I've not flown the line yet.

I did take aerodynamics at Riddle, but I think a refresher for that would have been helpful, especially considering the level of experience that many newhires have being hired into their first jet.

Mental decent planning. We do have "advisory VNAV" and the 3 to 1 rule is talked about in our POM, but maybe some more practical use of it in the sim. I know time is critical and expensive. But the last thing I want is some captain resenting me because of the time I got hired with thinking Im going to kill him and the pax because I don't know what Im doing. But everyone says "you'll learn that on the line or IOE."

This may be an isolated incident, but I sure was trying to fly the CRJ sim with rudder...force of habit! I did all my training with a capt who has 17yrs with the company and 15-20k hours. Our instructor was a former 121 CRJ capt. So at times, it seemed like between them, they "knew" alot and certain things weren't readily apparent to me.

All you need to know about descent planning. 3X the altitude to lose = distance to start your descent plus a fudge factor (round up). Rate = 1/2 your ground speed. For example 440 knot GS you would do a 2200 fpm descent. That's all you need to know and it works every time like a charm. I don't even bother with the VNAV in the FMS.

For example you are at 22000 ft and you have to cross a point at 10000 ft. 12 X 3 = 36 + a 4 mile fudge factor if you want to be conservative means you start down 40 miles before the point. Rate is half your groundspeed. Don't make it any more complicated than that or worry about wasting sim time on such a simple concept that takes 2 minutes to learn.

I know...I've read about it in the book. I was just thinking of some of the things I hear people complaining about that all of us 300hr wonders (I was hired above the mins for XJ, but less than 1k hrs) don't know. It's all new to us and very often, we don't know what we don't know. I just think with the low time that alot of pilots are being hired with, alot of the things that we don't encounter in the Part 91 world she be explained or gone over perhaps in gorund school.

The problem is there's just not enough class/sim time to spoon feed every little thing you need to know. So a lot of it winds up being OJT training. But at least you acknowledge there's still a lot you don't know vs. a lot of 300 hr guys who think they know everything. Keep that attitude and you'll do fine.

Of course I don't. How could I? I always say one of the best ways to learn is from people who know more than you. Fortuantely, I have known quite a few people in the 121 world who have been in it for years before me. So much of what I've been through, I expected. I also have fairly decent quality in my hours, I think.

Radar wasn't gone over very well in my training either, but it seems like it will be easy to pick up once I start line flying. The sim doesn't even have working radar, so it's understandable why we didn't go over much.

I keep hearing everyone has problems with visual approaches. The first visual approach I did was on my sim checkride. Mine worked out perfect, but I guess for the most part people struggle with them for whatever reason.

The best way to learn radar is in day VMC ...when you see a cell 40 miles out, play with the radar and watch how it paints it...play with the Gain and Tilt, there's no way to teach it other than some rules of thumb...+5 tilt in the Climb and descent, 0 to -1 in cruise.

I'm no expert, but maybe this will help. Keep in mind that it isn't rocket science, but you do have to experiment a little.

Cruise Setting
Tilt the radar down until you pick up ground returns at a distance similar to your altitude. Note the angle. Raise radar 10 degrees. Finally lower the radar 1/2 the angle of the dish.

Example: Altitude FL250 with an 8 degree dish. Tilt radar down until ground returns at 25 miles. Tilt up 10 degrees. (lets say ground return setting was -3, you will tilt up to +7). Then you will tilt down 4 degrees (1/2 of 8 degree dish). (Example then is 7-4 for a final setting of +3).

Departure and Arrival
Technique only, tilt the radar to full up setting to look at what's going on in the middle and tops of the towering cumulus around you. (at minimum raise it up to the last TIP (from cuise example you are at tip after you raise the dish 10 degrees). I read a good article on weather radar management where the flight crew got hammered going into an airport with no significant returns on their screen because they had the radar set to cruise and the clouds around them were giving Red and Magenta returns at higher altitudes than the RADAR was looking.

Gain
I increase the gain at night or when imbedded CB's are expected to make the weather look worse than it really is. Pure technique but I'd rather avoid the yellow if I can because it is only 1dB away from being orange, and the orange returns are only 1dB away from being red.

Observe everything your CA's do. Add the techniques they have that you like into your bag of tricks. You may have to tailor your techniques to certain CA's from time to time (as I learned after my flight with our unit IP this week) but I bet you'll find that as long as you follow the base procedures and get your job done, that CA sitting next to you will be happy. Some will force thier techniques on you and you'll just have to deal with it.

Finally, the airplane will eventually tell you what it needs after you get a little time under your belt. I've noticed that moving from my previous King Air to my current mutant King Air. I was sinking hard in the flare and needs a little power on landing to touch down smooth and the plane needs a calf full of rudder in turns and during power changes. Again, that took Thirty or so hours many landings to catch on for me, but you'll figure it out.