Be prepared for long nights of studying in ground school. Those who are changing careers and those who have been out of college for a while seem to have more issues spending 6-8 hours a day in a class room. Like Rick said, there is going to be A LOT of information in a very short period of time. In college, indoc and systems would consist of two different courses over one term. You will have around 4 weeks for both. Just be prepared to be hermit for a few weeks.

As far as the sim goes, it is very important to be honest with yourself as to your IFR proficiency and refresh accordingly. Approaches will be flown at 170-180 kts, thats around three minutes before you exceed 10 miles on a proceedure turn. MS flight sim and all the others mentioned will only help you increase you proficiency but by the time you get into the sim in training, you will need to know your profiles and mem items down pat. If your IFR skills are good the rest will take care of itself.

I suppose this sounds a little intense, but I hate seeing guys who are qualified and would make wonderful crew members and captains fall short because they got steamrolled in ground school. Though the fact that you are asking around gives me the impression that work ethic and habits are not an issue.

However, if you are a doctor in a Bonanza all bets are off

Cheers

 

I do understand what you mean, I say the same thing about medicine. I sometimes think no job will be what you expected. The public always highlights the best part of every job. How many pilots work a max of 20 hours (and I mean total time away from home as the general public thinks it is) a week and make $125,000 yearly, Probably about as many Respiratory Care Practioners that make $115,000 or whatever they've published it to be now. Oh yeah and the great rewards of helping people, excellent benefits, job security, and my personal favorite the "Great Respect" you get from patients. Kinda sounds similiar to what is believed about airline pilots. The reality of a Respiratory career is your patients can't breathe and therefore are grumpy and upset and expect miracles and when you can't immediately "fix" their problem guess what, your suddenly incompetent, don't know what your doing or whatever smart remark they come at you with. Another personal favorite is people that have ruined their lungs and require oxygen 24/7 and don't want to "drag the tube" everywhere and don't understand why you can't give them a pill to fix it, well I've got a better idea since were dreamin why don't I just put you on a network and wi-fi O2 to you then. Just an honest reality of healthcare: excellent benefits sure thats why my er and Dr visit co-pay are more than most people, job security thats why I've been laid off twice in my few years and respect well I won't say anymore about that. I'm just over 7 days of 12 hour shifts that are always closer to 15 and coming in everyday to see how many nurses wrote you up and hearing "didn't you get the memo about it" I'm sure I did with the other 10 new memos. I've read your guys posts for a while and know aviation isn't perfect but I have always noticed one thing, you guys help each other and respect each other more than any other profession I know. Go to the healthcare forums and see what happens if you ask a question, a war will start between nurses, x-ray, lab and other depts telling you why they're more important. You guys have respect for each other and as long as you have that you'll always be look up to for it. Thanks for all the advice and if anyone is in the area and wants to work with an amateur sometime just give me a shout

 

By the way, I'm not a doctor, I have a Bachelor's in Cardio-Pulmonary Science and am a licensed (RCP) Respiratory Care Practioner and finished a few business classes later in case I wanted to move into management and got my BS in Business Administration and Management

 

Not to sound rude, but respect doesn't pay the bills and provide job stability. And respect for each other? hahaha, as individuals maybe. Look how each company undercuts each other to gain more flying. There is no respect between companies.

Your probably still going to do it in the future so If you gotta find out what its like study up on you IFR procedures like others have said and fly like a professional even in your GA aircraft. In otherwords, don't half ass your knowledge and have a professional level of knowledge, not a parttimer's level and you'll get the job.

 

"I have a Bachelor's in Cardio-Pulmonary Science and am a licensed (RCP) Respiratory Care Practioner"

...that sentence just made more money than most of us will as regional pilots! :-D ;-)

 

Yep, I concur. Move along, Vtailpilot, there is nothing to see here. My diagnosis is that you have a severe case of the "shiny jet syndrome". It's a pandemic that has been going around the last several years. Symptoms include leaving a promising medical career and a lot more money and prestige to become a bus or truck driver up in the skies. You already have a good career going and are lucky enough to do pleasure flying on the side. I have no idea what your degree means but it sounds very very important, what makes you even remotely think leaving all that to fly an RJ for absolutely nothing and no QOL for several years? Do you have kids?

 

Stay in medicine. There's a future there either as a tech or in management. If you want to be treated like a cab driver, go on over to aviation. Just don't say you weren't warned.

 

No offense taken, I never meant that the company respected you, honestly what employer truely cares about there workers from the management side. Some maybe better than others but don't think you'll have the excellent job stability you imagine in healthcare because when summer rolls around and patient census drops your either laid off or told to call everyday before you come to check patient count and if its low your called off but put on call in case of new admissions for no pay.

I know I'm a part timer and owning your own plane you do lose some of the procedures over time because you can cut some corners since everything is where you left it. Thats why I'm looking for help from you guys that do have a professional level of knowledge that I know I do not have at this point

 

If you chose to run off and join the circus...errr, I mean a regional airline, I'm sure you'll do fine. You have a technical background, you are asking the right questions, and undoubtedly can work hard when needed. Your aviation experience doesn't compare too badly to recent hiring mins, although expect competetive mins to be higher when hiring resumes 2000TT, 300 ME might be par for the course (that's what it was after 9/11).

Only you can make the decision, but do some serious research as to what company(s) you want to work for, and where you want to be based.

I hope you are single and childless...

 

V-tail if you do pursue a regional just remember this motto in initial "cooperate to graduate" In every class there is always one guy that thinks they know more than the instructor and is hated by the rest of the class. Don't be that guy. If you are struggling talk to your instructor sooner than later. Instructors do a good job at teaching you what you need to know to pass, the rest is up to you. Remember the company does have a vested interest in getting you through training. If you washout it is money and time lost, that they could have spent on someone that could have been successful.