Same instructor. Different session. Simulator’s are incredibly complex machines. They mimic every part of the airplane. Much like airplanes…simulators can have issues. Started in LGA. Winter operations. Snowing. On pushback I started the number one engine and then shutdown the APU which is standard ops…for summer. Because it was shutdown we would have to do [...]

Rough night in the sim. Different instructor. I went first. Departed from KPSP (Palm Springs) on 13R with the Cathedral 9 departure. Very busy departure with turns and climbing to avoid terrain. We briefed it using conventional (no FMS) navigation and how busy it is. On takeoff I was able to use the FMS but [...]

Day 3 was somewhat easy. Precision approach day….errr night. When I arrived the sim was down. It had been down all day. The previous crews were now a day behind. We did our briefing hoping it would be fixed. Literally 3 minutes for our sim session it was fixed. Nice. APU fire at the gate. [...]

Day 2…err…Night 2 in the sim was a little better. Started normal. Captain took the first leg this time. Leveling off at FL330 we had a rapid cabin depressurization. On the mask went. The Captain inititated an emergency descent while I reached for the QRH (Quick Reference Handbook) to run the required checklist. Noisy. The [...]

Day one in the sim was last night. Went well overall. Arrived at the simulator site (my airline doesn’t own the sim, we use an outside company) at 4:15 PM for a 4:30PM show. I passed another pilot and inquired if he was my Captain. Sure enough he was. He has been on the plane [...]

The title should increase my hits…..ha! Those who have been reading this blog for a while know I have one superstious ritual on check ride day. The McDonalds McGriddle. I’ve eaten one each check ride day and have yet to fail an event. Of course this month I’ve been eating fresh food. I seriously debated [...]