Two simulator sessions and the final checkride to go, oral exam passed, less than a week before I start my IOE, my ground-based training is down to the wire. Things are really coming together and I am spending less time worrying about furlough and more time excited about the fact that I'm soon to be doing what I signed up for...flying the CRJ-900 in revenue flight.First, my 2 cents on US Air 1547 and their miraculous ditching on the Hudson River this week. I don't wish to take anything at all away from Captain "Sully" Sullenberger, but I wish that the news media would acknowledge that there were a total of five crewmembers on that flight, and each of them contributed to the successful outcome. Secondly, the Captain's skill not withstanding, God was truly the copilot on that flight. There are simply too many variables that could have led to a horrible crash not to give credit to God's will. I believe that each person on board that aircraft that day understands this; I only wish others would.
Here's the scoop on my training progress. To date, my sim partner and I have completed seven simulator sessions for a total of 28 hours of high intensity training. Although we've done a pretty good job so far, there have been some screw ups, and our instructors have on occasion had to give us some "Special High Intensity Training". Believe me, I am not complaining, because in every instance the S.H.I.T. was well deserved, and we are better pilots because of the S.H.I.T. we received from our instructors. Scott and I have developed a good rapport, and on occasion will even give one another some S.H.I.T. In this rapid-paced, high pressure training environment, you simply have to shake off the mistakes (and the S.H.I.T. they precipitate), learn from them, and move on. If you concentrate too much on all of the S.H.I.T and nothing else, you'll end up with S.H.I.T. for brains.
A typical simulator session goes like this: start on the ground at MSP, DFW, RST or CWA. Run power initialization and acceptance checklist. Run engine start checklist and spool 'em up. If both engines are started and neither has a hot start, hung start, or other starting anomaly, consider yourself lucky. Taxi out for departure and takeoff. Again, if you get airborne with both engines still running, it is a miracle because we typically have one burst into flames, flameout, or ingest a bird on the takeoff roll. Once airborne, don't relax, since in the next two hours you can expect countless system failures and emergencies. Set up for the single engine approach and learn that you'll have to hand fly in since the autopilot has crapped out. If you are good (and lucky) enough to break out of the weather and have the runway in sight, plan on another aircraft screwing up and creating a runway incursion, causing you to have to go around on the single engine. When all of the systems are working well, count on Mother Nature giving you some S.H.I.T. I was on approach to landing and flew into a severe windshear microburst. I flew the windshear recovery profile, and although I managed to get the aircraft safely away from the ground, the instructor told me my radar altitude was down to 20 feet at one point. Talk about hand of God! After two solid hours of flying doom and gloom, land, pause, take a quick break, swap seats and hit it again for two hours. When the four hour session is complete, we retire to a debrief room where we spend an hour or so discussing what we learned, or should have learned, what we did right, and just as importantly, what we did not do right. When we do something really stupid, a little S.H.I.T. is in order. Go to the hotel, take a much needed nap, eat a bite, then plan the next day's flight. Go to bed at 9:00, get up at 4:00 the next morning, study for an hour, then head back to school and back into the box.
My oral exam was uneventful and went very well. I only had one instance of brain flatulence, and Todd the instructor actually thanked me for being well-prepared, saying that it makes his job much more enjoyable when students put in the required effort. Like with all other instructors we've encountered, Scott and I were very impressed with how professional and sincere Todd was. I have really enjoyed learning from all of our instructors.
We have our Category II approach simulator qualifications this afternoon (sessions 8 and nine were rescheduled for 5 PM vice 5 AM), and then our final "practice" session tomorrow evening. Although I have Tuesday off, I can't concentrate on preparing for Wednesday's checkride because I have to prepare to give a legal deposition to attorneys for the California Secretary of State on Wednesday afternoon, some leftover baggage from my previous career. So, after almost two months of training, instead of being able to celebrate when I've finished my final evaluation, I get to come back to the hotel and spend many hours being deposed. Ah, life's small pleasures.
Here are some fun facts to close with. I left home for this adventure 50 days ago. In those 50 days, I've had 156 hours of classroom instruction, 20 hours of FTD training and 28 hours of simulator training. I've also been away from Cathy 44 of the 50 days, and missed Christmas and New Year's Day with her, and have been paid about $2055 for attending training. The training has been fantastic, but the separation from Cathy has been difficult. Is it worth it? In my opinion, absolutely, but Cathy gets a vote too, and although she continues to voice her support for me, I know that my busy training schedule makes our separation easier on me than on her. When you are in a relationship, both people have skin in the game of chasing dreams. Each day I think about how important her support is, and how fortunate I am to have her in my life. My only method of paying it back is to apply myself as best I can during our separation and try to be at home as much as possible. I now have a flight schedule for February, and it looks like we'll be apart on our anniversary, a first of us. I am not complaining, because this is what I signed up for, and it makes me realize that each and every day, men and women in this career field put up with stress, low pay, and separation from loved ones. You have to work very hard for a very long time to realize the true benefits of this profession, the ability to bid a schedule that allows a lot of time to spend with family. I know that I'm still at the bottom of the food chain, and have a long way to go. All of that being said, I'm still very excited for having the opportunity to experience all of this. The price of dreams.
Blessings and tailwinds, and if life forces you to ditch, may you do it Sully-style!
