Well, its a wrap. The checkride and the LOFT are complete, I'm back at home, and I have a pretty interesting flight schedule for February. I thought some of you might like the play-by-play for my final checkride. First of all, if you want to get some idea of what any checkride is like, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQjDFM1x4iw
Sorry the link won't work. Just cut and paste into your browser...it's worth the effort!
So, with that done, here's how my ride went. Up at 0350, shower, dress, and one last review of the profiles. Check my chart case one last time to ensure I have all of my chart and pub revisions installed, grab a bite to eat, and out the door at 0440, ariving at the training center at 0440.
At about 0455 my Captain arrives, and we introduce ourselves to one another. John has been with the company for several years, and is not senior enough to yet hold a line, so he's been spending a lot of time on reserve. At least he is at home with his two young sons a good bit of time. At just after 0500 our check airman arrives, yet another John. John describes the morning plan, tells me I'll be picking up the aircraft at gate T2 in Atlanta (gulp! I've never flown to/from Atlanta before) for a scheduled flight to Minneapolis. Naturally he explains, we probably won't get there!
John takes my current license, checks my passport and medical certificate, reviews my training records, and then hands me a copy of my pre-departure paperwork which includes the flight plan and TLR (takeoff and landing report). A quick review shows that we have no aircraft equipment deferred (broken), the weather looks bad (cold and very low visibility fog), and we've got a full load of passengers and partial load of fuel. Final passenger weight and balance data will be sent via ACARS during the taxi out. John the check airman leaves, and John the Captain and I have a few minutes to discuss the plan. John tells me just to relax, fly like I've learned, and to work as a team.
The check airman then tells us to saddle up and get to work. I'm the first in the sim, so I run the power initialization check which brings power on the aircraft and starts the IRS system warming up. (the "inertial navigation" IRS, not the "bend over and spread 'em April 15" IRS). Things continue smoothly through the checklist and it is not long before I've copied the current weather, our ATC clearance, and have the flight plan loaded into the FMS system. We are now ready for pushback and engine start, which goes well and no anomalies are injected.
We taxi out with a reported RVR (visibility) of about 600 feet, so it is pretty foggy. I try to stay heads-up to help so that both the Captain and I are watching out for other aircraft, and follow along on my low-vis taxi chart. Almost to the runway I receive my load data, so I warn Captain John that I'll be heads down while finishing the FMS programming. About the time I have this completed, we are at the runway and ready, and about then we receive the call that ATC has changed their mind and now wants us to depart a different runway. Not a big deal, except that I have to re-program the FMS with the new departure runway, and a quick check of the TLR to see if our takeoff flap setting is different (it is) or our engine-out obstacle clearance procedures change (they do not). Final before takeoff checks, runway item checks, and we're now on the runway ready for departure.
Power up, two good engines, thrust set and we pass V1 without any problems, and at Vr I rotate and lift off. When the Captain sees the VSI indicating we're climbing he calls "Positive rate". In response I call "Gear up, speed mode and heading", which is directing John to raise the landing gear and to place my flight director in the speed and heading mode. At 600 feet altitude John turns the autopilot on in response to my commands. At 1000 feet altitude I accelerate the aircraft to 200 knots, and call for flaps up. Once the flaps are tucked away I change our climb speed to 250 knots. During all of this, John is communicating with ATC, changing frequencies, and is calling up new fixes on the FMS in response to ATC clearance changes. As we pass though 5000 feet at 250 knots, we start to feel like we've caught up and we receive a "Left Main Ejector Fail" caution light, meaning that we've got potential problems with our fuel system. Since I'm flying, I take over radio #1 to talk with ATC while John calls our Maintenance folks to discuss the issue. Naturally Maintenance wants us to return the aircraft to Atlanta.
Because the visibility is very low (still 600 RVR), we are cleared for the Cat II ILS approach. You will remember from a few posts ago that a Cat II approach is one that allows us to come VERY close to the ground before having visual contact with the ground. During a Cat II approach, the First Officer always flies, the Captain always monitors, and the autopilot is always engaged. When we get down to the Decision Altitude (something like a little over 100 feet above the runway, going about 150 knots by the way), the Captain will either say "My aircraft, landing" where he will take over and land if he sees the runway, or "No contact. Go around" if he does not. Naturally on our first approach he does not see the runway, so I execute the missed approach. So, here you have a 75,000 pound aircraft at 100 feet, descending at 800 feet per minute at 150 knots. The First Officer must quickly power up, pitch up, and convince the aircraft to reverse its descent. It is not uncommon for the aircraft wheels to actually touch the pavement on a Cat II go around, but ours do not this time. We notify ATC about our missed approach and they vector us for another try.
Approach #2 looks until we are about two miles from the runway, when the Captain's flight director fails. Two flight directors are needed for a Cat II approach, so once again we break off and fly the missed procedure, telling ATC about our equipment failure, which miraculously is repaired. Around we go for try #3, and exactly at the decision altitude, the Captain sees the runway, takes control and safely lands us. Taxi clear of the runway, after takeoff checks completed, and back for another takeoff.
Again we perform a normal takeoff, except that this time the check airman directs me to ignore the throttles, which he proceeds to idle, which results in a departure stall from which I quickly recover. Climb out for vectors for the GPS approach, and suddenly we get an engine fire. First of all, an "engine fire" in a jet engine is a misnomer. Hell, if the engine is running, it is already on fire. An engine fire simply means that something has happened and the fire has gotten somewhere it does not belong. For any engine fire you take your time and the pilot not flying works slowly though the checklists while the pilot flying does just that...flies the aircraft. We get the engine shutdown and the fire out, so it is back to the airport for an uneventful single engine approach and landing, hand flown since the autopilot also failed. Fire trucks meet us on the runway and all is good.
Next takeoff goes well, except that an engine flames out at V1 on the takeoff roll, and the auto relight does not work. We perform an airborne start and get it running, so it is back to the airport since no one wants to fly with an engine that flamed out for an unknown reason. Set up for the localizer approach and once again, the check airman directs me to ignore the throttles, which he once again places in idle, resulting in an approach stall. Once again, recover, execute the missed approach, and notify ATC. Fly the vectors for another attempt, shoot the approach, and successfully land. Taxi to the gate, and the ride is over!
About two and a half hours, plus brief and debrief time, and it is a full morning. I walk away the very proud owner of a new CL-65 (CRJ) type rating with a Second in Command limitation, knowing that it will only be a few days before I get to fly the real McCoy. That is currently scheduled for this Wednesday, and will be the subject of my next post.
Thanks for riding along on this journey with me, and a special thanks to Cathy, Gene, Ty, Jeff and Rick, all who have been sending me lots of encouragement along the way. I wish you all could be there on my first flight.
