It has been a while since I wrote and I’ve been through a lot since then.
The ground portion at Flight Safety finished up well. The performance test was easy (scored a 100%) and the systems test also went well (scored 92%). I was little upset with myself because when I look over the wrong answers, I should have answered them correctly.
Now the real fun started. I really enjoyed my time in the sim, but thought it could have been better. An older gentlemen named Joe was my instructor. He was a great guy and he seemed to be happy that a 24 year old was in the sim. He kept on preaching to me that we were the future and it wasn’t looking so good compared to when he was younger.
Well, first time in the sim was just for a SIT. It was 4 hours long and I didn’t really learn anything. This SIT (systems intergration training *I think*) was not with a sim instructor, but a ground instructor, and it was used to familiarize the customers on the ProLine 21 and the FMS 3000. Funny thing was, I was teaching both the instructor and my sim partner most things. I guess that’s the benefit of sitting up front in a CJ3 for 100 hours before coming to training.
Full motion sims, what can I say, they’re awesome. I’m used to the Frasca 241’s and 242’s and this is a dream. I wish everyone pilot could experience something like this in their training early on in instrument training. Everything was so realistic and this sim handled just like the plane.
The 7 days of training went quick. I helped my sim partner out quite a bit (6000 hours+ in Citations) but he just couldn’t get used to the glass. He already had his type in the 525 so he just needed a signoff from the instructor. He ended up doing extra training at the end because he wanted a couple extra hours to get more comfortable.
As for my training, it went well. A couple bad days and a few good ones. My type check seemed to come quick and I’m glad it did. I was ready to get out of Wichita. As for the check, I made a couple mistakes, but nothing too big. I ended up doing 7 approaches (1 visual, 4 ILS (2 single engine), 1 VOR, 1 GPS), steep turns, and stalls. Most of it was pretty straightfoward. We did extended single engine ops for the purpose of imbalancing fuel. He wanted to see if I’d transfer fuel, which I did.
My sim partner for the check was a Flight Safety guy because mine during the week was busy taking delievery of his CJ3. Funny thing was, he was an uncle to a coworker of mine. Small world!
I only had a couple complaints about everything and that was the lack of hours in the sim, no Collins simulator where you could push actual buttons, and seeing things on the checkride that you haven’t seen before. I know everyone’s thinking, that is just how things go. Well this didn’t happen to me but a guy in our class failed his check twice for things he was never shown in the sim. When you have a type course, you can’t possibly be shown everything. That’s a fact due to the lack of sim availability and cost. But I wouldn’t think the DE’s would do that stuff on their check.
I knew how to do these things the guy failed on since I’ve been flying it for 9 months, but he hasn’t. They had him do a loaded visual approach and he couldn’t find it, no flaps approach, and something else. He mentioned several things he was upset about and I feel his pain. He had been coming to Flight Safety for over 25 years and he thought it was their worst course ever. When I was leaving the final day, he was having a few choice words with the site director.
This was my first type course and it was a great experience. But I thought it could be much better. Out of 9 people in our combined class, nobody had Collins experience except for me. Flight Safety needs a sim for the FMS. Everyone there can fly a jet, but they couldn’t handle the new FMS when shit hit the fan. Thus the CJ3 course has the highest failure rate in Wichita right now. I know I passed and shouldn’t complain, but I wouldn’t have passed if it weren’t for previous experience.