Monday, September 24, 2012

Sim training

Flying the Q400 sim, after a lot of time sitting around and studying, i have started training on the level-D sim at the training facility. So far we have only been practicing the drills and procedure side of flying the aeroplane, and also circuit practice, landing at different flap settings, crosswinds and night time landings. Next up we have some more abnormal situations, bad weather circling approaches, lots of V1 cuts, engine fires - basically anything exciting that could potentially end in tears!

The sim!


Its been good to re learn everything and brush up on all the abnormal procedures again. Although we practice it every 3 months in the sim as line pilots, it's primarily 'checking' that we are proficient, rather than training us as I am getting now. Some people dread the sim and this sort of flying, and i admit it's not particularly 'fun', but i do find it beneficial overall.

I also went on some jumpseat rides to get familiar with the aeroplane. Very cool overall. Climbs like a rocket at 29 tonnes out of Sydney, and at a climb speed of 240kts indicated, we are still getting around 1700FPM in the climb. The Dash 200/300 was lucky to get 1000FPM at 170kts to give you some idea of how much more power this bus has. As turboprops go, you can't really match it for performance.

Anyway looking forward to finally flying the real thing!

This was taking a sticky beak in the 767 simulator! Might be old now, but i would still do anything to fly this aeroplane one day! Absolutely love it!



Captains Primary Flight Display (PFD) and multi function display (MFD) 



The Engine Display (ED) and the copilots instruments. You can see the electrical page on the co-pilot MFD which is normal procedure, other wise you have no other indications that the ground power is connected or batteries discharging when the plane is on the ground.



Looking back from the from the captains seat at the engine and wing! Looks bigger and better than the 300 ever did :)



Thanks for reading!