Ground School

After INDOC those assigned to the CRJ went on to ground school and the ERJ folks had a two and a half month break before starting ground school. I spent the time off working on household projects and using travel benefits to visit a few places. 

I took some notes during the month but didn't journal every detail, but you can get an idea of the process:

Day 1: 

• Class intros
• Issued company badges
• Sim bids (CVG, SEA, SLC) 4:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00. Live bidding based on seniority, 1st 15 in class got to choose, we had a few minutes to network and find a partner that we meshed with (similar back ground, common city, best time of day, etc.). There were two captains in the class so partnering with them would be ideal as you'd take your ILOE as a pair. Otherwise FO pairs get a fill in captain for the ILOE. This sim bid line also determined the procedure trainer schedule but all PT's are done in Denver so only need to travel to CVG for sims
• Emergencies
• TEAM model
• ICE briefings
• Safety and Power Up (from a dark aircraft)
• Electrical
• Fire Protection
• Checklists
• Power up
• Flows
• Origination
• Hydraulics 
• Airworthiness

Day 2:

• DTS lesson 1, getting familiar with MCDU (FMS)
• Matrix lesson 1, safety and power up checklist. Originating flow and checklist.
• Ground
• Flight instruments
• Before start tasks
• More FMS examples, building flight plan from release/clearance
• ABC
• WANT
• APU

Day 3:

• DTS lesson, load FMS with route, perf, other release info
• Matrix lesson 2, ABC's (load FMS, bugs), WANT briefings. 
• Started from dark cockpit
• originating flow, originating checklist
• Before start flow, before start checklist
• Ground 
• Engine start flow and checklist
• Tasks
• Getting release perf data (ZFW, V speeds, etc.)
• Pushback
• Starting engines
• After start checklist
• Taxi operations
• Ice and rain protection
• Runway performance change checklist

Day 4: 

• DTS
• Matrix
• Ground

Day 5:

• DTS
• Matrix
• Ground

Day 6: Off. Studied 10-2 with study group for KV. More studying that evening.

Day 7: Off. Got groceries, laundry, walked 3 miles, a little bit of studying.

Day 8: 

• DTS progress check, had to load FMS and takeoff data within 20 minutes. Got uniforms, had to exchange jacket for bigger size. 
• Matrix
• Ground (TBD)

Day 9:

• DTS
• Matrix
• Ground

Day 10:

• DTS - MCDU validation, setup FMS in 20 minutes
• Matrix
• Ground

Day 11: Emergency equipment, opening and disarming main cabin door, O2 masks, PBE's fire extinguishers, and life vests.

    Ground:

• Systems review. Reviewed the items that I didn't know during the in-class review that evening (about 1-2 hours)

Day 12: systems test, 160 questions, need 80% to pass. Pass and get ground school graduation certificate, wings and name tag.

Day 13: Leadership and professionalism. Topics included, styles of leadership, some actual ASAP reports and how we might have handled them. Another point was how we go from small focus on our tasks and flows when just learning to a wider and eventually big picture once muscle memory and repetitiveness of tasks/flows get proficient.  

Day 14: Off, but practiced flows and flight in procedure trainer SEA-PDX for PT1 Day 13

Day 15: Procedure trainers (PT). These are scheduled the same as sim slots so this week will be 8:00 pm to 2:00 am every day. Going to work on a sleep schedule and prep as the week progresses. Probably sleep until 10 or 11, and then breakfast and prep. Relax and exercise late afternoon and early dinner with rest before 8:00 pm check in.

• PT 1: SEA-PDX-SEA, basically a complete end to end flight alternating as PF and PM for each leg.
• Advanced trainer with yoke, throttle, flap, spoiler levers. Got to rotate and disconnect auto pilot at mins and follow flight director to runway.

Day 16: PT 2

Day 17: PT 3

Day 18: PT 4

Day 19: Reviewed flows/checklists in Matrix in preparation for PV. PV (flows/checklist/FMS setup validation) and approach practice. Hand fly a takeoff (no auto throttles or AP). Did repetative approaches to work on a pattern/cadence for rapid briefing and approach setup. ABC, WANT briefing, descent checklist. Approach and missed approach callouts.

Day 20: PT 5

Day 21: Travel home

Day 22-23: Off

Day 24: Travel to CVG for start of SIM training

Indoc

After completing CTP-ATP, I had a day off and then a travel day from DFW to the company training center for INDOC. Once again it was an early flight so there was some time to scout the area for food options and pick up a few things for meals. In addition, Uber Eats and similar were available which I used a few times for dinners during the week.

INDOC is a week of classroom training of all things part 121, company procedures, uniform fitting, etc. There is a lot of information condensed into a week of classroom presentations and at the end there is a 100 question knowledge validation (KV) that you must get at least 80% correct in order to move on to the next step of training. If you do have a bad day with the KV and get less than 80% you'll get a second try after some remediation. You'll want to avoid a second try because it reduces your "second try count" for future validations. There will be other validations that are much more difficult that you may need a retry on and if you use the retries up early in training it may keep you from continuing later on in the training process. 

Throughout the training, we had quizzes to complete after each topic and some computer based training (on the iPad) to complete before the end of the week. Here is a partial list of the topics covered:

Day 1 - Start of INDOC - "culture day". The presentation was all about the company's culture and a get to know everyone in the class day.

Day 2 - Company history, culture, travel benefits. badge photos, issued company iPads, measured for uniforms. Started in on lectures - managing documents, op specs, flight operations manual (FOM), etc.

Day 3 - Derived minimums, definition of marginal weather, PIC/SIC minimums, 17347 exception, duty/flight times, types of reserve,

Day 4 - Flight releases, airworthiness, different types of approaches, aircraft performance

Day 5 - Supplemental operation, emergencies

Day 6,7 - Off and time to study for the KV

Day 8 - Knowledge validation, 100 questions

After the KV, we were told that depending on the aircraft type that you were assigned to, you'd continue on with ground school or go home and wait for a ground school class to get assigned. In my case, it was the later and they scheduled a flight home for me the next day. It was kind of nice to get a break and that break turned out to be about two and half months off with training pay. So not a bad deal as after a couple of weeks in a hotel, I was ready to get home, plus it gave me some time to prepare a little better for a long hotel stint which would occur once ground school started. 

CTP-ATP

In order to take the ATP multi-engine knowledge test, one has to complete the CTP-ATP course. This course is a six day class that consists of classroom sessions covering ATP knowledge topics (30 hours) and 10 hours of simulator training to expose you to crew resource management concepts and some maneuvers that you'll see in the 121 environment. In most cases, the airline that hired you will pay for the CTP-ATP if you don't yet have an ATP multi-engine rating.

In my case, I was sent to CTP-ATP at ATP Jets in Dallas, TX. The airline paid for my travel, hotel, and the class (which can run $3800-$6000). I traveled to DFW, and had an early flight so got to the hotel in the afternoon and had some time to explore the area around the hotel for food options.

Classroom Day 1 - Up at 5:45 for breakfast at 6:00, shuttle to ATP Jets at 7:00. First 1/2 hour was sign in and show identification documents. Got a short tour and was provided with WiFi and access to account profile, schedule, etc. Class started at 7:45. No lunch was provided but a company called  Foodja was available to order lunch each day.  My class had about 80 students and probably 50 were from my airline and the remainder were folks taking the class on their own, a few from NetJets, and miscellaneous other airlines. I got back to the hotel around 5:00 pm and made the short walk to Walmart to get food for the week. The hotel had a small fridge and microwave. Spent some time studying for the ATP written test using Shepard Air test prep (the airline paid for the prep too).

Classroom Day 2 - Today and remaining class room days start at 8:00 am. Another full day of presentations. Got back to the hotel and did more studying for the written.

Classroom Day 3 - Today and remaining class room days start at 8:00 am. Another full day of presentations. Got back to the hotel and did more studying for the written.

Classroom Day 4 - Professionalism and CRM, 35 question quiz from topics discussed during the four days

Simulator Day 1 (Day 5) - CRJ AATD,  intro to FMS programming, CRM, callouts (takeoff, approach, descent, landings, takeoffs, ILS, RNAV, SID, STAR). 

Simulator Day 2 (Day 6) - Full motion A320, B777, Terrain escape maneuver, TCAS maneuver (RA). B777 crosswind landings, approach to stall, unusual attitude, normal landings, auto land 300 RVR, incorrect airspeed indication (failed 2 of 3 pitot tubes). KSEA, KMEM, KRNO

Day 7 - Off

Day 8 - ATM test (ATP multiengine written).  Test took about 2 hours (went back through each question a second time), passed with 95%.

Day 9 - Off

Day 10 - Travel DFW to airline's training center for INDOC class.

 

The Next Phase of My Pilot Journey

After a long stint as a software engineer, it was time for career 2.0, so today I'm headed to Dallas to start the training path toward becoming an airline pilot.  Over the years I've accumulated the required hours and ratings. and the job search process began back in July with numerous applications, resumes and interviews. Though I could have started in October, chose to finish out 2022 at my current company and start career 2.0 in 2023.

Prospect Oregon

After a couple of cancelled attempts due to weather to get to Prospect, OR (64S), the club was finally able to get a fly out completed to this small Oregon town. The town is a short walk from the airport and we ate at a traditional roadside diner called the Prospect Cafe
where breakfast is served all day. The other highlight of the trip is that there are a couple of waterfalls below the airport and can easily be accessed via a trail off of the end of the runway or from the south end of town.

   

Camping in the San Juans

One of the annual club trips on the calendar is to spend a weekend in the San Juans camping at the Orcas Island Airport (KORS). There is typically a fly in sponsored by the local EAA chapter on the first full weekend of August. This year we had five airplanes make the trip with some repeat attendees and some new participants. We made the usual trek to Roche Harbor and Friday Harbor during the weekend and those destinations never get old. See previous posts here.

Hotel at Roche Harbor

Camping Area Looking North

Career 2.0

June 27, 2023 - At the time of writing this post, it's been nearly one year since the process started of applying to an airline. I have some downtime while sitting on reserve to catch up on documenting the journey.

After over two decades in the technology industry, the time was right for a career change. I've had the urge to do some professional flying and have had the flight hours and ATP experience requirements for a while and with the current hiring climate in the aviation industry, now was the time to make the switch. After doing some research on various flying jobs using airlinepilotcentral.com and individual company sites, I settled on applying to some fractional operations and a few regional airlines that either had a base near where I lived or had a short commute with a lot of flights to and from the major airport where I live to a domicile. With that criteria in mind, I started compiling my aviation resume and applying to various airlines using the airlines' respective websites or using airlineapps.com. Within a week I was getting emails for follow-up phone screens and to setup interview times/dates. For some of the airlines, the interview slots went fast so when it was all said and done the process took about a month to get all the interviews scheduled and completed. 

The interview process was straight forward and with help from sites like aviationinterviews.com preparing for the type of questions that would be asked was helpful. One of the interviews required completing a 50 question technical exam that consisted of questions similar to the FAA ATP written exam. I was fortunate to get multiple offers and have the luxury of being able to choose the company that had a domicile that would keep my commuting to work to a minimum.  For those unaware, about 50% of airplane pilots commute to work, so for example, someone living in Seattle may commute to Denver as a non-revenue passenger or ride in the cockpit jump seat in order to get to a place to start their flying day.

After accepting an offer with a regional airline, the next step was to choose a training class date. The class date is key to an airline pilot's seniority as it is the day that the starts your seniority ranking which will be used for domicile selection, trip selection, simulator schedule, etc. For me, I wanted to complete the year at my current job so I selected a class date near the end of December. This would allow me to finish out the year at my current employer, be home for Christmas and have a week or so to reset and prepare for the next career adventure ahead.

Camping at Nehalem Bay

 One of my favorite airplane camping destinations is 3S7. It was a beautiful weekend with temps in the 60's. We had the 182 filled with four occupants and a dog with room to spare. It was a busy weekend over there as all the tie downs and campsites were taken. Fortunately, we arrived early Friday afternoon and got one of the last few camp spots.  See more about previous trips to Nehalem Bay.

Left Downwind Runway 33

Portland International

Climbing SW Over KPDX

A few club members had never landed at a major airport, so we put together a club fly out to KPDX which is a fairly busy class C airport. After a briefing on the VFR arrival and departure procedures, we departed for KPDX. The weather was MVFR so we flew northbound at 2500'. We picked up flight following early from Seattle Center and after getting handed off to Portland Approach they negotiated a class D crossing for us though KUAO's airspace prior to our arrival into the Portland terminal area. Shortly after that we were handed off to Portland Tower and they requested that we make a short approach to runway 10L. After taxiing to Atlantic Aviation, we grabbed a couple of crew cars to head to Famous Daves for bbq.

Joseph/ Enterprise Oregon

Main Street, Joseph, OR.

We recently got our club 182 back from the shop for a panel upgrade, so was able to get in one more flying trip before the Pacific Northwest fall weather arrived. Three of us flew to Joseph, OR (KJSY) for some hiking around Wallowa Lake and an opportunity to ride the pedal powered rail cars at Joseph Branch Railriders. We departed VFR on Friday afternoon and with the favorable winds aloft, made the 245 mile flight in just under two hours. We made a brief stop at Enterprise (8S4) to drop off one of our party to pick up a rental car and then made the 5 minute flight to park the airplane KJSY where we were met by the member of our party that picked up the rental car.  After checking in to our respective accommodations, the Kokanee Inn and Bronze Antler B&B, we headed to downtown Joseph for food and cocktails at the Embers Brewhouse. We called it an early night as we had hiking and the rail ride planned for Saturday, 

1060 TXI, GI275, GFC 500, GTN 750/650

I was up early to walk around main street and find a coffee shop before meeting up with the rest of the crew. After walking the length of main street up and down each side of the street, I stopped at Arrowhead Chocolates for an espresso.  Turns out they serve Stump Town so this turned out to be an excellent choice. 

We continued the morning with a quick car tour of Joseph and then drove out to Wallowa Lake for a short hike. The hike was relatively short (two miles each way) and we made a vertical ascent of about 1000'. 

Above Wallowa Lake

After the hike, we headed back to town for some lunch and a short break before our afternoon rail ride. We signed up for the two hour rail trip, which is a round trip run to Enterprise and back to Joseph. There are other length trips and will have to do the four hour Minam-Wallowa River trip next time. The rail cars are pedal powered and do have electric assist for the uphill leg of the journey. Since it's downhill from Joseph to Enterprise, once we got the car rolling it was pretty much a coast down the tracks until the road crossings which require a mandatory stop. Then it's pedal-pedal-pedal and coast until the next crossing, or until you catch up with a slower car in front of you. According to the GPS telemetry of my Garmin Virb, we topped out at 17 mph.

Railriders Pedal Car

At the end of the line in Enterprise, the rider staff used a nifty carousel device to turn the cars around for the ride back to Joseph. Here's where the electric assist really came in handy, once the car gained some speed (about 3 mph), as long as the rear left seat pedals were moving, the motor accelerated to 7 mph and it was a leisurely trip back up the grade to Joseph. It had been a full day, so we returned to our respective accommodations for a short rest before dinner. As it turned out it was prime rib night at a popular place called the Stubborn Mule and Saloon. 

Hells Canyon

Sunday was fly home day, but since we were nearby Hell's Canyon we decided to fly east to get some arial views of the canyon before heading home. We flew to the canyon dam and then up the canyon a few miles before turning back west for a stop in Pendleton, OR. (KPDT) for lunch. We had planned to eat at the restaurant in the terminal but they were closed on Sunday's so the folks at Wildhorse Aviation provided us with a crew car to go grab lunch in town.

Camping in the San Juans

Camp Orcas

Every summer, on the first full weekend in August, the EAA on Orcas Island hosts a fly-in and camp out. This year the event was cancelled, so a few of us flew up over Labor Day weekend for a night of camping and island hopping.  

The weather leading up to the trip had been sunny for a week or so, but a cold front was moving in a few days prior so it was looking like the trip would be a no-go. The forecast showed the front moving through by Sunday afternoon and then nothing but sunshine for the next few days. The forecast turned out to be correct and we departed for KORS Sunday afternoon with a nice flight direct to KORS, passing over Olympia, up the Hood Canal and then across the Strait of Juan de Fuca for an arrival into Eastsound. After setting up camp we made the short walk into town and had a nice meal at the White Horse Pub. For the oyster fans, the pub serves fresh oysters from nearby Judd Cove.  The next morning, our plan was to fly to Roche Harbor and Friday Harbor before returning to Salem.  We packed up our gear and after getting breakfast at Enzo’s, (nice Italian bistro with good espresso and baked goods) departed for Roche Harbor (WA09). Roche Harbor is a popular marina and resort and is about an 8-minute flight from KORS. After securing the aircraft at WA09, we walked around the marina and admired the vast number of yachts and we walked over to the mausoleum on the north west side of the airport.  The mausoleum is a shrine to the John McMillan family, which founded the Roche Harbor lime kilns in 1886.

McMillin Mausoleum

After a few hours at Roche Harbor, we departed for Friday Harbor (KFHR) to get a bite before flying back to Salem. The town of Friday Harbor is about a 15-minute walk from the airport, so headed to the east end of town to visit Friday’s Crab House for some chowder and fish tacos. Friday’s has a couple of outdoor tiered decks which overlook the ferry terminal and marina.

The weather was perfect for the 48-hour trip and the feedback from the group was that we’ll return next year for a longer duration to visit some additional airports and do some more island exploration. If you are an airplane camper or want to be, you should add KORS to your list as camping at KORS, is pretty modern with a bathroom and showers, loaner bicycles, ice machine, and the mini-mart and restaurants are a 15-minute walk from the airport. 

Mid-field crossing Roche Harbor

Northeast tip of Orcas Island

Camping at Nehalem State Airport (3S7)

I've visited Nehalem State Airport a few times in the past, either by car or airplane, but finally had the opportunity to camp at the airport. Next to the runway there are six primitive camp sites (see photos below of each), each with a fire ring and picnic table. Each campsite has its own "charm" with varying amounts of seclusion as some sites are more exposed to the airport surroundings and others set back in the trees. There is also an outhouse and a water spigot on site. One can also make the five minute walk from the airport into Nehalem State Park and use the showers and facilities there. The airport sites are first come, first served and the fee is $11 per night. Though we brought a bundle of firewood, the camp hosts inside the park have firewood available for sale. Just hanging around the campsite is very relaxing, but the beach and Nehalem River are a short walk, as well as numerous walking trails within the state park. If you are a little more adventurous, the town of Manzanita is a thirty minute walk via the beach or residential roads. The weather each day was sunny and 70 degrees and the marine layer lingered most of the morning but cleared by noon. Keep this in mind if flying to 3S7 as you may have to wait around for the low ceilings to clear longer than you might like. In fact I've been a here a few times where the low overcast remained for several days in a row. There is no published instrument departure for this airport and rising terrain in all directions except west over the ocean, but mobile service is good so in theory you could get an IFR clearance on the ground to fly over the Nehalem River to the shoreline and then climb through the overcast over the ocean on course.  

Museum of Flight

It has been at least 10 years since I've been to the Museum of Flight,  but today had the opportunity to fly up from Oregon and spend a few hours there. When I lived in the Seattle area we'd regularly visit the Museum but this was the first time I was able to fly to the museum. I learned to fly at Boeing Field (KBFI) and it was fun flying the VFR arrival (also on the Seattle Fly charts) procedure(s) that I used to fly regularly during flight training. The museum has grown in exhibits since the last time I visited and was impressed at the latest static display and the square feet of aircraft on display. The vast floor space required was evident when you have a 787 parked next to a 747 as the two aircraft weren't crammed into the space. The space shuttle display was also quite impressive. 

747 Flight Test Engineer Stations

787 w/747 in Background

  

Florence, OR. (6S2)

Florence, OR. has been on my list of destinations to visit and after some virtual map research the historic old town of Florence has several restaurants and shops that are a short walk (20-30 minute) from the airport. 6S2 is greater than 50 miles from my home airport so it counts for some cross country time and is within range to classify this destination as a $100 hamburger spot. We had been trying to go Florence for a flying club outing for several months but couldn't get a break in the weather for several Saturdays. Finally had a nice June VFR day on the Oregon Coast and flew down with four airplanes. The walk to the water front took a leisurely 25 minutes and we grabbed some outside tables at Mari's Kitchen for some breakfast. Also, turns out there is a quaint coffee shop called River Roasters on the main drag, so now Florence is also on my $100 latte destination list.

Highway 101 Bridge

Woodland, WA (W27)

 

About 20 miles north of Portland is a small state airport adjacent to Woodland, WA (W27). The airport sits next to Interstate 5 so is easy to find. The winds here can be challenging and today was no exception (see the windsock in the below photo). There are also large trees on the south end so the best way to approach from the south is to turn a modified left base turn into a dogleg and fly a curved final to runway 32. The reason for flying here was to check out Daddy D's BBQ and to add another $100 hamburger to the list. If BBQ isn't for you, there is a Burgerville and a few other food options. Either way all are a 5-10 minute walk from the tie down area. In regards to Daddy D's, this BBQ is legit and even if you aren't flying in, stop here if traveling between Seattle and Portland on your next road trip.

Engine Break-in Flight to Yakima, WA.

One of the club airplanes recently got a new engine and needed some extended break-in flights (greater than one hour). Of course the destination had to have a restaurant and my first thought was to fly to Washington, but since I'd already been to all of the airport restaurants in the Puget Sound area, I scanned the sectional and the internet for a food destination that I hadn't been to and was also greater than one hour away. I came across a new (to me) cafe which was located on the Yakima airport. No walking or crew car required, just taxi to the end of runway 27 and park next to the restaurant. I invited another club member to fly along with me, and we were off to KYKM and grub at Reno's On The Runway.

Reno's adds a photo to their board when you fly in.

Lenticular cloud over Mt. Adams

 

  

Tillamook Air Museum

It has probably been 20 years since I've visited the Tillamook Air Museum (KTMK). The collection in this WWII blimp hangar has diminished over the years but there was still quite a lot to see. As I remember, the entire hangar was full of aircraft, but now only about half contains aircraft and the remaining half of the hangar is used for RV storage. You can still taxi to the museum via runway 01 and the taxi way has been repaved. There are also new hangars on the museum side of the airport. Something else that was nice to see, was that the Port Of Tillamook has renovated the pilot lounge and added a crew car.  In addition to visiting the museum, one can take the crew car into town to tour the Tillamook Creamery) or visit the beach.

Gives some size scale of different blimps

Chiloquin - 2S7

The fall ceilings were starting to look like we’d have to cancel the trip due to fog over the valley, but as the morning progressed, the skies opened up over KSLE as seen in this photo during a south-bound climb-out from Salem.

Once airborne, the weather turned out as forecast with the fog extending south to Eugene and then clear towards Klamath Falls. There were no concerns for the return trip as the fog was expected to clear well before our return arrival to KSLE. The flight down to 2S7 was beautiful and we passed just West of Crater Lake for some photo opportunities.
Our route this day was to head South East towards Creswell (77S) and then loosely parallel V452 until Crater Lake and Klamath Lake were in view, then proceed to 2S7. For those who haven’t flown to Chiloquin before, the airport’s location is deceiving as it’s between two ridges and not next to Agency Lake as it appears on the sectional. The landing was uneventful and we taxied to the parking area near mid-field adjacent to Highway 97.

Everyone was hungry and as our anticipation grew for a traditional café breakfast, much to our surprise after crossing the highway, was that the restaurant was closed. By the look of things, apparently the café has been INOP for a while (note to self, call ahead before flying 148 miles to get breakfast). Thanks to modern technology, we punched in our location on the smart phone and discovered that we were only a short walking distance into the town of Chiloquin. So, we trudged across the airport and followed a path that led to the main road into town. From there we spied a roadside diner and after all was said and done we walked about 20 minutes from the tie down area. The diner grub was excellent, and think everyone had the pulled pork, but their burgers and other fare looked really good too. After filling our bellies, we walked back to the airport and performed our pre-flight duties and departed for home. Since there were some pretty strong headwinds forecast for the return flight, we opted to stop at 77S for fuel on the way back in order to not have to worry about arriving at KSLE near or below fuel minimums.