They changed the way that we do sim training. We used to, on day#1, spend the entire 4 hours running origination checklists, getting the flows down right, and you would do maybe 15 takeoffs, getting all the procedures down, etc.. etc...
Now we have what is called "Flight Based" training. Every sim session is run as a real flight, with 'passengers,' cargo, weight and balance issues, fuel planning issues, and system problems (that starts on day #2... so we get 1 day of an airplane that works normally.)
There are 10 sim sessions in all, in the course that I am taking, but sim#9 is a "Phase Check," basically a dress rehearsal for a checkride, and then #10 is the Type Ride itself. For me, I will also be getting in "initial ATP," for the Airline Transport Pilot License. This is the license that all airline Captains are required to have. This is the most difficult license to fly for, it has the highest grading standards, and since it is an "Initial Type" for me too, there is no retraining. Basically they need to see perfection.
So, here is the 'lowdown' on Sim Session #4.
The flight plan is a departure out of Palm Springs (KPSP,) to Los Angeles (KLAX.) Depart from the longer of the 2 runways in moderately bad weather, fly the "Cathedral 1 Departure," (a predesigned departure from an area, to keep us clear of the mountains, inbound traffic, etc.) get to a practice area, do some airwork (steep turns, and stalls for us,) Join up with the "Seavu 2 Arrival" into KLAX, which sits midway between Twentynine Palms and LAX, fly down the arrival, and down a particular approach into KLAX (ILS 25R.)
So here is how it actually goes:
Depart KPSP, and the departure goes this-a-way--
Upon departure, turn left 30 degrees (runway is on a 130 heading, so turn to a 100 heading.) crossing a radial from the PSP VORTAC (old school navaid type-- predates GPS by about 50 years,) turn further left to a 040 heading all the while climbing hard (must maintain at least 1400 feet/minute in the climb to clear the mountains.) Now that you have flown 1/4 of the way around PSP VORTAC, turn right to intercept a course outbound from the VORTAC. At 10 miles from PSP, you make a right turn, all the way back around to fly over PSP VORTAC. By this time, you are climbing through 8000', and can clear everything except the San Bernadino Mountains, which, of course, are right in front of you. So, you keep climbing, and then when you are over 12,000', you are clear of all mountainous terrain. This is where they clear you for the airwork.
Airwork consists of only a few maneouvers, but it is designed to show that you have mastered the capabilities of the aircraft in various flight regimes. Captains (but not FOs,) have to do a "Steep Turn," Which consists of a 45 degree banked turnaround 180 degrees, and then bank 45 degrees in the opposite direction, returning to your original heading. Simplissimo, no?
You have to hold your altitude within 100', your airspeed to within 10 kts, and return to your heading within 10 degrees. The most you bank on a regular flight is around 28 degrees. Most turns come in around 20 degrees or so. Every addition degree over 30 degrees requires quite a bit of "nose up" to make up for the loss of lift from turning (the wings are no longer directly flat to the earth, so their 'lift vector' is reduced. You need to fly a little nose high to make up for it. The steeper the bank, the higher you need to have the nose of the airplane to make up for it. On my aircraft, it is about 6 degrees nose up in a 45 degree banked turn. Then, when you are turning the aircraft to fly in the other direction, you roll the wings through 90 degrees of bank (45 left to 45 right,) and as you do that, the lift vector returns to your wings, and the plane wants to climb; so you have to modulate a nose down push as you roll through wings level, and then bring the nose smoothly and gradually back to 6 degrees up when you reach full bank in the other direction.
I rocked this.. ;). The altitude and airspeed indicators looked like someone had driven a nail through my 200 kt target speed, and my 12,000 altitude. Sweet.
Next is the stalls. Some of you might remember that tragedy in Bufalo NY last year. A crew didn't add power with the autopilot on, leveled off on an approach, and stalled the airplane (wings stall.. engines die. 'Stall' refers to the lift on the wings. Fly too slow, and you don't get enough lift to support the aircraft. If your wing ain't flying', you ain't flying'.) First up-- clean stall.
Simply put, this is flying along level, then going to idle on the engines, watching the airspeed decay until the wing stops flying, then recovering with minimum loss of altitude. Clean stalls are the simplest.
Departure stalls are done simulating a takeoff (at altitude, obviously... the ground is quite unforgiving.) you do this one with takeoff flaps set, and then a turn as you get slow (remember, turning reduces the lift vector on the wing from the paragraph above? That is what you are doing here.) Again, roll out, wings level, minimize altitude loss.
Then landing stalls. For this recovery, you are in full landing configuration, and this is what those guys in Buffalo had when they went in. You are very 'draggy' (full flaps, landing gear down, etc...) and it takes a bit more to recover. Not to mention (but I will,) you have to get the recovery calls out right while the airplane is bucking you trying to stop flying. Always exciting, even in the Sim.
So, satisfactory on all of those. Now we join the arrival into KLAX. This particular one is complicated, since there are numerous altitude crossings involved, and then the approach into LA has about a dozen crossing, too. They are taking you down over the mountains, and you have to remain safe. Simple enough... and then....
As you are about to land, you are told to "go around." You start climbing, clean the airplane up, and head out to the missed approach holding point. When you are settled in to figure out the hold, something happens... it is time for things to start breaking. I had a flap failure on climbout, so we diagnosed that, and then continued flying.
We were told by "ATC" (the instructor,) that LAX was closed because of a security breach, so we would be sent to Orange County. (KSNA.) This is a tight little runway packed into very $$$ homes who all call the police if you make too much noise flying over. There are all manner of special procedures in and out of here. So, we get out our info on KSNA, and head that-a-way.
We are cleared for a complicated approach that involves coming not quite straight into the runway, and as we get there, an airplane pulls out in front of us, and we are told to go around, AGAIN. As we clean the airplane up, we get a landing gear caution. So, I have my FO diagnose that, run the checklists, while I take stock of what we are going to do.
Somehow, the problem magically fixes itself, but not till we have run through 20 items on the checklist, and manually extended the gear using a fall back procedure to a back up procedure. Now we gots wheels again, so it's safe to land.
This time, we are given a different approach, one that is also not a 'normal' approach. The first was called an "LDA Approach," and that is a Landing Directional Aid. It is like a normal Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach that is standard at airline airports, except that it is offset from the center of the runway, so you come at it from about a 20 degree angle. The second approach we get is a Localizer Back Course Approach. This is where you take the lateral guidance from a runway, and use it to land in the opposite direction on that runway (hence, back course.)
This approach, of course, is not to be, and we go missed from that one, too. Finally, they bring us back for a repeat of the LOC BC, and we land from there.
Then, they zip me magically through the air, and set me up for an approach at Memphis. This is a circling approach, the type of which we would NEVER get in the real world... but it is a requirement, so we do it. Then, again through the magic of technology, they take my to JFK in New York, and I do another circling approach there.
Here is a circling approach. You fly the standard approach for a runway, down to a certain level off point. Then, you 'break off' the approach about 2 miles out, and circle around the airport in a predetermined direction and altitude, to land on a more favorable runway (due to winds, or something unspecified.)
You get to actually land those approaches, although just for kicks, my instructor gave me a missed from one of the, to see if I knew how to fly it properly, which of course I did.
All the while, you are running checklists, and flying the airplane. PRetty busy day.
And that is only the first 2 hours.
Thankfully, your training partner just has to re-do what you just did. Since my parner, Kevin, does not have that much experience (he is a new hire, first airline job,) it is good that he can watch them done right from someone who has seen it done many many times.
So that is how my day went.
Cheers!
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