Not too much really to tell about the last couple of days. Monday was a day of mostly study, and Tuesday we took our final systems test. It was 100 questions, and we had two hours to tkae it. I felt really prepared going into it and ended up getting an A. I was done within about 55 minutes or so, and was one of the first people done with the test. After we all were done, they called us back in and gave us our certificates and wings. They said that our groupw was kinda special, because out of every class, they almost always have at least one person who doesn't make it, and we all did. There's still a ways to go yet before we're done, but hopefully this is a good sign that we'll all make it through.
After we were done with class, a few of us went back down to the Red Iguana for some Mexican. It was a great time, and then we wandered around downtown SLC for a little while until we had to be back to catch our planes. I got on the 5:24 airplane to St. Louis, and after a little delay for a broken part, we were on our way. I'm done with that now, and go to simulator training in Fresno on July 8th. I planon staying here in St. Louis until next Wednesday or so, then going back to St. Paul for a few days. Don't be surprised if I don't write anything for awhile, cause I'm on a mini vacation! Peace!
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Marmots...
Friday was a pretty routine day, went to class, and did some more systems. Thankfully the last day of that. Friday was also an introduction to doing weight and balance calculations for our aircraft. There's a little math involved with that, but nothing that can't be done with a 2 dollar calculator. Friday evening Jason, Stef, Cindy and I went to the library to study....except the library closed just as we got there. So we ended up driving around downtown Salt Lake to find a place to study. We ended up studying in a Starbucks for a few hours before we decided to head back to the hotel for some dinner. The hotel has a grill that we're free to use, so Jason and I grilled some steak, and Cindy and Stef grilled some salmon. The girls also had a pizza that they needed to eat, but the hotel has no ovens in the room. So what did we do? Yep. Stuck the pizza on the grill. We put the grill on low, and in about 15 minutes, had a pretty decent pizza. I've never cooked pizza on the grill before!
Saturday woke up at about 9, and then Cindy, Jason, Stef and I went to breakfast at this little place called the Shilo Cafe in downtown. Good meal, not quite to par with the Highland Grill in St. Paul, but not bad. We then went to the library for about 4 hours (it was open this time thankfully) and then went back to the hotel to grab some lunch. At about 3:30 or so, we all drove to Park City. What a cool town. It was the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics, and you could still see all the ski jumps, bobsled runs, etc. Pretty sweet.
The main drag of Park City reminds me alot of downtown Stillwater in MN. Lots of quaint little shops placed right next to each other, and people everywhere. We parked and started walking down main street for awhile, looking into all the places along the way. When we got to the bottom of the hill, (it sits on a hill, we parked at the top of it) we saw that there was a ski lift taking people up to a higher part of the mountain. We decided to take the thing up to the top and see what there was to see. I've never ridden a ski lift during the summer before, kinda weird! We weren't expecting to see alot at the top, as this was primarily a ski hill, but we weren't dissappointed! The ride up had gorgeous views, as Park City kinda sits in a valley. When we got to the top, we saw some old buildings not too far down a little path, so we decided to go check them out. Turns out this hill used to be big for mining coal, and the buildings (from waaaaaaay back in the late 1800's/early 1900's) were still there. We were able to go inside these things and walk around. All the old machinery and equipment was still there. We were kinda surprised these buildings weren't boarded up cause there was glass from broken windows everywhere, and one of the buildings had a shaft that led to the mine itself which was, according to a sign, 1450 feet deep! While we were touring this place, we kept hearing these little high pitched whistles, and I couldn't help but think that they sounded familiar. As we walked around some more, I eventually found out what was making the sound..Marmots! Marmots are these little furry creatures about the size of beavers that live up in the mountains. I last saw them when I was in Rocky Mountain National Park at 12,000 feet! They're such cool little animals. I wasn't expecting to see them, but I guess we were up in their habitat range. (The place where we got off the lift was about 9,000 feet above sea level.)
After we rode down the chairlift, (another first for me, I've always skiied down the hill as opposed to taking the chairlift down) we set out to grab some grub. We decided on the Wasatch Pub, which also brewed it's own beer on site. That was some good dinner too. Jason and I each had a rack of ribs that were really good. The beer was pretty good too!
Today is mostly a study day. It's about 3 in the afternoon now, and I've been at it pretty solid since I woke up at 9. Day after tomorrow this part of training will all be over, and I can finally leave this dang hotel room! It's been nice, but after 3 weeks, it's time for a change of scenery. I also haven't driven a car in that long either. I hope I remember how!
Saturday woke up at about 9, and then Cindy, Jason, Stef and I went to breakfast at this little place called the Shilo Cafe in downtown. Good meal, not quite to par with the Highland Grill in St. Paul, but not bad. We then went to the library for about 4 hours (it was open this time thankfully) and then went back to the hotel to grab some lunch. At about 3:30 or so, we all drove to Park City. What a cool town. It was the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics, and you could still see all the ski jumps, bobsled runs, etc. Pretty sweet.
The main drag of Park City reminds me alot of downtown Stillwater in MN. Lots of quaint little shops placed right next to each other, and people everywhere. We parked and started walking down main street for awhile, looking into all the places along the way. When we got to the bottom of the hill, (it sits on a hill, we parked at the top of it) we saw that there was a ski lift taking people up to a higher part of the mountain. We decided to take the thing up to the top and see what there was to see. I've never ridden a ski lift during the summer before, kinda weird! We weren't expecting to see alot at the top, as this was primarily a ski hill, but we weren't dissappointed! The ride up had gorgeous views, as Park City kinda sits in a valley. When we got to the top, we saw some old buildings not too far down a little path, so we decided to go check them out. Turns out this hill used to be big for mining coal, and the buildings (from waaaaaaay back in the late 1800's/early 1900's) were still there. We were able to go inside these things and walk around. All the old machinery and equipment was still there. We were kinda surprised these buildings weren't boarded up cause there was glass from broken windows everywhere, and one of the buildings had a shaft that led to the mine itself which was, according to a sign, 1450 feet deep! While we were touring this place, we kept hearing these little high pitched whistles, and I couldn't help but think that they sounded familiar. As we walked around some more, I eventually found out what was making the sound..Marmots! Marmots are these little furry creatures about the size of beavers that live up in the mountains. I last saw them when I was in Rocky Mountain National Park at 12,000 feet! They're such cool little animals. I wasn't expecting to see them, but I guess we were up in their habitat range. (The place where we got off the lift was about 9,000 feet above sea level.)
After we rode down the chairlift, (another first for me, I've always skiied down the hill as opposed to taking the chairlift down) we set out to grab some grub. We decided on the Wasatch Pub, which also brewed it's own beer on site. That was some good dinner too. Jason and I each had a rack of ribs that were really good. The beer was pretty good too!
Today is mostly a study day. It's about 3 in the afternoon now, and I've been at it pretty solid since I woke up at 9. Day after tomorrow this part of training will all be over, and I can finally leave this dang hotel room! It's been nice, but after 3 weeks, it's time for a change of scenery. I also haven't driven a car in that long either. I hope I remember how!
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Another thing...
Totally forgot about Tuesday. Tuesday we had a scheduled power outage in the building so we couldn't do system stuff. Dang. We instead took the time to go out to an airplane and learn how to do a pre-flight. It was really cool to get into the actual airplane, and then go around it learning everything that we are looking for before we go flying each time. We also got to work all the emergency exits over the wings and everything. That was fun, and those doors are alot lighter than I thought that they would be! Well lunch came too soon, and by that time, the power was back on, so that afternoon it was more systems...yay!
The end is near...
Can't believe that I've been here for almost 3 weeks. Seems like such a short period of time...
Yesterday was a pretty normal day, we went to class, got a presentation on the flight control system I think. (Yes, I was paying attention, but all these days of systems tend to run together.) We had our emergency equipment test, which was fill in the blank before lunch. This test involved naming very specifically where all the emergency equipment was in the airplane. Not to brag, but I got 100%, and out of the 7 100%s there were in the class, mine and another guy's were the "most correct." So that was pretty cool. Went to lunch, had some more systems, then did our flows test. Again, flows are just the order that we push and pull all the switches and knobs when we are operating the aircraft. Some of them are pretty short, others are very long and involved. I did that, and the guy who was doing them was really cool. I went into a room where they had a mock-up of the cockpit, and he just told me which flow he wanted to see. I did them and he said that they were great, and didn't see anything wrong with them. That was pretty sweet too. Last night was kind of a gong show, cause a bunch of us got together to do homework, and we got that done, but not much else. That's ok though, cause we had two tests that day. We deserved a break right?
Today was much of the same, more systems, though today was out last day of those. Friday and Monday are mostly review days with a few other housekeeping things in between. Tonight a couple of us are getting together to study, though it's going to be a MUCH smaller group than last night. Not sure what the weekend will bring, but it's good that there's only one more test left before I get a little break! That will be awesome!
Yesterday was a pretty normal day, we went to class, got a presentation on the flight control system I think. (Yes, I was paying attention, but all these days of systems tend to run together.) We had our emergency equipment test, which was fill in the blank before lunch. This test involved naming very specifically where all the emergency equipment was in the airplane. Not to brag, but I got 100%, and out of the 7 100%s there were in the class, mine and another guy's were the "most correct." So that was pretty cool. Went to lunch, had some more systems, then did our flows test. Again, flows are just the order that we push and pull all the switches and knobs when we are operating the aircraft. Some of them are pretty short, others are very long and involved. I did that, and the guy who was doing them was really cool. I went into a room where they had a mock-up of the cockpit, and he just told me which flow he wanted to see. I did them and he said that they were great, and didn't see anything wrong with them. That was pretty sweet too. Last night was kind of a gong show, cause a bunch of us got together to do homework, and we got that done, but not much else. That's ok though, cause we had two tests that day. We deserved a break right?
Today was much of the same, more systems, though today was out last day of those. Friday and Monday are mostly review days with a few other housekeeping things in between. Tonight a couple of us are getting together to study, though it's going to be a MUCH smaller group than last night. Not sure what the weekend will bring, but it's good that there's only one more test left before I get a little break! That will be awesome!
Monday, June 19, 2006
Dream of Californication
Finally broke the mediocrity of classroom study today.
We started out by having a presentation on emrgency equipment, which included how do use a first aid kit, some basic first aid stuff, and how to use a defibrilator. All of our airplanes have defibrilators, so we're supossed to know how to use them, even though we'll hopefully be busy flying the airplane while the flight attendant takes care of that. We also got a demostration on how to use the inflatable life vests that are carried as well as the quick donning masks. According to the FAA, each pilot must have an oxygen mask at his or her disposal in the event of a depressurization of the aircraft. The FAA goes on to say that this mask must be able to be put on in no more than 5 seconds and be done with one hand. So after our teacher demonstrated, we got to try. It was pretty fun. The self inflating life vests just have a little CO2 cartridge in them that you puncture to inflate the vest with carbon dioxide. So guess what? We got to try that too. If any of you have seen the movie Tommy Boy where Chris Farley and David Spade are posing as flight attendants...well if you have, it was alot like that. If you haven't, we'll watch it together sometime.
We of course couldn't go through emergency equipment without going over the fire extinguisher, so we went over that, and we got to practice with those too! They had a little fire pit in one of the corners of the parking lot set up and we all took turns putting out fires that they started in there with the fire extinguisher.
When we got back from that, our normal instructor came in and said that he had the list of where we were all going to be based. Looks like I'm headed to Fresno for a base after I'm done with my training. I'm fine with it and was actually expecting it cause that's where the most openings were. Mom and Dad, I'm sure you have a million questions for me, (where are you going to live? how are you going to find out where to live? are you going to live with someone? when are you going to start looking? do you know where to even look? etc, etc, etc, etc....) let me tell you the answer to ALL of your questions regarding this subject: I DON'T KNOW. Whatever questions you have, that's the answer. I have too much going on right now to even start thinking about that, so you are forbidden to ask me about that until St. Louis, then ask away.
The rest of class was pretty normal, more systems stuff. Tonight was studying for my flow test on Wednesday, as well as going over emergency equipment stuff too, cause we also have a test on that on Wednesday. Yes, Dad, I'm feeling fine about all this, it's not overwhelming, taking deep breaths ;)
We started out by having a presentation on emrgency equipment, which included how do use a first aid kit, some basic first aid stuff, and how to use a defibrilator. All of our airplanes have defibrilators, so we're supossed to know how to use them, even though we'll hopefully be busy flying the airplane while the flight attendant takes care of that. We also got a demostration on how to use the inflatable life vests that are carried as well as the quick donning masks. According to the FAA, each pilot must have an oxygen mask at his or her disposal in the event of a depressurization of the aircraft. The FAA goes on to say that this mask must be able to be put on in no more than 5 seconds and be done with one hand. So after our teacher demonstrated, we got to try. It was pretty fun. The self inflating life vests just have a little CO2 cartridge in them that you puncture to inflate the vest with carbon dioxide. So guess what? We got to try that too. If any of you have seen the movie Tommy Boy where Chris Farley and David Spade are posing as flight attendants...well if you have, it was alot like that. If you haven't, we'll watch it together sometime.
We of course couldn't go through emergency equipment without going over the fire extinguisher, so we went over that, and we got to practice with those too! They had a little fire pit in one of the corners of the parking lot set up and we all took turns putting out fires that they started in there with the fire extinguisher.
When we got back from that, our normal instructor came in and said that he had the list of where we were all going to be based. Looks like I'm headed to Fresno for a base after I'm done with my training. I'm fine with it and was actually expecting it cause that's where the most openings were. Mom and Dad, I'm sure you have a million questions for me, (where are you going to live? how are you going to find out where to live? are you going to live with someone? when are you going to start looking? do you know where to even look? etc, etc, etc, etc....) let me tell you the answer to ALL of your questions regarding this subject: I DON'T KNOW. Whatever questions you have, that's the answer. I have too much going on right now to even start thinking about that, so you are forbidden to ask me about that until St. Louis, then ask away.
The rest of class was pretty normal, more systems stuff. Tonight was studying for my flow test on Wednesday, as well as going over emergency equipment stuff too, cause we also have a test on that on Wednesday. Yes, Dad, I'm feeling fine about all this, it's not overwhelming, taking deep breaths ;)
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Your Mom Goes to College...
I've kinda been slacking on this whole blog thing for the last couple of days. Sorry about that.
Friday we had a different grouns school instructor. He was as really cool guy and helped us sort out any questions that we were having on the systems that we had previously been over. He was a really concise guy, and only told us what we really needed to know about each system. We have him again on Monday and Tuesday and I'm really looking forward to it.
Friday night we went to Biaggi's. It's a big italian restaurant chain (I think we have one in Minneapolis) Pretty good stuff. We went for dessert to Ben's Cookies. It's a cookie place (hence the name) that was started in Oxford, England. They're very very good cookies, and this store is the only one that is in the United States. That's probably cause the Winter Olympics were here some years ago and they wanted to bring in as much different kinds of stuff as they could. Anyway, super good.
Saturday I woke up at 6, which was rough cause that's earlier than I would normally wake up during the week. Went to the airport with some other people to do our observation flights. I got on a flight to Elko, NV. It was really cool sitting up in the cockpit of the aircraft and seeing the captain and first officer go through all the different stuff that we've been learning in class! they do it soooooo quick! I'll get there eventually. Elko was a nice little city which was about an hour away from Salt Lake by plane. Surrounded by mountains, so the flight over we had plenty to look at! After I got back at about 11, went back to the hotel room to study a little more. I soon started falling asleep at my computer, and took a nap which was supposed to be like 45 minutes but ended up being about two hours. Studied some more with a study group that evening. Got done there at about 8 or 9, then watched the movie Snatch until about 12. Finally made it to sleep at about 2 am, cause Spiderman was on after I got done watching the first movie, so I watched that one too.
Sunday woke up at about 10:30, studied, and now I'm here. Stefanie, Cindy and I are going to go to the Salt Lake Library (which is apparently a really cool looking place) to study for a little longer this afternoon. Chilling is planned for the rest of the night, then Monday starts the last full week of ground school! Where have the days gone!?!?
Friday we had a different grouns school instructor. He was as really cool guy and helped us sort out any questions that we were having on the systems that we had previously been over. He was a really concise guy, and only told us what we really needed to know about each system. We have him again on Monday and Tuesday and I'm really looking forward to it.
Friday night we went to Biaggi's. It's a big italian restaurant chain (I think we have one in Minneapolis) Pretty good stuff. We went for dessert to Ben's Cookies. It's a cookie place (hence the name) that was started in Oxford, England. They're very very good cookies, and this store is the only one that is in the United States. That's probably cause the Winter Olympics were here some years ago and they wanted to bring in as much different kinds of stuff as they could. Anyway, super good.
Saturday I woke up at 6, which was rough cause that's earlier than I would normally wake up during the week. Went to the airport with some other people to do our observation flights. I got on a flight to Elko, NV. It was really cool sitting up in the cockpit of the aircraft and seeing the captain and first officer go through all the different stuff that we've been learning in class! they do it soooooo quick! I'll get there eventually. Elko was a nice little city which was about an hour away from Salt Lake by plane. Surrounded by mountains, so the flight over we had plenty to look at! After I got back at about 11, went back to the hotel room to study a little more. I soon started falling asleep at my computer, and took a nap which was supposed to be like 45 minutes but ended up being about two hours. Studied some more with a study group that evening. Got done there at about 8 or 9, then watched the movie Snatch until about 12. Finally made it to sleep at about 2 am, cause Spiderman was on after I got done watching the first movie, so I watched that one too.
Sunday woke up at about 10:30, studied, and now I'm here. Stefanie, Cindy and I are going to go to the Salt Lake Library (which is apparently a really cool looking place) to study for a little longer this afternoon. Chilling is planned for the rest of the night, then Monday starts the last full week of ground school! Where have the days gone!?!?
Thursday, June 15, 2006
See what condition my condition is in...
The last two days have been pretty uneventful. I took my limitations test on Wednesday morning, that went fine. We also started systems on Wednesday. Yay. Wednesday we went over the general airplane layout, furnishings and the engine. Today was more systems, which included the propeller, warning systems, electrical, and the fuel system. Systems are hard, but not overwhelming or anything. Just gotta take it one step at a time. The only hard part about systems is just how much and how quickly we've discussed things, but as I go over it in my head and after class, it's definetly something that can be handled. I'm going to try to go on my observation flight on Saturday morning, though I'm not sure where I'm going to go quite yet.
My roommate, Jason, is going home to Florida for the weekend, so I have the place to myself. Not that I'm able to take advantage of it or anything, cause my life is Brasilia systems. Yay.
Went to Lofte's tonight (the bar next door) to get our weekly helping of free wings for SkyWest people. BBQ that the hotel hosts was last night, another good time.
Sorry this last post is so boring, but if you're not familiar with aircraft systems, anything that I would say about individual systems wouldn't mean anythig to you! Weekend will be nice....bonne nuit.
My roommate, Jason, is going home to Florida for the weekend, so I have the place to myself. Not that I'm able to take advantage of it or anything, cause my life is Brasilia systems. Yay.
Went to Lofte's tonight (the bar next door) to get our weekly helping of free wings for SkyWest people. BBQ that the hotel hosts was last night, another good time.
Sorry this last post is so boring, but if you're not familiar with aircraft systems, anything that I would say about individual systems wouldn't mean anythig to you! Weekend will be nice....bonne nuit.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
I've reached my limitation on limitations
Today was a pretty good day overall. Started out with the indoctrination test. It was a 50 question test that we had two hours to take. I had to get an 80% to pass. I was done in 30 minutes and got a 98%. I guess that's what you get when your life revolves around studying for a week and a half. Ugh. Back to it tonight, but I'll explain that later.
The rest of the day was learning about CRM, or Crew Resource Management. Not only had I taken a class on this subject at UND, but it was a concept that I taught to my students, so I had a fairly good grasp of it. A little background for you; back in the day (pre-1980) Captains of airplanes were gods. What they say went, even if it wasn't always right, and co-pilots didn't really and couldn't really say otherwise. The reason for this was that back then captains were primarily ex-military, most with extensive combat training. The thought of the day was that if a pilot could fly a fighter, he could fly a jumbo jet no problem. Well, that worked out for oh...about 5 minutes. Nobody's perfect, but captains were treated as such. Therefore, if a co-pilot saw something wrong, they didn't question the captain's authority or decisions. Needless to say, it didn't take long before people started dying. It really all began with a United Airlines flight that went down back in 1981. The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board, they conduct all accident investigations with the help of the FAA) concluded that the accident was preventable if only the captains authority hadn't been so heavily relied upon, and the whole crew worked together. That's when CRM really came about and accident rates started to drop dramatically. It basically means that everyone's opinion in the cockpit and using all available resources to come to a positive outcome. So even me, a brand new first officer, can challenge the decision of the company's most senior captain without fear of any consequences. One of the best illustrations of CRM actually working out really well was United Flight 232. Enroute to Chicago, Flight 232 had a catastrophic failure of it's number 2 engine. (It was a DC-10, which has one engine under each wing, and an engine mounted on the tail. The number 2 engine was on the tail.) The failure in and of itself wasn't a big deal. The aircraft is perfectly capable of flying along on two engines. The crew quickly realized that they did not have any control over the airplane. The DC-10 has three hydraulic systems which are used to control the roll, pitch, and bank of the aircraft. It is a triple-redundant system (that's why there are three systems) so that if there were a failure of any two of those systems, there would be another one to enable the pilots to control the airplane. Well, all three of those systems went out. When the engine on the tail failed, it threw a fan blade into a part of the aircraft near the rear. This very spot on the aircraft was the EXACT place and the ONLY SPOT on the aircraft that ALL THREE hyrdaulic system lines were placed next to each other. Can you guess what it did? Yep. Sliced right through all three. So it wasn't that they systems weren't working, it was that there was no fluid in the lines. The crew got on the radios with the main maintenance hangar for United back in San Francisco, and they told them what was going on. Maintenance had no clue what to do, cause there was no porcedure for this type of thing. It wasn't supposed to happen. By the way, a plane with no way to control pitch, bank, and yaw is like a car without steering. The crew figured out that they were able to descend the aircraft by reducing power, and turn the aircraft by changing the power settings of the engines that were working out on the wings. They got cleared for an approach into Sioux City, Iowa. One other problem that they had is that brakes were part of the hydraulic system, so they were now useless. Imagine putting a 600,000 pound hunk of metal on the ground at about 250 mph with no way to stop it and you may get the idea. It takes a LONG way to stop on its own. Well, in the end, they make it to the runway (a major miracle in and of itself) but when they landed, they hit hard enough (remember they had really no way to arrest the descent of the airplane) that they sheared off all the gear. So they slid on the belly of the aircraft about half way down the runway, but at that point, the right wing hit something on the ground, which made the aircraft tumble THREE TIMES end over end. It finally came to rest in a field off to the side of that runway. About 111 people died, but 180 people lived. The reason that this is viewed as such a success is because those people who lived shouldn't have. It was through the efforts of the crew, all working together, that brought that airplane down, saving as many lives as were saved. Google search United 232 sometime. It's a great story.
Anyway, tonight is pretty much all studying. We have a limitations test tomorrow that I can only get 2 wrong on. (There are ALOT of limitations) so I've pretty much been studying for that, though I think I've pretty much got them down, so it shouldn't be too bad. Is it a problem that it's only Tuesday night, and already I can't wait for the weekend? Oh well. We have to be at class tomorrow at 7 am instead of the normal 8, so I'm off to bed!
The rest of the day was learning about CRM, or Crew Resource Management. Not only had I taken a class on this subject at UND, but it was a concept that I taught to my students, so I had a fairly good grasp of it. A little background for you; back in the day (pre-1980) Captains of airplanes were gods. What they say went, even if it wasn't always right, and co-pilots didn't really and couldn't really say otherwise. The reason for this was that back then captains were primarily ex-military, most with extensive combat training. The thought of the day was that if a pilot could fly a fighter, he could fly a jumbo jet no problem. Well, that worked out for oh...about 5 minutes. Nobody's perfect, but captains were treated as such. Therefore, if a co-pilot saw something wrong, they didn't question the captain's authority or decisions. Needless to say, it didn't take long before people started dying. It really all began with a United Airlines flight that went down back in 1981. The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board, they conduct all accident investigations with the help of the FAA) concluded that the accident was preventable if only the captains authority hadn't been so heavily relied upon, and the whole crew worked together. That's when CRM really came about and accident rates started to drop dramatically. It basically means that everyone's opinion in the cockpit and using all available resources to come to a positive outcome. So even me, a brand new first officer, can challenge the decision of the company's most senior captain without fear of any consequences. One of the best illustrations of CRM actually working out really well was United Flight 232. Enroute to Chicago, Flight 232 had a catastrophic failure of it's number 2 engine. (It was a DC-10, which has one engine under each wing, and an engine mounted on the tail. The number 2 engine was on the tail.) The failure in and of itself wasn't a big deal. The aircraft is perfectly capable of flying along on two engines. The crew quickly realized that they did not have any control over the airplane. The DC-10 has three hydraulic systems which are used to control the roll, pitch, and bank of the aircraft. It is a triple-redundant system (that's why there are three systems) so that if there were a failure of any two of those systems, there would be another one to enable the pilots to control the airplane. Well, all three of those systems went out. When the engine on the tail failed, it threw a fan blade into a part of the aircraft near the rear. This very spot on the aircraft was the EXACT place and the ONLY SPOT on the aircraft that ALL THREE hyrdaulic system lines were placed next to each other. Can you guess what it did? Yep. Sliced right through all three. So it wasn't that they systems weren't working, it was that there was no fluid in the lines. The crew got on the radios with the main maintenance hangar for United back in San Francisco, and they told them what was going on. Maintenance had no clue what to do, cause there was no porcedure for this type of thing. It wasn't supposed to happen. By the way, a plane with no way to control pitch, bank, and yaw is like a car without steering. The crew figured out that they were able to descend the aircraft by reducing power, and turn the aircraft by changing the power settings of the engines that were working out on the wings. They got cleared for an approach into Sioux City, Iowa. One other problem that they had is that brakes were part of the hydraulic system, so they were now useless. Imagine putting a 600,000 pound hunk of metal on the ground at about 250 mph with no way to stop it and you may get the idea. It takes a LONG way to stop on its own. Well, in the end, they make it to the runway (a major miracle in and of itself) but when they landed, they hit hard enough (remember they had really no way to arrest the descent of the airplane) that they sheared off all the gear. So they slid on the belly of the aircraft about half way down the runway, but at that point, the right wing hit something on the ground, which made the aircraft tumble THREE TIMES end over end. It finally came to rest in a field off to the side of that runway. About 111 people died, but 180 people lived. The reason that this is viewed as such a success is because those people who lived shouldn't have. It was through the efforts of the crew, all working together, that brought that airplane down, saving as many lives as were saved. Google search United 232 sometime. It's a great story.
Anyway, tonight is pretty much all studying. We have a limitations test tomorrow that I can only get 2 wrong on. (There are ALOT of limitations) so I've pretty much been studying for that, though I think I've pretty much got them down, so it shouldn't be too bad. Is it a problem that it's only Tuesday night, and already I can't wait for the weekend? Oh well. We have to be at class tomorrow at 7 am instead of the normal 8, so I'm off to bed!
Monday, June 12, 2006
I think my cerebellum just fused...
So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
Sorry, the movie Caddyshack was on earlier, and that's my favorite quote from it, spoken by Bill Murray.
The first part of class today was mostly videos. We watched videos on CFIT and windshear. CFIT stands for Controlled Flight Into Terrain. If you can believe it, there are pilots (at about the rate of one every two weeks throughout the world) that take a perfectly good airplane and fly it right into the ground. (Non-purposely) The problem is that sometimes pilots get distracted doing other thing and lose their situational awareness, and if they're flying at night or in instrument conditions, they won't know that they're getting close to a mountain for example. So we learned some of the things that CFIT accidents have in common and how to avoid them. We finished up the morning taking a few small tests online about CFIT and windshear, and got out for lunch early.
After lunch, we had a review for our big Indoctrination Test we have tomorrow. The instructor who did the review was a different one than we normally have, so I was nice to get a different perspective on things. We got to ask questions, and if it was something that he though "we'd see again sometime in the very near future," he'd tell us so. Hopefully I have a prett good idea of what's going to be going on tomorrow.
After class, my roommate Jason, Kate and Cally (two other girls from my class) went out and got groceries. After that, I sat down and made a little question/answer sheet based upon what we went over in class. On my way to print it out, I met Charlie, another classmate, in the hall to say that he and some other people were having a small study group. Jason and I went to that for awhile, and then came back to the room and studied some more. I think I'm pretty well ready, but I'm going to go over stuff and then probably going to wake up early and go over stuff then. I'm better off than some of those people in the study group though. So I got that going for me, which is nice...
Sorry, the movie Caddyshack was on earlier, and that's my favorite quote from it, spoken by Bill Murray.
The first part of class today was mostly videos. We watched videos on CFIT and windshear. CFIT stands for Controlled Flight Into Terrain. If you can believe it, there are pilots (at about the rate of one every two weeks throughout the world) that take a perfectly good airplane and fly it right into the ground. (Non-purposely) The problem is that sometimes pilots get distracted doing other thing and lose their situational awareness, and if they're flying at night or in instrument conditions, they won't know that they're getting close to a mountain for example. So we learned some of the things that CFIT accidents have in common and how to avoid them. We finished up the morning taking a few small tests online about CFIT and windshear, and got out for lunch early.
After lunch, we had a review for our big Indoctrination Test we have tomorrow. The instructor who did the review was a different one than we normally have, so I was nice to get a different perspective on things. We got to ask questions, and if it was something that he though "we'd see again sometime in the very near future," he'd tell us so. Hopefully I have a prett good idea of what's going to be going on tomorrow.
After class, my roommate Jason, Kate and Cally (two other girls from my class) went out and got groceries. After that, I sat down and made a little question/answer sheet based upon what we went over in class. On my way to print it out, I met Charlie, another classmate, in the hall to say that he and some other people were having a small study group. Jason and I went to that for awhile, and then came back to the room and studied some more. I think I'm pretty well ready, but I'm going to go over stuff and then probably going to wake up early and go over stuff then. I'm better off than some of those people in the study group though. So I got that going for me, which is nice...
Sunday, June 11, 2006
What's in a Day?
Not too much to talk about today. Woke up at 9, started studying. Woo Hoo! With the exception of about an hour and a half, studying was pretty constant from then until now. (8:45) Didn't really know I could study that long. The last hour and a half or so was spent with Jason, Cindy and Stef doing a little groups study action for our test on Tuesday. Other than that though, really not alot happened today. Sorry guys. I know you all live vicariously through me, my life being so awesome and all. Rest assured, however, that this week will be a fun filled one. I guarantee it!
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Sleep, Raw Fish, and Things Inbetween
As my eyes opened this morning, I was really hoping that my body hadn't adapted to the early wakeup times this past week. I was glad to see that it hadn't, and that it was 9 o'clock. Sweeeeeet.
Pretty much rolled out of bed and went over to my computer and started some studying. I've been highlighting and starring the things in the powerpoints and the homework that our instructor has been telling us we "might see again." I've put them all on a word document to help me focus on those ones better. I got that mostly done, and I ended up with about 60 items. It's a 50 question test, so that sounds about right to me. I continued to study my flows, which SkyWest has made easier for us by giving us a program that we can use on our computer to help train. The program brings up a picture of the cockpit, and you can tell it which checklist you want to do. It then allows you to go and click on the buttons and it will tell you whether you're right or wrong. Those two things took up most of the afternoon, though in there I did manage to cook some breakfast (eggs over easy, didn't even break to yolk, and an english muffin) and take a shower.
About 4ish or so, one of the people who was over last night, (Stefanie) called to say that she and her roommate (Cindy) were going to go to a place called Thanksgiving Point. (Cindy has a car) So Jason, my roommate and sim partner, Cindy, Stefanie and I all rolled down there. It was about 20 minutes south of the city via I-15. On the way down, we saw about 10 people parachuting all at the same time. It was pretty cool to see tham all there, and they were pretty close together too! You'll never catch me doing that. I fly airplanes, not jump out of them.
Anyway, Thanksgiving Point is this little area off the interstate with a bunch of shops, a couple of gardens, a small petting zoo and a restaurant. We were going to eat at the restaurant, but entrees started at 20 bucks buck and went up VERY steeply from there. Needless to say, it was a little out of out price range. (Go to www.thanksgivingpoint.com for more info)
Cindy had driven around downtown Salt Lake before, and new of a area where there were alot of restaurants, so we decided to head down there. It's a really cool little area, with shops, food, horsedrawn carriage rides, and a bunch of other stuff. It looked really new, and we found out it had been built for the Winter Olympics that were held there a number of years ago. We decided to go to a sushi place called the Happy Sumo. Well, the girls wanted to go there, Jason and I just kinda went along for the ride. I should say right now that I'm not a big fan of fish, especially the raw kind, but having never having had sushi before, I thought what the heck. It actually turned out to not be too bad! There were a few that I liked, a few that I didn't like. The web address for the place is www.happysumosushi.com. Click on their MENU tab, and we had the Playboy roll, Baja roll, Vegas roll, Firecracker roll, Yummy Tuna roll, and the Marz roll. The Vegas roll was my favorite. After I'm done writing this, I think I'm gonna go over my flows one more time, then watch some tv and call it a night. Tomorrow's gonna be a full day of the books, so I might as well enjoy my time away from them while I can!
Pretty much rolled out of bed and went over to my computer and started some studying. I've been highlighting and starring the things in the powerpoints and the homework that our instructor has been telling us we "might see again." I've put them all on a word document to help me focus on those ones better. I got that mostly done, and I ended up with about 60 items. It's a 50 question test, so that sounds about right to me. I continued to study my flows, which SkyWest has made easier for us by giving us a program that we can use on our computer to help train. The program brings up a picture of the cockpit, and you can tell it which checklist you want to do. It then allows you to go and click on the buttons and it will tell you whether you're right or wrong. Those two things took up most of the afternoon, though in there I did manage to cook some breakfast (eggs over easy, didn't even break to yolk, and an english muffin) and take a shower.
About 4ish or so, one of the people who was over last night, (Stefanie) called to say that she and her roommate (Cindy) were going to go to a place called Thanksgiving Point. (Cindy has a car) So Jason, my roommate and sim partner, Cindy, Stefanie and I all rolled down there. It was about 20 minutes south of the city via I-15. On the way down, we saw about 10 people parachuting all at the same time. It was pretty cool to see tham all there, and they were pretty close together too! You'll never catch me doing that. I fly airplanes, not jump out of them.
Anyway, Thanksgiving Point is this little area off the interstate with a bunch of shops, a couple of gardens, a small petting zoo and a restaurant. We were going to eat at the restaurant, but entrees started at 20 bucks buck and went up VERY steeply from there. Needless to say, it was a little out of out price range. (Go to www.thanksgivingpoint.com for more info)
Cindy had driven around downtown Salt Lake before, and new of a area where there were alot of restaurants, so we decided to head down there. It's a really cool little area, with shops, food, horsedrawn carriage rides, and a bunch of other stuff. It looked really new, and we found out it had been built for the Winter Olympics that were held there a number of years ago. We decided to go to a sushi place called the Happy Sumo. Well, the girls wanted to go there, Jason and I just kinda went along for the ride. I should say right now that I'm not a big fan of fish, especially the raw kind, but having never having had sushi before, I thought what the heck. It actually turned out to not be too bad! There were a few that I liked, a few that I didn't like. The web address for the place is www.happysumosushi.com. Click on their MENU tab, and we had the Playboy roll, Baja roll, Vegas roll, Firecracker roll, Yummy Tuna roll, and the Marz roll. The Vegas roll was my favorite. After I'm done writing this, I think I'm gonna go over my flows one more time, then watch some tv and call it a night. Tomorrow's gonna be a full day of the books, so I might as well enjoy my time away from them while I can!
Friday, June 09, 2006
God's Middle Name is Weekend
This whole past week gave a new meaning to thank God it's Friday. We've been here for a week, and it seems like forever. It's been a fun week, and the weekend is going to be mostly studying, but I'm so glad to be able to SLEEP IN.
Today we started by going over homework. More foot stomping there, so I have a pretty good idea of what's going to be on my first test on Company Indoctrination. We then watched an hour long video on how to read approach charts. This was kind of redundant for me, cause this is the very stuff that I've been teaching my students at UND for the last 2 years.
After lunch we finally got our badges, so now we can jumpseat on almost any airline, anywhere. If I wanted to go to France for the weekend now, I could! For free! Kinda cool huh?
During the last part of class we broke up into groups and went with different instructors to make sure we were learning our flows properly. That was kinda fun, our instructor was really cool and knowledgable.
After class, a bunch of us went out for some really authentic mexican at this really hole in the wall place called the Red Iguana. It was really good and we knew it would be once we got there cause there was a line going out the door to get in! There were seven of us there, but only one five seat car, so some of us got left while the others were driven back. We decided not to wait for the person to come back so we started to walk back the hotel. It started to rain just a little bit on the way back, biut it didn't last long. After the rain there was the coolest double rainbow!
When we got back to the hotel, we all piled into my room and watched a movie. Doesn't really matter how late we stay up, cause we can sleep in tomorrow! Praise the Lord!
Today we started by going over homework. More foot stomping there, so I have a pretty good idea of what's going to be on my first test on Company Indoctrination. We then watched an hour long video on how to read approach charts. This was kind of redundant for me, cause this is the very stuff that I've been teaching my students at UND for the last 2 years.
After lunch we finally got our badges, so now we can jumpseat on almost any airline, anywhere. If I wanted to go to France for the weekend now, I could! For free! Kinda cool huh?
During the last part of class we broke up into groups and went with different instructors to make sure we were learning our flows properly. That was kinda fun, our instructor was really cool and knowledgable.
After class, a bunch of us went out for some really authentic mexican at this really hole in the wall place called the Red Iguana. It was really good and we knew it would be once we got there cause there was a line going out the door to get in! There were seven of us there, but only one five seat car, so some of us got left while the others were driven back. We decided not to wait for the person to come back so we started to walk back the hotel. It started to rain just a little bit on the way back, biut it didn't last long. After the rain there was the coolest double rainbow!
When we got back to the hotel, we all piled into my room and watched a movie. Doesn't really matter how late we stay up, cause we can sleep in tomorrow! Praise the Lord!
Thursday, June 08, 2006
My brain looks like chunky guacamole
Today...I'm not quite sure what we covered. Well, I know what we covered, just in not what order, so bear with me. I need a weeeknd.
We reviewed or homework from last night first thing this morning. We have a test on all this indoctrination stuff sometime next week. Our instructor is making it very easy for us to figure out what might be on the test though cause every now and then he says things like, "You might see this again." So those things have been getting extra highlights on my homework. We then started going over MORE indoctrination stuff, but now at least it's not all company policy. We're talking about weather and performance and stuff like that so we're actually getting involved with things instead of just sitting listening to lectures.
We're also having to start figuring out where we want to TRY and be based once we're done with training. I say try because being at the bottom of the barrel seniority wise, we get whatever's left. Looks like a number of us will be based in Fresno, because that's the base with the most openings, but where ever I do end up getting based, if it's not where I want to be, I can always put in a request for a transfer. So who knows what the future brings.
We also talked today about the 2 observation flights that we have to do before the end of class. It's kind of unusual that SkyWest does this, because not alot of other places do. So I get to do 2 flights in the cockpit of the airplane to observe procedures and stuff like that. I may try to get on a flight to Yellowstone or something cool. We'll just have to see what the passenger loads look like. Those will be coming up not this weekend, but the one after that.
Tonight is more studying, but a few of us are going to wander over to a bar next door for some reduced price food that they give to SkyWest people every Thursday night. I'm not expecting greatness, but cheap food is good food. Flows, limitations and indoc material is the food of choice for the mind tonight.
We reviewed or homework from last night first thing this morning. We have a test on all this indoctrination stuff sometime next week. Our instructor is making it very easy for us to figure out what might be on the test though cause every now and then he says things like, "You might see this again." So those things have been getting extra highlights on my homework. We then started going over MORE indoctrination stuff, but now at least it's not all company policy. We're talking about weather and performance and stuff like that so we're actually getting involved with things instead of just sitting listening to lectures.
We're also having to start figuring out where we want to TRY and be based once we're done with training. I say try because being at the bottom of the barrel seniority wise, we get whatever's left. Looks like a number of us will be based in Fresno, because that's the base with the most openings, but where ever I do end up getting based, if it's not where I want to be, I can always put in a request for a transfer. So who knows what the future brings.
We also talked today about the 2 observation flights that we have to do before the end of class. It's kind of unusual that SkyWest does this, because not alot of other places do. So I get to do 2 flights in the cockpit of the airplane to observe procedures and stuff like that. I may try to get on a flight to Yellowstone or something cool. We'll just have to see what the passenger loads look like. Those will be coming up not this weekend, but the one after that.
Tonight is more studying, but a few of us are going to wander over to a bar next door for some reduced price food that they give to SkyWest people every Thursday night. I'm not expecting greatness, but cheap food is good food. Flows, limitations and indoc material is the food of choice for the mind tonight.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
You have much to learn, young grasshopper
Day three began as the rest have. Wake up, morning stuff, off to class at 8.
We started out the day today with a presentation from Tina, who works in the security dept. at SkyWest. We were briefed on airport security, the Transportation Security Administration, and the FAA. We were also told about Federal Air Marshalls, LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers) and other people who might carry weapons onto our airplanes that are leagally able to do so. We were briefed on terrorism, and watched a video about various items that people try to smuggle onboard aircraft. (Some of which are VERY clever) A large portion of the video covered explosives and how they could be carried onboard. (Don't get any ideas, it's next to impossible.) We were also taught the airline's rules governing how to deal with terrorist. Basically all you need to know about that is don't try to hijack an airplane nowadays, cause you ain't gonna get very far. We also learned about intercepting procedures just in case we ever needed an escort by a pair of F-16 Fighter Jets.
After that, we learned some basic defence techniques, and I now how do disable any would-be hijacker in a number of ways. Hopefully I'll never have to use any of those on you.
Again it was a nice day so we decided to eat outside. After lunch I had a little while before class started again so I used it to continue memorizing limitations. The afternoon consisted of more company indoc stuff. I did find out today what my sim schedule is. After class lets out on the 27th of June, I have about a 10 day break before I start the sims on July 9th. That's kinda nice, cause I get a little break and I'll be able to come home for the 4th of July. (Hopefully. Things can change.) I also switched rooms in my hotel today and am now rooming with my sim partner, so that's kinda nice.
Every Wednesday night the hotel throws a BBQ for us SkyWest people. It was fun to be outside, get a free meal and meet some of the other people who are in training. (There are other groundschools going on right now besides ours.) I did learn that there are a few more UND people here than I thought. I ran into Josh Ritter, a friend of mine who just got hired here back in April. Tonight: more studying.
We started out the day today with a presentation from Tina, who works in the security dept. at SkyWest. We were briefed on airport security, the Transportation Security Administration, and the FAA. We were also told about Federal Air Marshalls, LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers) and other people who might carry weapons onto our airplanes that are leagally able to do so. We were briefed on terrorism, and watched a video about various items that people try to smuggle onboard aircraft. (Some of which are VERY clever) A large portion of the video covered explosives and how they could be carried onboard. (Don't get any ideas, it's next to impossible.) We were also taught the airline's rules governing how to deal with terrorist. Basically all you need to know about that is don't try to hijack an airplane nowadays, cause you ain't gonna get very far. We also learned about intercepting procedures just in case we ever needed an escort by a pair of F-16 Fighter Jets.
After that, we learned some basic defence techniques, and I now how do disable any would-be hijacker in a number of ways. Hopefully I'll never have to use any of those on you.
Again it was a nice day so we decided to eat outside. After lunch I had a little while before class started again so I used it to continue memorizing limitations. The afternoon consisted of more company indoc stuff. I did find out today what my sim schedule is. After class lets out on the 27th of June, I have about a 10 day break before I start the sims on July 9th. That's kinda nice, cause I get a little break and I'll be able to come home for the 4th of July. (Hopefully. Things can change.) I also switched rooms in my hotel today and am now rooming with my sim partner, so that's kinda nice.
Every Wednesday night the hotel throws a BBQ for us SkyWest people. It was fun to be outside, get a free meal and meet some of the other people who are in training. (There are other groundschools going on right now besides ours.) I did learn that there are a few more UND people here than I thought. I ran into Josh Ritter, a friend of mine who just got hired here back in April. Tonight: more studying.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
I can't remember the rest but...
Today wasn't too bad of a day. Woke up and got ready, class at 8. I'm starting to get to know some of the people in class, all of them seem really cool. Memorizing names is a little farther off yet, but it'll come in time. Hopefully.
Class started with a review of our homework, and then a greeting by the Director of Training. Nice guy, but holy cow. He laid it all on the line for us. Basically told us that if we studied our @$$es off these next few weeks we'd be fine, but if not, we're screwed. Andy, our groundschool instructor, gave a powerpoint presentation on company Standard Operating Procedures, and that basically lasted from about 9:30 to 11:45 when we went to lunch. It was a nice day today, (97 degrees, but no humidity) so we ate our lunches outside. When we came back, we had a presentation by a representative of SkyWest Airlines Pilot's Association (SAPA). It's basically our union, though we do not have an official union, nor do we have a pilot contract. I think that's one thing that makes this airline great is that even with no union and no contract, managment and the pilots still get along great. We then had a briefing from the Cnadlewood Suites, which is the hotel where we're staying. It was mostly a "hello" kind of thing, since we're going to be living here for the next 3 and 1/2 weeks. After that the rest of the time was spent getting fitted for uniforms. That took awhile, but in the end, and $300 later, I was fully equipped. Once we were all done doing uniforms, we were free to leave because class was done with at this point, but we all chose to stay and get the homework done collectively. It was a rather large assignment, even bigger than last night, but with 23 of us working on it, it was done in about an hour and a half. Tonight we're doing a little study group in one of the rooms at eight. It being almost six now, that gives me time to eat, go over limitations again, and start memorizing flows. (the order in which you push various buttons and other things when starting engines, taking off, landing, etc.) Fun, fun, fun!
Class started with a review of our homework, and then a greeting by the Director of Training. Nice guy, but holy cow. He laid it all on the line for us. Basically told us that if we studied our @$$es off these next few weeks we'd be fine, but if not, we're screwed. Andy, our groundschool instructor, gave a powerpoint presentation on company Standard Operating Procedures, and that basically lasted from about 9:30 to 11:45 when we went to lunch. It was a nice day today, (97 degrees, but no humidity) so we ate our lunches outside. When we came back, we had a presentation by a representative of SkyWest Airlines Pilot's Association (SAPA). It's basically our union, though we do not have an official union, nor do we have a pilot contract. I think that's one thing that makes this airline great is that even with no union and no contract, managment and the pilots still get along great. We then had a briefing from the Cnadlewood Suites, which is the hotel where we're staying. It was mostly a "hello" kind of thing, since we're going to be living here for the next 3 and 1/2 weeks. After that the rest of the time was spent getting fitted for uniforms. That took awhile, but in the end, and $300 later, I was fully equipped. Once we were all done doing uniforms, we were free to leave because class was done with at this point, but we all chose to stay and get the homework done collectively. It was a rather large assignment, even bigger than last night, but with 23 of us working on it, it was done in about an hour and a half. Tonight we're doing a little study group in one of the rooms at eight. It being almost six now, that gives me time to eat, go over limitations again, and start memorizing flows. (the order in which you push various buttons and other things when starting engines, taking off, landing, etc.) Fun, fun, fun!
Monday, June 05, 2006
Holy Schnikies
Well, got into Salt Lake City at about 4 pm on Sunday. My roommate hadn't checked in yet, so I had the place to myself. It's pretty nice, got a full kitchenette and a few couches. Pretty comfy overall. I settled down into some light studying of speeds and limitations of the aircraft that I'm flying, the EMB-120 Brasilia. The study guide they gave us is about 3 pages long and I have until next Wednesday to have it all memorized.
Began class this morning at 8 am, we started with a company presentation. At about 10, we split up and went around to different rooms to get random things taken care of like paperwork (W-4s, other pilot stuff, etc.), fingerprinting, drug test and get a log in for the company's employee website. At about 11:30 we had lunch, Subway, which they provided for us. After lunch, we went back to the room where we started and went over all the benfit package stuff, like insurance, flight benfits, etc. At about 3 we met with our groundschool instructor for the first time. (Up until then we had spent most of the morning with people from the HR dept.) He seems like a pretty cool guy. He's out on medical leave because he had (of all things) a heart attack which required bypass surgery. He's good to go now, but likes teaching us youngins I guess. We got a HUGE stack of books that included company operating procedures, study guides, the manual for the airplane, and a bunch of other stuff. We got our first homework assignment too, which is to read the first 3 chapters of the operations manual and then answer an 82 question thing on it. I'm going to get working on that now, so I'll write again tomorrow!
Began class this morning at 8 am, we started with a company presentation. At about 10, we split up and went around to different rooms to get random things taken care of like paperwork (W-4s, other pilot stuff, etc.), fingerprinting, drug test and get a log in for the company's employee website. At about 11:30 we had lunch, Subway, which they provided for us. After lunch, we went back to the room where we started and went over all the benfit package stuff, like insurance, flight benfits, etc. At about 3 we met with our groundschool instructor for the first time. (Up until then we had spent most of the morning with people from the HR dept.) He seems like a pretty cool guy. He's out on medical leave because he had (of all things) a heart attack which required bypass surgery. He's good to go now, but likes teaching us youngins I guess. We got a HUGE stack of books that included company operating procedures, study guides, the manual for the airplane, and a bunch of other stuff. We got our first homework assignment too, which is to read the first 3 chapters of the operations manual and then answer an 82 question thing on it. I'm going to get working on that now, so I'll write again tomorrow!
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