Squawk_5543

During my instrument training the first night IFR x/c I did we had the AI and then the HI fail...flew the rest of the outbound and the entire trip back on partial. If that ain't enough, I had my AI fail on my IRA checkride !!!

TXTECHKA

One thing that I do know about myself. I was a better pilot at 500 hours than I was at 200. I was exponentially better at 1000 than 500. I have about 2000 now (1200 dual given) and I can say from my experience that there isn't any real replacement for the valuable experience gained from being an instructor. I have a somewhat different situation than most, however. The reason I haven't gone to the airlines yet is I have been in college. I am now going to, in my opinion, the best regional RAH in May. The experience I have gained from instructing has been extremely valuable. You cannot buy experience. My instructing job then got me a corporate job on the side flying a 310 and a malibu. I have flown many hours single pilot ifr in mexico and central america and I have encountered icing conditions, electrical failures, instrument failures, lost an engine at 100 agl at full gross on takeoff in the mountains, etc. I will graduate in May with a degree in economics for Texas Tech University and even while flying I still was able to have a blast in college. President of my fraternity, went to parties, had a blast. Had I been instructing solely to build time rather than as a college job I probably would have gone to a regional earlier but now that I am where I am I wouldn't trade the cfi experience for anything. I'm 22 years old btw. My recommendation is don't get in so big a hurry to go somewhere that you lose sight of the fun and experience you can gain by teaching for a couple of years.

N6724G

Yeah, but you make it sound like the 250 hour pilot is going to be up there flying a CRJ with passengers all by himeself. There will be a Captain with at least 1500 hours total time and 121 airline experience sitting next too him probably flying the approach anyway. Lets put it into persepctive

coldpilot

What ever happened to the whole FAR thing about discontinuing a flight immediately when an unairworthy condition develops? Just curious...

Pilotpip

Yeah, it's the insurance thing. I saw the papers at the last school I worked at and they wanted anybody that was in their aircraft to be approved by a member of the staff. Enter the checkout. Depending on the aircraft it could be anywhere from one quick flight to a few hours. Some aircraft owners I've flown with have required insane hours to jump in their aircraft.

I've done a couple of these checkouts and in most cases the only way I've known was when checking their certificates and logbook. Aside from that yeah, I've had a couple guys swing way past the centerline or start pitching up for the flare at 100 feet. In almost every case, these guys realized it wasn't their big jet and adjusted before I could say anything. It is different, and I'd want somebody who has recent experience in that aircraft with me if rolls were reversed.

I've had a few that were a little huffy about it, "I fly a 767, I don't need some 500 hour guy telling me what to do". So I didn't tell them what to do, not my place. They're rated to fly the airplane. My job is to make sure they know the differences and fly safely. In the process I will probably learn a little more about flying too.

Squawk_5543

It was a training flight with my instructor in VMC........continued for good practice. I considered it a good learning experience, partial panel can throw some student off. No way would we have continued in IMC...no way. But hey just don't tell anyone.

N6724G

I had a United 747 FO who was also a CFI try and give me instructiion in a Cessna 150. He didnt understand that 150's have fixed rudder trimand thought the plane was broken.

Thats why a professional pilot has to do a complete chekout to rent a Cessna 172. Just cause you fly a heavy jet doesnt mean you know what you are doing in a small piston.In fact, you probably dont know what you are doing. A profesional pilot is more of a systems manager than a real pilot. All he does is push buttons. He really isnt familiar or has forgotten aerodynamics, weught and balance, and just plain fun flying.

NE_Pilot

From www.aopa.org:

Got to love our friends in the FAA.

NGINEWHOISWHAT

IMHO, the time a person has means nothing. It's the quality of the time. Was that person trained by a new CFI or one of the old gray heads. Winter weather in my part of the country meant inversions. The temp would always be just above freezing at the surface, decrease to about 28 or 30 on the way up, then it would jump to 40+. It was always like that. You ALWAYS picked up a pretty good amount of rime ice. I routinely did VFR ops on top or received IFR block altitudes and VOR radials to operate between. I was doing that at 600 hours.

Fast forward to spins. I was scared of them. Very scared. I found one of the gray heads at the airport that had been flying longer than I was was old. He took me up for spins, and while I had not cured my fear, I felt better about them. Eventually, I taught my students spins IF they asked to see them. Was I a better pilot over 1000 hours. No. I was not. Was I a more experienced pilot over 1000 hours? Absolutely.

With that being said, I've seen a lot of people die ... low time and high time. Civilian trained and military trained. I'm not going to sit here and question their abilities. I do question their mistakes so I don't make the same ones.

For the record, I have been that scared 600 hour pilot. I don't remember what it was that scared me, but I was scared. I do recall that it wasn't clouds, but what the customer asked me to do made me uncomfortable at that experience level in my career AND he found it funny as evidenced by the smirk on his face. I tried to play it off that I wasn't scared, but he wasn't buying it ... especially when my voice cracked.

I once jump seated on a fedex airbus. We literally flew into the remnants of a huricane. The only two people that made it in that day were fedex and Aer Lingus. The winds were 15 degrees off the nose at 60 KNOTS gusting to whatever. I aint making this up. The captain's voice cracked when he decided to do the approach. From the jumpseat, the instruments were shaking so bad I couldn't see them well enough to read them. The F/0 backed him up. I had NEVER witnessed such professionalism and CRM among any flight crew and I told them so when I got down and asked if I could shake their hand. The fact is, the captain's voice cracked 'cause he was nervous. We all were nervous but he did a great job. We all have our breaking point. PERIOD.

I still feel instructing makes you a better person. If a person can get a job at a regional at 250, more power to him. It will make the work load of the captain a lot greater and causes you to depend on the automation more. It took me one year on my second airplane to feel comfortable enough to SMOOTHLY fly it to cruise and back down to the landing. I always turned the A/P on at cruise because of the F/A and the beverage cart moving always caused a change. It took a while to feel comfortable.

It is much easier, IMO, for a 250 hour pilot to be a regional pilot than to be an instructor. The transition to 121 pilot really is not that challenging as compared to learning how to teach a ham fisted civilian to fly. I'm sorry. Just my opinion.

Tom

Slice

So what happens if the Capt becomes incapacitated? Stroke, heart attack, low blood sugar, attacked by a pax when going into the cabin to use the lav, etc. If you are in the right seat of any 121 aircraft you should be able to handle anything as if you WERE the capt of that aircraft! Basic airmanship and judgement should be solid before you fly pax for a living.