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As I write this, I’m sitting in Salt Lake City airport waiting for my flight home.

I just finished three days of training. Day one was recurrent ground and days two and three were the CRJ200 and CRJ700 simulator training.

Day one, the ground portion is always interesting. And I don’t mean that sarcastically. I mean it in a good way. The reason, because I learn something new every time and I re-learn something that I forgot. “

It is also a good time to meet new pilots and flight attendants plus reacquaint yourself with some pilots and flight attendants you may not have seen in awhile.

The airlines are funny that way. You may fly with a pilot or flight attendant but then never see them for several years, much less remember their name.

Anyway, so what are a few of the things that I learned this time around?

Outside the normal airline gossip, I learned that proper rest and proper nutrition are essential to avoiding mishaps. As it turns out, if you are not properly rested, your chances of missing something that leads to an accident goes up considerably as your reaction time goes down. Last year we had discussed this and had separated the words “tired” and “fatigue.” This year the instructors retracted that and said that they were the same. Surprise! Either way, we discussed when it is time to call into crew support and get yourself off the trip because you are a threat to your job and the safety in the airplane. Only you know were you say enough is enough. You can read more about the proposed pilot rest rules that are on the horizon here.

Go read this my last blog entry, that talks about staying healthy on the road. Remember saying healthy is just as important as getting rest.

 
We also reviewed some operation specifications that are easy to forget because you don’t deal with them often. For instance, we went over when we can do Category I instrument landing system (ILS) approaches and when we can’t. It is always interesting to review the Runway Visual Range (RVR) requirements needed per the approach plates and what your Operation Specifications (Op Spec) say.

As a reminder, during Part 121 operations, if the touch down zone (TDZ) RVR is below your landing minimums prior to the final approach fix (FAF), you can not start the approach. If you are past the FAF, and you learn that the RVR has gone below minimums, then you can continue but be ready for a missed approach. Also, if you will remember, if the mid RVR and roll-out RVR are working, they have to be reporting but are not limiting.

Granted, let’s say you get to the missed approach point (MAP) and tower had previously reported that the RVR was something below your minimums and you were already passed the FAF when they told you, if you get the airport environment insight (go back and review you FAR’s), you can land. Flight visibility rules at this point and not RVR. But again be ready for a go-around if you lose sight of the runway at any point.

Make sense?

Onto the simulator portion.

In the simulator, one day I flew the CRJ700 and the next I flew the CRJ200. There were a few things that I learned but the most important thing I remember learning had more to do with managing an emergency than flying the airplane.

The scenario was that I had an engine fire at V1. Usually, but not always, the sim instructor sets the parameters so that once we press the “Fire Push” buttons which close all the shut off valves (SOV’s) and basically starve the engine of fuel so that the fire goes out, or we discharge the halon and the fire goes out, this time the instructor let it burn.

The point he was trying to make was that once the airplane was under control, except that the engine was still on fire, I should have transferred the controls to the first officer and run the checklist and coordinated the emergency.

Reason one was because I’m more familiar with how to run all the emergency checklists and can get them done faster.

Reason two was because I should be able to coordinate with air traffic control (ATC) and the flight attendant more quickly and get the airplane on the ground without going through a middle man, i.e., the first officer.

Now I’m not taking anything away from the first officer in this case, but considering that my first officer is not as experienced as I should be, I can go faster. A first office though with a lot of experience may be able to run the checklists just as fast as anyone else and may do fine. But, in this case, I would have been better of to do it. It is just something to consider.

Either way, it is a judgement call and through experience I learn to make better decisions in different, varying situations. So you see, I’m still learning.

Well, there was a lot more to those three days than just this, but that would take days to write about and it’s time to go home.

As it turns out, school is never out for the professional pilot. The best, safest pilots are those that are constantly reading, studying, learning, and practicing. The pilot that doesn’t think there is any thing else to learn is dangerous.

Here are three recommendations for the next time you fly:

1. It is a good practice that at least once a day, review just one emergency procedure and imagine what you would do.

2. Review procedures that you are weak at and try to make them a strength.

3. Discuss with your fellow crew member an incident that you experienced (good or bad) so that they can learn from your experience.

Hope that helps!

To Your Flying Success,

Jeff