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Dear Fellow Pilot:

Tax Day (April 15th) is not far away and you need to start thinking — if you haven’t already — about getting your taxes squared away.

It is not too late to take advantage of EZPerDiem.com to calculate the per Diem you should have been paid while on an overnight. I wrote about it on my article, Pilots: Get More Out of this Year’s Tax Return, if you missed it. You can go over there now and read the article. Or watch the video I created on how it actually works, by clicking over to EZPerDiem.com – More Tax Money Back For Pilots and Flight Attendants

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Well it finally happened to me the other day after only reading about it in quarterly bulletins and newspapers.

Someone pointed a laser at my airplane while I was flying which is both hazardous and reckless.

We were heading into Salt Lake City (KSLC), we were on the downwind for runway 34L about five to 10 miles north of the airport at 11,000 feet, when a very bright light caught my attention at my 9 o’clock position.

At first I was thinking, “What the hell is that?“

It had to be the brightest, green, somewhat scattered light I’d ever seen at night. It wasn’t a fine line, but more like the center of the picture to the right. I asked my first officer if he saw it too and he commented on how bright it was as well.

At this point, a lot went through my mind:

- Is it really a laser being pointed at MY airplane?

- What color are lasers?

- Is there a show going on over there?

- Was this a planned laser event?

- Do I need to report this?

So I watched (not looking directly at it) the point that the beam was coming from for a bit longer trying to determine if there was some other reason for the light.

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The other day we were flying somewhere, it really is a blur sometimes, and part of my pre-flight preparation is to program the Flight Management System (FMS) with all the pertinent information for our flight. It takes about 10 minutes, maybe less if I’m in a rush, to get it to a point that my first officer can double check the work.

Now the Collins FMS 4200 we use allows you to either enter stored routes in the database for quick retrieval or program the route one way point at a time.

You have to be careful either way.

Many times your “stored” route is different from your cleared route or your pre-departure clearance (PDC) route. You need to study your release and clearances carefully and then confirm the route that you have entered. Many times ATC will delete, change, or add a waypoint.

Whether you get your clearance via clearance delivery or through a PDC, if you don’t understand the clearance or you have a question about the routing, pick up the microphone and ask. Don’t take off if there is any doubt in your mind. I’ve become very cautious about this. I’ve learned that if either my first officer or myself have ANY doubt, whatsoever, about the clearance, we call.

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This is the second the part of my recurrent simulator proficiency check (PC) that I did. If you haven’t read the first part, CRJ-200 Recurrent Simulator Proficiency Check – Part 1, just click here.

As a recap, every six months I have to head to the CRJ-200 simulator at FlightSafety in Salt Lake City. This proficiency check (PC) was a little different than all my previous ones because this one was two days long instead on one day long. This new setup had an immediate benefit since the first day was a non-jeopardy training session, which means we could really blotch a maneuver and we would be retrained on it. It also benefited us because it gave us a chance to get comfortable with the simulator again, because the simulator doesn’t necessarily fly like the real airplane. Close but not quite.

On the first day, we did several maneuvers that we don’t normally do like high-altitude stalls, zero flap landings, and complex departure procedures in IMC weather with an engine-out at airports that have rising terrain and high-density altitudes. Good stuff!

Needless to say it was a good experience.

On day two though, we had the official PC.

At a minimum, doing a PC, we are required to comply with the Federal Aviation Regulations, FAR 121.439 (recent experience) and FAR 121.441 (proficiency checks), company procedures and operations, know the CRJ200 aircraft systems and fly to Airline Transport Practical Test Standards (PTS).

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Last week I had to attend my semi-annual simulator proficiency check (PC) in the CRJ-200 at FlightSafety in Salt Lake City. As a captain, currently I’m required to do these training events every six months. All Part 121 and Part 135 pilots have either semi-annual or annual recurrent simulator proficiency checks that they have to accomplish to the airline transport (ATP) standards. Or it has to be something the FAA has approved. If you remember, I did a line-oriented flight training (LOFT) session awhile ago which is a little different but a great learning experience nonetheless.

Anyway, the whole event is a “safety” and currency issue. You get to experience scenarios that hopefully you never have to deal with in real life, but if you do, you have some experience and training from which to approach these challenges.

These training events have multiple objectives:

+ An engine problem at the most critical moment of takeoff which is V1 which may be either an engine fire, damage, or just a flameout. To make it a little more interesting, they reduce the visibility down to 500 feet.
+ System failures that can cripple your airplane if you don’t respond properly to what your airplane is telling you. Hydraulic failures and electrical failures are two favorite categories.
+ Put these together with flying in IMC conditions in mountainous terrain and you really learn a lot about your skill level.
+ …and many more!

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