First few flights in a transport category aircraft

Rotor2Wing

Unapologetically American
Lets here your experience of how your first few legs went as a new airline pilot

-How did the aircraft fly compared to the small pistons from GA flying? Easier to fly? Harder?

-How close did the Sim fly like the aircraft?

-Did you feel your piston twin time make you feel like you could handle th RJ, TP, etc...
^^Assuming you were hired with min. multi piston for the job^^

Basically I would like to get an idea of how well prepared you thought you were for flying a 121 size aircraft. Put your time when you started and the aircraft you were flying in GA and your 121 aircraft. Alright, lets here all the stories...
 
1. Flew easier, but overall was harder because I was still getting used to all the callouts and flows.

2. Yes, I felt the characterists of the sim and airplane were very similar with exception of landing. I can't land a sim very well.

3. Honestly, all the single engine CFIing I did did more than anything to help me than my ME piston time which was almost all cross countries.

For the first fifty hours or so I felt quite a bit behind the airplane, but the captains I flew with remarked favorably on my abilities compared to some of the 250 hour wonders. One day it just sort of "clicked" and I didn't really feel behind the airplane anymore. It took a couple hundred hours before I felt "comfortable" though.
 
The things fly the same as a GA aircraft, just different feel with hydraulic controls.

The hardest aircraft to fly I think was the King Air. I had only one good landing and that was with snow to soften it.
 
Lets here your experience of how your first few legs went as a new airline pilot

-How did the aircraft fly compared to the small pistons from GA flying? Easier to fly? Harder?

-How close did the Sim fly like the aircraft?

-Did you feel your piston twin time make you feel like you could handle th RJ, TP, etc...
^^Assuming you were hired with min. multi piston for the job^^

Basically I would like to get an idea of how well prepared you thought you were for flying a 121 size aircraft. Put your time when you started and the aircraft you were flying in GA and your 121 aircraft. Alright, lets here all the stories...

E145:

1. It was SO MUCH FUN! (Still is).

2. Sim is a lot more sensitive. Airplane has a "feel" as well as it's quirks. Don't overcontrol the sim...stuff like steep turns and stalls require fingertip input. Make sure you use the trim!

3. I flew a 402 before, and it helped. Wasn't a jet though. You get used to having to calculate crossing restrictions, descent rates for them, and dealing with ORD, JFK, LGA, DCA, DTW (ops, ramp freqs, idiots who work there, etc)

Tips to get prepared? Know your flows + profiles COLD. Know what all of the buttons in the cockpit do. Study your pants off, don't be a dbag, and have FUN.
 
(1) The Jungle Jet is/was a blast. The ERJ-145 is stupid simple to fly. (By this I mean the systems are stupid simple.) The hardest part of the -135/140/145 is remembering the different eye heights and when to flare.
(2) The sim is a lot more sensitive and it is somewhat susceptible to PIO particularly in roll and yaw with an engine out, I mean, not that I ever did that. The airplane, not so much. Stupid thing likes to hunt in roll around in LNAV. Each individual airplane had its own unique quirks and they definitely did not perform alike. (Blasting off in Santa Fe in N9**** once, one of our "hotter" airplanes, was "interesting" - for instance.) Simulator survival skills do translate well to the real airplane. If you can floss and fly the sim you can certainly fly the real thing.
(3) I flew whatever I could get my hands on, including a Twin Bonanza and a Travel Air, snuck a few hours in a TBM, blah blah. All airplanes are the same fundamentally. I'd honestly recommend varying your experience as much as is possible. You have to anticipate and plan ahead more in a jet; beyond that, it's an airplane. Fly it.
 
Lets here your experience of how your first few legs went as a new airline pilot

-How did the aircraft fly compared to the small pistons from GA flying? Easier to fly? Harder?
Wouldn't say it's easier or harder to physically fly. It's an airplane, just less forgiving and a little bit heavier on the controls.

-How close did the Sim fly like the aircraft?
Pretty darn close. Landings were the biggest difference. You just don't get a feel for the landings in the sim and the braking on the rollout is very exaggerated in the box. Everything else was pretty accurate.

-Did you feel your piston twin time make you feel like you could handle th RJ, TP, etc...
^^Assuming you were hired with min. multi piston for the job^^
Did a bit of MEI'ing just prior, which I think helped me the most. Did an RJ course through my degree program. For the most part, useless, since I fly a turboprop, but I do believe it helped me get used to doing things a little faster in the airplane. The sim gave me the confidence to fly the airplane. IOE gave me the confidence to operate in a 121 environment.

Basically I would like to get an idea of how well prepared you thought you were for flying a 121 size aircraft. Put your time when you started and the aircraft you were flying in GA and your 121 aircraft. Alright, lets here all the stories...
Walked into ground school with the idea that "hey I've done an RJ course, this shouldn't be too bad!". Not the case. Was not prepared for the firehose of knowledge packed into 3 weeks of ground school. Managed to get by, but it wasn't easy. The sim portion was a little easier for me, but it was stretched out much more, so I had more than adequate time to prepare for each lesson.

First couple of legs, I was hanging on to the static wicks. After a few landings, felt pretty confident and was able to stay ahead of the ship for the most part. Tips I have: Walk into ground school with the attitude that you know nothing. Study every night, but set aside a day during the weekends where you don't even think about an airplane (maybe go over limitations once, but that's it). Be confident, but DO NOT be a know-it-all. Just because you have a fancy degree from Riddle, UND, Perdue or a fancy jet course from ATP means zero things when you are sitting in ground school with classmates who putted around a grass strip in a 1972 C152 at Mom and Pop flight school. You are all equals at this point and you all need to work together. The fancy degrees and courses may have given you the advantage in the interview, but it's a clean slate in ground school.

Hired with about 540 TT, 130 ME, 275 Dual-given
Instructed in 172s and Seminoles
In the right seat of a Dash 8
 
EMB 145 driver here also... Landings were the hardest, sim was easy, flows took a little work. I spent one sim lesson doing basic flows, the rest were all EMER procedures so, once I got to IOE I stumbled a bit... Before t/o line up check etc... You only use about 20% of the required knowledge on any given flight just like most aviation...
 
The only experience I have had in anything transport category was a few hours in a level D 747-400 sim. Flying-wise, easiest thing I have ever "flown.". Systems wise, I was lost. Clueless.
 
Lets here your experience of how your first few legs went as a new airline pilot

-How did the aircraft fly compared to the small pistons from GA flying? Easier to fly? Harder?

While not technically a transport category aircraft, The 1900 was my first airliner. I found it to be not much different to fly from the Aztec I did my multi in. The 1900 is really just a big general aviation aircraft. Takes a little more practice to learn how to land it well, but otherwise, it flies like a dream.

My first transport category aircraft was the CRJ (50 seater). Easy to fly and relatively good automation. But I'll admit, that first leg on IOE I was miles behind the airplane on approach. Didn't take long to get used to, but it was definitely a transition.

-How close did the Sim fly like the aircraft?

I did all of my 1900 training in the airplane, so not sure how the sim flew. The CRJ sim was always more sensitive than the airplane, but it wasn't terrible. Performance was pretty much identical, so you could use the same numbers (fuel flow, descent rate, etc.) in the airplane that you learned in the sim. Same is true for the 717 that I fly now, although I would say that the handling in the 717 sim is a lot more accurate than the CRJ sim was.

-Did you feel your piston twin time make you feel like you could handle th RJ, TP, etc...
^^Assuming you were hired with min. multi piston for the job^^

A high performance twin should get you relatively comfortable for a turboprop. For a jet? Not so much. You'll need at least 100 hours in the jet before you're feeling comfortable. Probably more like 300 hours for many pilots.

Basically I would like to get an idea of how well prepared you thought you were for flying a 121 size aircraft. Put your time when you started and the aircraft you were flying in GA and your 121 aircraft. Alright, lets here all the stories...

I had somewhere between 800 and 1000 hours when I first flew the 1900, and something less than 2,000 when I first flew the CRJ. The twin I flew in GA was an Aztec.
 
Lets here your experience of how your first few legs went as a new airline pilot

-How did the aircraft fly compared to the small pistons from GA flying? Easier to fly? Harder?

The ERJ is much easier to fly than than the Piper Chieftain I came from. I'd say that the training and flying I did prior to flying the RJ was about as good as it gets, and prepared me well.

-How close did the Sim fly like the aircraft?

I think the sim fly's like a bag of poop. I find the controls mushy.

-Did you feel your piston twin time make you feel like you could handle th RJ, TP, etc...
^^Assuming you were hired with min. multi piston for the job^^

Was hired with more than mins. The Seminole is basically an Arrow with two engines, where a Chieftain is a whole different category of aircraft as far as I'm concerned. This goes for Baron's, 402's, etc.

Basically I would like to get an idea of how well prepared you thought you were for flying a 121 size aircraft. Put your time when you started and the aircraft you were flying in GA and your 121 aircraft. Alright, lets here all the stories...

I spent a year at a part 135 freight company prior to going to a regional, and I think it prepped me incredibly well for operating an RJ. Frankly, I'm not sure how people go from instructing in 172's to flying RJ's.
 
Thanks for the stories! I like to hear what people experienced when first getting into larger aircraft from the more standard GA ones. I also am trying to get an idea hom much if any of my helicopter flying will help in flying larger aircraft. Keep them coming and if any of the other rotorheads that went to large airplanes care to comment I would love to hear it!
 
Lets here your experience of how your first few legs went as a new airline pilot

-How did the aircraft fly compared to the small pistons from GA flying? Easier to fly? Harder?

-How close did the Sim fly like the aircraft?

-Did you feel your piston twin time make you feel like you could handle th RJ, TP, etc...
^^Assuming you were hired with min. multi piston for the job^^

Basically I would like to get an idea of how well prepared you thought you were for flying a 121 size aircraft. Put your time when you started and the aircraft you were flying in GA and your 121 aircraft. Alright, lets here all the stories...

Hired 1140 total 140 ME, Aircraft-Seminole, warrior, diamond da20, mooney, R172K, Socata Rallye.......Currently fly CRJ700

-I felt it was very similar as far the actual flying it goes. It was nice having an autopilot and flight director. I did some training on the avidyne system in PA28s but that doesn't have a flight director. Overall very similar as far as handling characteristics.

-As it has been stated before: Sims are very sensitive. Make it do what you want it to but remember it is uber sensitive.

-I feel the twin time helped me out quite a bit. I was hired with above the minimum of 100 hours. I have had an engine failure in a Seminole and had quite a few multi engine students

-I usually tell people who ask that the first 100 hours in the plane I was always behind. After that things started to click. I am still learning and enjoy the job.
 
Thanks for the stories! I like to hear what people experienced when first getting into larger aircraft from the more standard GA ones. I also am trying to get an idea hom much if any of my helicopter flying will help in flying larger aircraft. Keep them coming and if any of the other rotorheads that went to large airplanes care to comment I would love to hear it!
I've never met a helicopter pilot that didn't make a good stick and rudder FW pilot. I'm sure they exist but I've never met one.
 
Frankly, I'm not sure how people go from instructing in 172's to flying RJ's.

I did it without any major training issues. It was doable. The transition from Cape Air to my current gig was much easier, though. Hell, what I fly now is the easiest damn airplane I've ever flown.

By the way, I've never heard anyone call the EMB-145 "a blast." I hate to say it, but any jet that climbs at 500fpm at M0.65 above FL200 sucks ass. :)
 
I did it without any major training issues. It was doable. The transition from Cape Air to my current gig was much easier, though. Hell, what I fly now is the easiest damn airplane I've ever flown.

By the way, I've never heard anyone call the EMB-145 "a blast." I hate to say it, but any jet that climbs at 500fpm at M0.65 above FL200 sucks ass. :)

It's been a while since you've flown the ERJ eh?

Because you're describing the CRJ.

I've never seen 500 FPM at FL200.
 
I remember my first 727 landing. The nose stayed up after touch down unlike most planes. No one told me about that in training.
 
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