Textron SkyCourier

Boris Badenov said:
If I'm signing the paperwork and you ask me to kill the FD, I'll ask you to kill yourself instead. Been there, done that, miss it horribly, wonder what box my gonads are locked up in and who has the key, but when it's my ass on the line, we aren't going off script because it's Fun. Again, if you want Fun, do it on your own ticket. God knows I did! This is a freaking JOB. I'm not getting paid to let you feel like a Real Pylot, I'm getting paid to get the appliance from one place to another with no drama. Fun is my enemy.
Click to expand...

With a heavy heart imana have to submit a motion for petition for you to resign your russian-sounding nickname :D
If you re-read what I wrote, I actually said that intercepting a damn radial was fun due to not having done that in a long time. You know, sitting there thinking whether I should just flip on the bearing needle and give it 5° lead to place the noodle on the vor before I hit direct, or obs the vor on magenta needles, or flip to green and see if the nav actually works in the vor mode on this thing since I betcha no-one has tried it before in the whole 360-something hours since the plane rolled off of the assembly line.
Being a Real Pylot with a cooperating experienced CA in the left seat is better than putting it off until that seat is vacated for you, no?
 
mshunter said:
There is only one PIC in the airplane, and it isn't the FO (and I'm an FO). There is a PM and a PF. Don't mistake that as the FO is flying and is also the PIC.

Hand fly some. You should. But there comes a point where it's a bit much. If every flight is hand flown 290 and below, it usually irritates the guy sitting next to you.
Click to expand...

We're all co-captains at my shop, so with very few exceptions the PF is PIC. I hope the Captains you fly with allow you the discretion to use or not use the automation within the guidelines of your FOM.

For me:

Descents are usually busier than climbs, so the autopilot is generally on until we're cleared for a visual, or on the final approach segment.

I use it more in the climb if we're picking our way through wx, or if there are other situations increasing workload.

Finally, if the cruise altitude is below RVSM, it usually comes on at cruise. The fight I mentioned above we climbed to 13,000 and it was smooth VMC.

If I led people to believe that I never use or am opposed to using the autopilot anytime below RVSM airspace, that's my mistake. However, I won't apologize for how I choose to fly.

As to the original topic, I flew the Van a few hundred hours after getting laid off from my first corporate job. I went from a CE-560 to the 208, and I loved it. Sure it was big, dumb, and slow, but I had fun. I hope others can enjoy the 408 like I did the 208.



Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
NovemberEcho said:
With the amount of go arounds or weird turns to final I see because of fms/autopilot issues I wish more people hand flew.
Click to expand...
A couple of fancy painted Phenom 300s will be in and out of TEB all week next week, short n-numbers (7DR and 4B most likely, or one of the single digit Alphas), show us some love :)
 
milleR said:
Hey, the very first rule of instrument flying- always blame the controller, the computer, the guy sitting next to you. In that order.

And speaking of pizza- let me know when you're working next.
Click to expand...

Heard once from a SWA flight attendant over the intercom after a particularly jolting landing:

"Sorry about that, folks. That wasn't the pilot's fault. It wasn't the copilot's fault, it was the asphalt."​
 
milleR said:
Hey, the very first rule of instrument flying- always blame the controller, the computer, the guy sitting next to you. In that order.

And speaking of pizza- let me know when you're working next.
Click to expand...

Someone give Jerry W. his gold seal CFI!
 
av8tr1 said:
Your mother didn't hug you enough when you were a kid, did she......
Click to expand...

Nah I've just flown more interesting airplanes than the van, by a wiiiiiide margin.

The van is a money maker. I'd Buy one if I owned an air taxi, but oh my God is that thing a snooze fest as a pilot. There's literally nothing about that airplane that is interesting after the first 500 hrs. even when you're taking it to cool places doing difficult short field work - well, at least I thought it was difficult, the caravan performed wildly average. In contrast I felt much more comfortable in the Pilatus going in and out of the same messed up short runways provided they weren't too soft.The caravan is certainly built stoutly, but its docile, slow, and hard on your back.

If I don't have to be on my hands and knees unloading fish boxes out of the pod again that'll be fine by me - I really like that kind of work, but I'd rather unload 5,000lbs of that freight out of a 1900 than do half as much out of a caravan

Beyond that TKS sucks - I mean it's great, at what it does but when you run out crossing the Alaska range in unforecast severe icing it tends to leave an indelible black mark on one's perception of the airplane. The old ones are too slow to get rid of any substantial build up of ice and the new ones have limited protection time. The caravans that are re-engined do pretty well because you have the power to keep your speed up and go, but that's not really possible in the 675SHP vans.

Not only that but man pilots die often when they crash caravans in what should be survivable situations.

Acrofox said:
I freakin' loved the caravan.
Click to expand...

Only thing I liked about it was that it had a spectacular view out the front window. Despite not particularly caring for the airplane anymore, one of my fondest memories is flying down the coast on my way to Yakataga in one.

There's an image still in my minds eye I can see when I close my eyes - infinite ocean to my right, a shipwreck in front of me on the beach, and a cavalcade of glaciers and mountains so big that the seemed to be slowly walking by my window.
 
ppragman said:
Only thing I liked about it was that it had a spectacular view out the front window. Despite not particularly caring for the airplane anymore, one of my fondest memories is flying down the coast on my way to Yakataga in one.

There's an image still in my minds eye I can see when I close my eyes - infinite ocean to my right, a shipwreck in front of me on the beach, and a cavalcade of glaciers and mountains so big that the seemed to be slowly walking by my window.
Click to expand...

I blame the van and flying over turquoise waters of the Caribbean for me dropping everything and venturing off to working as a pilot
 
ppragman said:
If I don't have to be on my hands and knees unloading fish boxes out of the pod again that'll be fine by me - I really like that kind of work, but I'd rather unload 5,000lbs of that freight out of a 1900 than do half as much out of a caravan

Not only that but man pilots die often when they crash caravans in what should be survivable situations.
Click to expand...
Ugh, yes. To be fair the rash of ‘van accidents have been cfit and not the ‘vans fault. I will say the ‘van was a great plane for me to cut my teeth on in the air taxi biz. I’ll take a ‘van over a sled any day though.
 
alaskadrifter said:
Ugh, yes. To be fair the rash of ‘van accidents have been cfit and not the ‘vans fault. I will say the ‘van was a great plane for me to cut my teeth on in the air taxi biz. I’ll take a ‘van over a sled any day though.
Click to expand...

Crash survive-ability is pretty weaksauce. There are quite a few freight dawg accidents where the airplane landed under control in relatively suitable terrain and the pilot still died...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top