ozziecat35
4 out of 5 great lakes prefer Michigan.
Haven't seen too much online regarding this, and with the nature of the industry moving to the point where lower time folks (such as myself) are getting more opportunities, thought it might be helpful.
A little on me, under 1k TT, just by a hair. Full time IT job, p/t flying but looking to move to full time flying within the next year or 2. Got a chance to fly a C90 for a local charter outfit right seat. Now before everyone goes all King Air / SIC usefulness rage here; during my training, didn't touch anything during live legs, basically a clearance / radio expert. Pt. 91 legs flew them all, CP is an MEI, so can log all that. A lot of the business we're getting are asking for 2 pilots, so the 135 cert. got changed to require 2 pilots. So, as long as I pass a .293 ride, the SIC time is legit.
Scheduled to meet the examiner at 10 am, we (me and the PIC candidate) arrive about 20 prior with the airplane and basically shoot the bull with him for 30 minutes or so. We find a quiet conference room, standard ID / Cert / Medical / Logbook stuff. Essentially, the entire was about an hour long, but felt like more of a conversation. We did the oral together, but if I got asked a question (Systems / Emergency Items / GOM / Regs are all free game) I could rely on the other guy and vice-versa, because CRM.
If you're a lower time guy on your first turbine equipment, just make sure you can explain the engine / electrical systems / and all the memory items.
Flight
Pretty gusty day, 50 degree crosswind, blowing 19 gusting 30. Strap in, I give him a full briefing, he's happy, we fire up. At this point, it's all business, checklists, checklists, checklists. Have your taxi chart / etc ready to go, they love to see you're thinking about hotspots / runway incursions / etc. PIC flies departure, on our turn out, A/P comes on and we hear a loud click, then get an A/P Trim Fail annunciator. FAA guy says go ahead and run it like we would (since it's real at this point). Pull out QRF, basically says "Yep, AP is failed...you're handflying." He asks if we want to continue since it's about 2 hours worth of flying that the PIC will be doing the majority of. I'm ok with it, PIC is as well. Going in we know we won't complete it since we wouldn't be able to do the coupled ILS, but figure we're here let's do what we can. All I need to demonstrate is a stall (my choice). I get an IFR block altitude from ATC, we do our stuff. (PIC needs to show steep turns / 2 stalls). We head for the approaches, but down low the turbulence is pretty rough. PIC is having trouble keeping altitude. I'm doing my level best to help him without sounding too obvious to inspector gadget. PIC shoots a localizer to missed with the hold, blows his altitude by a few hundred feet...after a few warnings, finally the guy calls it and says he's not feeling well, and was discontinuing the ride due to *cough* examiner illness. Had I gotten to my requirements, he was going to have to demonstrate a non precision approach to full stop. Normal departure, then a single engine approach to full stop. Fairly simple.
On the way back to home, we test the AP again, and it works just fine...well poop.
Waiting to reschedule...
My advice to lower time guys, don't try and BS the examiner, they can smell it immediately...if you don't know, admit as such and use all available resources (other pilot / ATC / POH / etc).
A little on me, under 1k TT, just by a hair. Full time IT job, p/t flying but looking to move to full time flying within the next year or 2. Got a chance to fly a C90 for a local charter outfit right seat. Now before everyone goes all King Air / SIC usefulness rage here; during my training, didn't touch anything during live legs, basically a clearance / radio expert. Pt. 91 legs flew them all, CP is an MEI, so can log all that. A lot of the business we're getting are asking for 2 pilots, so the 135 cert. got changed to require 2 pilots. So, as long as I pass a .293 ride, the SIC time is legit.
Scheduled to meet the examiner at 10 am, we (me and the PIC candidate) arrive about 20 prior with the airplane and basically shoot the bull with him for 30 minutes or so. We find a quiet conference room, standard ID / Cert / Medical / Logbook stuff. Essentially, the entire was about an hour long, but felt like more of a conversation. We did the oral together, but if I got asked a question (Systems / Emergency Items / GOM / Regs are all free game) I could rely on the other guy and vice-versa, because CRM.
If you're a lower time guy on your first turbine equipment, just make sure you can explain the engine / electrical systems / and all the memory items.
Flight
Pretty gusty day, 50 degree crosswind, blowing 19 gusting 30. Strap in, I give him a full briefing, he's happy, we fire up. At this point, it's all business, checklists, checklists, checklists. Have your taxi chart / etc ready to go, they love to see you're thinking about hotspots / runway incursions / etc. PIC flies departure, on our turn out, A/P comes on and we hear a loud click, then get an A/P Trim Fail annunciator. FAA guy says go ahead and run it like we would (since it's real at this point). Pull out QRF, basically says "Yep, AP is failed...you're handflying." He asks if we want to continue since it's about 2 hours worth of flying that the PIC will be doing the majority of. I'm ok with it, PIC is as well. Going in we know we won't complete it since we wouldn't be able to do the coupled ILS, but figure we're here let's do what we can. All I need to demonstrate is a stall (my choice). I get an IFR block altitude from ATC, we do our stuff. (PIC needs to show steep turns / 2 stalls). We head for the approaches, but down low the turbulence is pretty rough. PIC is having trouble keeping altitude. I'm doing my level best to help him without sounding too obvious to inspector gadget. PIC shoots a localizer to missed with the hold, blows his altitude by a few hundred feet...after a few warnings, finally the guy calls it and says he's not feeling well, and was discontinuing the ride due to *cough* examiner illness. Had I gotten to my requirements, he was going to have to demonstrate a non precision approach to full stop. Normal departure, then a single engine approach to full stop. Fairly simple.
On the way back to home, we test the AP again, and it works just fine...well poop.
Waiting to reschedule...
My advice to lower time guys, don't try and BS the examiner, they can smell it immediately...if you don't know, admit as such and use all available resources (other pilot / ATC / POH / etc).
