A day in the life of a 90 day career pilot student

Heath

Heath

Well-Known Member
Ok, because this was interesting to me when I was considering ATP, I thought I would return the favor and post my experiences as I go through the 90-day Career Pilot Program. Its going to get very hectic, and so sometimes it may be a few days between posts, but I'm journaling my experiences and will try to continue to post each day's activities as I go.

Enjoy,

Heath
 
2/20

Day one. Actually official start date is 2/28, but I have 48 hours tt now, so I've got 37 hours to complete to get to the required 85. So, showed up Sunday to start flying.

Unfortunately, three of the five instructors at Atlanta have airline interviews this week, so they were short-staffed. And, the weather was nasty and they wanted VFR or at least clean IFR type weather to feel me out in the 172.

So, I spent today studying for my instrument exam.
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Maybe tomorrow...
 
2/21

Monday.

End of the day yesterday, my instructor told me that we just needed to do as much x-country as possible, so for me to pick out anywhere I wanted to go that would require 3-4 hours to get to and we would go today. Had to be 3-4 hours because ATP has a policy against flying the 172's after dark, except for private pilot training. The owner doesn't like single-engine operations at night.

So, we planned to go to Owensoro, KY to experience the famous Moonlight Bar-B-Que buffet.

Unfortunately, when we did a weather check, there were convective sigmets for KY and TN, and forecast was for thunderstorms for ATL in the afternoon, when we would be returning. So, flight cancelled and studying again.
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Tomorrow, maybe...
 
2/22

Tuesday.

FINALLY! Got off the ground! Weather is still very spotty in the area, but we were able to head south to Albany, GA and have lunch at Blackbeard's. I got to fly through and in the clouds for the first time. Very cool!
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Also shot a back course localizer approach into Albany in IMC!

So, I got 4.0 tt and my first 1.0 of actual instrument in the log book!
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Also got vectored directly over Hartsfield on the return and flew directly over the runways while watching multiple jets land beneath us, very cool!

Planning on the 8 hours to KY tomorrow, weather permitting...
 
Thanks for keeping us up-to-date. I'm still planning on doing the ACPP. I think I actually saw your flight from ABY to FTY on the flight tracker on ATP's web site
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Congrats on your first hour of actual! Keep up the good work
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Nothing like the pleasure of a descending procedure turn on an NDB approach in turbulent, come and go clouds, in a Bell Jetranger!
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That's how I earned my first "wings in the clouds". I noticed I was sweating bullets after I touched down - and it was then I realized - WOW...WHAT A RUSH!!!

Chris
 
This is awesome.. I love reading these blog type threads. It's so important to see what happens and how moods change on a day to day basis...even if some of it's negative - it's all for the good of both the flight school, the student and the future students to see how this all plays out!

Thanks Heath.. keep up the good work!!
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Hey Heath awesome !! I like reading journal style format like that, especially when i'll be following in your footsteps ( chicago 10 month ). I have a question, for either yourself, or anybody else that might be reading....when you are flying with an instructor doing the time build to get up to the 85 hours, how does the student log that as PIC ?? I always thought that the instructor logs the PIC for dual given. Isnt that how the instructors build time ?? Just curious !! Another thing, when you finish the program, you have 190 hrs total i believe. Anybody know the breakdown ? Like how much of that is PIC, how much dual, how much instrument, etc.
 
If he is already a certificated pilot, he should be the one logging the PIC Single time...

If you're not, you're getting the shaft. There is no reason why the instructor should be logging it as PIC for him...unless that is if you're getting instruction, which it sounds like you are.
 
Yeah i'm not sure if the "student" is actually getting instruction. I think the instructor might just be along for the ride....Heath could probably answer this. See i was always under the impression, that no matter what you were doing, whoever is the senior guy in the cockpit was..he'd log the PIC. For example....me as a private pilot takes my uncle ( commercial/multi/instrument) out flying for lunch......i thought he automatically gets it as PIC...because he is in the cockpit, and he has the higher certificate. Maybe i was wrong !!
 
I'm kinda curious about the flight time breakdown myself. I read you log aorund 200 hrs. total with about 140 hrs. multi time in the airplane and 50 hrs. in the sim?? Somone correct me please if I'm wrong.
 
Absolutely not. Think about it...that 140 includes all of your instruction. When you time build and fly cross-country, you will get your PIC.

Can you really log 50 hours in the sim?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Yep exactly thats what i'm talking about....finding out the breakdown. Is that 140 hours PIC multi ??

[/ QUOTE ]

At the end of the program about 130 will be PIC. All time in the Seminole is PIC, once you have the Private Multi add-on. The three hours in the Citation will be SIC.


Also, the sim time is all logged, but only as sim time, and simulated instrument, 20 of which counts towards the insrument rating requirements.

edited to add: Sim time is logged as instruction recieved as well. Check out an FAA 8710, and you will see boxes for instruction recieved and instrument time on the simulator line.
 
This is from the ATP web site:

<ul type="square">-200 Hours Logged Time
-190 Hours Multi-Engine Time
-75 Hours Multi-Engine Cross-Country
-62 Hours Multi-Engine Instruction &amp; Flight Checks
-Up to 3 Hours Citation Jet
-50 Hours Multi-Engine FTD
-10 Hours Single-Engine Time [/list]

**Logged times vary slightly due to flight check times and other considerations. Prices and flight times are subject to change, but not during your training program.
 
Yes, looks like the question has been answered, but it's around 190 total time logged. Of that, around 140 is ME with another 50 of ME sim and 10-15 SEL. You log the sim time, but not in your total time column. It counts towards some of your required time for your ratings, but not towards total time.

As far as PIC, you can log any time as PIC in which you are the sole manipulator of the controls once you have a pilot certificate. So I log all time as PIC during the time-build. The instructor is also entitled to log all time given as PIC. Its one of those times when you have two people in the aircraft logging PIC.

HTH,
Heath
 
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