Ameriflight

Inverted said:
I bet the percentage of lackluster pilots hasn't changed much. The real shift is where the pilots with talent are going.

You quoted my response, but missed what I was saying. I think its great that AMF is offering a program to get people up to speed before indoc.
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I didn't miss it so much as I think the attitude was the primary deterrent. Secondarily, yes, I agree to some degree that it was a checking department. I would venture to guess that some guys would only need another day of sim with a good sim instructor. The 99 program initially was great at first. My TC was OK but ultimately wasn't committed.

I'll get a bit of flak I'm sure, but the Brasilia program still echos some of that. 1900/Metro to Brasilia in 2 weeks is ridiculous, especially with 2 days of preparation. I'll always feel that way, but that was one of those situations where I could throw it back with one of the instructors, where as the other was an inexperienced tool box. Knew the E120 very well, but a D-bag through and through non the less. One of the few people in the world I felt that I couldn't read and defuse. I hope to never have to share a cockpit with someone like that as a subordinate. I'm sure I will though. :(
 
Attitude is everything. The right attitude goes a long way. Also, cocky attitudes seem to be overflowing in the freight world unfortunately. That hasn't changed one bit, and is only getting worse by my recent dealings with management.
 
I'm in DFW training now. Finished up Indoc yesterday. Overall pretty fast paced, but fairly straight forward and the instructor is helpful and professional (I've heard some Bob stories from people who have been here awhile..lol). Next week is systems and sims, so I'm hitting the flows/call outs extra hard now. I pretty much have them all down cold except for the originating flow...that one has nearly 20 items on it :p
 
I also did the week of pre-training at US aviation the week before Indoc that they now offer. Overall, it's a young program, so it still has some kinks, but it was definitely worth attending. The ground school was ok (basically a simple IFR review), but the overview of Jepp Charts (I only used NACO until I got here) and 135 regs was nice. The sims were great. Being a PA-31 candidate, they put me in their Baron sim (99 candidates used the KA200 sim) and I got to shoot approaches, departures, and arrivals all over the country with a lot of single engine stuff thrown in. I arrived at US aviation with a lot of recent instrument experience and proficient, but I now feel extra proficient. The extra sim time made that whole week more than worth it.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Lack of quality candidates, lack of instruction or what? I didn't find Indoc to be hard at all 2 years ago.
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Indoc was not hard at all and the test was open book and pretty easy. The whole class passed and few scored below a 90. From what I've heard, 90% of washouts occur in the sim.
 
A150K said:
That's where I've heard most washouts occur. Let's just say I couldn't imagine attempting this if I felt rusty on instruments...Actually, I see no possible way to do it being rusty. Not with all of the flows and call outs.
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I know you're excited to be there. Again, congrats. I was excited to be there too. In fact, I washed out the first time, had to go tighten my game up, and went back. I made it though my 2nd time around. If you haven't, you fully need to understand the reality of the situation at AMF.

It's all in this thread. But you can start here. I cannot emphasize to you enough that they are going to try to expose you on every level, not just instruments. I wish you the best of luck. That PA-31 sim was built in 19ancientfive. It's probably older than me, and I'm probably twice as old as you, or damn near it. Go downstairs and have look for yourself. But you will most likely, do a sim 6 that will last far longer than it needs to and you'll leave feeling like a whipped puppy. Talking about it can only prepare you for so much. BTW, tell Leif and Sam that I say, "Hello." ;) I'm sure they'll regal you with stories about me, and my gf.
 
[QUOTE="GX, post: 2477020, member: 23431" That PA-31 sim was built in 19ancientfive. It's probably older than me, and I'm probably twice as old as you, or damn near it. [/QUOTE]
If it's the one from BUR, I took a sim eval in 1987.
 
I got to use it a bit today. It's pretty ancient, but it flies slightly better than a Frasca 142 twin sim that I've used quite a bit. That being said, it does have it's quirks...The needle indicating manifold pressure for the left engine doesn't work properly, so you have to set both engines off the left needle only among other quirks.
 
A150K said:
I got to use it a bit today. It's pretty ancient, but it flies slightly better than a Frasca 142 twin sim that I've used quite a bit. That being said, it does have it's quirks...The needle indicating manifold pressure for the left engine doesn't work properly, so you have to set both engines off the left needle only among other quirks.
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This experience will be forever chiseled into your mind. You should just go through the experience and report back after sim 6.
 
What uniform option are most people in most bases taking? I personally like the idea of the polo vs the monkey suit, but I also don't want to be the odd guy out. Of the few line pilots I've seen around DFW, only one was wearing the epaulets.
 
A150K said:
What uniform option are most people in most bases taking? I personally like the idea of the polo vs the monkey suit, but I also don't want to be the odd guy out. Of the few line pilots I've seen around DFW, only one was wearing the epaulets.
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Leave the monkey suit to us poor airline folk. Take advantage of the freedom of a polo while you can.

Honestly they should allow you to wear whatever you want (within reason). I didn't impress one courier, UPS/DHL driver, or ramper while at AMF because of my uniform. Heck they will routinely show up with a hangover and/or 3 days+ unshaven. We are the back end of the operation. No one actually cares what we look like since the end customer never sees us.

I honestly wonder why FedEx and UPS pilots have to wear the monkey suit as well.
 
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