First IOE Flights

Piedmont was a little different. The first 4 legs of IOE are done it the jumpseat, observing the crew. I guess it helps you get comfortable with the environment.
My first leg was from ALB to PIT. I hopped in the right seat, did my paperwork and math, the doors closed, and I just sat there completely frozen and my mind went blank. The captain looks over and I can see the look on his face like "oh crap, this guy is going to be a nightmare". But he was cool and could see that I was stressed out, and he said "relax, just start with the checklist and remember your training". This all took about 10 seconds. That was it, it was like my brain rebooted and everything went smoothly after that.
I was PNF for that leg. My 2nd leg was from PIT to ORF and I was PF. I did my first landing at night, which actually helped because it looked just like the SIM. Then I had 4 days off to think about what an ass I made of myself.
 
In my second IOE flight (my IOE instructor flew the outbound leg from ORD, I flew it back), I was first in line for 22R at ORD, which means ATC kept me at 210 until just short of the marker. I think my brain was somewhere around row 10 at the time, maybe holding onto the tail... Anyway, we got a caution light--flap low speed, followed by flaps failing at 37 deg (we were planning to land at 45). I am fast and high, but my IOE capt got the book out, found the airspeed correction and bugged it for me, all while making sure I found my way down to the glideslope and got my speed back. No checklists or radio calls were missed, and we were stabilized by 1000' (no thanks to me). He then looked over at me and said, "The flaps are stuck down. I'd rather not go-around, so don't screw up the landing." Needless to say, I screwed up the landing (it helps when you actually flare), but he saved it. Somehow I finished IOE on schedule, and have since survived probation.
 
I had a lot of fun during IOE, especially since you fly on a very senior Captains schedule, which means no early shows and maybe 3-4 legs a day. Ha! :D My first day of IOE was CVG-ORD-CVG-AVP. I flew both legs, and I was surprised that I didn’t fall behind the airplane too much. It was also my first time going into ORD, and it wasn’t as bad as I had expected.
 
Even with 20 years of jet experience, I still felt like I was "hanging onto the tail" for the first four-day trip. As I mentioned in this thread, ATL ops threw me for a loop.

And as ALSO mentioned in that thread, it's amazing how quick it became routine! :)
 
My first day of IOE was 5 legs. First was BUF-IAD. Did the walk around with the capt. then jumped in and got set up. First W/B I did, took a while, and ended up having to figure out how to move 3 people from the front to the back with that dumb wizz wheel. Capt. asked if I wanted the first leg, and I politely declined; said I'd be NFP for the first one and observe. Get to IAD in what seemed like 10 minutes, parked, took some pictures in front of the plane.

Second leg was IAD-BOS, which I flew, and the landing was alright, for the first one. Then flew back to IAD, and had to do a static takeoff out of BOS on rwy 9, and releasing the brakes, I gave every passenger whiplash:p.

Fourth leg, IAD-PIT, had a Fed ride along and do an ops inspection:banghead:...that was fun...

Ended up in IAD for the night and was absolutely exhausted.

Day 2, went IAD-LGA, and as soon as we land in LGA, ops tells us our flight is already delayed 4.5 hours, and once we actually do get out, we end up flying LGA-IAD at 6000 feet!

The rest of IOE went pretty smooth, although it was very overwhelming at times.
 
very cool thread!

I'm curious what its like to be a turboprop pilot where things are a bit slower pace due to speed of plane, vs a RJ, where things are happening at max speeds....

I'm a generally nervous person when it comes to 1st time things... and when its over, i don't even notice all the sweats I sweat lol

I really hope al this Flight simulator training on these B1900s, Saab 340s, ATR 72s, ERJ 135s will help me be more proficient when it comes to flying the real thing :)
 
This is one of the best posts........the stories are great.....I look forward to being there soon!.....Keep them coming.......:nana2:
 
taseal said:
I'm curious what its like to be a turboprop pilot where things are a bit slower pace due to speed of plane, vs a RJ, where things are happening at max speeds....
:)
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The jets are only faster in cruise and they climb better of course. Once inside the terminal area where speed may be a concern T-props and jets fly at similar speeds. Things are happening quick regardless, but its not as bad as you might think.
 
I just did my IOE about 3 weeks ago...but have done so many flights since then it seems to blend together. I met my Capt, and we deadheaded from Greensboro to LaGuardia, and our flight in was delayed...so to add to my initial nervousness that my first jet flight would be out of LGA, now we were going to be late and in a hurry. We did an extremely abbreviated walkaround, jumped in, got ATIS/clearance, and started the W&B. Gate agent, captain, and FA all stared at me, but I got it done as quick as I could. The capt was great...he just explained there's nothing we can do about the delay, just take your time and get it right. After that, I didn't do too bad working the ground frequencies at LGA, but we were practically at the runway by the time I figured out where we were on the chart. We had a bit of a delay getting out due to traffic, which I needed to get my items done. On the 1st takeoff, everything pretty much went like it did in training, we did the Whitestone climb which is a series of turns immediately after takeoff, which was fun. Flew to Greenville, SC, and my 1st landing went well, much to my surprise. Then back to LGA, then to RIC for the night. I was completely drained after day 1, to the point I was thinking how do they do this every day?? Day 2 I started to "build my nest" as the capt put it, getting better organized in the cockpit, learning when to call ops, etc. I was getting much more comfortable with it by the end of IOE. It's the flights AFTER IOE when it gets interesting...adapting to each captain's way of doing things, going to new airports everytime, switching crewmembers halfway through trips, deadheading to all the bases in the system while on reserve, and your first encounters with crew scheduling...
 
desertdog71 said:
The jets are only faster in cruise and they climb better of course. Once inside the terminal area where speed may be a concern T-props and jets fly at similar speeds. Things are happening quick regardless, but its not as bad as you might think.
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mtsu_av8er said:
Remember - even Turboprop pilots fly at max speed. ;)
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thats true... but wouldn't a say 135 be doing 200-250 in during app while a tprop be doing wellll.... yeah you're right haha

how fast is an avg tprop do on terminal area? atr-72 is around 200-220, what about saab340? b1900?

I wonder what it will be like transferring from cessnas to tprops/jets
 
The thing is props can (usually) slow way down a lot faster than jets. So going 250 on an ILS is a definite possibility in a turbo prop.

I personally have done a (simulated) ILS at 120 kts (in the yellow arc) to 200ft agl in a 172. I touched down at 60kts (normal speed) and made the normal turn off.
 
taseal said:
very cool thread!

I'm curious what its like to be a turboprop pilot where things are a bit slower pace due to speed of plane, vs a RJ, where things are happening at max speeds....

I'm a generally nervous person when it comes to 1st time things... and when its over, i don't even notice all the sweats I sweat lol

I really hope al this Flight simulator training on these B1900s, Saab 340s, ATR 72s, ERJ 135s will help me be more proficient when it comes to flying the real thing :)
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Turboprops are a little bit easier as there is usually no FMS to program - at least on the 1900... most of our turns are scheduled for 10 minutes at the outstation and 20 minutes at the hub - it's hard to keep it at 10 minutes when you're doing IOE with a newhire FO (especially the ones which have wet temp commercial certificates - which are pretty much all of them these days) - 20 minutes is more on par for a new FO, so I always call a delay due to training and try to make it up time in the air. But after a few legs or a day or two days during IOE, most FO's usually pick it up quickly and are able to do the 10 minute turn. At least on the 1900 the FO doesn't do the paperwork, he's busy playing flight attendant and boarding the pax. When he's done with the pax, he double checks my work, I usually have to force the new FOs to really look at it because they're rushed and they just give it a cursory glance, yeah it's right.

With a 10 minute scheduled turn, though, it's usually done in about 4-5 minutes and sometimes (not very often) it is possible to do a 1 minute turn.

When there's no other aircraft in front of us on the approach, we usually keep 240-ish to the OM or a 4 mile final, pull the power all the way back to idle, the airplane slows nicely from Vmo to 188, flaps 17, 180, gear down, 152, flaps 35, then 140, power comes back up to ~1500ft-lbs, and you are at around 800-900ft above the field, still on the g/s, 700-800ft/min descent stabilized at 140kts. and you just keep it there until you cross the threshold.

Flight simulator stuff, even the full motion sims- none of it helps you fly the real airplane in real world conditions. One of the hardest things I found coming out of IOE as a new FO was doing visual approaches, and flying ILS approaches when you're given an assigned speed. (once you know what power settings to use, it gets much easier.) You pick it up pretty quickly as turboprop pilots usually fly more legs in a day than jet pilots. My first day of IOE was 7 legs, starting in DUJ going to PIT, then to Parkersburg WV, back to PIT, Lewisburg WV, IAD, Lewisburg WV and ending up in CLT.
 
I'm still in IOE and just finished a trip. My first IOE trip though was somewhat overwhelming. It was a four day trip with a lot of trips into BOS and the NY area. The first day was spent just trying to get used to all the gate prep and not trying to look like a total idiot. But once I got past that it all went as well as it could for flying a CRJ. We don't have to worry about paper w&b unless the ACARS takes a dive. I had a good mix of things going on my first trip. We had a prisoner being escorted, my first leg that I flew we were full, did a take off with a 27 knot crosswind, and stuff like that. PHL is a "fun" airport to be based out of. My last trip I just did we were 3.5 hours behind the whole day. LGA was a huge mess because of weather. I shot an ILS with mod turb and heavy rains. I was expecting to get a windshear warning at any minute. But the overall experience has been great. I have flown with some excellent crews and can't wait to get out on the line.
 
taseal said:
thats true... but wouldn't a say 135 be doing 200-250 in during app while a tprop be doing wellll.... yeah you're right haha

how fast is an avg tprop do on terminal area? atr-72 is around 200-220, what about saab340? b1900?

I wonder what it will be like transferring from cessnas to tprops/jets
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They're right. In the 1900, we can do 248 right up to the marker if ATC doesn't mind. In the Tanker, you gotta start slowing down alot earlier because that thing is like an appleseed compared to a 1900 at flight idle. Besides, ATC likes to slow everyone down anyway. If it were me jumpin from the 1900 to a big jet, I would say the complexity of the avionics would get me at those speeds. The 1900 is so easy to fly and navigate with. Skyway's 1900s are /A.
 
My first day of IOE as a 1900 FO was complete %^&&. Showed up at 4am after not sleeping and met my IOE Checkairman. The airplane had to come from the hangar and was late, of course. We had to do a run-up and there was no way we were doing it with pax on my first day. So, we take off 45 mins late and go to flint. The capt flew the first leg. We had to fly an ILS down to about 5-600 ft and I couldn't find the runway. He said "Believe it or not, that white thing is the runway there..." (It was snowing) I don't remember much from the beginning of IOE. It was a complete blur. I remember all the pax giving me weird looks as I briefed them. IOE was done in 5 days for me. I had one 2 day trip with one captain and another 3 day trip with a different captain.

My upgrade IOE was WAY more fun. I already knew the airports, the airplane, and the procedures. The IOE Checkairman was really helpful and was tough on me when he needed to be. In my upgrade, I thought the most difficult things were getting used to doing the paperwork and spinning the wheel, because on the 1900 at Skyway, the captain does that stuff. The rest of the stuff felt exactly the same as it did as an FO.
 
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