more Ameriflight....

jtrain609 said:
Ain't you flying a 99 right now?

I've never heard ANYTHING louder than an Amflight Beech 99 with all the sound proofing taken out. I'm fairly certain it's at least 150 db inside the cockpit at takeoff power.

I mean seriously dude it made the Chieftain seem whisper quiet.
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TO power is loud. But climb and cruise is the same as a chieftain on my ANRs. Just sayin 5 am on the ramp and those metros taxing around... kinda loud.
 
KLB said:
Two of the big things are:

it's wacky cockpit layout. The engineers desinged a lot of three position switches to reduce the amount of switches in the cockpit. It can be tough at times to tell what position the switch is in. It would be disastorous is some of those switches are put in the wrong position is certain situations. Half of the circuit breakers are located on the captains side and the other half on the FO side. The metro has a pretty big cockpit compared to other aircraft. This makes searching out ciruit breakers to push in or pop out on the other side of the cockpit difficult to find and reach when flying single pilot. It's even worse at night.

it's slow control response. The metro rolls really slowly due to the tip of the ailerons being located 3 feet inbord of the wing tip. It's not so bad at cruise, but it takes a lot of input to make it do what you want it to do at slow airspeeds. Its not uncommon to have to go nearly full aileron deflection (with both hands on the yoke because the controls are heavy) either way while doing approaches in gusty conditions. I've heard pilots compare the metro control inputs at cruise similar to a 727's control inputs configured to land! It also has a small rudder for the size of the aircraft. You have to do everything right to have an successful outcome after losing an engine of takeoff. One mistake and you're likely not to make it.

It also has a skinny wing and cruises at decent airspeeds, but could probably use a few more horses.:)
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Sounds like it would definately keep you on your game. I unload several of them at work, kind of a cool airplane. I noticed the pilot always gets out and spins the prop by hand several times too. Never seen that with any other airplane, whats the purpose for doing that?
 
Loosely speaking, to get the hot air out of the engine to prevent various sorts of damage.

And yes, the 99 has it backwards. Supposed to be noisy on the outside, quiet on the inside.
 
bksslc said:
Just curious. What is it about the Metro that gives it this reputation for being a hard airplane to fly, or fly single pilot anyways?
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I'm going to second what KLB says. I've got a few thousand hours (closer to 4k hours actually) single pilot metro experience. Whoever designed it was an idiot. My favorite (and very simple) are the battery and generator switches that are labeled but located behind the pilot's yoke... you have to know them by feel and location instead of labels. A lot of switches are on the copilot side (bleeds, temp controlling, a lot of circuit breakers,and a few others... not to mention that six pack of gauges I think you're meant to monitor but realistically can't) and can be a pain to find if you don't where they are.

When everything goes right the Metro is a relatively easy airplane to fly (although the handling is still that of a Mack truck of the air). The issue is when stuff goes wrong. Probably the biggest issue is that's it's a difficult airplane to troubleshoot problems with. I did a very in depth training course but it was roughly 1000 hours before I felt like I could actually troubleshoot problems good enough for mx. The other problem is it seems, about twice a year, I head to mx. with a squawk and their response is "I've been working on Metro's for 15 years and have never heard of that happening".

KLB: I believe you're an amflight guy so you probably never have, but: have you ever flown a metro II? I'd really like to get the opportunity to. Apparantly, with the ailerons actually being to the wing tips it actually handles. My company only has Metro III's so I probably won't be able to ever get my hands on one... but I'd love the opportunity.
 
I've only flown the III's and IV's. I think the II's have a shorter wing and thats why the ailerons are located all the way outboard. This happened right after Fairchild took over Swearingen. It seems like that they just stuck another three feet of wing out there.:laff:
 
I had a chance to help test fly a merlin 3b with dash 10's, which is a short bodied short wing merlin. Still had the soundproofing and it was very quiet inside. Yeah, it flew more like a normal plane I recall it had the control forces akin to a 421 or a caravan. The landing was different noticeably more squirly and quicker to react.
 
This is great about the Merto and all, sounds like a fun plane, but back to the hiring...Anybody at Ameriflight want to recommend somebody like me who you don't know but is really a good guy with experience just looking for a helping hand?
I know two people with ameriflight, but they were recently hired, and one who quit last month. I've applied almost everyway possible but haven't heard anything...:(

Suggestions? I'm open to anything, i really really want to work for amf.
 
MOONWOLF said:
This is great about the Merto and all, sounds like a fun plane, but back to the hiring...Anybody at Ameriflight want to recommend somebody like me who you don't know but is really a good guy with experience just looking for a helping hand?
I know two people with ameriflight, but they were recently hired, and one who quit last month. I've applied almost everyway possible but haven't heard anything...:(

Suggestions? I'm open to anything, i really really want to work for amf.
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I would suggest giving them a call directly! Or even better yet, stop by the office and ask for someone in charge of hiring pilots... worth a shot. Last I heard, they were holding several interviews in the PHX area. I know they are hiring for a class each month this year.
 
hah, it worked. I called expecting to get an answering machine, talked to sherri, and schedule an interview. hopefully for an april class...:cwm27:
 
Just turned 135 minimums last week. I'm polishing the resume and will apply online this weekend.

My students are on their XC phase of their single engine comm training and BUR is an approved airport! I'll be dropping by the main office for some face time next week. Wish me luck!
 
yeah, from what i was told. hiring to OAK and PDX. Good luck ftyflyboy, maybe i'll see you in the training class?
 
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