Ram Air Flight Training

Flysher said:
I dont have the FAR/AIM with me but I am pretty sure it's required for all planes. I myself could also be wrong but I don't recall it being multi specific.
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Well, I learned something new...according to what I read in the FAR's, it lists NO requirement for a single engine airplane to even have a load manifest. The applicable reg. appears to be 135.63(c):

135.63(c) said:
(c) For multiengine aircraft, each certificate holder is responsible for the preparation and accuracy of a load manifest in duplicate containing information concerning the loading of the aircraft. The manifest must be prepared before each takeoff and must include:
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I don't remember ever going over this. Of course, we all learned on a Baron first, and it was beat into us to always do the manifest before takeoff. I never heard it was only for multis. Go figure.

If anybody finds anything else, let me know please, as I find it kind of weird. Oh well...
 
hm strange indeed, seems sorta useless to do it after takeoff as you are already airborne in the case that your CG is out or something:insane:
 
OK so am I the only one that instantly sees a newspaper headline when I read each successive post by pilot4500? (don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question)

The eject button is as close as a pen and piece of paper...
 
wheelsup said:
OK so am I the only one that instantly sees a newspaper headline when I read each successive post by pilot4500? (don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question)

The eject button is as close as a pen and piece of paper...
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Headline? No. Freighter crashes don't make headlines unless they pile into a school yard full of children. Maybe a one sentence blurb on page 13.

But I agree with you....
 
EatSleepFly said:
Headline? No. Freighter crashes don't make headlines unless they pile into a school yard full of children. Maybe a one sentence blurb on page 13.
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Good point. Although I think it has more to do with the loss of human life than it being a freighter, ref: Colgan in the Atlantic and Falgship 3701. Both didn't receive much fanfare. I wouldn't take offense to it :D.
 
Acually there have been 2 AirNow chrashes that have made the front page of the local section up here. They will never be on the front front page. One was a fatal one and the pilot was from here. The other took out the garden center of the MHT wally world. (non fatal). Had a nice pic of the broken apart emb-110 with boxes strewn all over the place.
 
wheelsup said:
Good point. Although I think it has more to do with the loss of human life than it being a freighter, ref: Colgan in the Atlantic and Falgship 3701. Both didn't receive much fanfare. I wouldn't take offense to it :D.
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Good point.

Probably better that most crashes don't make real headlines anyways, the way the media "reports" things.
 
Pilot4500 thanks for your posts. The information you have passed on is very difficult to find and something every pilot should know before working there. I have personally found it very helpful. From what I gather Ram seems like a place you can get some very good experience at very quickly. A few things that you mentioned I find very concerning though.

I am not trying to put down anyone or say anything negative about the company at all but it doesnt seem as though doing a weight and balance in the air would be legal. Even if it is legal it still doesnt seem like a good idea if your single pilot imc. And if it is legal then their does not seem to be much of a point in doing it once your airborne. Also if you weigh out all of your boxes I think it would take more then two minutes. And for doing this i dont think a tounge lashing from the DO is appropriate.

Another concern I have is what you said about maintenance. My feeling is that if there is that much pressure to get the work their on time then are "minor" squawks supposed to be overlooked until you return to base at night or will they actually send someone to come get you for all maintenance issues? I know I personally fly old 152's and 172's and I have a squawk probobly 2-3 times a week. It would seem like a lot for dispatch to send someone to get you that often.

I dont mean to offend anyone but as a cfi who has never flown freight before these are some of my concerns. I wouldnt be too worried about it as long as I had the option to resign after I started flying the line if I felt uncomfortable but with the contract I think that option wouldnt be available to me. You mentioned the guy in your class who quit after his engine failure I was wondering what happened with his contract he was supposed to fulfill?
 
Joecfi said:
I am not trying to put down anyone or say anything negative about the company at all but it doesnt seem as though doing a weight and balance in the air would be legal. Even if it is legal it still doesnt seem like a good idea if your single pilot imc. And if it is legal then their does not seem to be much of a point in doing it once your airborne. Also if you weigh out all of your boxes I think it would take more then two minutes. And for doing this i dont think a tounge lashing from the DO is appropriate.
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My company requires W&B be done before takeoff (required by FAR's for multi engine aircraft), but theres plenty of other things that have to be done during flight in IMC sometimes. Certain perfomance figures have to be noted in the maintenance log for maintenance, runsheets have to be filled out, and many other things....all while keeping up with where you're going, talking to controllers, and talking to company. Things are pretty busy on those short 45 minutes flights. You get used to it.

One of the biggest parts of the job is being on time. The key is being safe and efficient.
 
Joecfi said:
Even if it is legal it still doesnt seem like a good idea if your single pilot imc . . .
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Anybody that's being paid to fly freight should be able to do simple multiplication and fill in some spaces, with the help of a calculator, while flying through a cloud. If you're unable to, you might want to tow banners, or patrol a pipeline.

All know I personally fly old 152's and 172's and I have a squawk probobly 2-3 times a week. It would seem like a lot for dispatch to send someone to get you that often.
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I don't know about RAF, but at my company, we have spare airplanes and mechnaics all over the freaking system! If it breaks, squawk it, and it'll get fixed!

I dont mean to offend anyone but as a cfi who has never flown freight before these are some of my concerns.
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Concerns are OK! Ask your questions, and they'll be answered! Just don't let your opinion be swayed but somebody talking down about flying freight - especially if they don't even have the legal minimums to do the job themselves! ;)

I wouldnt be too worried about it as long as I had the option to resign after I started flying the line if I felt uncomfortable but with the contract I think that option wouldnt be available to me. You mentioned the guy in your class who quit after his engine failure I was wondering what happened with his contract he was supposed to fulfill?
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Well, if you quit . . . ;)
 
I am glad to see that my blog is getting so much attention, and I hope that you guys find the information valuable. As for making newspaper headlines with each successive post, that is not what I am trying to do. I’m just giving my first hand experience about flying freight.

As far as doing W & B calculations, I always do them before takeoff. Yes it might take an extra minute, but I want to make sure I am within CG limits before I takeoff. RAF management prefers that we do the calculations in flight to save time, but that is not my way. And we have to fill out load manifests for every flight, regardless of whether or not it is a single or multi engine plane. Another thing that they tell us is to do only one runup per day. I usually do a full runup before my first flight of the day, and a mag check before each takeoff. I am sure that the DO would tell me it is overkill to do that and all it does is waste another valuable minute, but safety comes first.

I have found that doing this job there is a fine line between getting the cargo there on time and making sure that safety is the first priority. You can’t let the DO or dispatch talk you into cutting corners in order to save time. If it means coming in a few minutes late to ensure a safe operation, then so be it.

As far as maintenance goes, we do not have mechanics at all of the airports that we fly to. However, if you need to squawk a plane at someplace other than a maintenance base, they will respect that and arrange for the plane to be fixed. They will more than likely send someone to get you and fly you back to your base, and if need be, make arrangements to finish your run. If it is something where you could safely fly the plane back to base to get it fixed, of course that would be preferred. For example, let’s say an interior dome light didn’t work and you were doing a daytime flight. Then yes, you would be encouraged to fly the plane back to base and squawk it when you get there.

If it is something that is required to be legal and or safe, then by all means squawk the the plane and they will send someone to get you. Dispatch will make arrangements for the plane to be fixed.

As for the guy who quit, I am nor sure what was done regarding his contract. Being that I am away from the main base in RDU, I don’t get to hear details like that. I know that sometimes they will excuse a person from the contract if they leave before six months. It depends on the circumstances, but I know they have done that in the past.

I saw that AirNow was mentioned. I was actually hired by AirNow, went through 3 weeks of training, and then left because of concerns that I had with their poor training, and a poor safety record (four crashes in two years). The training and record of safety is much better here at Ram Air.
 
wheelsup said:
OK so am I the only one that instantly sees a newspaper headline when I read each successive post by pilot4500? (don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question)

The eject button is as close as a pen and piece of paper...
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Well I just read all the posts and I don't really come to the same conclusion.

The "engine quitting" stories are all just idle adjustments and the engine won't "quit" in the air for that reason - so I don't see that as dangerous or likely to lead to a fatal accident.

The engine fire probably was from over-priming - I know the poster said they were careful not to over-prime, but it's easy to do, and every engine is different. I don't "blame" the poster - but it was probably the pilots actions that were the root cause of the fire (well the root cause is the propensity for those engines to catch on fire, but sticking with this one incident).

It's hard IMC single engine - but that's not inherently dangerous, perhaps more dangerous than hard IMC in a multi-engine, but I'm not sure that's a fact - the statistics can be manipulated anyway you like. To be fair though, RAM will tell you if you're not willing to fly IMC to minimums don't bother applying - that's what they do.

As far as I know RAM has only ever lost one pilot - and he hit a perfectly good radio tower in a sparklingly clear VFR day and was over 100 miles from the departure and the destination. So other than not screening out somebody who apparently wasn't too bright, you can't really blame RAM for that one. Package Express had their problems - but let's assume that RAMs stellar maintenance practices :-) have resolved those issues.

I know a lot of people who flew and fly at RAM - it's certainly not for everyone. The nature of the beast is that pilots will feel pressured to complete their assigned trips - if they didn't some pilots would be canceling flights when the ceilings dropped below 1,000 ft. On the other hand, if the pilot really says it's a no-go they will respect that. For example the poster didn't go with a mag. drop - correct decision - but certainly an experienced mechanic might argue (and I've heard them do it) that it would "probably" sort itself out in the air - and it probably would have. A company that had a really bad attitude would have said "you've got a mag and a half - get out there and complete the job". Don't tell me those companies don't exist.

I believe the posters experiences are typical RAM - and many pilots have survived the experience (and been better pilots for doing so) and many will survive in the future - including the poster.
 
I knew David.

He departed just before I did that day, from PGV, and I saw him

I was actually flying in the same direction, and it wasn't exactly sparkling clear . . .
 
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