Ram Air Flight Training

Joecfi said:
One, I never send a resume to any of them. Two, the FAA steps in and forces them to clean up their act.
Click to expand...

I say this in all seriousness - don't send a resume to time building freight operators. If the stories here scare you then you'll HATE flying night freight - find another way to build the time you need.

I can not imagine something more unethical than telling your pilots during training that its legal to do the w+b in the air. Imagine if Pilot4500 got ramped and told the FAA that.
Click to expand...

There is nothing unethical about it. Technically what's being filled out in the air is the load manifest which includes W&B information. Most of us do the detailed W&B in the air because we know from past experience that the load as loaded is within the envelope - which is all we need to know to depart. We must carry a completed manifest to the destination, so we do it in the air. This is just one of the common activites in night freight (hell any single engine operation) that apparently you don't understand. It's that lack of understanding that is worrying you about the operation - you either need to be prepared to learn from those who know better, or as mentioned above, not go there. Night freight isn't for everybody.
 
Joecfi said:
I can not imagine something more unethical than telling your pilots during training that its legal to do the w+b in the air. Imagine if Pilot4500 got ramped and told the FAA that.
Click to expand...

Nothing at all would happen as long as he could prove that he was within limits. Not likely they would even ask, unless there was an incident or something. Like CFIse said, when you have pretty much the same load every day, you can figure it out without crunching numbers. I used to fly Caravans, and after awhile, I could load by looking at the nose strut and how close the tail stand was to touching the ground. I knew how much weight could go in each bay to keep it loaded within the CG envelope. I rarely broke out the graph and plotter, unless it was an unusually small & heavy or large & light load. I said it earlier- a load manifest does NOT need to be completed in single engine airplanes.
 
wheelsup said:
Maybe it's because they know better now?
Click to expand...

Still there really isn't another way to get the multi time. Unless you have a great connection to somebody with a twin or work for a school that has one, then freight is about the only other way. Even the lower time regionals require 50 hours multi. I only had 12 when I got my multi engine rating. That isn't enough for anything other than a place like RAM.
 
GAPILOT said:
That isn't enough for anything other than a place like RAM.
Click to expand...

Keep telling yourself that and you won't get anywhere. I bartered a web site for Navajo time back in the CFI days, with the help of a fellow JC'er. Think outside the box if you don't want go the small-freight route.

Also, there *are* other companies out there besides RAM.
 
Indeed, Airnet and Amflight have pretty damned good safety records and I can tell you that all the crap you're talking about with RAM ain't gonna fly at Amflight.
 
Reading this here. . . all this talk about not having enough multi time. . . makes me very happy to know my future training establishment does their commercial training in multi, with a single engine add-on.
 
BrianNC said:
4500, so how's it been going lately? Are you still defying death with every run? :)
Click to expand...

All right I won't keep you guys in suspense any longer. Sorry I couldn't get on here sooner, but I have been busy.

Ram Air has a bid system where you can bid for a run and you will get it based on your seniority. I was assigned a really nice run that leaves at 1:00pm and finishes at 7:30 pm. The problem is that half the time I get assigned something else. Lately I have been doing one of the longer runs that leaves at 12:30 pm and finshes around 10:30 pm, and includes about 6 hours of flight time. The pilot who usually does the run is doing seneca training this week so they made me swap runs with him while he is in training. It seems like about half the time I don't get to do my assigned run, which sucks.

I have not been defying death, but I have had a number of mechanical problems. Mostly engine starting issues Three weeks ago I broke down in Charleston, SC because the starter on the plane broke completely. I would turn the key, but the prop would not turn. My boss came down with a Seneca to bring me and my cargo back to JQF.

Earlier this week I broke down in Macon, GA because the airplane would not start. I tried every trick in the book, and a few that were not in the book to try and start the plane, but she would not start. They sent a C-402 down to come and get me and my cargo fly to CLT.

Yesterday I had to start the plane with a GPU, but it ran fine and started without a problem after that.

So no stories of defying death, just annoying mechanical problems. I guess that is to be expected when you fly 35 year old airplanes.

On the bright side, I have a three day weekend and I am next in line for a multi upgrade. I am moving up that seniority ladder quickly.
 
Zephyr said:
Does the company encourage, discourage, not care, or don't-ask don't-tell, about the use of handheld GPS units to aid in situational awareness when flying minimally equipped planes like you described?

~Z
Click to expand...


Do a lot of freighters discourage handheld GPS units?
 
Mattio said:
Do a lot of freighters discourage handheld GPS units?
Click to expand...

I don't know about other frieght companies, but Ram Air does not have a policy regarding the use of handheld GPS units. I know a lot of pilots who carry them. I really want to buy one, but I can't afford it right now. It would really come in handy when I get assigned an airplane without GPS, which is often.

If there is one thing I think that Ram Air should do, it is to put GPS units in all of the airplanes that don't already have them. This would save a lot of hassle for the pilots that have to refile flight plans because they get a /A or /U airplane. Plus it would enable us to get cargo to the customers faster because we could direct from one point to the other.

The majority of the planes in the Ram Air fleet have GPS units, and I think it would be a very wise investment for Ram Air to equip the 7 or 8 airplanes that don't have them with GPS. It makes sense from every perspective. It will keep the pilots and the customers happy. A win/win situation for everybody.
 
pilot4500 said:
The majority of the planes in the Ram Air fleet have GPS units, and I think it would be a very wise investment for Ram Air to equip the 7 or 8 airplanes that don't have them with GPS. It makes sense from every perspective. It will keep the pilots and the customers happy. A win/win situation for everybody.
Click to expand...

I think you're just seeing a Package Express absorption issue - I don't think you have to convince RAM about GPS - they jumped on it very early. Most of their planes got the GX60 (or whatever the IFR equivalent is, GX65??) in the early days when they were not cheap.
 
Ram has that Apollo GX-50 in most of their planes. All of the old Package planes have the Garmin 430 units. After you get used to the Apollo---its a pretty cool little unit, I actually liked it better than the 430 by the time I left Ram.

I learned a lot about navigation at Ram. Taught myself how to use a LORAN in IMC.... learned that if Nav1 is one dot left, Nav2 is one dot right.... GS1 is one dot high, GS2 is 1 dot low.... you're probably right on the LOC and GS! Take the average of NAV1 and NAV2 :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top