Snow moves to FlightSafety Atlanta

Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

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...One of the main reasons airline applicants fail their ride is because a lack of familiarity with these systems.

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Are you talking about the interview session, or at the end of training???

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Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

I was referring to the interview 'ride', either that or a lack of good IFR skills, they don't give you any training in that, they expect you to be a good IFR pilot already. Least that's what I heard from Expressjet.

Friday May 6th.

Well I flew in the Learjet 45 with a local person this week, (as opposed to an international client) He wanted to finish early so instead of the 2hrs a day over 3 days we did 3hrs a day over 2 days. This is only the 2nd recurrent person I've flown with and you get to see some malfunctions that you don't see in initial training so it was interesting to experience. Looks like I'll be paired up with another initial client a week from now.

Also I got to do some real flying last week. Went up with the FBO owner in one of their aircraft and did a little night sightseeing. We flew over Hartsfield at about 4000 agl, did a little tour over the city and came back. Was quite fun, and yes I can still fly a small plane
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Also if anyone in the Atlanta area wants some flight instruction from yours truly, send me a message. They have a nice fleet of aircraft there and everyone is friendly.
 
Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

Tuesday, May 17th

Well it's been busy lately, was working on the CRJ 700 courseware development wed-fri last week and yesterday, as well as being in the Citation Thursday and Friday. Was in the sim yesterday, today and again on Wednesday and Thursday. Scheduled to be in the sim about 8hrs today and tommarrow, 5:45am start and going though to around 9pm Might take an extended lunch, undecided as yet because there's a lot of work waiting for me in the standards office because I was unable to do it lately do to working on the CRJ program. Recently found out I get overtime so all the 9hr days are not unrewarded
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I don't minding working a little more cause I'm saving up for my road trip next month with an old mate from high school.

Overall things are going great here in Atlanta, everyone is friendly and professional, a great place to be working.
 
Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

Tuesday May 31st

Ah, feeling much better after the long weekend and the 4 day week ahead sure doesn't hurt either! Especially after last week! Tuesday thru Thursday last week I had a 6am start and Wednesday and Thursday I didn't get off work until after 10pm Granted I took a 2hr lunch but that still makes for a long work day! I pretty much went home, ate something, went to bed, got up 5hrs later, and went back to work. I guess I have my first taste of an airline schedule! I was in the sim over 10hrs on two of those days. By Thursday night I was really beginning to feel the lack of sleep set in, nothing a dose of caffeine didn't fix. It was interesting to note how sleep deprivation affects your performance however, not a good state to be in when an emergency occurs.

Anyhoo I got lots of sim time, overtime, my 135 SIC checkout in the Citation and renewed my instrument currency last week so very productive overall
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In the sim the next two weeks but with a less hectic schedule.

Guess not a bad time to announce my route 66 trip which is happening in 2wks time. Driving Atlanta to Chicago then to LA via old route 66, then back to ATL via the south, PHX, DFW etc. If you'd like to catch up with me during my journey, send me a PM.


SNOW
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Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

if your out here in phx on a weekend, let us know and we'll get the phx homies together for a beer or two!
 
Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

Sounds like a plan, I'll have a few other Aussies in tow as well. Might even make it there for 4th July celebrations as I'll be in LA on the 1st.

Thursday June 9th

Yay only one more day till holiday! Also got some informal job offers. One to do some ground school instructing at American Flyers (with promise of some flight time too). Funny the guy I talked to was an ex Ft Peirce Pan Am guy. But the other one, much more interesting is doing some contract flying in the Learjet 45 for a couple of days a month. Things are still in negeotation so not many details to tell other than they fly all over the US and fly about 800hrs a year. So I'll be crossing my fingers for that one. Both of these are part time and will allow me to keep working here at FlightSafety.

Other than that I'll probably be leaving on the road trip on Sunday, just in time for that tropical storm to pass through TN, yay. My mate has a digital camera so I'll see if I can upload some pics from time to time.
 
Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

Tuesday July 19th

Well I'm back... kinda ended up spending 4th July in Vegas, not too bad but rather hot, 108F or so. Plus didn't get to see New Orleans cause of the hurricane, we hoofed it back to Atlanta a couple of days early instead. Started raining about 5pm and didn't stop right until we arrived in Atlanta 9hrs later. I wish I was flying cause at least you can rely on the instruments then, there were times I couldn't see the hood of my car. There was an inch of standing water or so on the freeway coming in on I-20 and our 'basement' had flooded and put out the hot water heater, we had to bail it out so we could relight it, probably 20 5gal buckets or so, and that was just enough to lower it below the burners.

Anyhow, nice to be back and actually not in debt as I would have thought. Although might need to whip out the credit cards a few times before the next paycheck comes in at the end of the month.

Got a lesson in the De Havalland Dash 8 today. It's a new program they're starting here and one of the instructors, also new the aircraft wanted some practice teaching before the real clients come. Of course I was happy to oblige. Maybe it's just because it's a larger aircraft (Max takeoff about 42,000lbs) or that it's just a turboprop but there's a lot more switches and dials than the corporate jets I'm used to. Also the steering tiller is a new concept to me. Plus I was flying left seat this time and I found myself making the FO calls on the first take off
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It's got amazing short field performance! We were well over 500ft in the air before we were 1/2 way down the runway. Apparently it can land in 1500ft if it had to, impressive. Looks like I'll be getting more time in the Dash 8 before the week is out too, sweet! Single engine should be interesting, no counter rotating props in this thing, oh and did I mention they're like 14ft in diameter!?

Oh and I didn't get that LR-45 gig, their first choice got it since he didn't get hired with ASA like first presumed, which sux for both of us cause I was next in line. But oh well, still looking into some part time CFI jobs in the area, although the flying weather isn't too good right now, a tornado narrowly missed the one FBO I've been hanging out at!

Well that's all for now, I'll keep you all posted on the goings on.
 
Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

Snow hey whats up, I've been reading your posts for a while now, just wondering about some details of the Atlanta FSI internship position. I'm applying for it this week, and hope to be up there soon. Are your days always set at 8-5, or do they change, and is the job very demanding, or would you be able to have time for some flight instructing on the side, such as evenings and on weekends? Thanks for any info, and hopfully I'll be seeing you soon up there. -
 
Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

Um, you more or less set your own hours since your part time, just need to be here when they need you which might be outside of the 9-5 day. I've been here as early as 0530 and as late as 0130. It seems to be feast or famine around here, either your really busy or have nothing to do. Evenings and weekends are usually free to do what you want. I'm looking for part time cfi work right now. Are you sure there's an opening in ATL? There are already 3 of us here. Savanna might be cool; Dave Davenport the past assistant manager of ATL (also who the interns reported to) is now the manager of SAV. Good luck.
 
Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

Snow,
it was good seeing you again mate....Glad you stopped by with your friends while passing through Scottsdale Arizona. Your friends are good people. I might be up in your neck of the woods around end of hurricane season. How about some sim time?

Give me a call...
ILS
 
Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

Yeah thanks for showing us around Scottsdale, I would have liked to meetup with some other JCers while I was there ie Doug & crew, but the heat had me wanting to get out of there ASAP, lol.
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Yeah, next time your up Atlanta way, give me a call and I'll show you around the center.
 
Re: FlightSafety Atlanta

Monday, 8th August

Well I finally got a job flying real airplanes
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I actually got this about a week ago but I was waiting for things to be finalized before posting about it. I got hired as a Citation II co-pilot as I trained with the owner of the company when he did his recurrent training here at FSI. I am now a Citation backup pilot until they get a new Hawker. When they get the new aircraft that crew will transfer to that aircraft and I will then become the full time co-pilot on the Citation. Until then I am building some time as a 'cargo loader' on their Beech 1900D, Metroliner and occasionally Caravan, aircraft. They also have a King Air 200B for passenger flights which I might occasionally get to fly on as co-pilot when required. Their cargo aircraft fly roughly 150hrs a month and the Citation is currently flying 1200hrs a year. So far I have flown twice on the Caravan to Memphis and Nashville and once in the 1900 to New Orleans and Mobile. I'm scheduled to fly on the Metroliner for the first time tomorrow evening to Orlando and Jacksonville. It's great to be in the air again and I get some opportunities to start logging turbine time. Until the Citation job goes full time I don't have enough work to justify quitting FlightSafety, so for the time being I will continue to work for FSI at a somewhat reduced workload.

Also another intern here recently got hired flying a Brazilla for a local passinger charter operation and is due to start in Septmeber.

That's all the news from Altanta, till next time.
 
Snow,

Are you still in Atlanta at the FSI center? I am coming there on Oct. 10 to start Lear 60 training. I don't know if you remember, but we met a while back at Orlando Exec. when you were on a cross-country. PM me when you get a chance.
 
Yes I'm still here, TT is about 256 hrs not including the nearly 190hrs or so sim time. Yes I should be here on the 10th and yes I remember meeting you at ORL.

Thursday, September 29th

Hey all, still here, just haven't had a lot of new stuff to report lately. My 'flying' job has been a bit slow, we lost 2 of 4 nightly freight contracts. Well one of those was to New Orleans, so didn't really lose it, but it will be a while before that starts up again. Still no word when the new Hawker is coming in, so still a back up co-pilot and the regular pilot doesn't seem to get sick or have days off much so I haven't been doing a lot of flying lately.

On another note I have gotten my first student. Met someone through a friend who always wanted to take flying lessons and when they found out I'm a CFI it just went from there. First flight is this weekend, looks like I'll have to dust off my old lesson plans. Doing it at a place that has a Piper Warrior (plane I've done most flying in) and they'll allow me to flight instruct in it as well, so I'm pretty happy with that.

On the FlightSafety Atlanta front, I've been doing a bit of right seat flying in the Learjet 35. Little older than the 45 but faster. Plus it has some unusual items like fuel jettison and a drag chute. Since the other intern left, I'm the only person qualified on those aircraft and with Mike leaving for his CJ1 job, I'll be the only SIC qualified intern here until the newly arrived interns get some intial training under their belts.

All to report for now, feel free to direct any questions my way.
 
Monday, November 11th

Hey folks, sorry for the lengthy delay in between posts but not a whole lot on new stuff has been going on lately. Looks like I could be in all three simulators this week, Learjet 35 and 45 plus the Citation II. The 45 has been super busy lately, I could potentially be doing a check ride from 12:30am to 2:30am cause that's the only time it's free that day.

I have been making some good contacts these past few weeks however, plus I've been treated to lunch or dinner by clients so many times I've lost count! Guess I'm doing a good job! lol Unfortunately none of these clients can provide any assistance in me getting a flying job with low time but they could come in handy in the future once I have more experience. One was a pilot with a major airline's corporate flight department (no I didn't know they had those either) but he gets paid quite well and is home almost every night, plus he has the option to transfer over to the big iron at a later date if he chooses. Something I'll look into more once I get more experience (a lot more!)

Got to catch up with a friend I made from the UK when we did Learjet 45 initial training together back in February. He was back for recurrent training and it was interesting to hear of his experiences flying around Europe. Caught up with another 45 client I flew with for his initial training a few weeks ago too, also from the UK but with a different company.

Pursuing 2 job opportunities right now, one with a client who needs a co-pilot for a month to fly to the Olympics in Italy and another for a large flight department who does a lot of charter work with the military (among other things)

Other than that, been doing a lot of tedious office work like formatting online forms and data entry, not the most fun thing in the world but like every other job it has it's up and downs. For now I'm just happy to be employed in a job that has access to a lot of aviation contacts. So I'm sure sooner or later I'll land a full time flying job, all the interns who precede me have.

All to report for now, till next time.
 
Friday December 9th

Ah the hectic holidays. Christmas madness aside, I got training on a new aircraft this week, the Embraer 120 Brasilla. There's 30 or so inital pilots coming in next year and they need me for FO duties. For those who don't know, it's a fairly modern 30 pax turboprop which ASA used until 2002 or so (I think) Many regionals are phasing them out in favor for regional jets. It's kinda cool, it's a fairly high workload aircraft, not just that a turboprop in general is more complex than a jet but the systems are complex as well, 5 generators, 2 hydralic systems, alternate flap controls, 3 gear extention methods etc etc. It's a few firsts for me, first time flying a plane that requires a flight attendant (20+ pax), one that has most of the systems located on the overhead panel, and first time flying an airliner in general if you will. It's quite fast for a prop too, can cruse upto 300kts if the conditions are right. Has EFIS, GPWS, TCAS, stick pushers, extensive aural alert system and buttons, guages and dials galore! The control force required at speed is quite a handful, think 26,000lbs aircraft with cable driven controls moving at 275kts, you get the idea. Oh and completing the before start checks takes about 30mins if you know what your doing. :buck:

On another front, trying to do some more local flight instruction, the one flight school I've been doing some flying with is looking for a full time instructor, so I'm gonna give that a shot come next year, will still come in to FSI to fly in the sims however. Will be a better prospect with some more time in my logbook.
 
Thursday 19th January

Wow, been here almost a year now, how time flies. Not a whole lot of new stuff going on here FSI, although we do have a bucketload of new interns here. We got a total of 7 including myself now. I interviewed and was successful in getting a job with American Flyers, but for a place that is apparently hurting for instructors, they sure are taking there time giving me anything to do, other than the interview 2 wks ago and a CFI meeting last Friday I haven't done anything. I sent my resume out to a bunch of places and funny enough the place next door just asked me to come in for an interview as well, that's gonna be this weekend. They fly a locally built aircraft called the Alarus CH2000 by AMD (www.newplane.com). Seems ok, kinda like a modern day 152 I guess, but they come standard with a Garmin 430 so that's nice. Also I heard the magic words, we have students we can give you right away and you could work full time in a month. Also they're planning on getting a Seminole come summer so some ME possibilities there too. Anyhow I'll let you know how that goes. Till then.

Also feel free to post any questions.
 
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