Simulator Assessments

[tjg]

Can anyone let me know what the main characteristics they will be looking for in my first Sim ride next week. I got through the interview so I am not prepared to blow it now.

[quid]

Here are the applicable items from my airline's guide:

The Check Airman will be evaluating the following:

Trainability
XXX Airlines requires the use of standard terminology during our flight operations. Many of these are listed in the following pages with quotation marks, such as “Gear down, before landing checklist”. Try to use the XXX phraseology whenever possible.

Instrument Scan
Most everyone will be off altitude, airspeed and heading to some degree. Keep your eyes moving, scanning the flight instruments and attempt to get back to where you should be as soon as possible after detecting a deviation. Don’t fixate on any one parameter and ignore another.

Situational Awareness
Know where you are relative to the airport and the approach in use. Know when to start configuring for the approach and landing. Your Check Airman may “freeze” the simulator to give you more time to brief the approach.

Judgement
Everyone wants to do a good job on this ride, and get the first approach in. Do not compromise safety by “ducking under” or trying to “save” a landing if you wouldn’t do it in real life. Remember; treat the simulator like you would the real airplane. Don’t do anything on this ride that you wouldn’t do in real life.

Hope this helps.

Good luck,
quid

[DB6]

Make sure you know which type of plates they use. It can really **** you up if they use Jepps and you've trained on Aerads; the sim ride is not the time or place to learn a new format. I know whereof I speak.

[tjg]

thanks for your comments- will do my best

[Devils Advocate]

..... and if the assessment is on a jet sim (and you've not flown a jet before) they will almost certainly give you power settings, for various configurations, prior to the 'flight'.

Now do yourself a big favour and for gawds sake write down these numbers in large, clear, and luminous ink and attach them on the side-window clip and / or where you can see them.

Trust me when I say that having something to aim at, power wise, will make a world of difference, i.e. set these power settings and the sim will behave almost just as you want it to.

Ps. Don't forget to add power (uhm, about 4'ish % N1) in turns, to maintain the target airspeed - but don't then forget to then take it off once you've rolled out !

PPs. (hence the edit) Don't forget that if you have some big fat ugly bloke in the opposite seat that he is an invaluable resource and you MUST call on him to assist you, e.g. to call the lead from a turn on to a QDM, or to set the HDG and / or speed bugs, call LOC & GS alive, talk to ATC, read the QRH, etc.

Remember that airline operations are NOT (normally) single crew, and you must exhibit some semblence of CRM / MCC during your check - in simple terms, if you feel the need to move your hands off the throttles or yolk, whilst hand/manually flying and in order to make a selection, then you should really be asking the other bloke to do it for you !

[This message has been edited by Devils Advocate (edited 23 February 2001).]

[justinzider]

Memorise pitch attitudes and power settings, don't get slow when single engine. Run the whole profile in your head til you know it off pat.
I shouldn't get worried about company terminology in the UK. How you gonna find that out? That all comes if you get the job.

Good luck.

[Pat Pong]

Devils Advocate and justinzider are spot on. The secret to flying a jet airliner is power settings and pitch attitudes. Set the correct %N1 (or EPR) and attitude for a given configuration, trim it and hey presto – it’s almost as good as engaging the autopilot!!
A decent airline will take in to account your previous experience. Consequently, if your background is piston or turboprop it would be unreasonable to expect you to cope with non-normal situations and perform QRH drills. Like justinzider said re. SOPs – you’ll be taught these when you get the job.
Don’t become rattled if you are asked to repeat, say, a SID or STAR two or three times. This is by no means an indication of impending failure. Quite the contrary in fact - it is a very typical scenario. In this case the airline is looking for you to recognise any mistakes and, having learnt from them, demonstrate an improved performance next time.
I hope this is of some help and I wish you the very best of luck.