DAY 4…..A late sim session
As we were off to West Drayton the following day it was decided that we would wait for Loganair and Adria to finish and then go into the sim once again in the evening. It would be a long day, however it gave us a little time to think about what we would be doing. The training organisation has a room with a number of full size cockpit mock-ups or ‘cardboard bombers’ as they seem to be known. These are fantastic aids and really help in getting comfortable with the location of all the aircraft’s various bells and whistles.
So after a few hours lounging about, drinking lots of coffee and eating too many of the free doughnuts and muffins on offer, we are sitting at Manchester’s Gate 29 once again. This time I am PF. The instructions are to set up for a POL 5R Departure from Runway 23R and then to pick up radar vectors back for an ILS Approach to the same runway. This time my sim partner practices the ‘flow scan’ on the aircraft systems, as I pick up the ATIS and set up the Nav & Com Stacks for our departure. On my MCC, the majority of the flying was done using the autopilot. Using and understanding automation is part and parcel of commercial flying these days, so it is important to integrate this with good CRM. Using the autopilot in the MCC helped to free up some capacity in order to think about the multicrew aspect and what we should be trying to achieve. After we picked up our clearance from ATC (our sim instructor) I was ready to give my first ever departure brief. Well, it wasn’t great to be honest, however I think I covered everything that should be covered. One thing that I was told to have in place before any brief was the ‘5 B’s.’ I learnt this after doing my MCC and I wish I knew it before, as it really helps. The ‘5 B’s’ are Bugs (speed, heading & altitude), Bearings (Nav set-up, HSI CRS etc), Boxes (Frequencies, Autopilot MCP window), Brakes (don’t think there is any autobrake on a Saab though) and then Briefing. Anyway, as I said in a previous entry, practicing your briefs is great advice. If you can get your hands on any ITVV videos, then I’d recommend listening to the briefs given by the crew. I have the Virgin Atlantic 747-400 video and the Captain gives excellent departure and arrival briefings. Listening to these really helps.
We run through the starting procedure again and this time my sim partner taxi’s the aircraft to the hold, lining the aircraft up on the runway. We our cleared for take off, I am handed control of the power levers as my partner keeps her straight on the runway using the tiller. We run through the standard calls as we speed down the runway. I have asked for power to be set as I advance the levers, looking for 90% Torque on the engines. 60 kts is called and I confirm I have control of the rudders. ‘V1,’ both hands on the column now and ‘Rotate’ – we are away! A bit of an over rotation and the gear is selected to ‘up.’ ‘Fly the flight director’ calls our instructor as I try to get a feel for the Saab. Soon we are passing 3 DME form the ‘MCT’ VOR and its time to turn right, continuing with the horizontal profile of the SID. It’s all happening so fast and I am missing some of the calls as we engage the autopilot and climb through the various levels. It’s scrappy, so we try it all again. Having seen it all before, we improve, however our instructor picks up anything we miss out. Although a little jaded from a long day, I am really enjoying this. The Saab really is a pleasant aircraft and extremely well laid out.
As we pass Pole Hill VOR at 5000’ we are vectored right and told to descent to 4000’ for the ILS. Flying at 240 KIAS, we need to slow down. Give yourself as much time as possible, it’s a busy time. We don’t do any arrival briefing as our instructor is keen to run through this with us. We fly the various heading commands given by ATC and set up the ILS for our arrival into Manchester. It all goes by in a flash and our instructor is really starting to help us with the calls. I am concentrating so much on the flying that I revert into ‘single pilot mode.’ NO – don’t do this, you are in a mulit-crew aircraft – your partner isn’t telepathic!! Anyway, the ‘approach mode’ is selected on the autopilot and we lock onto the Localizer. I call for flaps as we slow down, the glideslope is captured and the gear is put down. For flap 20, we fly at VREF + 10 KIAS, which today is 118 knots. ‘No guts, no glory,’ calls our instructor, prompting the Autopilot to be disengaged. I make the call and hand fly the ILS, focusing on the Flight Director and the ASI. ‘Small movements at all times, use the rudder, pitch and power equals performance!’ It all runs through my mind. As we approach the threshold, the EGPWS sounds out 50, 40, 30, 20, 10. We have a X-wind from the left, so I add rudder and opposite aileron and then arrest the descent. A nice landing, I’m happy! More luck than judgment to be honest as others were not so good, however you cannot remove the smile on my face tonight. I am well knackered after today but I already can’t wait for tomorrow!
