Bronco – Mixture of both really. Due to lack of availability of Training Captains and aircraft for line training I had a 2 1/2 month gap between finishing the sim and starting line training. I found it difficult stepping onto the flight deck of a dash with my low hours, a lack of continuity in the training and the fact that when things started to go wrong, due to lack of familiarity and experience I wound myself up like you would not believe. I blamed myself for what I thought was my obviously appalling flying ability and the fact that I must be crap otherwise I would be sailing through this. After all I had walked the ARB and not had any problems during my Sim course.
After this had happened, I really did question my ability to sit in the RHS of anything, let alone an airliner with people relying on me to be competent at my job. To sort out the now overwhelming doubt in my ability as a pilot, I had myself assessed by doing the equivalent of the City Flyer sim assessment. I passed this without any problems so I am sure that I have the ability. I just need the break.
With hind site I now believe that unfortunately the airline did not have the resources or a training program set up to really get the best out of 509’ers. I also could have spent that 2 1/2 months sitting in the cockpit of aircraft that were undergoing maintenance, running through drills and scans. That would have least taken some of the pressure of me.
Sheep Guts - Providing it is legal, and I can pay my debts and mortgage, I would be quite happy to fly an Aztec around Europe. Frankly I just want to do something I enjoy for a living. Siting in front of a computer all day making 100 cold calls is starting to get me down. I had an FO’s position with a small regional UK airline and did the type rating at flight safety France. At the time I was bonded for 10 grand. I presume the course would have cost around this much. If you have any more info on Japan I would be very interested. If you would like any more information, drop me a line.
Last edited by slackbladder28; 20th Feb 2003 at 10:07.