Simulator currency training/test
 

Recently did my first rotational simulator session as new FO having been checked to line a few months ago. Felt sure i had stuffed it up, disappointed with my performance, copped a lot of a blame for many things during the session by the captain in the debrief - but still passed with only a couple of scores just a scrape through. The whole thing was rather unpleasant.
Is this a typical experience for a fresh FO in the first of such sim sessions? Does it get any easier over time? Should i feel so inadequate?

The dreaded first sim. after check to line.

Things do get easier as you get into a new "comfort zone" like with any task.

Don't beat yourself up man. You know how to sharpen yourself up so work on these areas and stay confident. (not easy at times)

A little anxiety before a check is a good thing. You'll never know it all.

2 cents from a plodder

Good luck to you:ok:

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Relax big fella, That you feel lousy means you want to do better and realise you could have done better, nothing wrong with those feelings. Perhaps the Capt could have cut you some slack as it was your first Sim since endorsement.......don't forget some people validate their own worth by degrading those around them. In time you will look back on this and realise it was just part of the patina which denotes experience! If you talk to your mates they are probably feeling the same.
Chin Up

Got a few of those under my belt as well.

No. Dont feel inadequate. I dont think anyone can honestly come out of a sim session and say they were perfect. We all make mistakes, as the old saying goes, better in the sim than in the air. just make sure you self critic yourself (as we all do) have a good think about what went wrong and learn from any mistakes, thats the important thing. Thats what I try to do. Share you experience with everyone you can also, we all learn from each other.

As for the captain blaming you all the time, well it says a lot more about him/her than you in my opinion. A good capt I believe uses every resource available (FO,CC,ATC,SOPS,FCOM,etc) to make a safe, informed judgement about how to best handle a particular situation. But you shouldn't be babied in the sim as it all falls onto you if some thing happens to his lordship, you should be able to competently get the aircraft back onto the ground by yourself in an emergency. It might not be pretty but as long as its safe and legal, then what's the problem? The sim is a training tool as well as a checking tool and I believe it should be seen that way.

I dont know who you work for or how they like to run your recurrency sim, but if you're getting snowed under, perhaps the captain should point you in the right direction and impart some of their knowledge onto you rather that just bag you out. Speak to some more approachable capts and fo's on your trips and get them to run through their 'master plan' with you. Take a little bit from here, a little bit from there and develop your own plan of attack for those emergency situations.

Lastly, it does get easier with practice, you will get more efficient at the whole procedure but you will still make mistakes, even 20 years from now. Dont despair over them, put them behind you, learn from them and move on to the next challenge. And remember this session in a few years time when you are a capt and you have some boggy fo who is in the exact same situation. How will you handle that?:):):):):)

It will get easier over time, and you will also recognise those people who should and shouldn't be in the training department. Some people will make the sim a better experience where you will learn a lot, and come out feeling as though the session is worthwhile (even if you don't perform at your best).

Other times you will get guys who run the session as if they are trying to replicate attaching a car battery terminal to your genitals. You will get very little from the session from them. These are the people who are usually trying to get more time at home, away from the seniority system, and have little place in the training department.

I remember the same sim ride all those years ago, and back then they came 'round every three months in AN :bored:

I agree with the above comments, and have to say that there is nothing worse than a colleague stepping out of the sim centre with his chest puffed up thinking he aced the session, even though he was total crap.

You will soon learn that there are few different crash-buddies you will share the sim with: The ones who are ill prepared and drag your performance/score down. Those who blitz everything and even make you look better than you could ever achieve on your own. But mostly they are just the same as you and have put 'some' effort in to getting ready for the session then leave thinking it could have gone better.

Just to lighten things up, as you walk out of the sim, ask the checkie: "Am l still doing that crappy (Insert company's worst pairing) trip tomorrow?"

Chin up ;)

halas

Deckchair,
You said the Captain, do you mean the left seater or the Sim Checker?
The Sim Checker is under the system to grade you and under the rules debrief you for in our case a score of 3or less out of 5. A 2 is the minimum standard and will be allocated for a repeat if one is required.
The left seater should have limited input unless guided by the checker, it can depend on who is who in the combination as some egos are unstopable particularly if their performance is average and the "blame" can be shifted downhill.
Regrettably there are checkers and trainers who delight in debriefing on the minute details in a VERY negative way. They really delight in that area for fellow Checkers as well as the new F/Os so don't feel special, take it on the chin, do a little self debrief and work it through.
My lot are on the second cycle of the six over three years, it is interesting times as a long term Trainer and Checker.
It is a good system as such but with a variety of humans as the team, always different.

PM me for more as I am curious as to who and where

:ok:

yeah don't sweat it bud. Par for the course. **** flows down hill as they say!!

I once asked a mate ( senior Captain ) how his sim session went?
He replied "I made the required number of mistakes"

Sit down and have a think over it all and what you would do differently next time. It's a big learning curve at the beginning.

Dash 8 sim was it?