Part 121 Training.

I fully expected to keep a journal of my experience at the American Airlines training facility while I was in training. I learned very quickly that I was not as prepared as I thought I was. AE's training was pretty intense. I know I touched briefly on the time in the training center in previous post, but I wanted to expand on it a little and share some of the photos I took.
It all started back in February of this year. I was invited to interview with Eagle.
They sent me a packet of paper work that had to be filled out exactly they way they want it. People had, and continue to be sent home from interviews for not follow instructions. I hear a lot of people talk about how silly AE is about paperwork. I do not see it that way. As an applicant you are asking an airline to hand over to you the keys to a multi million dollar jet, and the lives of 50 people so you can hurl them around the country at 500kts and 37,000 feet above the earths surface. If you are really unable to do a little paper work, how in the world do you think you are ready to accept the responsibility of being an airline pilot?

Paperwork done, interview day is almost here. They flew me up the day before. My first time riding in First class. It was kind of ironic, we had to wait for a little 152 to get out of the way before we could take off. A 152 from the flight school I worked at.
The morning has arrived. The beginning of this long journey. I make my way to AMR HQ.

It seemed like a very long day. There were three parts to the interview. A technical interview to determine what you knowledge was. An HR interview where you would get questions like, why do you want to work for AE, or What is the definition of a professional pilot. Last there is a Simulator evaluation. It's pretty basic, they want to see you do some basic Instrument flying, a hold and two approaches. In reality the interview is much easier then you make it. In other words you stress level is so high, it seems like its really bad.
We had an interview group 6. Of those six 4 got the offer. It was interesting how they would do it. We all would get done with the three phases at different times. Rather then come in and take a person who was finished and say congratulations come with me, they would open the door, say the persons name, and then say grab all your stuff and come with me. straight faced and serious. You though you were toast. Once the door closed, they would smile and say congratulations! Then they hand you a letter.


Once you realize your not going home "early" and you have been accepted, wow, talk about a sigh of relief. Now they start the final out processing. Take fingerprints and they begin sending faxes to previous employers. It was in this room I found out the guy who had been shuffling us around all day and never said a thing to us, was also a Captain at AE, it slipped out by accident. It was then I realized they had been really watching everything we did, all day.

Now you go home, and wait the Captains review board. The pre-offer you receive in the interview, is just that a pre-offer. It's up to the review board to offer you a spot in a class. I managed to get my phone call the same week I interviewed. Once you get that call the only thing left before they give a class date is the medical. Again They fly you to DFW and you go to AMR HQ and do a drug and hearing test.

March 28 2011. All the preliminary stuff is done. Now I'm in Dallas again. this time to begin ground school. Monday morning, Here is this group of 40 people sitting in the lobby of Flight Academy (it's actual name, but we all called it the training center). I was looking around trying to get a feel for the group. It was an interesting spread. I thought for sure I would be the "old guy" in class. I ended up being #5. Seniority is given out in class based on age. The oldest person is most senior. I thought for sure I would be able to pick any airplane and any base I wanted. I wanted DFW, and the Embrear. I got the EMB, but I did not get DFW, instead I was given ORD (Chicago). I could not believe it. Now the separate us based on aircraft. The ATR-72 group (The young ones in class) were taken to another room. They are basically a different airline. We're all called eagle, but the ATR's sre on the Executive airlines operating certificate.
Week one. Indoc (indoctrination). This is were they hand out all the books we will use during training and throughout of career. We're also fitted for Uniforms, and we'll also do other specialized training.
Here is the first set of books. The Red one is basically what we would call the POH for the airplane in the GA world. The gray one is aircraft systems. One of the blue ones is company procedures and regulation, and the other blue one is our Union contract. This first week we'll spend in the Blue procedures and regs book. With a test at the end of the week.
They also handed out these on the first day.

Honestly speaking this set of wings was an incentive for me. I have never been awarded a pair of wings, I wanted to finish that checkride (Which was still weeks away), so that I would officially have EARNED those wings.
Now that housekeeping has been taken care of, its time to get down to business. I can tell you Reg's and policy is dry, Its all you can do to stay awake. Ed out instructor did a good job with injecting humor when ever possible, but it was still an absolute cure for insomnia.
Week one finished pretty easy. We took a test on Friday, but unfortunately we had to stay the weekend to do a couple things Monday morning. Monday we will go home for one week. This is a new procedure for them They have you go home to do one week of Computer based training. It's not a bad program, it's just hard for a person who has never flown a jet to grab onto some of the things they talk about. A 310 does not have Pacs, or bleeds, or fadecs, fire suppressants, fms's, etc...you get the picture. The airplane is actually not to difficult to learn. It's very automated. The best way I heard it described is that it is a "mother may I" airplane. Turn the Start engine knob to start and you are basically asking the Fadec to pretty please start my engine. The thrust levers (asked me how many times I was yelled at for calling them throttles) are basically electric switches.

After a week at home we head back to the training center. Week three is called the "flex week" Basically we don't have a set schedule. We can come and go as we please. I thought this was a waste. There is so much to learn, if you are going to have me sitting here, teach me something. After sitting around during flex week we will Now start two full weeks of ground/Systems. We found out real quick since they now are doing CBT's (computer based training) the ground school is considered more of a "review" and they go through it real fast, don't blink you'll miss something.
During the Ground/Systems portion we also do FMS training and CSI-ops which is where you sit with an instructor in front of a "paper airplane" And practice flows and profiles.
Flows are just a way for you to memorize your checklist. Checklist in the 121 world are just that checklist. Not do list. By the time the checklist come out everything should be done. We have a paper airplane at the hotel as well. MANY a hour was spent sitting at these things practicing over and over again. After 8 hours at the TC you would head back to the hotel and spend another several hours doing even more study.

now we are approaching the end of ground/systems. we get to go on a field trip We get to use the PBE (personal breathing equipment) and put out fires. We will also practice life vest and emergency exits.


The emergency training ctr at the flight academy is pretty amazing.




Now we get to put out fires.


Practice with inflating life-vest


And remove emergency exits

We also get to use the "DV" window which is the emergency exit inside the cockpit.
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Now that we're ready for any emergency that could hit us HA we head back to the classroom to do our written exam. I sure hope I'm ready :-) Actually It wasn't to bad. Included in the written test besides the 100 questions, you had to write from memory the 6 Emergency procedure checklist items that have to be known verbatim.

Once the written is over ground is officially over. Now we wait for the Oral Exam. Wouldn't you know it, I have mine the very next morning at 8am. No last minute study time for me.
Again, I was very nervous. I did not feel like I was ready. I got there before the examiner, So I set my stuff up. I actually left the room though. We are only given 2 hours for the test and I was not about to give him 15 extra minutes! lol. I came back to the room at 8. He was there. We actually a bit of small talk and we began. It was pretty straight forward. He took my AOM 1 (the red book I said was like a POH) and just started asking me questions. We then moved up to the paper airplane for more systems questions, and then I had to do a performance problem. And just like that it was over and I passed.
Since I went first day (our class had two days for orals) I had a day off before sims. It was a much needed day off. Little did I know the sims were going to kick my butt!

Day 1 in the sims.I was actually very excited. Not knowing what to expect I thought it would be pretty easy. Ha, boy I misjudged that one. I guess in reality it really wasn't to hard, but for me it was difficult. You really had to fight to keep up. there is no giving up. If you do you wont catch back up.
Basically every day in the sim is night time and weather to minimums. You always have an emergency to deal with. There is never a nice sunny day where you fly from point A to B. All the flows you have practiced up until now, here is where it matters. It is amazing however just how quickly your brain will flush all that stuff away and you feel like you have no idea what your doing.

The Amazing thing is just how realistic these things are. The first time we "pushed back" from a gate, It felt just like we were pushing. You felt the bump of the tug, the bumps in the concrete. it was amazing. Of course the other problem with all this realism is that it's not. That means you brain thinks something is happening. but your body says no its not. this causes, or can cause major disorientation. For me it was during breaking! Obviously the sim cannot simulate G forces. so to simulate the force of deceleration the sim noses over. So your brain sees straight and level, but your body feels that you leaning far forward, and what left is disorientation. Which can make you sick. Thankfully I never got sick. If I was not flying, when we would brake I would just close my eyes, and everything was ok.
One day the sim had a little malfunction during breaking. It nosed over so far we were handing by our seat belts. The instructor just says, ill bet this looks crazy outside".
Here is a landing, keep in mind WX is always at minimums, look closely towards the end and see if you can spot the approach lights. It will be just about the time you hear minimums. Sorry the Iphone does not take very good video and its being held up to see over every ones heads.


The Simulator training was two phases. Phase 1, 2 and then check ride. Phase one is the basics. Phase two goes into single engine emergencies. V1 cuts, which is losing an engine on takeoff after v1. V1 is the speed where you are committed to fly. No aborts. Wind shear, unusual attitudes, collision avoidance, and several other fun activities.
At the end of Phase two you do a phase check and then do a checkride. Well, for my class, we had several events take place that cause delays in checkrides. Unfortunately that cause delays in being reschedule for sim time. It took as long as 6 weeks (extra) for some to finish. I myself went home for 3 weeks to wait for a sim slot to finish.
After my three week "vacation" I finally got the call to return to Dallas. It was my turn. Two training sessions in the sim and I was scheduled for a 6am checkride, 5 am show time.
The Examiner was a nice guy. He tried to make me feel at ease, yet he didn't sugar coat things either. He told me what to expect, and what he expected. Once we climb in, we preflight and program the "aircraft". The "captain" taxis us out for takeoff. I notice the wx/Visibility dropped significantly. this my que to say hey capt. the wx has dropped, I think maybe we should get a current report. Ok, check that box. Now we're on the runway. We take off from New York La gaurdia Fly a departure. Once clear of the area, we begin with stalls. After stalls we do a Localizer approach go missed then a GPS approach. Next is an Ils, and then an ILS with one engine inoperative. Of course the engine quit on the previous takeoff! So we had to circle to land single engine. Got back on the ground did an aborted take off due to a lav/smoke warning and that was it.
With that, I was now officially the proud new owner of those wings I had received on day one.