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By mr. bill |
| The question I have been asked by several of my friends and neighbors
is “What is it like being Captain?” There are always references to the
money, but I know there are many people that would do it just for the Pepsi
and the pretzels. The ground school was a quick day and a half because
I was co-pilot on the airplane for the last 7 years. At the end of the
second day was the one and a half hour FAA Oral with a check captain. This
was a series of slides that showed every part and opening on the airplane.
Anything is fair game. The what if questions are the real fun ones. You
have 4000 pounds in the fuselage fuel tank on the DC-9 and you just fuel
exhausted both left and right wing fuel tanks and flamed out the engines
at 35,000 feet. What are you? A big glider. After the Oral came two days
of Operation Specifications Review. This is what you can and can not do,
or as we learned to say , “How the company wants us to do it.” Day five
was meeting depart-ment heads in the morning and then Going to the country
club and having dinner with the Chief Pilot and the rest of your classmates.
The following week was 6, four hour simulator sessions in which I got to
practice all the maneuvers that I would normally do, but now in the left
seat. It took two days to get used to sitting on the left side. The “controller”
would say turn right and I would reach up with my left hand to turn the
autopilot turn knob and smash my hand into the left side of the cockpit
wall. The toughest part was doing 45 degree steep turns which are required
for Captains. The last flight was a review for the check ride. The type
rating check ride was interesting. I had my simulator instructor in the
right seat acting as my co-pilot (I had flown with Captain Larry on the
line before), the check airman giving me the rating ride was a very thorough
gentleman, and to top it off, a FAA man with every big airline type rating
was
going to give the check airman a check. Before I started the rating ride I realized that I was surrounded with years of DC-9 experience. NO PRESSURE HERE!!! Just act like a pilot in command. After the steep turns and the stalls I knew I could breathe a little easier because the rest was what we practice every year. After several landings the check airman reached up to me and said “Welcome to the left seat of the DC-9” and the check ride was over. Yea haaa! After a five day rest period now came the moment. When I could approach the cockpit of a real airplane and sit in the left seat. On this day I got settled in the left seat while the real captain went out to call home quickly, I heard the first passenger get on and say hello. As I looked back I said “hello”! Her eyes opened wide and she said, “Oh no, he is young enough to be my son!” What a way to start off. I am now adding some “Grecian Gray” to my temples so I can look more distinguished. The neatest part is that you get to steer the plane as captain. After 50 hours in the left seat to get familiarized you then have 25 hours of graded time where the instructor captain can ask you questions on any subject. After this time you are evaluated and then recom-mended for the final line check or given more training time. Training is everything. I took all the time because from each instructor I learned another “technique” concerning safety. The Flight Safety business card tag says it best, “the best safety device in any aircraft is a well trained pilot. Question.??? What Boeing made item is on all Douglas DC-9 airplanes? I will give you the answer at the EAA 32 Christmas Party. ...And as we know, Captain Bill didn't make the Christmas party because he was out being a Captain! This article was submitted for the November newsletter, but due to the early deadline, it didn't make it in time - ed. |