Stories from FL280...

[cav58d]

Keep It Simple Stupid, don't over think it and just FTFA!   

[Vraciu]

Keep It Simple Stupid, don't over think it and just FTFA!   

This.

Had a six-month ride today.  A combination of system/engine failures, simulator problems, and jacked up vectors by the examiner (who had an FAA observer, no less) started some serious dominoes falling.  Too many penguins on my iceberg.  This was untenable.  "This is a mess.  Let's get out.  Ask for a vector back around, we are breaking off the approach."   

Get it to a safe altitude.   Point it where it won't hit anything.   Take a deep breath.  Reset the fight.   It's easy to get buried--task saturated.   It's easy to get suckered into a reinvention of the wheel.   Train like you fight.   FTFJ.  KISS.  Don't overthink the situation.  You'll be fine. 

[cav58d]

I get what your saying, but let's not kid ourselves...Our "heat of battle" at flight safety is just a tad bit different, even if your doing a .297 then Serenity qualifying on the boat.   

In all seriousness though, the principals are the same.

I flew a CJ3 single pilot for years before transitioning to a multi crew large cabin business jet.  Best advice I ever get was a captain telling me how sharp I was and how welll I knew the airplane, but doing things "my" way and doing things for speed wasn't going to impress anyone, in fact it would piss them off.  Do what you have to do to pass but don't be a know it all and write your own rules.  Without fail, every trip to the school house we all end up meeting some dude that decides to write his own procedure, and he's so blinded by how awesome and smart he is for discovering this new way to fly, he is completely oblivious to the limitations and restrictions he is breakig.  Oops.

Back to what Ver said and I can also use the CJ to impress the point, you are in command, you fly the airplane.  Don't let instructors, ATC or any external pressures rush you into a situation for failure.  If it doesn't look good, vector for a new setup, and if it's an emergency situation, YOU own the airspace.  Luckily it only happened twice a year at recurrent, but when I was flying the citation single pilot, unless terrain was an issue SID be damned in a V1 cut.  Yes, I could arm LNAV and the airplane would tell me when and where I needed to make turns, but "in the heat of battle" it was easier and safer for me to fly straight out, at least until I have the airplane cleaned up and under control.  Why?  Because I can. 

Goodluck man, I know you are going to kick butt on the next qual.  Can't wait to hear the thumbs up update.

[Toad]

Luckily it only happened twice a year at recurrent, but when I was flying the citation single pilot, unless terrain was an issue SID be damned in a V1 cut.  Yes, I could arm LNAV and the airplane would tell me when and where I needed to make turns, but "in the heat of battle" it was easier and safer for me to fly straight out, at least until I have the airplane cleaned up and under control.  Why?  Because I can. 

I'd have to say "SID be damned" can be risky in some situations other than just terrain.

For example, the Ruudy5 out of KTEB on a true, nasty IFR day. Very high density traffic area, maybe too many aircraft for ATC to get every one immediately out of your way AND a lot of pretty tall obstacles.

I understand declaring the emergency and getting priority but I also understand that sometimes the SID is there for really good reasons.

[Vraciu]

I get what your saying, but let's not kid ourselves...Our "heat of battle" at flight safety is just a tad bit different, even if your doing a .297 then Serenity qualifying on the boat.   

I could qualify for the boat at my current skill and experience level. That's just a matter of training.  Doing it with only a hundred hours of flight time?   Not so much.  (I remember a distant past when I thought one hundred hours was a lot.  Ha!) 

Our usual .293/.297 scenario is what it is.  Most are a straightforward bore having done them for 15 years.   Throw in a busted sim and a Fed breathing over your shoulder with a bad vector it becomes not so boring real fast--sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. 

But the principles remain...  Do what you're trained to do and don't reinvent the wheel.   Most importantly of all: never be in a hurry to make a mistake. 

[Serenity]

FWIW, I've sat down with our squadrons head LSOs, talking about my new start point numbers, and his stance was "if it's putting you where you want to be, it's a great start"

[Shuffler]

FWIW, I've sat down with our squadrons head LSOs, talking about my new start point numbers, and his stance was "if it's putting you where you want to be, it's a great start"

Remember, you not only make Kingsville proud, you make the rest of us Texans proud too. 

[cav58d]

I'd have to say "SID be damned" can be risky in some situations other than just terrain.

For example, the Ruudy5 out of KTEB on a true, nasty IFR day. Very high density traffic area, maybe too many aircraft for ATC to get every one immediately out of your way AND a lot of pretty tall obstacles.

I understand declaring the emergency and getting priority but I also understand that sometimes the SID is there for really good reasons.

Agreed.

I keep forgetting Serenity only has a couple hundred hours.  When I think back to only a couple hundred hours it's amazing I didn't kill myself multiple times over.  You da man serenity!

[Vraciu]

FWIW, I've sat down with our squadrons head LSOs, talking about my new start point numbers, and his stance was "if it's putting you where you want to be, it's a great start"

 

[Vraciu]

I'd have to say "SID be damned" can be risky in some situations other than just terrain.

For example, the Ruudy5 out of KTEB on a true, nasty IFR day. Very high density traffic area, maybe too many aircraft for ATC to get every one immediately out of your way AND a lot of pretty tall obstacles.

I understand declaring the emergency and getting priority but I also understand that sometimes the SID is there for really good reasons.

Thank Gawd for APG. 

[Toad]

Thank Gawd for APG.

Beats the heck out of the good old days with spaghetti charts!

[Serenity]

I've read this over as I sometimes do, and realized I may have cast things in an unfair light. By no means do I mean to imply that our LSOs have done me wrong in any way shape or form. In fact, my only regret is that I can't go back with the same ones I had! They're fantastic at their jobs. The struggle I had was based on the fact that my particular issue WASNT ball flying, which they are experts on and watch like a hawk, but the pattern leading to it, which they simply CANT be observing. And when I was told their technique, I treated it like it was written and stone, and drove for their numbers, even when it wasn't putting me where I needed to be. The only real difference now is that I've let go of their gouge so to speak, in order to find my own technique, and at least in the sim so far, it's a night and day difference.

[Vraciu]

I've read this over as I sometimes do, and realized I may have cast things in an unfair light. By no means do I mean to imply that our LSOs have done me wrong in any way shape or form. In fact, my only regret is that I can't go back with the same ones I had! They're fantastic at their jobs. The struggle I had was based on the fact that my particular issue WASNT ball flying, which they are experts on and watch like a hawk, but the pattern leading to it, which they simply CANT be observing. And when I was told their technique, I treated it like it was written and stone, and drove for their numbers, even when it wasn't putting me where I needed to be. The only real difference now is that I've let go of their gouge so to speak, in order to find my own technique, and at least in the sim so far, it's a night and day difference.

Nah, you sounded reasonable.   I didn't see any disparagement. 

You're growing.    Learning has occurred.  This is sometimes referred to as EXPERIENCE. 

[colmbo]

What Vraciu said.

[Serenity]

Nah, you sounded reasonable.   I didn't see any disparagement. 

You're growing.    Learning has occurred.  This is sometimes referred to as EXPERIENCE. 

Thanks! Lord know the last thing I want to do is sound discrediting of my IPs. I can honestly say there's not a single man in my squadron I can find any fault with. They tell us they did some real house cleaning a few years back, and it has paid off handsomely if I do say so.