Welcome back, the last time we were getting deep into turbine flying and concepts such as temp vs torque, aircraft performance and knowing your airplane before you try launching off that 2900′ strip with a density altitude of 5000′.
Just before I get started off on discussing procedures and SOP related concerns, please be aware that each company you work for will have their own SOPs related to their type of flying operations. The SOP procedures referred to in the coming paragraphs are just examples and should not be memorized by you. These are just examples of the type of studying and preparation you will be expected to complete before jumping into the right seat of your first turboprop/jet.
Each company you work for in the future will have different training environments. For example, working out of Fort Vermillion I was very fortunate to work with Trevor Brooke and he was my training partner. Because there were only two of us training, we had to act as the Captain and the Co-Pilot, and the PF and PNF for our ground training only (hangar flying, SOP practice). The in-flight training portion was utilizing a training Captain sitting left seat. This is something you should expect to see in your first job. What does that mean for you potentially? Well frankly it means a lot of work, it means you must learn the SOP and the flows for the Captain, the Co-Pilot and the PF and the PNF. This is also the situation I had flying Boeing 737’s and the ATR 42/72, again each company and situation is different. When I went to simulator training in the ATR and Boeing, we were expected to fly the left and right seat up until we were practicing for the PPC. During the PPC ride, you will have a qualified Captain sitting left seat and you will be in the right seat as the Co-Pilot. When you are sitting down and signing your training contract with ABC company, make sure you know what type of training environment you are getting into, ask questions, take lots of notes. Hopefully, that makes some sense to you, if not and you want to discuss it further, drop a line.
As a new turboprop pilot, I am now assuming you are moving from ground school and into the King Air (or any turboprop of choice) and learning how to fly the real aircraft.
Lets’s talk flows – flows are a sequence of actions that are performed before a checklist is read or after an action has occurred such as gear down/gear up. For example after takeoff in a King Air 200 at ABC Ltd. when the PF calls for “gear up”, the PNF will do the following in a “flow”:
a) landing gear up
b) taxi light off
c) windshield heat switches on
This sounds simple enough, but remember you were just commanded to do one thing – put the gear up. Again a flow is a memorized series of actions that you perform without being commanded to perform each separate action. For example, if I said “gear up, turn the taxi light off, now turn the windshield heats on and by the way get me a coffee while you’re at it… you might be a little busy – and ticked off – hence flows are used.
Another flow could happen after the engines are started, “engines stable, after start checklist” you would then begin a series of actions to get ready for the “after start checklist”. You are going to read the after start checklist as soon as you and your Captain are done your flows.
Each company and each aircraft you fly are going to have specific ways they want you to do Captain and Co-Pilot flows and PF and PNF flows. For now, I just want you to know that “flows” are something you most likely will be practicing before you get into the real aircraft. Flows must be demonstrated to you by a training pilot. You must be shown when and how to do flows and how they fit into your company specific SOP. If help with flows or SOPs is not happening at your company, ask for it! Worst case, go see the Chief Pilot, this is critical stuff as your going to see coming up.
If you are looking for really specific information on flows, please check this excellent website out that is dedicated to King Air flying, this man has over 15,000 hrs flying King Airs:
http://www.kingairmagazine.com/article/ask-expert-cockpit-flow-patterns/
By this point in your training I am assuming you have done the following:
Reviewed and have studied your company SOPs, memory items and that you have a clear understanding of how to complete checklists/flows as demonstrated to you by your training department.
Asked lots of questions, take lots of notes!
Obtained a training partner and you are working actively with this person to practice your new skills and procedures. You have switched roles as PF and PNF and as the Captain or Co-Pilot.
You have sat in the real aircraft or a desktop version of the aircraft and have been practicing all of your required procedures including checklist use, flows, normal and emergency procedures. When Trevor and I were in Fort Vermillion we spent hours and hours in the aircraft practicing our flows, checklist procedures, memory items, normal procedures, memory items for emergency procedures, etc. I can not emphasize enough how important hangar flying is, it is essentially critical for you to practice these skills, to get in the plane and move the levers, switches, etc. This creates that all important thing called muscle memory.You should be able to sit in a cockpit blindfolded and know your flows and memory items, not literally of course… (cool fact: they really did blindfold pilots during ground training in WWII).
You should be studying your company profiles (found in the SOP) for Normal takeoff, Aborted Takeoff, VFR Circuit, Engine Failure during Takeoff after V1 Takeoff Continued (also known as the V1 cut), Non-Precision Approach, ILS Approach, GPS Approach, Circling Approach, Single Engine Approaches. etc. These are diagrams and descriptions of the procedures used for used each maneuver you will be training for. All of these profiles must be memorized.
Here is one example of a King Air 100 profile:
How do you use a profile? For the above example, imagine that you are sitting in the cockpit and follow each written action:
Your cleared take-off – all of your pre-takeoff checks are done (including line up checks if applicable). The PF is advancing the power levers and were rolling down the runway, as the auto-feather lights come on, the PNF calls “auto-feather armed”, the PF calls “Set Power”, the PNF sets the power to company approved limits, the PNF calls airspeed alive – engines stable – 80 knots, the PF calls “check”, the PNF calls “Vr/rotate”, the PF rotates the nose up, and then –
@#$G the darn engine failed! (yeah don’t say that lol).
The next part of this exercise will take you back to multi-engine training, remember dead foot – dead engine? Yep, that works here too. Your job now is to just fly the plane, seriously, just relax and fly the plane.
The PNF is now going to be really busy! The PNF (based on your company SOPs) will call out “engine failure”, you will respond with “max power, flaps up”, the PNF will do those commands and wait for a positive rate of climb to be seen, then call “positive rate”, PF calls “gear up”….
So back to you as the PF: yes the engine has failed or is on fire or the darn prop separated from the hub, basically your day is going South real fast….but your the Rock Star remember and your going to save the day! Your actions here are happening at the same time you notice the engine to be failed – not after that!
Push the rudder into the live engine (dead foot – dead engine) until the yaw is controlled, apply enough aileron into the live engine side (max 5 degrees to the live side) to stop the roll. Then you are going to hold it there and relax, yes relax.
You will then wait until a specific company determined height and then complete the rest of the profile, this will include feathering the propeller on the dead engine. This will include checklist use and eventually a return for landing.
As you can see above, each pilot, either the PF or PNF have calls and actions. You must do these calls and actions as per the profile. Hence, you need to practice these actions and calls – memorize them, practice them again and again.
Your training department should be reviewing these profiles with you, you should know them well and have practiced them in your aircraft (hangar flying), and most importantly with a training partner. In lieu of a training partner, you should be sitting in the aircraft with a training pilot and practicing everything we discussed before you every jump in the real airplane.
Your company will review all of the necessary information and procedures that you will need to know before you get on the airplane. So, what can you expect on your first flight? Expect to be doing airwork (cruise flight, steep turns, slow flight, etc.) and likely some type of instrument approach (based on the profiles you have been studying) on the way home. When you first get on the plane you should expect an aircraft that is very powerful, way more than you might expect or are used to. With this being said it is critical that at this point you have prepared yourself with everything we have discussed above. If you have done this and are really confident with your SOPs and profiles, then you are likely ready to be flying the real airplane. If you haven’t mastered these skills before getting in the real airplane (or simulator) you might be in for a real uphill battle.
Hopefully, after reading today’s blog you can see that without serious preparation and studying on your part getting into the cockpit of a turboprop is not an easy task. However, please remember it is not an impossible task, it is hard work, you will be really stressed out – you are pilot, you have made it into this fraternity already. You can do this!
Please drop me your comments or suggestions. My next blog will be Part 3 of this series focusing on in-flight maneuvering, approaches and general suggestions for getting ready for your PPC ride. All the best out there!