Upon arrival in Montreal, my sim partner and I settled into a local hotel and set up our study dens for the onslaught of information to come.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that your chosen training company/airline are professionals, you are not the first newbie jet pilot through their doors. They cater to new pilots and are very good at training in an efficient manner, albeit a fast manner. I have trained on two airliners and on four different corporate aircraft. Each organization is different, some are very good at simplifying your aircraft for you, others are not. What does this mean to you?
It means your going to have to put a big effort in, no matter what. Some training companies will spoon feed you the information. However you must take good notes, draw diagrams, make up cue cards for memorizing systems/memory items and try hard to prepare for your type written exam. We all learn differently, some are visual learners, some are auditory learners, some are hands on learners, and others are a combination. You know who you are, prepare for your way of learning and you’ll do just fine.
For me taking very detailed notes, that I can understand later, during self study, is very important, it is how I learn. Asking questions in class is huge, if you don’t understand a concept or a system, you must ask questions. If you fail to ask questions, the class will move past your learning level, and you might not be able to get back in line with them, without a huge effort.
Expect to be in a classroom for 8 hours a day for the first week. You will learn everything you need to know about your chosen jet type in a systematic fashion from your instructors.
Maybe you have seen the movie “Groundhog Day”? In this movie Bill Murray wakes up everyday at 06:00 to the same exact day, same events, same people - everyday. Your training will be similar. Plan to wake up on your first day of training, get ready, grab your books and gear, head to breakfast, grab a coffee or two, drive to your training facility, sit in a classroom and listen to 8 hours of system knowledge. Rinse and repeat.
Day one will be a mix of indoctrination paperwork, facility tours and ground school. Bring all of your pilot licences (pilot licences/certificates, medical and your passport), have all of your log book hours totalled up, divided into PIC/SIC and into each type flown. Likely you will start on the electrical system of your aircraft. This might be a fairly simple electrical system (a DC only aircraft (like the Challenger 350, this aircraft only has AC inverters for passenger cabin plugins and a few cabin systems, everything else is DC powered) or you might have a complex AC/DC aircraft with TRUs (transformer rectifier units such as on a Challenger 605/650, Bombardier Q400’s or Boeing 737s). You are going to be made very aware of how your electrical system works, looking at electrical diagrams, studying how each generator provides power to the system busses and their limitations. This is a lot of knowledge and it will come at you hot and heavy. Be prepared, be well rested, write lots of notes, make diagrams in your notes and you guessed it, ask questions! Rinse and repeat...
Kommentare