Some questions about the ATP checkride, which I ALMOST managed to finish today.

 

1. I made it all the way to the end of the ATP checkride, but as I was landing (and heard the wheels skidding on the runway) abruptly I was told I'd crashed because my gear wasn't down -- but it was down! I read one other post here about someone who encountered the same issue -- an inexplicable end-of-checkride crash. I had armed spoilers, autobrakes, set flaps to 30, and touched the numbers of the runway at about 155 knots with throttle set to idle. Any suggestions on what I did wrong? The only thing I can think of is that I had autopilot on until just before landing; maybe I disengaged it too late?

 

2. At the start of the ride, I'm told I have to set N1 to 90% while climbing, but I also have to stay under 250 knots while below 10,000 feet. Are these two goals compatible? How long do I have to keep N1 at 90% to keep the examiner happy? All the way to 28,000 feet?

 

3. After that, I did fine until I had to turn left onto course 339 at the PAE VOR. Is there a way to set the autopilot to fly *away* from that VOR along the indicated course? I couldn't figure out how, so I just tried to track the radial manually, but the 737 moves so fast that I guess I never intercepted the radial.

 

4. I had an even tougher time flying the 296 procedural-turn heading away from the RITTS intersection, and the corresponding 116 heading back toward the intersection. An intersection does not emit a VOR or NDB signal, right? So how am I supposed to intercept the 296 radial? I tried using GPS, but again I couldn't figure out how to program the autopilot to fly *away* from the GPS target on course 296, so again I tried to intercept and fly the 296 radial manually. I thought I did, but I'm not sure.

 

Despite all that, the procedural turns set me in exactly the right spot, and I had no problem lining up for final approach and intercepting the glide-slope and localizer. Too bad about the crash!

 

Can anyone answer my questions, and offer any other advice on completing this checkride? I'm not bound and determined to do it -- it sure takes a long time -- but I might want to try a couple more times. Thanks!

1. I'm not sure, but I don't think it's related to this, but as far as I remember, I didn't pass it, because I was supposed to disengage A/P earlier.

 

2. Speed can be controlled by adjusting vertical speed. You just have to set a higher rate of climb than 1800ft/min until you pass 10000, then you can reduce VS, but always keep in mind not to exceed 330kts (again by adusting VS).

 

3. I think it can be done by just setting CRS to 339 and press the NAV button. Flying along an outbound radial has always worked with me.

 

4. Are you sure the 296 radial is measured from an intersection? I guess it's either PAE VOR's 296 radial (which I believe), or it is the course of the ILS at KPAE.

 

I'll take a look at it, and post again if I find out anything about the things in question.

 

4. Are you sure the 296 radial is measured from an intersection? I guess it's either PAE VOR's 296 radial (which I believe), or it is the course of the ILS at KPAE.

 

 

I just took a look at the Approach charts of KPAE: It's actually 294/114, and that's just a heading, not a radial of anything.

I also tried to fly the ATP-checkride, but my FS crashed twice when I tried to load the flight.

Yeah, it's just a heading. Heh, my Jeppesen SIMChart (printed out directly from FSX itself) says 295/115, and in the checkride I think it was 296/116. Presumably these discrepancies reflect changes in magnetic north over time?

 

Anyway, in the checkride and in Rod's lesson, they suggest using the RITTS intersection as the focal point for turning left onto that 294 heading. (What is an "intersection", anyway? Is there any actual ground landmark to look at, or is it just a creation of aviation charts? It apparently has no radio signal -- neither VOR nor NDB -- right?) Since RITTS is not a VOR or NDB, I didn't know how to 'draw a line in the sky" heading 294 from RITTS, and I probably should've started my turn before RITTS so that I was heading outbound from it at 294 when I rolled out of the turn. Is there a way to fly an "outbound heading" from an intersection, using GPS?

 

I'm glad to hear the autopilot can fly an outbound radial from a VOR. I'll try it again.

 

When should one disengage the autopilot to pass the checkride? I used it to follow the glideslope down pretty close the runway. When do real-world airline pilots disable autopilot?

It might be related to the changing of magnetic north pole, but I'm not totally sure.

 

An "intersection" is a "virtual navigational fix" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersection_(aviation)), this means there is not necessarily landmark that indicates its location.

 

Usually you would enter a STAR route for approach into your FMC, and A/P would do the necessary steps to align you with the runway. The default 737 however does not have a FMC, so you need to use the Navigational Display (ND) or your GPS in order to find out where this particular waypoint is, and switch the A/P from NAV to HDG mode. Alternatively you can try to enter an appoach route into the GPS, switch from NAV to GPS mode and press the NAV button in order to follow the route in the GPS.

 

I'm not sure when exactly to disengage the A/P to pass, but I guess at 200ft AGL, which means you have to fly the last meters manually.

When to disengage the autopilot depends mainly on visibility, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_landing_system#ILS_categories.

I remember there being some discussion from a SWA pilot a while back that they almost never autoland and fly a good part of the glideslope by hand for no other real reason then they are pilots and enjoy it. He also expressed that he and other pilots find it a little nerve racking to have the plane flying itself that far down that close to the ground when visibility allows you to hand fly the glideslope. This was all in a discussion of why autoland is almost never used outside of horrible conditions.

 

It certainly sounded like they hand flew further out then 200AGL.

I remember there being some discussion from a SWA pilot a while back that they almost never autoland and fly a good part of the glideslope by hand for no other real reason then they are pilots and enjoy it. He also expressed that he and other pilots find it a little nerve racking to have the plane flying itself that far down that close to the ground when visibility allows you to hand fly the glideslope. This was all in a discussion of why autoland is almost never used outside of horrible conditions.

 

It certainly sounded like they hand flew further out then 200AGL.

 

No one uses autoland. Two reasons, the first is pretty obvious that pilots like to fly their aircraft. Also between airline dispatchers and ATC that will hold the aircraft for bad weather at the destination, there is little opportunity to land in 0/0 visibility. The second is becasue to use autoland you MUST fly the FULL approach. More often than not ATC sequences you at some point allong the approach or slots you into a nice short final especially if the weather is VFR at the field. I've got a whole bunch of AA and UA heavy captains in my squadron each with over 20 years and over 20k+ hours. They all say the same thing that except for using the autoland in the simulator for training purposes, I think one of the pilots said he's used autoland 4 or 5 times in his entire career - and he's retiring in July. The others say the've probably used it once or twice.

This guy mentioned they have to perform an autoland every six months or so to maintain rating on it. Or maybe it was once a year.

Thanks for the info, everyone. Very helpful!