*Your requests for FO training content here*

[instigator 1]

Flying a holding pattern, and for Ben to stop interrupting Josh while he spews out his words of wisdom

 

hehehehe

 

Cheers guys

[bjratchf 80]

Can Josh give a tutorial on trip trading using http://www.flica.net , as well as the best way to avoid calls from scheduling on off days.

[Airline2Sim 489]

Can Josh give a tutorial on trip trading using http://www.flica.net , as well as the best way to avoid calls from scheduling on off days.

 

LOL! 

[Serge 8]

G'day Ben,

 

First off, well done on the Q400 Cadet Training. I really enjoyed watching the episodes and it has definitely helped improve my skills flying this aircraft although I still have a fair way to go before I will be truly satisfied with my level of performance. I plan to watch through the episodes a second time shortly as I'm sure I can extract more information out of them.

 

The flights you have listed for the FO Training look great and cover a nice cross section of different flights and conditions. The short "How To's" are a good idea also. I don't have anything to add here however one thing I think will be nice to see is a downloadable PDF of the Flight Briefing Package (from SimBrief or PFPX) for each line flight along with any other relevant documents such as charts. Even better would be if the OFP includes any annotations you make along the way (eg. noting actual times and fuel weights at waypoints, flightplan changes etc).

 

Keep up the good work and I look forward to the FO Training (with the added documents ).

 

Regards,

Serge

[Airline2Sim 489]

G'day Ben,

 

First off, well done on the Q400 Cadet Training. I really enjoyed watching the episodes and it has definitely helped improve my skills flying this aircraft although I still have a fair way to go before I will be truly satisfied with my level of performance. I plan to watch through the episodes a second time shortly as I'm sure I can extract more information out of them.

 

The flights you have listed for the FO Training look great and cover a nice cross section of different flights and conditions. The short "How To's" are a good idea also. I don't have anything to add here however one thing I think will be nice to see is a downloadable PDF of the Flight Briefing Package (from SimBrief or PFPX) for each line flight along with any other relevant documents such as charts. Even better would be if the OFP includes any annotations you make along the way (eg. noting actual times and fuel weights at waypoints, flightplan changes etc).

 

Keep up the good work and I look forward to the FO Training (with the added documents ).

 

Regards,

Serge

Hi Serge,

 

PFPX wasn't actually around when we shot the line flights (yes, it was really that long ago) and we weren't happy with some of the numbers that Simbrief threw up at the time so we modified some of it from the original OFP. We'll be using PFPX for the FO training flights so will happily share those with you guys.

[stefltt 11]

I tried the flights with PFPX but the basic aircraft needs some tweaks as the fuel calculation is way below what is given by Simbrief in the videos.

By the way, for those who are using ASN, like myself, is it possible to give the exact date of the flights in the videos ?

As you may know, we can load historical weather in ASN, and it would be great to reproduce the flights with the same weather, to have the same runways in use for example.

 

Stephane

[Airline2Sim 489]

Yes we added a huge chunk on to the final reserve fuel for the cadet training to give us a good margin (we didn't want to be declaring fuel emergencies on our first day) so you need to not pay too much attention to the FR figure from the videos. The burn, taxi and alternate figures are all accurate though.

 

We've compared the PFPX figures with some real world ones and it's pretty accurate.

 

I'll see if I can dig out the actual times we did the flights so you can use the archived weather.

[frostycab 0]

Guys, I bought the Cadet program last week and have already watched the whole thing twice! Absolutely, 100%, no-question-about-it the BEST flightsim training package I've seen. I've got several packages from another training provider mainly catering for the Boeing fleet, but you've really shown the world how it should be done. I think what really does it for me is the interaction in the videos. Rather than 1 person simply going through the motions, having that back-and-forth chat on the how-and-why as it goes along makes a real difference.

 

Its that interaction that got me thinking about your pending FO course. With the "Pro" edition of the Q400 just around the corner (hopefully), I'd love to see Josh do a short video specifically dealing with task management when you have 2 pilots on the flightdeck. I know that typically the PNF will handle the radios, but an explanation of who does what and when would be fantastic. Also, taking the Cadet training program as an example, on a typical 4-sector day when do the PF and PNF swap roles?

 

A fully-functional shared-cockpit in FS is something we've all dreamed about for years, and with the Pro Edition on its way it looks like our prayers are going to be answered. It would be nice to be prepared for it when it arrives.

 

Regarding the speed everything happens at in the Cadet videos, I appreciate it can be frustrating trying to keep up, but I just skipped back a bit if I missed something. The realtime element was something I really liked. It added a sense of urgency and gave me a feeling of just how pushed pilots can be. I feel guilty now about taking up 5 minutes of the crew's turnaround time last time I visited the flightdeck after landing at Bristol!

 

And just as a note to Ian (above), yes, the Q400 will make the steep approach the EGLC just fine IF you're fully configured at flap 35 before you hit the glideslope. The virtual airline I fly with (FlyUK) operate most of their Q400 flights in and out of EGLC, so I've become very familiar with it. Its still scary though.

[ESzczesniak 128]

I'd like to add another vote of interest in steep approaches.  Even information on how steep an approach the Q400 is allowed to fly (I've seen up to 5.5 degrees, but then also that it is certified for London City, which is steeper) and limitations when flying these approaches.

[tundrabum 0]

Training was great, just a few issues I have that didn't get covered in the training as follows:

 

On the taxi, Josh and Ben were always able to get a clean check of the TO warn test, me, not so much, I usually get a beep even though I have completed the checklist and all looks good.  Maybe they could explain what parameters does the TO warn test cover.  

 

Once in flight after the climb, a couple of numbers appear on the right hand middle of the mdf, usually in yellow.  I have never been able to make sense of them, would appreciate an explanation next time out.

 

Looking forward t the next training!

 

Tundrabum

 

[Airline2Sim 489]

 

Training was great, just a few issues I have that didn't get covered in the training as follows:

 

On the taxi, Josh and Ben were always able to get a clean check of the TO warn test, me, not so much, I usually get a beep even though I have completed the checklist and all looks good. Maybe they could explain what parameters does the TO warn test cover.

 

Once in flight after the climb, a couple of numbers appear on the right hand middle of the mdf, usually in yellow. I have never been able to make sense of them, would appreciate an explanation next time out.

 

Looking forward t the next training!

 

Tundrabum

Hey Tundrabum, glad you enjoyed it. In the flight deck tour video (#2) the parameters for the TO test are shown in a big box. It's towards the end where the other switches on the captain's side panel are also covered. Check your trim is in the white band, your parking brake isn't on and your flight taxi switch is in taxi. It should work as advertised. If not post up a screenie of your flight deck in the take off config and I'll see if I can spot your problem.

 

The numbers are the ground terrain altitude. Again I'd need to check this with Josh but I think they tell you highest terrain visible within the selected range.

[TreeTops 0]

For a complex cockpit sometimes it helps to be able to fall back on something simple as a reminder.

I know I suffer sometimes a blank mind wondering what I missed.

I use the fingers on my right hand as a reference for this aircraft. If you stretch out your hand, the thumb points forward and the 4 fingers point away to your right.

The thumb pointing forward represents the spoilers switch (taxi).

The 4 fingers are just for the throttle quadrant area.

Trim (white arc)

Park brake (off)

Props (max)

Flaps (set, not 0)

 

Hope this helps

Trev

[Biggles205 0]

Nice tip Trev. 

 

I subscribe to the "keep it simple stupid" school of thought.

[Biggles205 0]

I don't think anyone has mentioned TCAS. Some in depth input would be nice, both for people new to TCAS [me] & for the more experienced.

[Airline2Sim 489]

Yep ok. It was mentioned a few times during the Cadet course and of course we had the TCAS RA on our circuit training, but we can go more in depth.