LeFreak

i'm 33, I have an ATPL, and i'm currently first officer on the mighty jumbolino (Avro RJ 85 & 100) .. at the moment 2300+ hours .. not simming that much any more for obvious reasons, but I still enjoy the various PMDG products from time to time :(

as an F/O for a European carrier, I fly around all of Europe. NDB approaches don't happen that often on the sectors we fly, 99% we will be flying ILS approaches. However, the use of NDB's in SID's is not uncommon and as such we often have to track a certain qdm/qdr from an NDB. It is nothing to be afraid off, yes it requires more vigilance than tracking a VOR or a LOC, but every IFR rated pilot should be able to fly correctly NDB approaches. On our aircraft we track NDB's with a good old RMI, or we can put the bearing on the Nav Display .. but in the end it all comes down to use your brain, apply wind correction and do what you are (supposedly) trained for. I'm not gonna say i'm a big fan of NDB's, but there are still quiet a few of them around, and once in a while it's fun to fly and a nice change from the mindless ILS ..JanF/O Avro RJ85/100MCC Instructor

Mach has everything to do with temperature .. Mach number is the ratio of TAS over Local Speed of Sound (LSS). LSS is calculated with following formula: 39 x square root of the temperature in degrees Kelvin. Sound passes through the air by compressing and expanding the distance between air molecules, transmitting energy to neighboring molecules. Molecules in warm air move faster, transmitting the sound energy faster than in cold air. Therefore the speed of sound decreases along with ambient temperature.JanF/O Avro RJ85/100MCC Instructor

the speed is not groundspeed, it is True Air Speed, TAS .. regards,Jan van HeckeF/O Avro RJ85/100

in the jeppesen charts you can find pages which will, depending on airport, tell you what the maximum times for APU use are .. basically we turn it off as soon as external power is available, and we turn it back on shortly before push-back .. if it's very cold or very hot, we turn it on sooner for passengers comfort ..

On the Avro RJ, when there is no jetty or stairs connected to the aircraft, we can get in via the avionics bay door, which leads to a hatch in the cockpit .. then we can open the entry doors from the inside and drop the airstair if needed ..

during my integrated ATPL training, (that is a training from 0 hours to JAR Commercial Pilot License with Multi Engine and IFR Rating, and the theoretical ATPL exams), all training was done on single engine piston aircraft, with the last part done on a multi-engine piston aircraft (in my case the Diamond DA42 Twin Star) .. JAA rules say that to get a typerating on a multi-pilot aircraft, an MCC course needs to be done ..i did my MCC course on the 737-200 simulator and that was my first jet experience .. the course is a week of groundschool covering mostly CRM, but also briefly the systems and operating procedures .. than it's 5 4-hour sessions in the sim .. you start with basic flying and progressively engine failures and other malfunctions are introduced .. never ever did we fly in no wind conditions ..then for the typerating it went as i explained before, and again we never flew in no wind conditions .. the weather/wind is not the thing to learn, you do that during initial flying training .. you focus on the systems and failures .. on the typerating, first 2 sessions are basic flying and standard ILS approaches .. than gradually engine failures, non-precision approaches, emergencies and combinations of these things are introduced, where at one stage i had to land the plane with 2 engines out (we still have 2 left :-)), a 3 ton fuel imbalance and heavy crosswind on a VOR-DME approach .. add to that engine fire on #3 and you're in for quiet some workload ..

it depends .. sometimes i disconnect and handfly from above fl100, and sometimes i disconnect as soon as the rwy is in sight .. only times we do an autoland is in cat 3 conditions or for certification purposes, otherwise we always manualy land .. for departures i always handfly up to FL100, and depending on the departure i sometimes fly as high as top of climb manualy (which on the avro the highest can be FL350) .. flying is too much fun do let the autopilot do all the work, and in our company we are blessed that we are still allowed to fly manualy as much as we want .. it certainly helps keeping your flying skills up to level ..Jan

>Yes true, I assume he is talking about majors and not>regionals since the title of his post is "Real World Heavy>Commercial Training". Last time I checked regional airlines>don't fly heavies so pointing out regional hiring practices>would be irrelevent.>>Regionals are hiring out of ab initio training with less than>500 hours but that is to fly aircraft UP TO ERJ and CRJ class>aircraft, which are actually easier to fly than turboprobs>(which are being phased out at most larger regional carriers>anyway). Which major carrier do you know is hiring jet pilots>with 500 hours with no turbine and no PIC? >>I'm not speaking from speculation, I'm speaking from>experience and I tell you that your resume' will get thrown in>the garbage if you submit it to a major with 500 TT and no>turbine PIC. >>Regards,>>Mike T.Well, my airline is a national carrier with a fleet of Avro RJ's, Boeing 737, Airbus A319 and Airbus A330 .. not exactly what I would call a regional carrier .. to give you a hint it used to be called Sabena .. on the avro we perfom medium-haul operations with flights up to 3 hours .. Saying that regional jets are easier to fly than turboprops is absolute bulls**t .. every plane has its own characteristics and difficulties .. and i'm pretty #### sure if you train for a fokker 50 or a boeing 747, procedures will be similar to what I described .. (and yes i know people flying on the Fokker 50 and the B747) .. I cannot understand why you americans always make the difference between the regionals and the majors .. both types of companies employ pilots .. we are all airline pilots, no matter if you fly a CRJ or the A380 .. maybe you guys should convert to JAA standards ..i have friends flying the B757 and A300 straight from ab initio, major carriers like British Airways and KLM/Air France hire ab initios .. Safety standards in Europe are very high, and i think we can say that our training and safety records has proven that it works ..

i have a JAR CPL, and i had 230 hours total time when i got hired by our national carrier on the Avro RJ85/100 .. training was one month of groundschool to get to know the aircraft and operations, then 10 4-hour sessions in the simulator followed by a 4 hour sim-check and a 4-hour low visibility training session .. so that makes 48 hours simulator .. next was 6 touch and goes with the real aircraft, and then linetraining started with pax on board ..every six months we have 2 4-hour sessions in the sim, which include different emergencies, LO-VIS qualification (to maintain our personal CAT 3 status) and counts as a check to maintain the typeratingThe low visibility training includes LO-VIS take-offs (on the avro we are qualified for t/o with an RVR of at least 125m), we train the take-off and engine failures before and after V1, which can be challenging in lo-vis) .. for landings we train on the cat II and III minima, and with different failures which depending on the type of failure result in go-around or landing .. during initial training in the sim we trained up to x-winds of about 20 to 25 knots (the avro is limited to 35 knots x-wind) .. all the rest is done during actual line flying ..every flight and every landing is different, so even the most experienced pilot learns every day .. those who claim they don't are idiots :-)

just a couple of minutes ago i tried to purchase using AMEX .. got the same error code ... :-(Regards,Jan van Hecke

The reason why you can't tune it to the ATIS frequency you give here is because it's tied to a VOR, all frequencies from 108 to 117.975 are used by VOR, ILS; the frequencies above that up to 136.975 MHz are used for comms .. in real life, many ATIS broadcasts are tied to a VOR, so to listen out you have to use the VOR receiver's identification feature .. i don't think FS simulates this .. i just checked the charts for LEIB and indeed the ATIS is coupled to the Ibiza VOR (IBA - 117.8)Jan

ILS uses the frequencies between 108.100 and 111.950 .. that's why the pmdg does not allow you to enter the frequency ..

>>UK:>ICAO Step Climb>FL310,FL350>UK is RVSM so your step climb is 2000 ft .. >>North Atlantic:>1000 Step Climb>FL320,FL330,FL340,FL350>North Atlantic in MNPS airspace is RVSM: step climb is 2000 ft!>>Canada:>2000 Step Climb>FL340,FL350,FL370>if you'd climb only 1000 feet you'd be on the levels used by opposite traffic (in RVSM) .. remember, RVSM gives 1000 ft seperation between levels, so that means going in the same direction there is 2000 ft seperation .. so to summarize:RVSM airspace (that is between FL285 and FL410)- EASTBOUND LEVELS: - WESTBOUND LEVELS1000 20003000 40005000 60007000 80009000 1000011000 1200013000 1400015000 1600017000 1800019000 2000021000 2200023000 2400025000 2600027000 2800029000 3000031000 3200033000 3400035000 3600037000 3800039000 4000041000 4300045000 4700049000 5100053000 55000etc ... etc ...NON-RVSM AIRSPACE:- EASTBOUND LEVELS: - WESTBOUND LEVELS1000 20003000 40005000 60007000 80009000 1000011000 1200013000 1400015000 1600017000 1800019000 2000021000 2200023000 2400025000 2600027000 2800029000 3100033000 3500037000 3900041000 4300045000 4700049000 51000etc .. etc ..this in RVSM airspace, between FL285 and FL410 the standard seperation of 2000 ft between traffic in opposite direction and 4000 ft between traffic in same direction has been reduced to 1000 ft between traffic in opposite direction and 2000 ft in same direction ..i can assure you it's an amazing sight to see another airliner coming your way only 1000 ft above you on the same airway .. Jan

UK is RVSMthe north atlantic airspace is also RVSMRVSM airspace extends from FL285 to FL420 (so in usable fligth levels FL290 to FL410)Jan

don't know about the 737, but on the Avro RJ, the autopilot adds pitch up trim at about 600 ft AGL .. this is to assist in the flare & go-around ..might be possible that the autopilot of the 737 works in the same wayJan

about real world training, i'm now doing my type-rating on the Avro RJ85/RJ100 and we do CATII/CATIII training right from the start .. our Avro's are capable of CAT IIIB autoland ..i guess they only accept the bigger planes out of economic interestJan

I'm 29, left my job for television to pursue my childhood dream. graduated in august 2006 from an integrated atpl course, so now holder of a JAR-CPL with IR and ME and ATPL theory .. currently in the selection process with 3 different airlines, hopefuly one of them will be bingo! have been simming since FS4

Hi,I have close to 30 hours on the Diamond DA42 Twin Star with a G1000 cockpit. I was very happy to hear FSX would include the G1000, would be a good way to keep my skills fresh. Great was my disappointment when I found out that MS rendition of the G1000 is very very basic. It lacks the necessary instrumentation for a succesful IFR flight (using raw data, not the GPS) .. where are the two RMI needles?? where's the DME .. or I must be missing something but i'm leaving the G1000 equipped FS planes in the hangar and have fun with the real thing.Jan

Rick, just for your information, an aircraft sitting on the ground does not produce wake .. wake turbulence is a byproduct of lift, so no lift, no wake ..

no turns below 400 ft .. personally i always take no turns below minimum circling altitude

sounds promising,thanx for your continuous effort on this bird which i have come to like very much!Jan

bob i've send you a private message regarding the pictures ..Jan

ok .. i'll see what i can do :-)Jan

that's awesome news Bob, much appreciated .. do you still need the pics?? if you need pics of anything else of our sim, i have my last session on 29th of august, so if you let me know in time i can still take pics ..Jan