otts688

Im an Ejet pilot. I was a CRJ pilot before that and i have rampie experience too but at a mainline carrier not the regional side of things. Personally I loved working the ejets because it didnt come from ANC with 250 bags and front bin full of halibut. From a mainline ramp perspective its a walk in the park...yes, mind the fire detector but you always have knee pads working mainline flights. An awful bin is a 737-9 with no magic carpet...thats an awful bin. The CRJ family of aircraft are terrific airplanes but whats with the weird sliding tray...bins?...for valet bags. Id rather just load em all in the forward bin on an ejet. Just sayin. As for all the muscle mumbo jumbo and the yoke, it is an effortless experience to fly the rams horns. Yes the pivot point is strange but when your actually flying the aircraft you simply slide it from side to side. Its actually very natural. Coming from the yoke on a CRJ which has a very heavy feel the rams horns are very easy to use and very intuitive. The hardest thing to get used to, which didnt take long, was the flight director. The airplane goes from a Boeing style 2 axis FD to a FD centered on the FPM on the PFD. So instead of aiming for a pitch refernce your always flying a flight path reference. It works pretty well though and as with everything else you quickly adapt. Ive never really given any thought to gear handle sizes or thrust lever sizes for that matter. The Ejets thrust levers are slightly larger than the CRJs but it needed TO/GA and AT disconnect buttons. Have you seen DC9 thrust levers now theres nonstandard!! The main gripe on the Ejet thrust levers are getting the finger lifts to allow you into reverse. It takes a bit of finesse to get them out of the detents. As for swinging gear, its swinging gear, the less work the better. I dont have to pull the handle out to put it down or up. My technique for the Ejet is a closed fist bump up for a gear up call and two fingers push down for a gear down call...lol effortless. Oh and Id be happy waiting anywhere on an Ejet. I dont know of a single plane that has as good of an ECS system as the ejets. Great summer airplane, loads of cold air. Spent too many summers sweating on ramps in APUless CRJs. Sorry rant over...although not much of one compared to other posts Have to fly my stupid regional errr transitional aircraft tomorrow. Erik Otterson

Ok...I'll give you the fire detectors in the forward cargo bin...not the best call with that location. But comfort wise its way above the CRJs. Thanks double bubble! And the Rams horns take a little getting used to but they are actually quite comfortable once you get used to them! Not to mention auto-throttles and fly-by-wire goodies, its a fantastic aircraft. If I have to ride on a CRJ...I won't I'll take an Ejet. Erik Otterson

Come on! No ejet love?? The 190 is a mainline aircraft at Airways/American and JetBlue. Same amount of passengers as a 717 and no one has to suffer in the middle seat cause there aren't any. Beautiful airplane, especially the new winglet 175s that are on the line these days. Erik Otterson MSP

PMDG are making a 787, its happening, and happening right now. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the little X-plane project that PMDG have in the works is the Dreamliner. The operational data portion is somewhat of a misnomer. When I was at Northwest we had a fully functional and rated Level D sim at NATCO years before the aircrafts first flight as Northwest was the original North American launch customer. After the Delta "merger" the sim was shipped off to ANA. The operational details are only for small idiosyncrasies that are needed to polish off a product and with the Dreamliner ramping up production every month those sources will be more and more readily available. Remember that Boeing and PMDG are tight and PMDG no doubt have had all the technical information they've needed for many years. PMDG have gone to Level D sims many times to capture the sounds and feel of aircraft so the 787 would be no different. Until then, plenty to look forward to in my opinion, its a very exciting time to be in flight simming, and PMDG are really leading the way! Erik Otterson KMSP

PMDG is obviously making a 787...probably will release after all other known projects...whos next? Who knows Erik Otterson

Well I've talked myself out of that answer as well, it would increase AOA, nuts

I believe the flaperon retracts to decrease AOA as part of the tail strike prevention system found on the 777...tail strikes are definitely chief pilot office visits Tail strikes are costly business, I can't remember what carrier it was but they incurred $12 million dollars in damages in one tailstrike! Erik Otterson KMSP

I'm interested to see the route they take with the EFB...the other guys made theirs as a basic PDF viewer. You can drop as many PDF charts as you want in the folder and voila they appear on your EFB. Obviously this isn't realistic but it is a pretty good idea. Having an entire nav database would certainly increase the product cost considerably.

I'm fairly certain that all md-11F aircraft have window outlines as the Windows were simply plugged instead of making a different fuselage for the freighter. I own all of the mcphat liveries and they are very pretty but spendy. They are very easy to install and as far as I've seen they are all correct. They do they're homework just like anyone else. I've never seen an engine problem...sometimes it takes looking up that aircrafts n number to make sure. I don't think you would be disappointed if externals are very important to you. Erik Otterson

I was working that flight 2 weeks ago maybe I had you on my flight Ryan! Small world. KDLH to KORD...poor Duluth hope all that mess gets cleaned up. Having 3500 hours in a CRJ-200 it really is a shame that there isn't a good quality sim out there that models it. If you want an airline career in the US odds are very good you will end up flying one at some point in time. And it really is a blast to fly. I've had lots of friends that have gone on to bigger and better aircraft but they all miss the CRJ...its the most advanced aircraft that does nothing for you ; ) No VNAV lots of handflying. I'd love to see a well reproduced one, but I don't think it will be PMDG that does it. Its a different airplane for sure, its always great seeing jumpseaters cringe as you come in nose low at 145 knots. Landing a 200 is a challenge cause there is nothing else out there that lands like it commercial aviation...no leading edge devices....takes a gentle touch but the trailing A bar gear helps alot....I digress...If your flight was smooth with no problems it was me Ryan...if it sucked I was wasn't flying it ; )

Almost everyone does their repainting at Victorville, CA, from the Blue Angels to United Airlines.Erik

This is quite the topic, amazing how hot headed people get over these things. Mariano seems to be one of the more credible voices in this thread. And I was very entertained by many of his posts. Being an Airline Transport Pilot is a profession that is more like a lawyer, although thats unpopular, but every pilot out there has a fairly extensive library of books that they've collected and read over the years and they are always disputing federal regulations like rest and alternate rules, which always involve gray areas. The daily life of a pilot is not just flying the airplane from A to B, its managing every little detail of that flight because even if the ramp crew screws up the numbers, there is no way for the captain to know that, but he is responsible. Flying does differ from other professions because of how deeply satisfying it can be. For those of us that have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work in such a career it is hard to explain. There are certainly days when you watch the sun come up at FL350 and think "I am the luckiest person there is to get to see this moment from here," while drinking coffee. I used to lay on the lawn outside my parents house when I was younger and wonder if those guys up there know how lucky they are. It took me going to the airlines to realize % of them don't realize how lucky they are. Are there kids out there that day dream about being doctors and lawyers? Sure, but there's just something about people that day dream to be pilots, that have the desire to go out and make that a reality, the person that gets out on the runway despite all the millions of things that could go wrong and pushes the thrust levers forward and is ready for whatever happens afterwards. Those people are always looking up, whether they are virtual or real world pilots. You never lose the bug. I had to recently resign my position at my airline due to inner ear problems and it has been the hardest thing I've ever done. It really is a horrible sensation and flight simulator is the only thing to keep me sane at this point. You really take it all for granted until its gone. And it really feels like a piece of you has been torn out. There isn't anything I wouldn't give to be out there doing a walk around again in a blizzard slipping all over the place on the deicing fluid, or being delayed out of JFK and just admiring all the heavy iron parked around you from seemingly every country in the world. Haha its amazing what you miss when your able to get to your dream and then lose it all. I really hope to get a fresh start with another airline in the future, but after 5 years at one airline and starting over at 30 will be hard, but this time around, if I get the opportunity I'll certainly appreciate it more than I did before. Because in the end it really is the best job there is, may not be the best career, but it is by far the best job, and there isn't anyone who could convince me otherwise. Sorry to rant.Erik

Well yeah, Pre-departure Clearances are text and everything else in communications is voice in the real world as well. Interesting article, in Canada you still have to contact clearance delivery with an assigned code they give you with the PDC to acknowledge you received it. So your call would be "Toronto Clearance airline 3535 with information Tango Indentifier 1234A" He simply acknowledges with telling you who to contact when ready to go. Other large airports do somethings similar, or the tower may confirm your departure in the takeoff clearance, which has to be read back verbatim so they can check for errors that way. But it really does make life easier.Erik

Why doesn't VATSIM just do a PDC clearance system, I much prefer getting clearances through PDC than doing so over voice especially at airports like LaGuardia on a big push where you can't get a word in at any time due to all the clearances. It wouldn't be too difficult to implement, and it would be more realistic for most airlines.

Thanks Ryan that's exactly what I was thinking! Not a whole lot of work to be done! Can't wait to see what's coming down the pipeline.Erik

Yes that would be fantastic, I'm really hoping they get a working EFB on the 777 then cart it over to the 74-8. I don't see why not, they basically have on the NGX using the CDUs for so many other things. The only thing I would think would be difficult is the map overlays with the aircraft symbol on the maps, but everything else could be done fairly easily. Greatly looking forward to itErikKMSP

Thats true but the MD-11 didn't do so hot either until it was used for cargo and I think the 747-8F will be all alone as the best cargo aircraft out there. Its selling reasonably well for a freighter since Airbus backed out of their A380 freighter and there is no other competition in sight.Keep forgetting to sign my posts!ErikKMSP

Yes I have the queen along with everything else PMDG has made including the 74-8 expansion but the expansion is just an external model using the 400s systems and cockpit. I guess I should have phrased it better, but the 800 cockpit is very similar to the 777 in layout and design using a lot of the same components. The systems are more or less the same as the 400, simply adding some partial fly-by-wire. But thats why I thought it would be a simple next step for them to make one and voila a whole new aircraft.

Since the 747-800 shares a lot of commonality with the Triple 7 does anyone here think that PMDG is working on an accurate 74-8? I know they said there would like to make an updated 74 and which 74 is more updated than the 800? I would prefer that over a remake of the 400. It certainly is a pretty airplane and they already have the external model for it! Just seeing what your thoughts were.ErikKMSP

And here's the RNP for KDCA. This will save a lot of time for aircraft that are RNP capable because of the restricted airspace across the Potomac the approaches into 19 are awful. Especially the LDA over the pentagon. Its interesting to note the RNP requirements at the bottom of the chart. RNP (Required Navigational Performance) must be .11 or better to shoot the approach or basically your navigational accuracy must be within one tenth of a mile, this gets your visibility down to 6000RVR or 1 1/4 sm visibility or with the Approach Lighting System out it goes up to 1 1/2 sm. But Ryan is right its just a curved approach nothing special about it, you would take the same exact route flying the River Visual into 19, just follow the river, this just has waypoints to go by.http://www.jeppesen.com/documents/aviation/notices-alerts/hubwatch/BriefingBullentins/bulletin_jep05-03_RNP.pdfErik Otterson

Here's a document from Naverus. Its a company that was started by two Alaskan Airlines pilots who basically invented RNP approaches. Now they aid other companies in getting RNP approaches approved. Alaska is the only airline that I know of that actually has FAA approval to validate their own approaches. They also have some RNP approach plates for your viewing pleasure into Juneau, Alaska, which coincidentally was the first RNP approach in 1996. Hope this helps.http://www.juneau.org/airport/documents/AppendixJRNVImpacts.pdfErik Otterson

Both the captain and first officer would be required to carry one, and they would have to be updated every two weeks just like the paper charts we use. So if a checkairman came on board to do a line check he would have to make sure that the iPad was current, which probably saves him some time instead of going through each route manual and the other required paper work. I wouldn't doubt they would keep a set of paper charts on board as a backup as well.Erik OttersonKMSP

As far as how much Lido's system costs I have never been able to find an actual figure. I've heard a couple thousand dollars not to include the extra costs of installation and certification. I'm sure there's someone here that can give you an exact quote on the price. But its bound to be more than a $500 iPad. And I just found the FS Kneeboard, pretty cool, flight sim has come a long way!

My airline is a large regional carrier in the United States under the Pinnacle Inc. umbrella, which seems to just keep buying more airlines. They will basically be normal iPads that will be FAA approved. The company asked Jeppesen to make an app for them specifically for this purpose. We currently use Lido charts, and maybe the only passenger carrier in the US that does, FedEx is the only other airline in the US to use Lido. They might have a little more security built in but as far as I know they are stock iPads. But with internet on board the aircraft getting up to date weather would be a fantastic tool as the onboard radar never gives you the big picture of what your heading into especially now that thunderstorm season is fast approaching.Erik Otterson

It looks like my airline is going to get iPads for the whole pilot group to use as Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs). They will be the only thing we will be required to carry in our flight kits. They will have all the charts and manuals that we normally carry saved on them. It really is a cool idea, and it can get more carriers closer to a paperless cockpit, without paying the hefty prices for a bulkier unit such as the Lido systems from Lufthansa. Not to mention saving space and saving reams and reams of paper. I don't think people realize that 25% of a pilots job is putting in revisions to their manuals, at least it certainly seems that I'm doing one every fourth day. But it seems perfectly suited for flight sim as well, and I'm interested if anyone uses one for this purpose? I hear United is the next airline to get them for all of their aircraft, so there's an added bit of realism for you.Erik Otterson