May fortune favor the foolish...

Hacker, thanks for the feedback. This is EXACTLY the path I had in mind. I completed the Envoy application a couple weeks ago and am awaiting feedback/a response.

I also found a Piedmont ad that caught my eye. I was thinking of throwing a resume their way once the Commercial MEL was done and I had a few hours under my belt. I'm only chasing the RW ratings right now because they are sort of low-hanging fruit from where I stand today, and there is a reasonably solid opportunity for me once I get the added ratings, but even still, the FW ratings are next on the list. The goal is to have completed the ratings by the end of April to be competitive (or at the very least qualified) to explore the 121 opportunities.
 
Blue Doughnut said:
I completed the Envoy application a couple weeks ago and am awaiting feedback/a response.

I also found a Piedmont ad that caught my eye.
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It is great that the regionals have finally recognized that military helo dudes bring a fantastic bit of airmanship with them and they're likely to stick around for a couple of years because they'll want to upgrade and get that golden turbine PIC before really being eligible to move on to the majors. It is quite a mutually beneficial arrangement...a shame it has taken so long for them to figure it out.

Definitely take a look around before settling on an airline -- the current hiring situation at the regionals has created a rapidly-changing environment where they're competing for your business. Consequently, offers for former rotorheads like we're discussing at ENY and PDT are being introduced all the time, and they're trying to one-up each other. Even between now and the end of April, something new may come out that's a more attractive deal.

Not sure if you are a member on the APC forums, but the regional and military sub-forums have a dozen or so threads from rotor guys who are all trying to get to the airlines. IMHO, that's where there's the best discussion of the details is if you are so inclined.
 
Argh... losing your CFII sucks, but you sound like the sort who'll have a plan for that figured out pretty quick.
 
Blue Doughnut said:
My wife of 14 years enjoyed the request for pictures. While she's been with me through COUNTLESS deployments, she did express at least a passing interest in scouring POA for her next future ex-husband should we fall victim to the many curses of commercial aviation!
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Congrats on taking the plunge! Thanks for your service and to your family for dealing with everything that comes with deployment.

It's always a plus when the Bride has a good sense of humor...
 
Well, I think I'm at the point where it's time to s#!t or get off the pot. With the FOI done, I thought I'd bury myself in the books for a while to prep for the CFI written. I'm scoring in the mid 90% range on the practice tests, and while I'm not fully comfortable with fundamentals of gyrocopter flying (why is that even a thing for a helicopter instructor??- Rhetorical question), I guess I'm ready for the written. I'll go in tomorrow morning to get it out of the way.

I completed the 10 hours of dual instruction we estimated it would take to get me signed off for the checkride before heading off to Sun 'n Fun, but I wanted to run a couple mock rides before the actual check ride. I am getting the feeling that I'm wasting time at this point (and more importantly money). We we're half way through my flight yesterday when the instructor said I was ready. He spent the rest of the flight showing me some amazing emergency recovery procedures I had never been exposed to in my military flying. Boring stuff for FW guys, but lateral recoveries from settling with power, 0 airspeed autorotations from 1000' with 360 degree pedal turns to pick a landing spot on the way down, etc, etc.

Anyway, as is my nature, I think I'm probably over-prepared. (I'm going to feel really stupid tomorrow if I have to come back and say I didn't pass the written). The good news is, I got a thumbs up at Sun 'n Fun from my new friends... I felt really bad for them, they couldn't get more than 2 feet down the road before getting stopped for another picture/gawking session from more adoring fans. They were really gracious and as kind as you would have hoped they would be. I congratulated John on getting his medical back (from reading the thread here), and he said I need to find some better reading material to fill my down time with
 
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Yeah, you're not going to get exposure to settling with power recoveries in the Army. It was eliminated from the syllabus decades ago.

Keep it up and stay positive!
 
Velocity173 said:
Yeah, you're not going to get exposure to settling with power recoveries in the Army. It was eliminated from the syllabus decades ago.

Keep it up and stay positive!
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Funny you mention that because I spent a couple weeks scratching my head wondering why I couldn't recall doing and settling with power recoveries before I finally came to the conclusion that I hadn't actually done any. We would talk through it, but we never actually executed. They're actually a non event, but the lateral recovery technique that the long-line guys use is pretty cool. Just goes to show, there's ALWAYS a ton of stuff to learn. I guess that's just another thing that makes flying great. You can always improve.
 
Blue Doughnut said:
Funny you mention that because I spent a couple weeks scratching my head wondering why I couldn't recall doing and settling with power recoveries before I finally came to the conclusion that I hadn't actually done any. We would talk through it, but we never actually executed. They're actually a non event, but the lateral recovery technique that the long-line guys use is pretty cool. Just goes to show, there's ALWAYS a ton of stuff to learn. I guess that's just another thing that makes flying great. You can always improve.
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I was told back in the day, they taught SWP but they had some accidents and decided to eliminate the training requirement.

I thought I got into SWP in a Black Hawk once but a test pilot told me it was impossible based on the conditions I described. Forget that 300 FPM, less than 10 kts, 20 % power applied nonsense. Basically you have to descend at over 60 % of your downwash velocity. For a Hawk, that's around 2,500 FPM. Pretty tough to do unless you go completely vertical.
 
That's a completely new angle on SWP to me. (Back to the "always learning new things" angle). You know the whole "3 ingredients to settling with power" routine, for the benefit of the FW crowd: low forward airspeed, rate of descent of 300 fpm or greater, and power applied.

I was intrigued by the 2500 fpm on the Hawk consideration, so I went a' Googling and found this: http://www.rotorandwing.com/2011/11/29/calculating-rotor-downwash-velocity/

Granted, that's for a Hughes 500, but they figure downwash velocity is greatest around 2 rotor disks down which for this aircraft is about 46 mph. My super-rough math puts that about 4600 fpm, so 60% would be right around the 2400 fpm rate of descent. That's a FAR cry from the 300 fpm they talk about. (Funny thing in the SR22, prior to demonstrating the maneuver, you have to wait for the highly-calibrated yarn threads that are taped to the windscreen to drop to the full-down position to alert you to the fact that you have entered a high hover.) I have to assume they want us to recover prior to a fully developed vortex ring state. In any case, I guess that makes sense, but I agree, you have to really be working to get yourself descending 2500 fpm.
 
Thanks for the well wishes Salty and Arnold!

Took the CFI written this morning. I used a 2015 copy of the ASA test prep for this one (again due to availability at the schoolhouse). It worked well enough, but I think I'd choose the Gleim prep book having now used both. In any case, I've got the instructor written complete!

Once my CFI gets back in town we'll get the sign off, then I'll see how soon I can get the examiner scheduled. I'll also get the CFII written knocked out some time mid next week before getting that checkride scheduled. I think these rides should all be knocked out prior to the end of the month (delayed due to the departure of my CFII and an unscheduled vacation for my CFI- who authorized that?!). In the mean time, I'm heading up north to get the Commercial AMEL done.

No one told me this would be a lot of work...
 
Blue Doughnut said:
Thanks for the well wishes Salty and Arnold!

Took the CFI written this morning. I used a 2015 copy of the ASA test prep for this one (again due to availability at the schoolhouse). It worked well enough, but I think I'd choose the Gleim prep book having now used both. In any case, I've got the instructor written complete!

Once my CFI gets back in town we'll get the sign off, then I'll see how soon I can get the examiner scheduled. I'll also get the CFII written knocked out some time mid next week before getting that checkride scheduled. I think these rides should all be knocked out prior to the end of the month (delayed due to the departure of my CFII and an unscheduled vacation for my CFI- who authorized that?!). In the mean time, I'm heading up north to get the Commercial AMEL done.

No one told me this would be a lot of work...
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I used to use Gleim but after seeing Sheppard Air recommended and trying it I like it a lot better.

As far as regionals, I believe Piedmont, PSA and Endeavor all guarantee a first year salary of $60k through retention bonuses, etc. With the way the regionals are hiring right it shouldn't be too hard to get on at all. Heck, I even know one fellow who is 60 years old that was just hired by PSA I believe. They're taking them all. Can you fog up a mirror? :)
 
Hello fellow P's o A. Checking in with an update.

First to Brian, thank you for the recommendation on Sheppard, I'm ordering their CFII test prep per your recommendation. A buddy of mine has used it and gave it great reviews as well, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'll let everyone know how it goes as it's at least some minor value that I can add to the student pilot community from within the confines of this thread.

I flew my final checkride prep flight today. I am pleased to say that I have my endorsements and late next week will be checkride time! Fingers crossed, by close of business on Friday the aviation community should have its newest CFI/CFII.

I won't go through a blow by blow on the details of the flight since it mostly involved things like hovering autorotations, slope landings, run on landings (which in fairness is basically what landing an airplane is, but I like to let the helicopter guys think its hard ;)), quick stops, etc,etc. But I will offer a word of advice to a new pal from today's flight.
Granted, I'm certain you don't know that I exist, but if you're reading this, and you know that you elected to shoot a straight in approach to a Class E field having made exactly ZERO calls while apparently making no attempts to scan for traffic in the pattern today, this note is for you, friend. Though I don't believe it's specifically addressed in the FAR/AIM, please accept this as a friendly piece of advice if you wish to live a life NOT dependent upon the ability of others to see and avoid your stupidity:

IT'S GENERALLY UNWISE TO ATTEMPT TO LAND UNDERNEATH A HELICOPTER THAT IS ESTABLISHED NOT ONLY ON SHORT (to reference an old post if mine, I guess I now know what extreme short final is) FINAL, BUT UNDERNEATH A HELICOPTER THAT'S OVER THE THRESHOLD IN AN AUTOROTATIVE DESCENT!!!! (By the way, I've never typed all caps in a forum before. I think I finally understand why some people can't help themselves. It's liberating; I now know what it is to feel free...)

Having been in the pattern for over an hour by this point, this was our 10th or so lap around the circuit. Calls made on takeoff, base, and base to final each time. One guy made a straight in with calls starting when he was 15 nm out (and without issue thanks to the modern science of radio communication), but otherwise pretty quiet on the field. On the landing in question, we call base to final, we are established at ~700' just over the threshold, dump collective and start (what is basically) a power-off descent when a Cessna overtakes (UNDERNEATH US!!!!) - us over the numbers. I couldn't believe my eyes (and my luck that we didn't eat this aircraft). He fumbles is way to the ground about 15' or so off centerline while we were busy "re-evaluating our options" on our descent.

Upon touching down, and with all the authority of a kid in the McDonalds drive through speaker, he realizes that stack of boxes emitting red numbers is probably more than decorative, and he elects to transmit: "KXYZ UNICOM, Cessna 172 radio check."
They come back with a LC to which our intrepid denizen of the skies replies: "KXYZ traffic, Cessna 172 clear the active" despite this being a non-towered airfield, and the roughly 200' of runway he had left to taxi (not to mention a questionable callsign...)

After pulling our seats out of our a$$es, the rest of the flight was uneventful.

In any case, check rides next week. Time to get the head in the books and get my lesson plans ready to go!
 
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Blue Doughnut said:
Hello fellow P's o A. Checking in with an update.

First to Brian, thank you for the recommendation on Sheppard, I'm ordering their CFII test prep per your recommendation. A buddy of mine has used it and gave it great reviews as well, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'll let everyone know how it goes as it's at least some minor value that I can add to the student pilot community from within the confines of this thread.
Click to expand...

Be sure you click and read the 'Study Strategy' part and do it exactly like they say. It's really a good method of study.
 
Blue Doughnut said:
Hello fellow P's o A. Checking in with an update.

First to Brian, thank you for the recommendation on Sheppard, I'm ordering their CFII test prep per your recommendation. A buddy of mine has used it and gave it great reviews as well, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'll let everyone know how it goes as it's at least some minor value that I can add to the student pilot community from within the confines of this thread.

I flew my final checkride prep flight today. I am pleased to say that I have my endorsements and late next week will be checkride time! Fingers crossed, by close of business on Friday the aviation community should have its newest CFI/CFII.

I won't go through a blow by blow on the details of the flight since it mostly involved things like hovering autorotations, slope landings, run on landings (which in fairness is basically what landing an airplane is, but I like to let the helicopter guys think its hard ;)), quick stops, etc,etc. But I will offer a word of advice to a new pal from today's flight.
Granted, I'm certain you don't know that I exist, but if you're reading this, and you know that you elected to shoot a straight in approach to a Class E field having made exactly ZERO calls while apparently making no attempts to scan for traffic in the pattern today, this note is for you, friend. Though I don't believe it's specifically addressed in the FAR/AIM, please accept this as a friendly piece of advice if you wish to live a life NOT dependent upon the ability of others to see and avoid your stupidity:

IT'S GENERALLY UNWISE TO ATTEMPT TO LAND UNDERNEATH A HELICOPTER THAT IS ESTABLISHED NOT ONLY ON SHORT (to reference an old post if mine, I guess I now know what extreme short final is) FINAL, BUT UNDERNEATH A HELICOPTER THAT'S OVER THE THRESHOLD IN AN AUTOROTATIVE DESCENT!!!! (By the way, I've never typed all caps in a forum before. I think I finally understand why some people can't help themselves. It's liberating; I now know what it is to feel free...)

Having been in the pattern for over an hour by this point, this was our 10th or so lap around the circuit. Calls made on takeoff, base, and base to final each time. One guy made a straight in with calls starting when he was 15 nm out (and without issue thanks to the modern science of radio communication), but otherwise pretty quiet on the field. On the landing in question, we call base to final, we are established at ~700' just over the threshold, dump collective and start (what is basically) a power-off descent when a Cessna overtakes (UNDERNEATH US!!!!) - us over the numbers. I couldn't believe my eyes (and my luck that we didn't eat this aircraft). He fumbles is way to the ground about 15' or so off centerline while we were busy "re-evaluating our options" on our descent.

Upon touching down, and with all the authority of a kid in the McDonalds drive through speaker, he realizes that stack of boxes emitting red numbers is probably more than decorative, and he elects to transmit: "KXYZ UNICOM, Cessna 172 radio check."
They come back with a LC to which our intrepid denizen of the skies replies: "KXYZ traffic, Cessna 172 clear the active" despite this being a non-towered airfield, and the roughly 200' of runway he had left to taxi (not to mention a questionable callsign...)

After pulling our seats out of our a$$es, the rest of the flight was uneventful.

In any case, check rides next week. Time to get the head in the books and get my lesson plans ready to go!
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Not making excuses for him, but the radio check hints that he never heard anything. For whatever reason. Turned down, speaker plug came loose, whatever.

He probably was attempting to dislodge his seat cushion from his colon, too. And then decided to see if he could figure out why the radio didn't work.

Or he was just a moron. Hard to say. ;-)

Glad you guys missed him!
 
Yeah I'm sure radio troubles were among his many issues during that flight. He was a student from a neighboring flight school at my home field. He taxied up as we were walking away from our aircraft. It was everything I could do not to go all American Gate Agent on him. I mean, if only someone had developed a procedure that could be employed in the event of a comms failure... :rolleyes:

I could even buy that he was unaware he had comms issues (though I have my doubts due to the comm check), there is a best practice for making an approach to a non towered field, and a straight in with no/poor scanning ain't it.

Anyway, we live to die another day!
 
What a week. As scheduled, it was supposed to be CFI ride Wednesday, CFII written Thursday, then CFII ride Friday.

I woke up at 4 am on Wednesday, flew my plane the hour down to the field for the eval flight. The oral was comprehensive to say the least. It went from from 7:30-12:30.

I'll be honest, after studying the last couple weeks, then spending that amount of time in an oral eval, I was smoked by noon. For better or worse, the aircraft was down for an alternator swap when we called for it. So as it stands now, I'll complete the flight portion Friday morning, and will shift the CFII practical back to Saturday (oral portion will still be done tomorrow).

In between all that, I took the CFII written this morning. Because of all the other competing requirements, I hadn't really done any CFII written prep. I've been studying for the oral and practical, but we all know the tests need their own studying with the test prep books. So I called up and got a subscription to Sheppard at 8 pm last night. I studied on their app until 10, studied an hour this morning and ended up with a 96% having completed the exam in 14 minutes! (Reading that, I don't know why I feel like I skated by with the written. College Me would have looked at 3 hours studying for a 50 question test as a ridiculous amount of overkill. How age changes you, lol)

I'll say this for Sheppard, if your primary goal is to pass a written they cannot be beat, BUT I'll caution that you won't walk away with any depth of understanding. For my particular circumstance, since I'm in the books a couple hours per day, I think it was exactly the product I needed. I'm moving on to the ATP next since it's just another written and eval, and I'll definitely use Sheppard for that written, but there will be extensive studying to master the actual material outside of that. So I highly recommend Sheppard, just make sure you know what it is and what it isn't.

Anyway, since I have the extra time for the CFI ride, I'm off to take a few laps around the field and keep working on maneuvers. Definitely looking forward to getting this all knocked out!
 
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That's a butt buster of a week! Kinda glad you had the delay, fatigue is going to be a factor. Good luck!
 
Yeah you arent kidding. I'm worn out after this week to say the least.

I flew my checkride in 26 knots of gusty winds. I definitely had to earn this one, but the good news is, I'm officially a Certificated Flight Instructor!! It hasn't really sunk in yet, but it definitely feels like an accomplishment I had to work for.

Decided to punt one week on the CFII. Winds tomorrow are forecast to be a repeat of today, and to be honest I don't really feel like wrestling with that again tomorrow.
 
Thank you! And I appreciate the words of encouragement the past few weeks!!

Still a way to go yet, I have the CFII, ATP, both of which should be done over the next 3 weeks; and somewhere in there is the commercial AMEL. A little depressing when you think of the $$$!
 
I would like to get the CFI, but I'm not sure I could survive a 6 hour oral no matter how much I studied after not flying for 11 years and just now getting back into it. Big knowledge dump happens over 11 years of not flying. Not to mention I'm old. lol.
 
Funny thing about the knowledge dump. A lot of it really is perishable. I was in a relatable position when I started this new effort. I hadn't flown professionally for over 10 years, and my recreational flying in the years since was just that- recreational. Like many I'm sure, I did enough to stay safe and proficient in my aircraft, but I really hadn't spent any time or effort refining my skills or improving my knowledge base to any great degree. All of the stuff covered on the oral had long faded, and it took some serious work to get it back.

I wouldn't toss the CFI idea aside if it's something you think might enjoy doing. The impression I got from going through the oral was that the examiner wanted to see that I had taken the time to prepare and put in an honest effort. The oral sort of flowed like a conversation rather than a 5 hour grilling. I'm glad I went through it even if I never do end up working as a CFI, it really feels like an accomplishment I had to work for which is gratifying in and of itself.
 
Thanks for the encouragement. What specifically did you study to get ready for the CFI? And I assume studying that would encompass the knowledge needed to also pass the commercial, correct? Or vice versa since I need to get the commercial first.
 
BrianNC said:
I would like to get the CFI, but I'm not sure I could survive a 6 hour oral no matter how much I studied after not flying for 11 years and just now getting back into it. Big knowledge dump happens over 11 years of not flying. Not to mention I'm old. lol.
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Bah. You can do it!

BrianNC said:
Thanks for the encouragement. What specifically did you study to get ready for the CFI? And I assume studying that would encompass the knowledge needed to also pass the commercial, correct? Or vice versa since I need to get the commercial first.
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The knowledge tests are identical, if you think about it. You're going to teach the same stuff you already know. The difference is the FOI, love it or hate it, it's the only real new info to know.

The real bear for many is realizing you're teaching, not regurgitating knowledge like previous checkrides. The examiner will say, "teach me about X" and then will simulate being someone who's never seen an airplane before. May not even have ever seen the oil cap on their car, as my DPE put it. You have to organize how to get them from zero to hero, and then execute on it.

That's why the oral takes so long. It actually goes by quick. You're busy.

"I've never flown this airplane before. Describe what I need to know about the propeller system..." Annnnd.. you grab a whiteboard pen or paper pad and start...

Once you get it in your head that you're teaching, it's actually fun, if you like such things. Probably your biggest worry as a newbie instructor is that you'll miss something important. A solid syllabus helps with that. And you "get the opportunity" to write some of your own stuff for that as part of that oral. Most FAA or DPEs with CFI privileges will glance at it, know if you're organized in about 60 seconds and then tell you to teach it to them. Which even with the simplest topics, if done at a reasonable pace and carefully, will take half an hour.

After I bombed the first oral (wasn't prepared to teach, common mistake) I went back thinking of it as about four to six pre-flight sessions with a student and discussion of a flight plan. At times the examiner plays student, at times they're quizzing you at an examiner level to dive deeper into hot button regulatory or other topics they want to emphasize on the PTS. And of course, everything on the PTS is required and it's a lot of stuff.

I had my "brain box" with publications and books and an iPad with a ton of reference material on it. Obviously you want to know you're stuff well enough to reach into the box, pull out an appropriate reference (some people are visual learners, some auditory) get that open so you can either look at it to set yourself up for making a drawing or just show it to the simulated student and start talking.

Simplify simplify simplify. Start with stuff you think is incredibly basic and work forward from there. You think at first that saying things like, "There's a blue handle in the cockpit. Here's a photo of the throttle quadrant from this airplane..." is too simple, but it's not. Students are 90% mentally saturated from engine start to shutdown. Prep on the ground is a big deal.

If you can walk into a CFI oral thinking that way, you've got it made. Teach teach teach until they say, "Let's break for lunch, then go fly the airplane." And then right back into teaching mode at the airplane. The simulated student is learning to fly. You aren't flying, you're teaching and if you have the controls, you're demonstrating and talking. Telling the student exactly what you're doing, why, and with the expectation that they're taking over and doing it themselves, next.

I didn't do a takeoff on my CFI ME ride. It was me simulating an power failure on one engine on the runway (block the rudder without the student noticing your foot in the way) and pre-coaching the DPE on takeoff abort technique and critiquing/coaching his performance as he did it. Then coaching the takeoff and climbout. The DPE would simulate doing things slightly wrong... "Watch your airspeed, we want to be at Vy here..." etc.

Then it's stuff like, "Show me how you would set up to teach an engine failure here..." where "here" probably isn't near a suitable landing field, and the altitude is too low to start the simulation... you get to make sure that stuff is right, while talking the student through what they're about to do, then demonstrating it, then repeating and having the simulated student do it, watching like a hawk they're not reaching for the wrong throttle or prop lever, or even the mixture...

You get the idea. If you like that sort of thing... go do it! The writtens are the easy part. I did all of them over about a two week timeframe. Once you're in book study mode, just hammer them out.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply Nate. Just the kind of information im looking for.
 
The first time I was asked to instruct and fly, it was like walking and chewing bubble gum. Of course I can describe a maneuver, and of course I can fly, but putting the two together the first time or two for some reason tripped me up. It came with practice though as most things do.

Agree with Nate on the written exams. They're the typical FAA-style written exam. Pick from whichever prep book/app you like best and it's a non-event.
 
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I'm half a CFII today!

I woke up at 5 this morning, unable to get back to sleep courtesy of the usual pre-eval anxiety, got my coffee IV hooked up and headed to the airport where I'd pick the aircraft up before flying down to the other field for my eval. That's when the wheels started coming off the train.

The ferry pilot was 30 minutes late- not the end of the world, I called and pushed the examiner back. Then the aircraft won't start. Turns out it's a failing starter that requires some special little trick to get it going. Now we're an hour late- request the examiner delay some more.

We arrive at the field, get the process rolling, only to find the CFII hadn't completed the endorsement in ICAO. We call the school, and we wait... and wait... 4 hours.

We decide to cancel, and make something useful out of the day by grabbing a $100 hamburger. No sooner do we sit down, than we get a call letting us know the endorsement is complete. By this point I'm already feeling the fatigue. Winds were blowing 25 with 30 knot gusts which is not the nicest weather for an IFR eval.

Fortunately my examiner wasn't too interested in fighting the winds either, especially as we were getting so late in the day. We agreed to do the oral and complete the flight portion as soon as winds and schedules allowed.

Funny thing about instrument oral evaluations, no matter what you think you know, there's always some new, obscure approach plate symbol waiting to trip you up! In any case, the oral went well and now I'm just waiting to coordinate the flight eval.
 
It wasn't quite as long as the CFI (thankfully), but still a few hours. This one was less esoteric than the initial, and required a firm grasp of specific, quantifiable items and regulations. It would be a lot harder to BS your way through this add on, but as long as you've studied it's still straight forward enough. This one was largely driven by regulations and procedures from the FAR/AIM.

The flight eval seems straight forward enough. We'll fly some approaches, do some unusual attitude recovery, and the only unique thing we discussed will be to demonstrate settling with power under the hood which will be unique to helicopters. I'm also told to expect some sort of equipment failure during the eval (if I was a betting man, I'd guess a comms failure is in my future).
 
Blue Doughnut said:
It wasn't quite as long as the CFI (thankfully), but still a few hours. This one was less esoteric than the initial, and required a firm grasp of specific, quantifiable items and regulations. It would be a lot harder to BS your way through this add on, but as long as you've studied it's still straight forward enough. This one was largely driven by regulations and procedures from the FAR/AIM.

The flight eval seems straight forward enough. We'll fly some approaches, do some unusual attitude recovery, and the only unique thing we discussed will be to demonstrate settling with power under the hood which will be unique to helicopters. I'm also told to expect some sort of equipment failure during the eval (if I was a betting man, I'd guess a comms failure is in my future).
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SWP with the hood a required PTS maneuver? Seems like fun. :eek: What's the general RoD to get into SWP with a Robbie anyway?
 
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Blue Doughnut said:
I'm moving on to the ATP next since it's just another written and eval,
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Are you footing the bill for the CTP out of pocket, or are you planning on going with one of the regional airlines to get on the ATP train?
 
Thank you for a wonderful and inspirational thread Blue Doughnut!
I was looking forward to a learning rest after I passed my rotorcraft, gyroplane CFI practical Test on the second try.
Instead I found my learning accelerated as I learned to teach and searched for answers to my clients questions.
I find great joy in sharing my passion for flying and watching the progress of my clients as they become comfortable with the maneuvers.
I hope you will remember that not all of your students will be as capable or motivated as you.
I wish you all the best on your Great Aviation Adventure.
 
Velocity173 said:
SWP with the hood a required PTS maneuver? Seems like fun. :eek: What's the general RoD to get into SWP with a Robbie anyway?
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That was my reaction too; I couldn't find it in there. I'm all for it though; it will be interesting exposure at the very least. From a practical standpoint, I could envision a couple scenarios where it could be encountered- maybe during an attempted recovery from inadvertent IMC or something.

The R22 doesn't take a whole lot to develop SWP. We're able to get into the early stages of a developing vortex ring state at just over 300 FPM with 0 airspeed. It plays out exactly how they say it does. Pull collective pitch and the rate of descent increases. I try to recover before it develops any further than that, and recovery has been a non-event (we'd lose maybe 200' during the recovery). Apparently, a guy going for his PPL a couple weeks ago let it fully develop and they were pushing over 2000 FPM before they recovered (ended up below 1000' AGL :eek:) .
 
Hacker said:
Are you footing the bill for the CTP out of pocket, or are you planning on going with one of the regional airlines to get on the ATP train?
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So apparently the requirements for the rotorcraft ATP are a far cry from multi-engine airplane ATP, and it's the one certification that has no transferable elements, so I would have to meet every requirement for the airplane ATP from the ground up. I'll be doing to rotorcraft ATP which from here is nothing more than a written and an eval which my examiner says is less of an event than the CFII ride. The way I see it, I'd be foolish not to just knock it out. The OTHER ATP however... I haven't really worked on a road map to that rating yet. Based on the cost and complexity, I may end up taking your earlier advice and letting a regional foot the bill for that if I were to get picked up. I'll just keep chipping away at these other outstanding ratings until I get that call.

Right now, I think the desired end state for the ratings is CFI/CFII rotorcraft and airplane, ATP rotorcraft, and MEI airplane. If I can't get a job flying either before that's all complete, or after I have them all knocked out, I'm going to take that as a hint and stick to corporate America.
 
Vance Breese said:
Thank you for a wonderful and inspirational thread Blue Doughnut!
I was looking forward to a learning rest after I passed my rotorcraft, gyroplane CFI practical Test on the second try.
Instead I found my learning accelerated as I learned to teach and searched for answers to my clients questions.
I find great joy in sharing my passion for flying and watching the progress of my clients as they become comfortable with the maneuvers.
I hope you will remember that not all of your students will be as capable or motivated as you.
I wish you all the best on your Great Aviation Adventure.
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It's funny, I remember thinking of my first rating as a license to learn, but I think the act of instructing is REALLY where the deep understanding and mastery of aviation is developed. For that reason alone, I would love to one day have the opportunity to use the CFI ratings. I think in one of my first posts I commented on how ill-equipped I felt mentally to be a standard bearer of aviation, but I can totally see how putting the CFI ticket to use gets you there.

If you're up for a REAL challenge, I'd LOVE a lesson on a gyroplane one of these days. I don't know what kind of black magic keeps those things in the air, but they look like a blast.
 
Blue Doughnut said:
It's funny, I remember thinking of my first rating as a license to learn, but I think the act of instructing is REALLY where the deep understanding and mastery of aviation is developed. For that reason alone, I would love to one day have the opportunity to use the CFI ratings. I think in one of my first posts I commented on how ill-equipped I felt mentally to be a standard bearer of aviation, but I can totally see how putting the CFI ticket to use gets you there.

If you're up for a REAL challenge, I'd LOVE a lesson on a gyroplane one of these days. I don't know what kind of black magic keeps those things in the air, but they look like a blast.
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I would be proud to fly with you Sir and adding a gyroplane rating is only a matter of training to proficiency. I feel based on this thread you could be ready for your PPL rotorcraft, gyroplane practical test in around five hours of dual with an equal amount of ground.

I would do my best to explain what keeps them aloft, why you only need to manage rotor rpm on takeoff and why there is no collective.

I speak helicopter and understand your particular challenges to proficient operation of a gyroplane.

The aircraft is $200 per hour and I am $75 per hour flight or ground.

I train out of Santa Maria, Ca and can be reached at (805)680-9523.
 
Blue Doughnut said:
That was my reaction too; I couldn't find it in there. I'm all for it though; it will be interesting exposure at the very least. From a practical standpoint, I could envision a couple scenarios where it could be encountered- maybe during an attempted recovery from inadvertent IMC or something.

The R22 doesn't take a whole lot to develop SWP. We're able to get into the early stages of a developing vortex ring state at just over 300 FPM with 0 airspeed. It plays out exactly how they say it does. Pull collective pitch and the rate of descent increases. I try to recover before it develops any further than that, and recovery has been a non-event (we'd lose maybe 200' during the recovery). Apparently, a guy going for his PPL a couple weeks ago let it fully develop and they were pushing over 2000 FPM before they recovered (ended up below 1000' AGL :eek:) .
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Yeah but if a pilot has gotten so spatially disoriented during IMC that they're now into SWP, I'd say they're pretty much done. That is until they fall below the cloud layer. A good challenge in training none the less.

I've read about Nick Lappos doing vertical autos in S-76s at over 5,000 FPM. That would be a ride!

Of course there's the whole argument that VRS and SWP are two completely separate things. VRS is a specific airflow state that exists on the blades due to a high ROD. Where as SWP is a situation where the aircraft is descending because of too little power but yet has a normal downwash. Love reading the debates online. Sometimes trying to determine if an accident is SWP, settling with too little power, VRS or mushing can be a confusing thing. :confused:
 
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