FFS mid point

For your information, FFS stands for Full Flight Simulator and not For F*** Sake.  Just in case you were confused.

Also, writing a blog is clearly an excellent way to procrastinate when told to review certain procedures for your sim session in a few hours’ time.  Today is FFS6 which means after today we have just two more sessions before our check on Sunday.  I’m excited to get this rating finished with! (Yes, a dangling preposition: deal with it.)

We had three days off at the weekend so I got a few mountains in: Tiberoowuccum, Tibrogargan, and I even went for my first run in a year.  It was only 2k but I wanted to see how my neck held up.  So far, so good, but I probably won’t run again until I’m through the simulator.

I don’t have much in the way of photos, but here’s one of me and Lily on the top of a Thing.  Lily behind me because she is rightly afraid of Edges and I would much prefer her to be cautious!

In other news... there isn’t any other news.  Oh yes, my uniform is at the alteration place having its sleeves and legs shortened.  It should be ready next week.  And my healthy eating continues in a bid to give my new shirts more room... I’m getting there!

And now I must get back to reviewing cold weather operations...

Update

I’m slowly re-building my fitness to pre-holiday levels.  I’m not quite there yet - I think - but this morning I managed to beat my record up Tibrogargan, doing it in 33:45 and a total of 1:04:49, although I did stop the clock at the top - we paused for about ten minutes to take in the view.  In fact, I was expecting to be entirely puffed by the half way point and I still felt that I had energy!  So that was nice.  Also, I got to use my new windbreaker for the first time as it is getting chilly in the mornings - I think I’m going to need to invest in a body-warmer for the winter.

Lily is also increasing her fitness levels: after the Twins on Monday, she got home and promptly wanted to play fetch rather than flop on the floor.  She is also getting highly excited the moment I put sunscreen on - which was sad this morning as she was not invited up Tibro.  Her little face shows the utmost disappointment when left behind.

In other news, today is FFS3.  I’m finding it very hard to study, as it is going very well and seems to just be happening without study.  I have this niggling feeling at the back of my mind that this is going to catch me out...  I feel like I did a lot more work for the Embraer type rating.

It does help that this course is actually taught - rather than just being thrown in the deep end and expected to swim.  It also helps to have an excellent sim partner, and an instructor who is really eager for us to succeed. As mentioned previously - and I didn’t delete the post so maybe there was a glitch in the Matrix - I got 100% and my sim partner wasn’t far behind with 98%, so I think we’re doing okay so far!

We have so far mastered - mostly - the normal FMS useage and normal setup and flight from A - B and shutdown procedures, we have also completed TCAS exercises, steep turns, stalls, rejected take-offs, and today will be introducing fires, smoke events, engine flameouts and single engine operations: so much fun to be had.

I have read through the material once... and kind of have a “it’s not so hard” feeling and figure if I can remember the call “confirm engine out, prof, preselect V3” I should be fine.  And there are so very few memory items on this machine, how can we possibly go wrong?  ...famous last words???

Anyway... here’s a nice view from a mountain to show you where my mind’s really at. 

Also... just nine sim sessions left to go! (Including the two company sims after the TR check.)

All that knocking on the wall paid off!  Today was the written tech exam - or should i say, multiple guess tech exam - and I got 100%.  Just boasting a little here, but I feel very pleased with myself, and it's my blog so I'm allowed to boast.  Also, this means that we are finished with all the ground school nonsense and can move on to the real part of the type rating - which commences with Full Flight Simulator tomorrow.  I considered studying for it, but then read the profile and realised that it's exactly what we've been doing up til now, just with motion on - so I'm watching Netflix and TV instead.

Lily helping with study

Tomorrow morning I shall go hiking with A (and Lily), and then go to sim after lunch.  I don't really have any other news... when one is doing a type rating, news becomes very sparse.  I've done a little hiking and climbing, and a lot of driving to the sim centre, and a lot of sitting and trying not to yawn, and a lot of fixed base sim, and a lot of trying to study but getting distracted by Netflix, and you know, all the fun things.

My home for the next few weeks

Byeeee!!!

I broke the dog.

I didn’t mean to break her.  I mean, we often go hiking together, usually one of the technically-out-of-limits mountains that nobody else climbs so nobody knows that Lily is there.

This morning it was C, A and I climbing the Twins.  Lil was full of enthusiasm, climbing into the car the moment I opened the door (to get my Contigo) despite 20 minutes to go til we left!  On arrival at the mountain she was jumping around barking and running on ahead with all the energy in the world.

Except, the initial climb (Twin1) was slow due to repeated stops, and I got to feeling like I wasn’t really getting a workout.  

The first peak

On the descent towards Twin2, I decided to run on ahead.  I made it to the base quickly, and then doubled back up - fast.  By the top, my legs were burning, I felt sick and my heart rate made it up to 196.  Stopping until I could breathe, and giving Lily some water, I then descended again to meet C&A, who were just commencing the climb up Twin2.

The entire second climb was painful.  My lungs did not feel like they wanted to recover from my sprint, so I dragged myself groaning onto the rocks at the top and poured water on my head to cool down.  Lily found herself a very large stick to chew.

Enough energy to spare at this stage...

Soon it became time to heave my jelly legs up and climb back down Twin2 and back up Twin1.  It wasn’t quite as bad as I expected, as we paced ourselves.  At the top, we paused to chat to two unexpected hikers, and then started our final decent.

Except, it wasn’t.

Shortly after starting down, I asked what time it was - being too lazy to change the settings on my Garmin to check.  At this point, A realised that she didn’t have her phone... it must have fallen out at some point between Twin2 and Twin1.

C decided to wait for us at the top of Twin1, and I, for moral support as much as anything, went off searching with A.  We didn’t find it until right back at the top of Twin2.  At this stage, having climbed up Things five times, I was getting pretty puffed.  We took it nice and slow on the final ascent, but the slope was fully in the sun at this stage so it got quite hot.  Lily started looking peaked, so I picked her up.  Her little body was on fire so when we got to the top I doused her in the last of my water to cool down. (Yes she did have her own water bottle, as well.)

Patiently waiting for the hoomans to hurry up

The final climb to Twin1!

By about two thirds of the way back down to the car, Lily was trailing behind so I picked her up and put her in my backpack.  She then proceeded to not want to get out of the backpack when we got to the car!  

And since then... she has slept, and looked around foggily when people move.  I have had to move my study into the bedroom so she can lie on the bed by my feet, as she doesn’t like me going out of her sight.

Foolish little dog.

In hindsight, I should probably have made her stay with C while we went phone hunting...

Our instructor knocks on the table (or the wall) whenever he mentions something that “may” be in the exam - which I think is in a week or two.  He is a very enthusiastic, invested, and extra keen trainer, coming in early, staying late and sending us long emails of extra information that he forgot to tell us.  He looks like a cross between Dad, Eric B (HH) and George C (ATR), if you know who I am talking about.  He is actually employed by my new company but seconded to Boeing for six months, so we are lucky to have him for our entire rating as we are getting immersed in company procedures from the get go rather than having to learn them after the type rating! 

The downside to M’s investment is that we have less time in our days to do all the other required study on the type - ie the computer based training.  Thankfully we have quite a good schedule so we were able to go in on our day off today to catch up, and although the training is by the “firehose method” we are - for the most part - keeping our heads above water.

I got home early today - it is my day off - so took Lily for a walk and she was ever so excited.

The face of excitement

My sim partner, EPR, is very different from last time.  I find myself automatically putting him in the same box as B, and then reminding myself that he is nothing like him!  Instead, he is also a hard worker, and picks stuff up as quickly as I do so he is good to train with and we are both ahead of the game, according to M.  There is another crew on the same course as us and unfortunately they are struggling so I feel very blessed to have EPR.

We have already completed four of the fixed base sims - basically the full flight sim with the motion turned off.  Apparently this is cheaper.  We have a total of 11FBTs(fixed base trainer) to do, with progress checks at 7 and 11, and then 8FFS(full flight sims)  before our check (number9) and then we have a company check followed by a training day, which takes us all the way to June6.  What fun.

FBT5 is tomorrow, introducing the glories of reversal procedures so I should get back to studying non precision approach calls...

I just thought I would cave in and give y’all a blog to stop you complaining.