G-IV Type Rating, Day 10
Today marked our last full day of ground school… and what a relief it was to reach that milestone! The morning was spent reviewing a few specific systems in detail. After lunch the instructor took turns calling each of us up to the front to teach one of the aircraft’s systems to the rest of the class. I’ve always said you don’t really know a subject until you have to teach it to someone else, and boy was I right. After each system was explained, the student/teacher would ask the rest of us various questions. Or we would ask him. I taught the ice & rain protection systems to the class and embarrassingly forgot what the SAT/TAS probe inlet looked like. Once that was done, we watched a 20 minute video on ILS-PRM (a system for...
Read MoreG-IV Type Rating, Day 9
A friend sent me an amazing story about a Japan Airlines DC-8 which inadvertently landed in San Francisco Bay in 1968. They were on final approach to SFO and the captain somehow descended into the water while navigating toward the runway in foggy conditions. Since the bay was only about nine feet deep in that spot, the jet came to rest in one piece with minimal damage. The occupants were even able to exit the plane without getting wet. Sound familiar? What’s truly incredible is that even after being partially submerged in salt water, the aircraft was hauled out of the bay, repaired, and went on to fly again. In fact, it continued flying until almost 2002. The captain answered a question about what happened by replying, “As you Americans say, I...
Read MoreG-IV Type Rating, Day 8
I’ve mentioned the substantial number of items on the G-IV checklist in use at Simuflite. Just a few short days ago, it took about 90 minutes to run through the Cockpit Preflight, APU Start, Before Start, and Starting Engines checklists. Not surprising at all since I’m new to the plane. It’s a complicated beast, and half the battle is just figuring out where everything’s located. And doing it in a pitch-black cockpit with a handheld flashlight, because they have you enter the simulator the same way you would in the real world: with it cold and dark. Even so, those lists contain a total of 153 items and it’s just a lot to wade through. Today we managed to do it all in 15 minutes flat. That might sound like a major victory — and...
Read MoreG-IV Type Rating, Day 7
It’s day seven and we’re back at it! I’m starting to see how SimuFlite has designed this course. The first week was all about learning the aircraft’s systems. This week will focus on two things: “Abnormals” – pilot lingo for dealing with things on the airplane fail or don’t work the way they are supposed to, and Simulator Prep – primarily working through flows, checklists, etc. in a mockup of the cockpit, as well as more advanced programming of the avionics (especially the FMS) We spent the the first hour this morning answering electrical and hydraulic system questions from our instructor. I’m still unclear about exactly what level of systems knowledge will be required for the checkride. Is the examiner...
Read MoreG-IV Type Rating, Day 6
A day off! Or not. I thought it would be a bit more relaxing, but alas, modern life has its demands. Answering email, returning phone calls, a bit of studying, laundry, writing something for the site here, and poof! before you know it, the day is over. I remember when I was a kid, a week seemed like an eternity. Now it’s like every time I blink another month has gone by. I’m practically suffering from jet lag without even leaving the time zone! I did take an hour or so today to check out the observation are on the northern end of Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. It’s not far from my hotel, and the view there is excellent considering this part of Texas is as flat as a pancake. DFW is a truly massive airport. I believe it’s the second...
Read MoreG-IV Type Rating, Day 5
It’s hard to believe we’re only on day five of this twenty-one day program. I’m wiped out. Not just mentally tired, but physically worn out, which is weird because I haven’t been doing anything but sitting in a chair. Come to think of it, it’s a lot like flying one of these jets: long hours sitting in a seat trying to stay focused. Eventually your body can’t maintain that anymore and your performance suffers. You forget little things, your reaction time suffers, mistakes are made. Studies have shown that the effect is no different than trying to fly after having an alcoholic beverage or two. That’s why the FAA has “duty limits” for most professional pilots. The good news is that we have a day off tomorrow....
Read MoreG-IV Type Rating, Day 4
Regardless of how much the subject agrees with you, sitting in a classroom day after day for up to eight hours tends to get old. I don’t think the human body was meant to sit more or less motionless under artificial light in a windowless room for that long. We have 10 minute breaks every two to three hours, but even so, by the end of the day our capacity for useful work has fully evaporated… much like the 24 volt, 40 amp-hour ni-cad main batteries in the G-IV after they’ve been powering the Essential AC and Essential DC buses for 20 minutes. Today was a welcome break from the full-day classroom schedule, as we were able to get into not only the avionics trainer room, but also the Level D simulator for a few hours. It was somewhat crowded with...
Read MoreG-IV Type Rating, Day 3
We had a new instructor today. Nothing wrong with the old one, mind you, but there was a scheduling conflict. I’m sure it’s tough juggling classrooms, simulators, instructors, students, courses, and making sure all the holes are filled. I don’t know how they keep it all straight, especially when you consider the simulator sessions (which often operate around the clock) and how many of the instructors are also Designated Examiners who administer the dreaded checkride. Anyway, the “new guy” is quite a character. John flew forward air controller missions in Vietnam and has all sorts of stories to tell. Just to show the breadth of his knowledge, when he heard that the L-3 guys in the class had a Gulfstream 350, he asked why they were in...
Read MoreG-IV Type Rating, Day 2
They say life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. That’s what I was thinking this morning when I checked my email and noticed a message from Apple’s iTunes service which thanked me for making several in-app purchases of a Sega game. Awfully nice of Apple. The only problem is that I don’t have that app and I never bought any of that stuff. So I logged into my iTunes account only to discover that my account balance had been drained, the telephone number on my account changed to something unrecognizable, and the credit card number I had on file with iTunes removed. Clearly, Day Two was not starting out well. I spent breakfast alternating between eating and talking to the credit card company about cancelling that card. I also...
Read MoreG-IV Type Rating, Day 1
I’ve been an instructor for about six and a half years now. As enjoyable and rewarding as it is to teach, I’ve sometimes missed being on the other side of the table. Learning something new, taking on a fresh challenge, delving into an as-yet unexplored side of the aviation world is a good thing; it not only expands my own horizons, but it helps me better stay in touch with what my own students face as they pursue various ratings, certificates, and checkouts. So it is with a great deal of excitement that I find myself in Dallas, Texas for a type rating on the Gulfstream IV. A “type rating” is a specialized and intensive course designed around a very specific type of airplane. Generally, aircraft which weigh more than 12,500 lbs and/or are...
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