I’m exactly halfway through week 1 of systems (lunch on Wednesday) on the DC-10. This is the meat and potatoes of the airplane. My initial reaction when looking at the cockpit was to think that this was going to be pretty difficult. I knew the systems were similar to the MD-11, but I don’t think I realized how similar they are, nor did I expect to actually remember as many of the details as I am. Overall, it’s going well.
Procedures wise, I’m still feeling the learning curve. If the systems stuff is 70% similar and 30% different (with the differences being mostly controls and indicators), the procedures are the other way around. There are some similarities, but a lot of differences. The differences in controls and indicators (mostly different from the MD-11) causes the procedures to be significantly different, and having a 3-pilot crew is also a big change.
I’ve been able to absorb most of the class material fairly well, but I haven’t been studying as much as I thought I should. I did get some good studying done over the weekend, but haven’t really since then (just a little bit). Last night I went out for jazz and tomorrow night I may well do it again (different place). Tonight will be ‘crew’ studying.
The sim schedule has changed several times in the last month or so. The latest version has me going home after ground school (around Feb 11th) and being off until I start sim in Memphis on Feb 29th. The down side is a couple extra weeks delay on F/O pay. The upside is time off and time to study. But, of course, all of that’s subject to change again.
Well, lunch is over… back to work!
V-
I had a date with a guy . . .
last night who *was* a DC-10 pilot and just got on with an MD-11 (his checkride is today as a matter of fact) – I just had to laugh over that! Anyways – I was joking with him about pilots and naps and he told me to tell you that you can forget about napping on the DC-10, though I’m not sure whether or not it was due to company policies or no, but it sounded like the cockpit need more attention due to its’ steam controls. He also said you’ll love flying the -10 coz it’s like a race car compared to the -11. Glad to hear all is going well!!
Re: I had a date with a guy . . .
Must be FedEx… And yeah, I’m gonna be busier in the -10 than the -11 in cruise. Although, we do have some -10’s with nav systems that will make it easier ala the -11. Only half of them, though. The other ones won’t be quite so easy. And re: the race car thingy, the -11 is actually faster, but the -10 handles better (from what I hear). I’m pretty sure, though, that I’ll want to get back to the -11 as soon as I can. But I’ll refrain from saying ‘totally sure’ until I’ve actually flown the thing. One more week of systems, then the oral. I think I’ll be ready. Then I’ll have the 2 1/2 weeks off before sim to get the procedures down. I’m feeling a lot better about it now. There’s been lots of schedule changes, though, so who knows when it’ll all *really* happen…