Monday - ATOP

[cjsmith]

Monday morning we met at 8:30 in the sim building for the "flight procedures briefing". After some confusion over which classroom we were assigned (room 2200 turned out to be the stairwell) we gathered in an unused 757 classroom and were given the particulars of our flight. San Francisco, runway 28R, take off, right turn, left 270 for a "downwind", vectors for the ILS approach, land, touch and go (!!!), climb out, get teleported via the magic of a simulator back to the approach again, land and stop.

The first officer has what our instructor called the hard job: handling all communications, task-oriented jobs like setting the autothrottles or the heading bugs, handling any emergency or warning situation, and calling out crucial speeds or conditions to the captain. The captain hangs onto the yoke and rudder, looks out the window, and tells the first officer to yes go ahead and do whatever stuff it is that the first officer is suggesting needs to be done. I found the first officer job fascinating, fun, and just challenging enough. I found captain to be annoying. Seems odd to me that one career path takes you through both. Like learning how to be a machinist, and when you're a good enough machinist, they make you plant manager or something. Er, what?

Around noon we had 45 minutes to eat and to sit in the procedures trainer (or a wooden mockup) to practice the takeoff and climbout sequence, the landing sequence, and the rapid "clean up" during a few seconds on the runway for a touch and go. There's quite a bit to do! Naturally we didn't waste a lot of time eating lunch. Our group of four was going to be first in "the box".

The full-motion simulator is mind-bogglingly amazing. In front is a cockpit, with some kind of computer generated window views. This is sufficiently like the real airplane that pilots take their checkrides in it. (In fact, I heard that it is no longer possible to take a check flight in a full 737. You have to use the full-motion sim. Licensed and newly type-rated pilots have never been in the aircraft. The sim is that good.) Needless to say, it's a bit nervous-making. In the back is a computer setup for the instructor/examiner, some tables, and three jumpseats. If you're ever in one of these, don't make the mistake I did: don't put anything on the tables. It will just fly to the back of the "cabin" with a resounding thud during takeoff. Pain in the butt.

He gave the first crew some turbulence and stuff. Then I was first officer, Rob captain. We had an APU fire on takeoff! It was before V1, so we correctly aborted the takeoff and discharged a fire bottle into the tail. I was proud of that one; as FO, I got a GOOD emergency :-). On the second try we lost oil pressure in the number one constant speed drive, which meant we had to disconnect generator 1, ignore everything that lights up when you lose your number one AC power bus, start the APU (why it wasn't running this time I will never know), and cut over the number one AC bus to the APU. Another pretty good exercise.

The other crew was back, having exchanged FO and Captain. He gave that FO the center fuel tank running dry. Cool. Then (ugh) I got to be Captain. I asked if I could go home now. Rob reminded me we were at SFO. I wanted to taxi to the gate and get off. :-) They made me fly anyway. Meanies.

That thing is scary. I felt just like I always do receiving dual in some aircraft. I was flying, and someone was there to keep me from hitting any hills (or terminal buildings). Well, I could've done with some more instrument work, and I never did get the hang of the elevator trim, but things worked out okay. I landed left of centerline both times. But I didn't bounce, I didn't crash, I didn't run off the runway, and I didn't hit anything. Rob got some kind of urgent situation as FO -- ductwork overheating in one wing, which IS serious, because that air is between four and five hundred degrees and it's awfully close to the fuel -- but it was amazing how little I cared. The lights and bells were his problem. I was busy flying; that was my job. Pretty cool.

We got to log it. (snicker.) I have Boeing 737 time in my logbook. Woo!

Pictures were taken with each person's camera, and we had our last shot at the CBT lab before doing the high dive. I brushed up on pressurization again. This aircraft has more systems...

Oops, sim not available for the high dive. Somebody started an upgrade to some portion of its computers, and that was expected to take four hours, and he was gone and no one had his passcode. Pilots doing training apparently put up with this stuff all the time. Time on the simulators, even the cockpit procedure trainers, is more expensive than people's time, so people get shuffled and they wait around and if the sim's available at one in the morning that's when they fly it. Well, hmm, looks like it's time for dinner.

Reconvened at 8:30. Time for the rapid decompression exercise. Again, the FO does all the task work and all the checklist items; the captain hangs onto the steering wheel. This went very smoothly. Cruising along at 29,000 feet, BOOM!, oxygen mask on, rapid decompression checklist including informing the cabin crew and trying to repressurize the aircraft, that fails (of course - it always fails on the test), emergency descent checklist including informing ATC of the situation, then a plunge to ten thousand feet at a descent rate of over 6000 feet per minute, flirting with the maximum allowed speed all the way down. When you get close to that speed, you hear "the clacker": clacklacklacklacklacklack... then you back off a little, it shuts up, you push a little, clacklacklack... Man, that airplane can descend. The altimeter unwinds like a spool of thread that a kitten got hold of. Wheeeeeeeee!

We did this once for every person getting the high-altitude signoff (six of us). That was it, we were done. Handshakes all round, each student got a nice matted etching of a Boeing 737 in Continental livery, and it was time to cra.. I mean go to sleep. Rob and I did manage to find a functional Waffle House at this point, for our first substantial meal in two days. Oddly enough neither of us had noticed being tired or hungry. :-)