I’m telling you Brady once you get used to 2 engines spinning going back to one can be unsettling.
Someone once said anytime you take off single engine you’ve already had an emergency! 
Adam
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Checking in mid-phase of training to share an awesome experience.
Going to the training center on the weekends when no one else goes just to review with fellow students or practice on the simulator pays off more than you might think. Today I met with another Multi-Engine Add-On student at the training center to go over the systems of the Piper Seminole and simulator with maneuvers etc. On the way out of the training center we walked downstairs through the FBO to find a B737 hanging out on the ramp awaiting an arrival from a collegiate basketball team. An engineer came through the FBO and saw my friend and I sizing the charter jet up. He told us to wait a few seconds and he would be back to take us out to show us around. The First Officer came down to greet us, joking around having a good time, and invited us in!
We met the flight attendant crew working the flight and the Captain. Not only did I get a picture in the right seat of a B737-400, got a quick tour of the few systems that consist of the larger jets (e.g. APU, FMS computer). I also got to push a few buttons and make some dings! Enjoy this cheesy photo of me smiling because this was the first time I have ever sit up front of a Boeing or any large jet.
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Cool right? I remember my first time sitting in one. Still makes me smile 
Adam
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Adam,
One of the coolest experiences ever, I’ve always wanted to sit in a front seat of an “airliner,” and today I finally made that dream come true. Better yet, I got to press the fun buttons and make dings! That there, sealed the deal for me. And I finally got a size comparison to the turbo-fans, the engineer even told me to sit in the one and snagged a picture, I’ve always been curious to really how big the engines really are. Christmas came early for me.
Brady
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Brady that’s awesome! Just wait till you’re sitting up there lined up on the runway for your first take off! Seriously one of the greatest moments of my life!
Adam
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Love it, Brady!
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Brady,
That is an awesome experience. Thank you so much for posting those pictures and sharing it with us.
I flew both the 737-300, 500, 800, 900 and 900ER, but never the 400. It looks like different than any that I ever flew and an interesting mixture of old and new. I personally am a big fan of the 737 and am looking forward to flying it again someday, hopefully with you as the First Officer
Chris
Chris,
That would be awesome to sit First Officer with you, I’d probably talk your ear off the whole flight minus you know, the phases of flight that need to be under the sterile cockpit rule. 
Getting to sit, see and touch the flight deck was astonishing. Being able to learn a few things about the systems and operations of the bigger jets was even better! Must I say, the button touching did seal the deal, I’ll remember that forever - ha.
Brady
Tory,
I can’t even express how happy I was, I immediately started calling family and friends and sending the pictures of what I experienced. I’ll forever live with this experience!
Brady
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I can relate. I never had the chance to sit up front in a real airliner before I was hired at Horizon, but when I sat in the A320 sim at ATP CTP I was in awe. I couldn’t soak it in enough. It was a surreal experience.
Tory
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Commercial Multi-Engine Add-On – 01/11/2021
Including a real-life potential emergency situation
Aside of my Flight Instructor (CFI) update, this probably has to be one of my next favorite updates. Right after my Instrument Add-On (CFII), I was told to take the weekend (Friday-Sunday) off to relax and destress. As some may get from my previous updates, I love to always keep striving, I knew another student from my location was starting their ME add-on and had their first sim on Friday, I asked if I could join and just observe to get an insight of what was going on. With this, the following days [Saturday & Sunday] I came into the training center and went on the sim for hours – practicing flows, where switches/buttons were located, and maneuver setups. I got to physically sit in the Seminole for the first time and got a vibe of excitement knowing the coming days I would get to experience an awesome opportunity. Let’s break everything down in this thread update and get to the bare bones:
- Sitting in on another student’s simulator session (with permission) gave me an insight of what to expect and allowed me to get an understanding of how things went. I was given the opportunity to relax, but I wanted to keep pushing forward. Saturday & Sunday, I went into the training center and practiced flows, maneuvers, and button/switch pushing. Monday when my first simulator session was, my instructor got right to business and we flowed right through everything. I was able to critique myself and knew the things I needed to work on. I also spent this day drawing diagrams and learning up on the systems to how they work, let me provide a few links and paths to helping you [a student] learn too because I was struggling at first…I didn’t study hydraulic/electrical/engine systems in school, I was a business man and worked numbers daily.
-
Piper PA-44 Training on the App Store (apple.com) - this is a fully interactive application downloadable on your iPad that you can manipulate and learn specifics of the plane.
-
PrettyFlyForACFI - YouTube - this individual has very simple videos which explain the systems of the plane (e.g., propeller, gear).
- The flying portion of the plane felt super comfortable and I think what made it extremely fun was my instructor always having a positive vibe no matter what the game-plan was. The first day he introduced me to the Piper Seminole, he told me her name was Eleanor. From there we referred to her as Eleanor (I was content with this). Compared to the Piper Archer, it is HEAVY, the control surfaces are a different feel and I felt each time I flew maneuvers, like slow flight, I was in the gym lifting weights
. Unfortunately we had to say bye to Eleanor and pickup ‘Gertrude’ from another location during Christmas break. From one plane to the next, they had very slight differences in feel when you moved a control surface.
As some know from my above posts, my checkrides have gone through the ground to the sky depending if I dug myself some holes. This was about to be the fifth time I’ve met this DPE face-to-face and I know we were in for a good checkride! After a confusing schedule over break (Christmas), delays were made, checkride dates kept getting changed, it finally was happening. Let’s break this checkride down into two sections, the oral and flight portion.
1)The oral portion went well…from previous posts you can probably predict this one. The oral started out super, then the DPE caught on to how I adapted from previous orals and started asking more complex questions then I tried for. Have no fear, I pulled out my rote memory and was able to correlate all of these. My DPE is heavy on POH/AFM and the maintenance binder, as well as systems of the plane. This was one of my quicker orals, roughly two hours.
2)From the preflight inspection to the conclusion of the flight, flying the plane went smooth as I anticipated, everything from start-up to shutdown went according to plan…minus one scenario (below). All my maneuvers were done with smoothness and proper tolerances. During our approach into the airport, we landed and stopped short to clear and requested to taxi back to the active for one more takeoff and landing…my DPE told me, to the ramp please. At this point, my thoughts where I busted and receiving a discontinuance, so I continue doing what I had to for us to get there safely, shut the plane down and while debriefing…“Oh wait we didn’t do short fields!” So, I started the plane back up and taxied over to the active where we did one lap in the pattern and ended our flight portion.
- During the flight as we were about to complete all the maneuvers, my DPE was messing with the heater and I recognized a circuit breaker had popped. I confirmed with him that it read “Hydraulic Pump.” I was already nervous going into the flight portion from the oral, seeing this made me more nervous in a checkride atmosphere, but I had to act accordingly and take the proper action. I informed him what I wanted to do;
- not popping the breaker in until we are established on an approach,
- if the gear does not indicate down and we have no sign, we’ll pull the emergency gear under 100 kts.,
- if no indication yet, request to terminate the approach for the issue and troubleshoot in a safe corridor, and
- discussed a “belly up landing” and how we would execute and discontinue the flight.
- After this discussion (he was happy for this brief - I think it helped my passing) and flying around in our little block that we used for maneuvers, we contacted approach and requested an RNAV approach for the airport (TTN) of use. Once established on the approach and a mile from our FAF, I verified “circuit breaker, in” and then “Gear Down Before Landing Checklist.” Thankfully we had indications (3 green) and the mirrors on the engine cowlings showed our nose wheel was extended. We continued in to land.
Let’s take a quick summarize of this phase of training. I started by on my off days going to the training center and practicing, even when no one was there. I stayed up late studying flows, taking walks and talking to friends/family about the Seminole, and jumped on Zoom a few times with others in my phase to go over the Seminole and its extremities. I spent days just going and touching the Seminole when I wasn’t flying so I could see where things were located throughout the plane. From the potential emergency situation to realizing the realistic value it brought to the checkride, I believe I made the proper call of how to conduct what had just happened…did this help in my favor for this checkride (I may never know).
Up next is the Multi-Engine Instructor add-on and then I will officially be done with my program at ATP. I do not have ATP-CTP on my schedule yet, but will be looking to schedule that shortly after finishing the program.
Brady
P.S. a sigh of relief came out when I saw 3 green and we touched down 
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Nice job as always Brady.
Not sure if we can count a popped CB as a “potential emergency situation” BUT to be fair I suppose for where you are in your career I’d probably feel the same so we’ll give it to you (I’m just crusty and jaded ).
Thank you as always for the detailed well written description and insights. It’s always appreciated.
Uno Mas! Woohoo!
Adam
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Adam,
Must I say, the DPE got nervous over this, so I got even more nervous when he wanted a Mx report to be written up at the end of the flight. My biggest concern was not having any hydraulic pumps and not fully relying on the emergency relief switch…lol.
Brady
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Brady relax! I said we’ll give it to you! But trust me, you will look back on this and laugh
Adam
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Brady,
Congratulations on passing this check ride! Just one more to go. Thank you for the detailed update.
Chris
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Hi, congrats. Curious to ask, since you’re almost done, what are your plans after finishing atp in the current market?
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Hey Moe,
After my MEI, I am planning to spending some time back home, flying around with a few friends that are looking to get their IFR and CPL ratings. So during my time off from finding a job with a flight school, I’ll utilize my time wisely in practicing the skills I’ve learned to help others enhance theirs. I’d like to instruct for ATP as I am familiar, like yourself, with their policies and standardization; also I love the airplanes in general.
I believe I fall under the “Guarantee Job” contract…I’m still awaiting to hear if I fall under that contractual agreement. I’ve spoken to many already and determined, if I have to instruct somewhere for a few months and then ‘bid’ for an open spot back northeast, I would proudly. My main goal is to stay active even during my “time off” until finding a gig.
Brady
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Tory please tell me you don’t have (nor have ever had) the Top Gun theme music as your ring tone?
Adam
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Please. I’m not that basic.
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