Professional Pilot Career Journal

 

January 23, 2001 – Seventh day of Ameriflight C402 training

 

As expected, my checkride is scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday).  18 hours in the 402 and about a million instrument approaches has left me quite exhausted but also very well prepared for the final test.  The checkride will consist of at least four approaches, including circling, missed, precision, non-precision, and single-engine maneuvers.

 

I swear, if I can survive this training, I think I will be able to survive anything I might encounter in my flying here at Ameriflight.  It has been fun, but I’m really looking forward to a normal day of getting in the plane in the morning, taking off, and flying an hour or so before having to approach and land, then flying another hour before my layover for the day.  It sounds like a cushy job compared to the training, although I’m sure it will present new challenges, like weather.

 

The weather for my training has been great.  Almost all VFR conditions and just some gusty winds the last couple of days.  Line flying for me will entail two things I have not yet had to deal with – icing and night flight.

 

After my checkride, I will be starting IOE which means I’ll be flying with another pilot for my first several runs, just to get the hang of things like handling the cargo, knowing where to park at the different airports, and where the crew car and layover are.

 

I don’t yet know what my assigned run will be.  Should find out in a few days.

 

Well, tomorrow is the big day!  Gotta go study.