Airplane Pictures 

Airline Hiring Boom

The Airline Hiring Boom is here. The Pilot Shortage that has been talked about is finally arrived.
The past 25 years it has been talked about that a pilot shortage will come. It has been late in coming for a variety of reasons. The airline mergers in the 80's and 90's produced some consolidation, parking aircraft reducing pilots needed. The financial crash in 2008 also produced some shrinkage, decreasing numbers. With the downward spiral of airline profit, they got some relief with the increasing of the mandatory retirement age 5 years, 60 to 65. This caused hiring to almost come to a standstill.
Finally, the 5 years has past, the airline industry is making record profits, and the Airline Pilot Hiring Boom is happening. The major airlines are hiring pilots in numbers not seen since the 60's. Right now, the limiting factor is the hiring process itself. An airline can only hire so many due to training capacity. There is only so many classrooms, simulators and instructors. The airline are trying to expedite this, but this can only happen so fast.
Meanwhile, pilots are still reaching the magic age of 65. These numbers are in the thousands each year and no end for the next 15 to 18 years.

It is easy to see that this will be a huge number. The eye opening fact is there is not many pilots out there. The number of qualified pilots in the hiring Q is far less than the numbers needed. Even now, airlines are having a difficult time finding younger qualified applicants, mainly because people stopped perusing this as a career. The cost to get fully trained to start accumulating hours and experience versus the salaries you could make or expect didn't justify it as a career. But now, the salaries are back up where even at the lower levels of tenure, the money is very respectable.

The major airlines are hiring like crazy, many from the Regional Airlines. This leaving those regionals very short and starved for pilots. The progression of hiring in the industry is, the more experience you have, the better job you can land. The Majors are hiring Regional Pilots, Regionals are hiring lower time Air taxi/ Charter pilots and Flight Instructors. Except, there are very few pilots in this category. This is why it is such an exciting time for picking an "Airline Pilot" career path.

So, if you ever wanted to be an Airline Pilot, this is your opportunity. The hiring window is open for the foreseeable future, the compensation is back and the industry looks bright. 

   

Standby Instruments

Standby Instruments

Why do we have Standby Instruments? For a backup, of course. The smaller General Aviation aircraft don't have backup instruments. If there is a failure ( instrument or vacuum, ice etc... ) you basically are down to needle, ball and airspeed. And we all know how fun that can be! So, at this level, hopefully experience and judgement are what keeps you out of a bad situation.

When you get into your bigger/transport category aircraft, rules require these to have a backup set of instruments. Some older aircraft would have a few, a separate attitude indicator, and maybe a airspeed/altimeter combo instrument. The modern glass cockpits will have one instrument with all 3 functions in one. These instruments are there in case there is a failure of your main instruments for whatever reason. They have a separate or independent power source, so if there is a problem with the aircraft's power, the pilot will have some Basic reference to fly the airplane. These instruments will keep you Blue side up, show your airspeed and altitude and let you shoot an ILS. 

What does your airplane have as a backup? This is one thing we very rarely practice, even in the Sim. Where is the instrument is getting it's information, how long will the instrument last with loss of all generators? A little bit of knowledge will go a long way on a dark and stormy night.

We have a short video to show you a modern standby instrument.  Notice on the left is the airspeed, and the right is the altimeter, both in tape format. In the upper left corner, the letters ILS appear. It is in Red, meaning there is an ILS frequency but not yet identified. Later it will turn Green once identified as a good frequency.

The localizer is displayed on the bottom in a horizontal format. The Green triangle is to the left, meaning we are to the right of course. The Glide slope is displayed on the right in a vertical format. The Green triangle is at the bottom of the scale indicating we are above the Glide slope.

The center of the instrument is obviously the attitude of the airplane, showing the pitch and bank of the aircraft.

Know what your aircraft has and how it works, it could save your life someday! 

How to Fly a Visual Approach.

How to Fly a Visual Approach.

How to Fly a Visual approach without an electronic glideslope or some sort of VASI is a challenge for some Pilots. It is a procedure that should have been taught early in the learning process, but for what ever reason Pilots have trouble.
Flying an approach visually is really basic and simple. This technique has worked very well for me for 30 yrs and is what I teach my students. It's all about the picture out the window, that simple. You've picked your landing point, so where that point intersects through the windscreen, keep that point at the same spot on the windscreen and you will fly a consistent glidepath all the way down to your landing point. If that spot ( landing point ) starts to raise up, then your getting low. If that spot starts to go below, then your getting high on the glidepath. It's that simple!
If you want to throw some numbers into the equation, times your distance from the end of the runway by 3. ( 5 miles x 3= 1500 feet, 10 miles x 3= 3000 feet. ) This will keep you on a perfect 3 degree glidepath. Now obviously, your ground speed will determine your descent rate. The faster your GS is, the greater your vertical speed down. The spot on the window technique can still be used if your looking at the runway out the side window. Just keep that landing point on the same spot on the window until turning final, transition that spot to the front windscreen and continue to the runway.

I researched this question about How to fly a visual approach and wow, Pilots had some complicated formulas and procedures. Next time you fly an ILS in VFR conditions, take note what the picture out the window is, what's the attitude of the aircraft in relation of the horizon. Then where your landing point is on the windscreen, keep it there and you will always fly a consistent glidepath to any runway, guaranteed!

Collins Proline 21; Terrain Display on the PFD

Terrain Display on the PFD

Here is a great example of the Terrain Display option on the

Collins Proline 21. In this picture, you can see the Terrain is displayed just as you see it out the windshield. The information is displayed very much like weather is displayed, with colors of Green, Yellow and Red. Red being the highest, relative to the airplane. You can tell the Steepness and Height of these mountains. Because there is no Green, a thin line of Yellow and right into Red, we call this a Steep Contour. The Height of the Terrain is displayed in the upper right corner of the lower PFD, hard to see in this picture. This is Ogden, Utah, the Terrain was about 5 to 6 miles from the end of the runway. Great tool for giving the "Big Picture". Imagine not having this and the mountains were obscured by clouds!

Stall Page

Collins Proline 21 - Stall Page

This Stall Page can be displayed on the MFD of the Collins Proline 21. As you can see, it displays some interesting information, AOA, Pressure on the control surfaces etc...

To bring up the page, push the Anti ice, ECS and HYD keys on the FMS control panel at the same time.

Here is a video inflight of the Stall Page

 

Simulator Training

Simulator Training

Just completed my Simulator Training today. Something Pilots should do on a regular basis, we do it every 6 months. The simulator is the environment where many different scenario's and emergencies can be demonstrated.
These devices are full motion and give a totally realistic atmosphere. In fact its so real, sometimes you forget your not in the actual airplane. Simulator's started being used in the mid to late 60's. Before that, much of the training was done in the actual airplane. This was expensive and sometimes dangerous. These first generation sims were basic compared with todays standards, but provided a much better training environment. Today, simulators are more complex than the airplane it represents and sometimes costs more!
Check out these video's, they are inside a Corporate Jet sim and also showing the building they are housed. Hope you enjoy....