bad WX, minimal equpment, little experience

[rumpletumbler]

When/If I get enough time to qualify for a freight job I think I would like to go to work flying freight for a few years anyhow to gain the experience. I would teach until that point. As most of that teaching will likely encompass day VFR as I think about it I already feel grossly underqualified to be able to do the job. Eventually I want to be able to get my CFII but I would guess that most of that flying would likely be done VFR as well and even if not you probably wouldn't carry a student into the kind of situations you are going to get in flying freight. How does one prepare for what I see as probably one of the most difficult flying jobs if not the most difficult out there?

 

[pilotyip]

Find the right place

You can safely operate in the conditions you described. True you may have minimum equip, but is it well maintained? True you will fly in bad weather and perform NPA's to circle to uncontrolled fields, but this can be safely done it you are properly trained. If you have limited experience, the company will not let operate as PIC until you are properly trained. If the company operates inside the Regs, you have adequate safety margins to perform the job. Without the above, it can be a very challenging environment.

 

[JetBlast2000]

Do some sim prep prior to getting in the a/c for the first time. Get in and go. I'm flying the E-110 single pilot no autopilot. It's not a big problem getting into IMC and controlling the a/c. The hard part comes when your shooting an approach to mins with a full load of freight and you’re in moderate or greater turbulence with the winds whipping. Flying the plane is not so much the issue as being able to focus on the instruments at 300ft agl and staying stabilized.
You learn real quickly!
Hopefully you'll have a few hours in the a/c before you run into similar situations.
Have fun
JB2k

 

[mar]

I don't know where you fly, but...

...with the exception of the desert southwest, you should be able to find enough "actual" to cut your teeth before you actually fly freight.

I don't want to say you're putting the cart before the horse but don't worry about it. If you're already so conscious of this fact then you'll probably just hunt down every experience you can find.

And that's what I did.

When I was a primary instructor in southern Calif there were often mornings of low stratus but CAVU above.

If I had a private student that morning who could control the plane I'd use that morning to introduce him to instrument flying.

At first, some think this is ripping off the student but if you take a student who's ready for it and it's just a matter of popping up thru a shallow overcast then it could really be an excellent experience. I never had a student complain about the time being wasted. He got about 15 minutes on the gauges (big eye opener!) and then we could do airwork, vor/adf nav/orientation on top. He could participate in an ILS to break out at 800 or 900 feet. It's great emergency training. But granted I wouldn't do this with a pre-solo student, only a more advanced primary student and I'd give him a briefing that's appropriate to his skill level making sure that he's not just along for the ride.

Then when I got my CFII there were lots of IFR flights as long as there were no thunderstorms forecasted (or ice). Sometimes a renter would come in and want to fly in actual IFR but didn't have the confidence to go alone.

Failing that, on really crappy days when there was no flying and I was just sitting around doing the crossword I would go blow my paycheck and take a turbo Arrow to Santa Barbara.

Something, anything, just to stay current.

And I'm glad I did, cause when I moved to Alaska I needed that scan. Believe me. Like PilotYip said, 'Good plane, good training, no problem.'

You'll be able to handle it but take every opportunity you can to fly in the real stuff. There's no substitute--as you know.

 

[jaybird]

If you go to a place like AirNet they won't send you out unless your ready. Training is difficult and it's rare to see people slip through the cracks.

In my experience it was good weather 90% of the time. Hopefully your first few days will be in that 90th percentile.

 

[wings421]

Like Jaybird said, most of the nights are completely VFR and it makes it a really a easy job(and fun!). But you will learn a lot on those bad days. I'm very glad that I decided to go the way of freight.

 

[Kaman]

Hello,
Lots of good advice here from the posts here. As you are well aware there is no substitute for experience, and the best way to get IFR time is to try and do as much instrument instruction as possible IMC. Granted some days and some students aren't suited to the weather when it is low or weather phenomena are problematic even for topflight equipment and multiple piloted airplanes.
I had a very brief exposure to freight (3 months), but just like I did when I first began as a flight instructor I realized what I didn't know. However, at this point the stakes are higher, but I (and you will too) learned quickly, sought advice from more experienced pilots and within a month was pretty comfortable. Granted, if you are 100% comfortable thats not always a good thing! Flying cargo is a day-in-day-out 95% of the time routine type of thing flying familiar airplanes to familiar airports and trying to keep on schedule. It's the other 5% that gives you the grey hairs and I scared myself a couple of times. Fortunatley, most of the time pilots are very adept at learning from either ther own mistakes or those less-fortunate.
Keep instructing, keep learning all you can from the "old heads" out there and you'll do fine. It's probably the most fun you'll have in your career. It was for me, and it was my vehicle to get into a 121 operation. Good luck!

Regards,

ex-Navy Rotorhead and Race City "van driver" (Not the Cessna variety)

 

[Xfr8dog]

1. Get your CFII. Flying VFR doesn't matter a whit. You're TEACHING Instrument flying. And of course as everyone knows, when you teach, you're actually learning the most. As for jumping into actual with a student, I dont really see the value outweighing the risk... at first. Obviously you would pick a nice stratus overcast to get YOUR experience... and thats fine as long as the student is under the hood 95% of the time.... let him/her see what breaking through looks like for the first time... remember whos paying for the plane. Make sure its valuable to him/her first and foremost.

2. Get a job in the right seat. There are a ton out there. Log valuable multi, turbine, jet whatever... while sitting back and learning again. Let someone else bump you around in turbulence you've never felt before and dodge icing, WS, TS etc... bring your sharpened instrument Profile flying skills to the right seat and wait for an upgrade...

Freight flying can be fun and rewarding and there are safe ways to go about it.... Again, get your CFII and do some research on the freight companies out there... g'luck and feel free to PM me. I'm bored in hotels alot!