Calling all PSA'ers

[Vavso]

Thanks guys

I appreciate the responses and want to thank all for their advice.

 

[Aviation Geek]

A-men brother. I do not see how people manage to screw this up.

Here are a few pointers for you.

1. Do not show up with your CFI I need to know everything to the smallest detail attitude. They will tell you what you need to know, nothing more/ nothing less.
2. Be on time every morning (Ever notice the guys who show up 5 min late every day are the ones struggling)
3. Do not be the guy trying to write down everything the instructor is saying. You will be writing down something he said 5 min ago and will miss on what he is saying now. I took maybe 3 pages of notes my entire PSA 4 weeks of ground. Mainly it was phone numbers of important people (like HR, payroll, and SSO).
4. Do not stay up till 2 AM talking to your girlfriend, watching porn, or trying to cram the next day’s activities into your brain. You will fall asleep in class the next day... you will not learn the material... and if it happens repetitively, you will be asked to leave.
5. If your sim partner starts displaying any of these characteristics, slap them over the head and tell them to pull their arse out of the sand. If that does not work, let your instructor know early. When you fail your sim ride, and when RF (for the new psa guy you will learn who this is within a day or two) puts his boot up your rear, he will not want to hear "I failed because my sim partner sucked".
6. Take responsibility for yourself. If you suck at flying certain things, then get it fixed before showing up at class. They are not going to teach you basic stuff in the sim/ classroom. They expect you know this already. Man/ Woman up and say I suck at ..... go to your flight instructor bud and ask for a few hours help. There is no room for an ego trip in this business.
7. Have fun the first and second weekend. Do not hang from the rafters in the Dayton resort and Spa (they have terminated people for their activities over the weekend in the hotel and they do have cameras in the hallways there), but go out and have fun. The Third weekend you will be studying your rear off so get your partying out of the way the first two weekends. If you insist on going home do it the second weekend only. That is about the slowest time in the training.
8. Work with/ study with your sim partner and the class as a whole. Go to dinner and quiz each other, ask questions to each other, learn what makes them tick. Watch the baseball game together and quiz each other during the commercials.
9. Do not buy a stupid study guide for 30.00 off the internet. At PSA since we have both the 50 and 70 seat versions, we have simplified some limitations to the more restrictive of the two and use the same limitation for both (gear speeds for example). Remember your CFI days and the rule of primacy (the way you learn it first is the easiest to remember). You could screw yourself with learning it wrong and you will be out 30.00. That 30 dollars is beer money for the weekend (see comment 7). They will give you 100% of the study materials on day 1, so if you want to get ahead and start learning systems, you will have the materials to do it however reference statement 4 above and do not stay up till 2 AM learning about the APU on day 1.
10. If at all possible, have your car there. If it is a few hours difference from driving vs. flying, drive!!! To be able to take your books to a park to study rather than the crap-hole in is great. Plus then you can eat/ drink at more places than Wilburs.

If anybody else can think of others chime in.
This applies to most other places as well with some minor differences.
In simple terms, show up, listen, and don't do anything stupid and you should be all set.

One of the best "guides to ground school" I have ever read.

The only thing I would add is find a way to limit your outside distractions. Barring extreme emergencies, you cannot fix it from the training center or hotel. Tell your family and friends to leave you alone for a few weeks so you can get through this. You can catch up on the weekends. My experience as a trainer and a student has been those who are on their cell during every break, trying to fix the "drama" back home, etc end up not doing so well.

 

[paddlehigh]

Wow wanabe f/o slash "junior man" I wish you could give me some advise that was really good

 

[skycaptain11]

Good Stuff

Wana be f/o really good advice much appreciated!Another new hire looking for advice on what the sim ride and oral consist of. After instructing for less than a year i'm leary but excited about making the jump from a 172 into the CRJ.

 

[gcsass]

I would also suggest that if you have access to the memory items and limitations you get those tucked under your belt. Get them memorized verbatim prior to arriving and then keep 'em fresh by quick daily review. This will free you up to learn the indoc and systems stuff for the oral, then to learn the profiles for the sim. Just a suggestion....good luck!

 

[wanabe_fo]

Wow wanabe f/o slash "junior man" I wish you could give me some advise that was really good

I assume this is GP. You are the only one to call me "junior man". I gave you advice once before. Drink more beer and less of the hard stuff. There that is your advice for the day.

 

[wanabe_fo]

Wana be f/o really good advice much appreciated!Another new hire looking for advice on what the sim ride and oral consist of. After instructing for less than a year i'm leary but excited about making the jump from a 172 into the CRJ.

Your instructors will provide you with all the details of both. It is their job to make sure you are preparred.
Just like when you were a CFI and sent a student up for his PPL ride, they are doing the same,it is just a little more expensive.

 

[norskman2]

CRJ add-on to MSFT FS

I bought two things that helped me tremendously and I felt like I had a head start when I showed up for ground school.
The first was a CRJ add-on to flight simulator. I bought it at PCaviator.com. It helped me to learn the FMS and autopilot functions.

PCAviator.com is out of the CRJ add-ons. They had two copies stashed in back with broken covers. Who cares, as long as the disk is good! I'm having one of the last two copies shipped to me. So if anyone needs a copy, I'm sure I can find a way to get you one *wink wink*

Hypo, thanks for the tip, man!