Lear 35

[flyboy62]

Falcon Driver,
I wanted to touch base with my favorite forum and let you guys know that Corporate Aviation is alive and well. I am fortunate to be working at an FBO here in town and had met the owner of a company that has a Lear 24 and 35. Recently he put the 35 out with EBiz (?) for 135 work. I happen to park them one night when they came in and asked him what a 1000 CFI could do to build turbine time. He offered me a job flying SIC in the 35. Talk about being blessed. One minute I am just a CFI, now I am somebody!! Of course, I am kidding (about being somebody that is!) but found myself 2 days later taking a flight test in his 24. Things went as well as could be expected, seeing as I have never even been in a small jet. But, as of last Thursday, I was informed by the Cheif Pilot that I would be going to Simuflite for SIC school next month.
My question is, what can I expect for starting pay? What is life like as a 135 pilot? Man, I could go on and on. I have several questions, but feel that they will be answered in time.
I know that the other FO and I will be slipping seats every 5-6 days, according to the CP. So I eagerly await the job offer that is to be mine oin a few weeks!!

Ron

PS Any GOOD advice will be appreciated!!

 

[FL000]

Read Timebuilder's thread entitled, "I'm a new hire."

Congratulations.

 

[flyboy62]

FLooo,
Thanks. I guess my real question is: how is the Simuflite SIC Lear 35 course? Has anyone been through that thing? After reading the thread you sent me to, and I appreciated that, I knew that there was going to be some material to learn and wanted to prepare myself. I do have access to a Flight Safety Lear 35 pilot manual and have been scanning that thing, but any additional heads up on Simuflite will help.

Ron

 

[FL000]

Ron,

Though I had Simuflite materials, I did not go there. Sorry I can't help you on that front. As far as 135 life goes, expect to be on call 24/7 unless the operation is adequately staffed. Don't worry, you'll love every minute of it. Are you single? That would help.

see ya' at 410...er...actually, you'll be there, but I won't. Make sure to wave when you go by.

 

[Bill Mostellar]

SimuFlite

I guess my real question is: how is the Simuflite SIC Lear 35 course?

Some background - I was fortunate enough to fly Lears in the Air Force and ended up teaching at the C-21(Lr 35) School House. We used SimuFlite for our simulator training and taught in them as well for Instructor upgrades. I also had the opportunity to instruct for SimuFlite waiting for a class with Delta in 98 and 99.

The ground school will be very straight forward with ample time to ask questions, etc. - Present, Review, Questions. The instructors are commited to doing everything possible to get you through the program as easily as possible.

The simulators will be about four hours with an hour brief and debrief (some video for CRM, etc). You'll fly with another client in the seat (left/right) while the instructor sits on the jumpseat running the profile and and simulator (when you see the screen flicker, he's just entered something into the system - Lookout!).

Since I didn't look at your background before hitting reply, I missed what course you're expecting. You can look it up on SimuFlite's website. I took a stab and got this course:
SimuFlite Lear 35 Initial New Hire Course - A .

Again, I'm shootin' at shadows and don't know if I've answered your question(s). Let me know if you have any more specific questions via Private Message or email (I don't read the board as frequently as I used to). I'll gladly answer all of them.

I wish you success!
Bill

 

[justApilot]

Congrats....Since you have a FSI manual. I would suggest memorizing the Limitations section and ...I can't remember what we called them when I flew bizjets....all that comes to mind is the Red and Black boxed items in the Emergency and Abnormal sections. With this stuff memorized, which will take a while to get it all down cold, you will be way ahead of the game. Also if you can get your hands on a checklist it would be a good idea to sit in the cockpit and go through it a few times and familiarize yourself with it and the cockpit. Have fun

 

[flyboy62]

Gentlemen,
Thanks a bundle for all the info. I am eagerly anticipating the job. I am just amazed every time that I think of me, little ole me, going from C-172 to Lear 35. Again, I appreciate the heads up, as I want to be as prepared as I can. I will inform you fellas as soon as I find some new info.

Ron

 

[PRentz15]

Congratulations! I went through a similar situation 4 years ago when I went from a single engine CFI to a Lear 35 and 55. I trained at Simuflite in the Lear 55 sim, and took a short differences course for the Lear 35.
Simuflite is challenging, but your motivation should more than make up for your low jet time. I would start preparing by studying the limitations for the Lear 35 (and 24 if you will be flying it). Make a set of flash cards, and try to know most of them before you start class. Don't worry so much about learning the systems right now, the instructors will go over those pretty thoroughly in class. You will also need to memorize the immediate action items in the emergency procedures. So you might want to start learning those as well.

In the meantime, I would also try to tag along with one of the other Lear pilots while they do their preflight. Or you might set up some time with the Chief Pilot to go over the preflight with you. The cockpit checks can seem overwhelming in your first sim session, so it helps a lot if you already know what to expect!


There are many variations in the Lear 24's and 35's, so before you head to Simuflite, you should find out what serial numbers your Lears have, as well as type of autopilot, type of thrust reversers, seating configurations, and any other modifications they might have. If your company has their own weight and balance forms, grab a few blank ones, they might let you use those in class.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[flyboy62]

PRentz15,
Thaks so much for the heads up. I am fortunate to have access to a Flight Safety Lear 30 series pilot manual and I have been working on the Limitations section thanks to some sound advice from an earlier thread.
The operation has only one Lear 35, and it is gone all of the time. I had planned on talking to the Chief Pilot this next week and I will mention my desire to lay hold of any paperwork on the jet. I just don't want to make a nuisance of myself, y'know?
Again, thanks for the reply and good advice.

Cheers,
Ron

 

[Timebuilder]

Hey, I just found your thread! Welcome to the club. You're going to love it.

Get a systems CD (maybe your boss can burn you a copy) so you can see the various ways the electrical system, particularly the essential bus, is configured for the various serial numbers. Also, kits are sometimes installed to make an older model more like a later model.

Go over the V-speeds and the cockpit flows. Make a copy of the checklist that's in the plane you will fly. Most likely, there will be five items to be dealt with as you are cleared for takeoff:

1) Ignitors (labled air ignition) ON
2) Stall warnings ON (unless it's a windy day, in that case wait until the airspeed is alive)
3) Transponder ON
4) Cabin air (pressurization) ON
5) Strobe and recognition light ON

Your calls are:
Power set
airspeed alive
V1
rotate
pos rate

That should get you started. We do our own training in-house.

Oh, another tip: steep turns at 250 knots- get on that AI and keep 4 degrees nose up. The Lear is TRIM INTENSIVE. Use it.

And have a really great time......

 

[LJDRVR]

LR JET TRAINING

Hey congratulations!

ALL of the advice you've been given is excellent. I've been to Simuflite Initial SIC LR35, and back for recurrent quite a few times as Captain. The instructors at SF are fantastic. They are all experienced in the airplane, and will teach you from a background of "been-there, done-that", instead of: "look what I learned in a book." Some of the better instructors you'll find there are:

George (both of em')
Amy
Randy
Jeff
Mike
Ham

(Out of respect for Mark's liability, first names only.)

Going from a VFR teaching environment to the jet can be a lot of work, but these guy's have seen you fly, you wouldn't be offered the job if they didn't see some raw talent, nice work dude. At SF, you'll cover all of the sytems, fly the sim, then revisit the systems for oral prep. They cover a lot of ground quickly. TAKE NOTES AND ASK QUESTIONS! Don't forget that you are the customer. In order to keep the stress level manageable, I'll make the following suggestions. They are all listed in previous posts above, but they really did save my behind. The "secret" to doing well in school is this: Show up with the rote memorization complete. this will allow you more brain cells and minutes at the end of the day to study the systems and simulator profiles. Thats it! Show up with the following commited to memory:

-Limitations (all of em')

-Red Text Emergency Procedures (PM me if you need
clarification on which one's these are)

-Annunciators (be able to respond with the rote meaning for
each one; if the instructor says: Bleed Air Left, you say: "illuminates to indicate an overheat condition in the corresponding pylon area and/or bleed air ducting."

To help yourself learn these, purchase some flash cards or a handheld tape recorder. I've used the tape recorder method now for years, works great for me.

If you can show up for day one with those three areas commited to memory, you'll have a lot more fun with the course, and lower your blood pressure considerably. You don't have to understand them, just be able to re-gurgitate them verbatim.

Once at Simuflite, enjoy the experience as much as you can. The instructors are true professionals. If you're willing to do the homework and put forth the effort, they will really go out of their way to help you learn the airplane.

By the way, the 35 sim really does fly just like the airplane. Definitely one of the better pieces of hardware/software out there.

Best of luck buddy, PM me if I can be of any assistance.

PS- Nice to see Bill M. back on the board! Hope things are going well for you over at DAL. I take it you're not on the panel anymore.....

 

[flyboy62]

HIRED!!!

Fellas,

Thanks so very much for all of the kind words and wisdom. I received "the call" from the owner of the company himself this past Friday informing me that he wants me at Simuflite for Lear school in 2 weeks. WWWOOOOOHHHOOOOO!!!!!! Sorry, but I am thrilled!! I am going to adhere to all of the advice given, and bust my tail to get through the Lear 35 SIC school. Is there a check ride, or what? I take it that you CAN fail this course, although that is far from my plan. I have begun memorizing the "Limitations" section and the "Annunciator" section in the manual that I have access to. I only hope that Flight Safety and Simuflite are closely related. But, given we are talking about the same a/c, I anticipate no problems.
Thanks again fellas, and God bless.

Ron

 

[LR25]

I have been to the LR-25 Simu-Flite training.

It is a real checkride, you can fail it, and it is to ATP specs.

Since you are not an ATP, I am not sure if it will or will not be to those standards.

Most of the instructors when I was there were pretty cool.

If you are allready getting a start on the systems and limitations you should have a handle on it.

It is however like drinking from a fire hose, you have to keep up, you have to grasp most things on that particular day that things are being tought to you because the next day they move onto another subject.

I spent alot of time in the hotel doing nothing but studying the days events and reviewing the previous days lessons.

Just stay with the program as it progresses and you will do fine.

As to the flying, just take your time and just look sharp, it will most likely be alot different from what you have done in the past.

Remember, you have to fly the airplane first. Like if you have an engine fire after V1, you fly the airplane to 1500FT AGL, you make deliberate actions, you follow your training. In the few seconds it takes you to get to 1500, the engine is not going to melt off (in most cases) and then you address the problem, deliberatly and systematicaly. In other words you just calm down and do it.

On the other hand, it is a jet, as long as you have it under control on which way it is pointed, you pretty much can divert some attention to any situation they put you in. If you have problems keeping the airplane pointed in the right direction things start to snowball from there.

I will add one piece of advice that worked for me. When your being vectored around and your trying to secure an engine or something of that nature, go ahead and slow the airplane down to about 180kts, it is too easy while your busy involved in something and you find yourself doing about 220kts eating up realestate. That will give you a little breathing room to work with while your IMC on the downwind going trough checklists.

I'm not sure if one of the instructors pointed that out to us or what, but I do remember doing it.

Most of all have a good time and enjoy the training.

Simu-Flite is a great place to go.

Oh yea, I think they will hand out a poster of the cockpit layout, pin that bad boy up on the wall in the hotel room and sit in front of it until you cant stand it anymore, go through your flows and preflight checks, it will help you out when you get into the sim.

LR25

 

[Bill Mostellar]

Re: LR JET TRAINING

PS- Nice to see Bill M. back on the board! Hope things are going well for you over at DAL. I take it you're not on the panel anymore.....

Thanks, I've been lurking since hiring fell off last summer.

I got kicked off the L-10 last year to the 737-800. The furloughs forced me to the 727 right seat this month (though MGT decided not to train me); I head to MD88 school on the 30th. Hopefully things will turn around soon, and we can start hiring again.

Excellent advice about SimuFilte. Here's some unsolicited additional stuff: North Main Street BBQ in Eulous and Esparza's in Grapevine.

I wish you success!