I can't help you in OKC, but those programs do exist. I fly DC3s and 402s in the southeast , hauling freight for a living. We have a semi-formal ride-along program that has been in place and working well for years. I'll just give you a real-life example to show you how it works (I just got back this morning from flying this trip). My pager went off Wednesday at 1830, I was at the airport at 1850. I called a ride-along from our list. He's a typical guy - CFI/CFII, with a multiengine rating. About 600 hours total time, but we have a few ride-alongs with less. He's been on trips with me before, so I know he can hold a heading and altitude.
He went out to help with the DC3 preflight, and here's the trip:
Home airport-VPC (empty, part 91) 1.9 hours, night. ride-along flew as SIC and logs the time.
VPC-CRW (freight on board, part 135). 2.5, night. Real FO flies, ride-along in the jumpseat, but watching like a hawk. Cleared Customs.
CRW-CYKF (freight still on board, part 135). 3.8, night. 1.0 actual, 1 ILS to minimums. Real FO still in the seat, R-A still in the jumpseat. All the Customs crap again on the Canadian side. 5 gallons of oil in the right engine, in the windy cold. R-A helps FO.
CYKF-CRW (empty, part 91). R-A in the seat, FO dozing in the jumpseat. takeoff into instant IFR, a little bit of rime ice for the first thousand feet or so, dealing with Canadian controllers and slightly different phraseology. 4.0 total, 1.8 night, 1.5 actual. He watched the sunrise, the FO slept through it. Again. Cleared Customs inbound. Decent landing by R-A. Only two bounces
CRW-Home airport (empty, part 91). R-A still wanted to fly, FO still wanted to sleep. 4.0 total, should have been 3.2, but the ATL Center radar outage had everyone on non-radar routings, complete with reporting points. Took the scenic route home, but great experience for the R-A. I just wanted to get home. We shut down at 1030 on Thursday.
All things considered, not a bad deal for the R-A.
DC3SIC logged:
9.9 total
9.9 multi
9.9 tailwheel
9.9 X-C
5.7 night
1.5 actual
1 landing.
Considering the cheapest DC3 dual I have seen is $880/hr, Our 600 hour ride-along got some pretty valuable time.
Keep looking dude - someone will let you ride along. Did I mention that we only hire new FOs from within the ride-along ranks? Dedication, and being a little crazy helps grease the wheels in the freight world.
By the way, I have never held a CFI
