How to Prepare for Your First Airline Simulator

Moving from general aviation, military aviation, flight instruction, or smaller corporate aircraft into your first airline training program can be a major transition.

You may already be a highly experienced pilot. But airline training introduces a different environment: transport-category jet performance, two-pilot crew procedures, flows, callouts, automation, FMS operation, higher speeds, and a much faster cockpit tempo.

The first time you experience all of that should not have to be during an airline training event.

The Challenge Isn’t Just Flying the Airplane

Pilots preparing for their first airline simulator sometimes concentrate primarily on learning how the airplane flies. That’s certainly important, but it’s only part of the transition.

In an airline cockpit, you are also expected to operate as part of a crew.

That means learning how to divide duties between the Pilot Flying and Pilot Monitoring, use flows and checklists effectively, make the appropriate callouts, manage automation, program and modify the FMS, brief approaches, and stay ahead of an airplane moving considerably faster than most training aircraft.

For pilots coming directly from flight instruction or light general aviation, the change can initially feel substantial.

Military pilots can face a different challenge. They may have tremendous aircraft and operational experience but limited exposure to civilian airline procedures, terminology, automation, and crew flows.

The backgrounds are different, but the objective is the same: become comfortable in an airline-style cockpit before the workload becomes overwhelming.

Learn to Stay Ahead of the Jet

One of the biggest differences in a transport-category jet is simply the pace.

At 100 or 120 knots, being slightly behind the airplane may be manageable. In a jet, things happen much more quickly.

An arrival, approach change, runway change, FMS modification, checklist, radio call and approach briefing can all occur within a relatively short period.

Good airline simulator preparation therefore isn’t just about learning how to manipulate the controls. It’s about developing the ability to anticipate what comes next.

That means understanding the sequence of events, preparing the airplane early, and using automation appropriately rather than allowing the automation to increase your workload.

Become Comfortable With the FMS and Automation

For many pilots entering airline training, the Flight Management System is one of the biggest adjustments.

You should become comfortable with the basic concepts of entering and modifying a flight plan, departures and arrivals, performance information, route changes, direct-to operations, and approach setup.

The same applies to the flight director and autopilot.

Automation is extremely useful when the pilot understands what the system is doing. When the pilot doesn’t understand it, automation can quickly become another source of workload.

The goal isn’t simply to learn which buttons to push. It’s to understand what you’re commanding the airplane to do and what you should expect to see next.

Learn Airline Crew Procedures

A transport-category airplane is designed around a crew.

That means learning to work effectively as both Pilot Flying and Pilot Monitoring.

Flows, callouts and checklists need to become comfortable enough that you’re not spending all of your mental capacity trying to remember what happens next.

This is one reason practicing in a two-pilot environment before beginning airline training can be valuable. It gives you an opportunity to make mistakes, ask questions and develop good habits without the pressure of an airline training footprint.

Don’t Try to Learn an Entire Type Rating Before You Arrive

Preparation does not mean memorizing an entire aircraft before beginning airline training.

The airline will teach you its aircraft, procedures and Standard Operating Procedures.

The objective of airline preparation is different.

You want the cockpit environment, terminology, automation, crew concept and pace of a transport-category jet to feel familiar.

If you’ve already experienced those things, you can spend more of your airline training learning the airline’s procedures instead of simultaneously trying to understand what an FMS is doing, how a flight director works, what a flow looks like, and how two pilots divide cockpit responsibilities.

Practice in a Realistic Jet Environment

There is a significant difference between reading about airline operations and actually performing them.

Sitting in a jet cockpit environment forces you to manage several things simultaneously: aircraft control, automation, navigation, communication, checklists, callouts and another crewmember.

That’s where the pieces begin to come together.

At Momentum Flight Training, our five-day airline preparation and jet transition program uses a CRJ-700 Advanced Aviation Training Device to introduce pilots to the environment they are likely to encounter as they transition into airline operations.

The objective isn’t to teach an airline’s specific procedures or guarantee success in airline training.

It’s to give pilots meaningful experience with a transport-category jet cockpit before their first airline training event.

Who Can Benefit From Airline Simulator Preparation?

Airline preparation can be particularly valuable for:

• Flight instructors transitioning from light aircraft to their first airline

• General aviation pilots with limited turbine or jet experience

• Military pilots transitioning into civilian airline operations

• Corporate pilots moving into airline flying

• Pilots who want additional exposure to FMS, automation and two-pilot crew operations before beginning airline training

The amount of preparation each pilot needs will be different.

An experienced military transport pilot and a 1,500-hour CFI may arrive with completely different backgrounds. Good preparation should concentrate on the areas where each pilot has the least experience.

Arrive Ready to Learn

Your first airline training program is going to teach you a tremendous amount in a relatively short period.

You cannot eliminate that workload.

But you can eliminate some of the unfamiliarity.

If you’ve already operated in a two-pilot jet environment, worked with an FMS, followed flows and callouts, managed automation, briefed approaches and experienced the pace of a transport-category aircraft, you’re no longer seeing all of those concepts for the first time.

That’s the purpose of airline simulator preparation.

Momentum Flight Training provides a five-day airline preparation and jet transition program using a CRJ-700 Advanced Aviation Training Device. Pilots interested in preparing for their first airline training program can contact Momentum Flight Training to discuss their experience and training goals.