I am having a busy week, well 2 days of actual having to be outside, which is still a big improvement over the past few weeks. But a lot of studying and preparing is involved inside the house too so that counts as well.
I had a simulator lesson today. Well two lessons, one in the FO seat and one in the Captain seat. The first one, being the FO, we had a few scenarios including low visibility operations and CATII introduction. It also included a few situations involving an unruly passenger, whom eventually ended up passing out because he was probably drunk out of his mind. Then we went to do an approach which ended up with a Go Around due to a decreasing performance Windshear. Luckily after that we get double hydraulic system failure, requiring us to conduct a manual gear extension and emergency landing. That was our time not critical emergency.
The second session, being in the Captain seat…it felt more right. 
We had a decreasing performance windshear on takeoff. He did a great job keeping the shiny side up and away from the ground. Then a TCAS RA requiring us to stop climb. Then as soon as I was about to get settled into my seat for cruise,…not because I knew something wrong has to happen…it’s a sim! He comes up to us and tells us that we see smoke and can smell that it’s definitely something electrical.
MASK ON. we actually did put on the oxygen masks which was not the quick donning masks you see nowadays. Still it was pretty hard to communicate and breathe, since it was our first time actually putting it on. I initiated an emergency descent to lower altitude and then boom.
Lights flash, sounds from it seemed like all the aural alerting systems on, and then…the cockpit was dark. I had my hands on the controls right away hand flying it. Kept the descent going and then moments later we hear the ADG Air driven Generator (aka RAT in some cases) deploy. It was loud, and hectic, and crazy. I told him to start the APU and vectors to nearest airport. It was good. We prioritized but I had the lack of knowledge that after a while I could have re-engaged the autopilot…or to the least the stab trims! I didn’t realize it until too late that the stab trims were not engaged and well…we crashed about 500 feet short of the runway while I tried with full back pressure. I could have also increased power but didn’t!
Total time from first indication of smoke to “runway” was 15 minutes. This was our time critical emergency.
Not that any of this makes me proficient in any of those emergencies in real life or ready to fly a regional jet. But it was definitely a good experience and exposure.
Tomorrow is for hitting the books one final time before my SARON exam on Friday. Air regulations, flight operations, weight & balance, performance, and human factors…here I come!
Attitude Flying
And I got this in the mail today! Thanks Karlene and Fly Right Films. I will definitely drop you a shout about how much I loved it
