Well, as the title says it's been quite some time since the last post. For that I apologize. It's been an interesting last couple of months.
Luckly this time I am writing this from the comfort of my home. Although I haven't been flying much I haven't been home as much either. Along with the holidays, we were signed up for an initial course to learn a new aircraft which would have us on the road for almost a month.
I was quite excited. Not for the fact that I would be away for a long time but to be finally in class learning the CL604. It had been over three years since my last initial course and had forgotten what long periods in a classroom will do to me. It started with the early wakeups and let me tell you I'm not the best morning person. I tried to caffinate as much as I could but with not much luck. For the next 10 days we would be doing this same routine and I started to realize it wasn't what I had envisioned.
As most people in my life would attest to, I am not one for too much routine. I like to take it day by day. I try to imagine my life with a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 job and I can never see myself doing it. This "shift" work we do is something I would not change. Keeps it interesting I think.
So after day 2 the classroom was getting to me. We were now getting into the very familiar systems of the Challenger and I was having trouble staying awake, again trying to caffinate as much as I could to counteract my head hitting the desk. Luckily, after 10 days, I survived the classroom and was again excited to hit up the simulator.
The simulator is basically a large box which from the inside looks identical to the actual aircraft. From the outside, it's a cool looking box that sits on 6 hydrualic jacks and moves to simulate all the motions of the airplane. Sounds cool, and it is the first few times. Eventually it is just another step in attaining, or maintaining, your license and currency.
The simulator is desinged to beat procedures into you through repetitive motion, and it works. Although repetitive it is a necessary step and a good one at that. You come out of there exhausted but well trained to tackle pretty much any emergency the airplane can throw at you.
After those 10 days of simulator training and tests we were able to head home, albeit through Las Vegas. It was a long time but it felt good to get it done and now I am looking forward to setting foot into the 604 and taking it to places I have yet to see.
