WTC Initial Training - Session One General Handling

Initial Setup

Position the Aircraft in the vicinity of the WTC Terminal Building. The aircraft should be parked with the Engines Shut down. Use this time to familiarize yourself with the layout of the aircraft you are training in. Note the type of engine indications, where they can be found. The layout of the primary flight instruments, and the location of any stand-by instruments. In addition, make sure you know the location and operation of all the aircraft systems found on any sub panels.

The more time you spend on the ground familiarizing yourself with a new aircraft, the easier your job in the air will be.

Start-Up and Taxi

Obtain the current ATIS, perform a standard Engine Start, and taxi the aircraft from the parking position towards the active Runway.

In order to get the aircraft moving, you might notice the aircraft requires more power than you are used to using . You may also notice greater distance is required to bring the aircraft to a stop. Make sure you take note of the position of the nose wheel relative to the cockpit. This will influence the visual cues you use to maintain the aircraft on the taxiway. The more fuel you have in your aircraft, the more marked these effects will be.

Taxi to the duty runway and hold short. Perform you pre-take-off checks and when ready, check for traffic and line up on the active runway.

Take Off

Conduct a normal take-off according to the Pilot Operating Handbook. Mentally compare the take-off performance of this aircraft with others you are used to flying. You must also remember that Denver has a high pressure altitude, so your aircraft performance will be slightly less.

Departure and Climb

After take-off, maintain Runway heading until passing 10,000 feet. Do not exceed 250 Knots of Indicated Airspeed(KIAS) until above 10,000'. Turn and track the 090 Radial on the Denver VOR (117.9). Continue climbing to 15,000 feet and hold 280 KIAS. Proceed to the 50 DME training area and level out at 15,000 feet.

Once you are established in the climb and cruise at 15,000 feet, conduct some basic handling sequences. Disengage the autopilot, if you were using it, and hand fly the aircraft, maintaining straight and level until you are comfortable with this.

Remember to set an attitude and reference your aircraft’s performance from that attitude. Change the attitude and note the change in performance. DO NOT CHASE THE INSTRUMENTS.

Air Work Excercises

Turns

Try some medium turns in both directions. Ideally you are looking for a smooth entry and exit, maintaining your assigned altitude or nominated rate of climb throughout the turns. Remember the WestWind Airline Transport Standards are to ±10 degrees of heading, ±100 feet of altitude, ±5 knots of airspeed, ±5 degrees angle of bank and ±100 feet of vertical speed.

When you feel comfortable with these turns, conduct some steep turns, 45° Bank Angle and 280 Knots in each direction. Again you are looking for a smooth entry and exit, as well as maintaining the WestWind Airlines Transport Standards.

Slow flight and Stalls

When you are comfortable with the turning exercises, climb to 20,000 feet in anticipation of a series of stalls. This altitude should be sufficient for the safe recovery of the aircraft from the stall.

The reason we practice stalling is so that we know not only how to recognize a stall, but also deal with it with the minimum loss of height. This becomes critically important when the aircraft is operating close to the stall, near the ground, such as the approach and landing phase of flight.

Stalling an aircraft means that you are flying it close to the limit of it’s flight envelope. You will begin to develop an understanding of how the aircraft handles in this environment and consequently become much more comfortable with the airplane. This will also allow you to discover any odd handling characteristics the aircraft posses, at a safe altitude.

Gradually slow the aircraft and take note the handling changes that occur. You should feel sloppy controls and notice that they are far less effective at this slower speed. You may also notice the inertia of the aircraft becomes more pronounced in its handling, especially if you are chasing the instruments.

Lower the flaps, one stage at a time and observe the pitch and handling changes as you do so (maintain altitude and airspeed). Once you have lowered full flap and extended the gear and again observe the changes to the aircraft handling. Take note of the power settings and attitudes required to maintain the aircraft in this part of the flight envelope.

While traveling at this slow speed, be sure to experiment with some gentle turns in each direction. Do not use high angles of bank, as the aircraft will stall.

When you are comfortable flying the aircraft in this configuration, raise the flaps and gear, one stage at a time. Again, take note of the handling changes as you alter the aircraft’s configuration.

Having mastered the art of slow flight it is time to begin practicing some stalls and their associated recovery. Ensure that the aircraft is established at 20,000 feet. Now would be a good time to check that there are no loose items floating around the cockpit and that your seat belt and shoulder harness are "nice and tight".

Our first stall will be conducted with the aircraft in the "clean" configuration with flaps and gear up.

Gently close the throttle and maintain altitude and heading. As the airspeed begins to slow you will notice that the controls become easier to move and much less effective. As the aircraft approaches the stall, you will hear (and in some cases feel) the Stall warning horn. If you hold the stick back the aircraft will "wallow around" and begin to descent at quite a rate. If you are lucky you may get a clean break at the stall and see the nose drop.

Attempt to recover the aircraft before the point of stall. You do this by, applying MAXIMUM POWER and adjusting your pitch to a level attitude. Once the airspeed has built up to a safe figure commence a climb back to the initial altitude. Take note of any altitude loss.

The correct recovery technique is (with maximum power applied) NOT to "shove viciously forward" on the control column, but rather un-stall the wings. I think the best way to describe this is to "gently but positively adjust the yoke until the Angle of Attack has been decreased to a figure less than the critical angle".

The next exercise is to continue these stalls but in different aircraft configurations. Try the first stall with the power leavers at idle and the gear and flaps up, then the next stall with approach power and approach flaps and the airliner in a gentle turn, then the final set of stalls with idle power, gear down with full flaps. You will notice the airplane behaves a little differently in each these configurations, especially as you add more power. Keep practicing these stalls until you feel comfortable with these maneuvers. Remember to pay attention to the symptoms of the stall and the behavior of the aircraft.

Perform as many stalls as you feel you need until you are comfortable with the aircraft. Remember the point of this exercise is to learn the symptoms of the stall and be able to recover.

Arrival and Landing

Return to the WestWind Training Centre at Denver via the most expeditious means. As you arrive you will want to plan your descent so that you arrive at Denver (KDEN) at pattern altitude and at 250 KIAS. The field elevation for Denver is 5,431' above Mean Sea Level (MSL) and the pattern altitude for a jet is 1,500' Above Ground Level (AGL). To figure out the pattern altitude we would round 5,431' up to 5,500' and add 1,500' arrive at a pattern altitude of 7,000' MSL. We are cruising at 20,000' MSL and thus need to loose 12,000' of altitude. Using the rule of 3 in which we compute a 3 degree descent rate we multiple the altitude we need to loose in thousands by 3 or 12 X 3 = 36. Thus we know that it will take us 36 nautical miles (nm) to loose 12,000' of altitude. The other part of this rule is the rule of 5 in which we multiple our airspeed by five to know the descent rate we need to maintain. Since we will slow to 250 KIAS (which we will assume is about 300 knots ground speed) we will use 300 X 5 = 1,500. Thus we need to descend at a rate of 1,500 feet per minute (fpm) to arrive at Denver at 7,000' in 32 nm.

Enter the pattern for the active runway. The last page of the Flight Operations Manual provides detailed information for flying a visual approach including airspeeds, altitudes, and checklist that should be performed. Remember that the CRJ is a jet airplane and as such a steady approach is key to being on glideslope (use the VASI to help you) and on approach speed, the first page of the Flight Operations Manual gives you the VREF - Landing Approach Speed gear down for the CRJ-700 based on weight.

After landing taxi to the gate and shutdown.

This concludes Session One.