Training Week 4: Family Orientation and Systems
First thing Monday was the final exam for indoc. Everyone in the class passed and the instructor said that she can't remember a time when everyone scored over 90. At noon, it was time for family orientation. The airline flew class members' families out for the day to meet management, enjoy a nice catered lunch and hear about life as an airline pilot. Afterwards, they were given a tour all of the company facilities and the simulators. It was a pretty nice thing to do. Monday was a good day.
Tuesday was the first day of systems class. It felt good to be re-immersed in to CRJ systems. As much as I thought had been forgotten started to come back out of long term memory storage. That is a very good thing as the CRJ is a complicated aircraft. I remember how difficult it was the first time around and am glad to have a leg up.
In the first four days we covered EICAS (Engine Information and Crew Alerting System), AC/DC electrical system, APU (Auxiliary Power Unit), Fuel System, Powerplant, Environmental Control System, Ice & Rain Protection, Fire Protection, Hydraulics, Landing Gear, Flight Controls, EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System), Oxygen & Emergency Equipment and Lighting. That's enough for four days, right?
Monday & Tuesday we'll be finishing up on systems with Navigation, Communications, EGPWS (Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System 0r E Jip Whiz for short), Water & Waste, Aircraft Doors & AFCS (Automatic Flight Control System). Wednesday is the comprehensive systems test which is about 100 questions covering all systems. Multiple choice, true/false and my favorite...fill in the guess. Oh well, it's just another hurdle in a seemingly never ending race.
Thursday is the first of four CRM (Crew Resource Management) classes and Friday night is hangar night. We'll be spending about 8 hours in a CRJ learning about and performing tasks like pre-flight and emergency procedures.
Since I'm in severe study mode, if anyone has questions about the systems of the CRJ-200, I'll try to answer them for you. It will definitely be good study matter for me. Keep in mind, this is from a pilot's level of knowledge - not an A&P. I can't and won't build the system for you.
For anyone interested in learning a little more about the CRJ-200, here are some images of cockpit panels and descriptions of what each switch, switch light, button and dial does. Enjoy.
Above are the left and center overhead panels.
Above is the glare shield, minus the AFCS, and the captain's side panel. The triangular black handle is called the tiller. It is used to steer the aircraft on the ground, up to 70 degrees.
The above panels are from the lower pedestal. There are several detail panels missing including the throttle quadrant, main radio tuning units, audio panels and FMS.
