It was last year in October that I was in the same position as the newly-rated pilot for whom I was sitting in as for safety pilot, yesterday. It felt a little out of routine for me, as I usually organise the paperwork, and this time I only had to print out the voyage report, which has details such as the names of the crew, number of passengers booked on the flight and flight schedules. I read through the flight plans and weather once he was done, and helped out where he asked me to and answered any questions he had. Â I hadn’t been in the jumpseat since October, so it was nice to take a back seat for this time and observe procedures from there. Â The session was useful to me as well, as I picked up some additional tips from the line training Captain and also refreshed my knowledge as I followed through the discussion topics in cruise.
As I watched the first officer, it reminded me of the similar, if not, the same challenges and teething problems that I faced when first starting. Â A lot of the procedures and flying skills are taught during the type rating, so the challenge then is to combine all of this with working in a live environment where you have to complete paperwork, communicate with various people such as ATC, cabin crew, the dispatcher, fueler and other ground staff. Â The biggest challenge that I found was the time pressure, which you quickly begin to manage by being better organised and experienced as time goes by! Â The aim is to stay ahead! Â This is especially important with sectors as short as Liverpool to Dublin, where we could be airborne for less than 30 minutes – where we have to squeeze in completing the flight plog, getting destination & alternate weather, notifying handling of any special information, setting up & briefing for the arrival and approach… We do the route quite often, so after becoming familiar with it, it’s become a lot easier!