I haven't been able to update this blog much due to how busy it has been. I have been wanting to though. I am studying for the first simulator session tomorrow, so I have to make this entry pretty short. Here has what has happened since my last post:

Ground school finished up and I passed all three written tests (98 and 100 percents), got through Cockpit Procedure Training (CPT's) and passed the oral yesterday.

CPT's consisted of something that is halfway between a paper mockup and an FTD (flight training deviced). Here we were tested on all our FO cockpit flows, checklist usage, knowing what indications to look for, callouts and profiles for different phases of flight, abnormal starts, and some of the captain flows and checklists (each off us will be left seat for half of the sim training after all). It was anything but easy. My sim partner and I would study for hours on end with the cardboard mockups, and we still felt that the pace was fast. They do not hand you anything on a platter here. You need to be very self-disciplined for studying on your own or you will get behind fast.

The oral was no easy either. After passing CPT's, we had 2 days before the oral and during that time reviewed what seemed to me a mountain of material. Everything from indoc, ground school, CPT's, performance, W&B, releases and MGL's, etc. was all fair game. The examiner was a great guy, but was not easy. The fact that I overprepared myself was enough to get through with confidence. Of course, they will always go a little deeper in the oral than your knowledge base so you can learn even more.

Now, I'm off to review my Fly the Wing book as well as procedures, approaches, callouts, FMS, et. al. for tomorrow's "fun" simulator flight.