Return flight - KSFO to KLAX

[sagrada737]

Hi Folks,

My wife Carol and I did the return flight from KSFO back to KLAX.  Below is some video of this flight. 

It was great fun sharing the Sim with Carol, which was actually her first time in our Sim on a complete IFR flight.   Years back, we both greatly enjoyed GA flying in and around California, so this brought back some nice memories of our younger days - especially cross-checking each other on IFR flights.  Carol is totally new to the 737NG Sim and flight deck, but I think she did pretty good job as FO on this flight.  She found it interesting and fun.  Her parting comment when the flight was over was, "Next time I'm in the left seat!"   That's the spirit! So, next week she wants to start learning the Sim and 737NG systems and procedures.

As far as 737NG systems and procedures go...   There is certainly a ton of things to learn about correctly flying and managing the flight deck of a 737NG - especially flying IFR in the ATC system.  It makes my head spin just thinking about it.  This doesn't truly come to light in casually flying the Sim, but shows itself most acutely when trying to fly in the ATC environment, where checklists, procedures, and communications can go out the window if the pilot becomes overwhelmed with cockpit management responsibilities.  This can become most prominent in the Arrival and Approach phases of a flight.  In this regard, getting the aircraft setup ahead of time is critical for a smooth let-down and approach - something I'm still working on in the 737NG.

That's one reason I'm so excited about PilotEdge in that it is a very realistic ATC enviornment and helps to show my weaknesses operating in the ATC system and managing the 737NG Flight Deck.  All this helps to point to areas in need of improvement.  At this point in my 737NG Sim experience - it seems like everything needs improvement - and I haven't even gotten to emergency procedures yet! 

As you may notice from the video, Carol and I are newbies at flying the 737NG, and tend to miss proper flight deck protocol and systems management.  But we understand the Sim is a learning platform, and a safe "flying environment " to have fun.  We are slowly trying to come up to speed, and hopefully will improve over time.  This video is mainly in that vain in the spirit of learning and having fun, with emphasis on IFR procedures and ATC communications practice and associated training.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video and the ride from SFO back to LAX.  Try to imagine yourself on the same flight and what you would do differently.  Any constructive comments would be appreciated.

Mike

SFO LAX 1

[coma24]

Beautiful video. The little smile at the end as you pulled into the gate was a great ending, too.

You hit the nail on the head...it's one thing to fly the sim in isolation, but it's a very different skill to fly it in the ATC system (busy or otherwise). Vectoring patterns change on a daily basis, so the sequence you get one day might be slightly different from the next. For example, the 060 hdg out of SMO is normally 070, but for sequencing, the controller was choosing to use 060 for your flight.

ATC will also issue speed restrictions that can make energy management a little more challenging, too.

I shared most of my thoughts via email, but for the sake of community discussion, here's a brief recap:
1) PORTE4 calls for 330 hdg to join SFO R-350 to 4 dme, then a left turn to hdg 200. I'm guessing you might have turn to the 200 heading too early.

2) while legal to put the gear down at 250kts on the downwind (max gear extension speed is 280'ish I think), the cabin noise would be significant and prolonged. I would use speed brakes instead and save the gear for the precision final approach fix.

3) deck angle was high because you slowed to 169kias on the downwind in the clean configuration. I'd throw out some flap and keep it at 210 until the base, then start adding more flap and slowing to 170-180'ish for the localizer intercept.

4) a little late on the engagement of nav mode after the 220hdg to intercept the localizer, resulting in a localizer overshoot. This is a no-no at LAX where they run simultaneous, independent ILS approaches for 25L and 24R.

5) this wasn't in the email,  but the PNF (pilot not flying) should be calling speeds while the PF (pilot flying) flies. PNF calls "positive rate", PF calls for "gear up", PNF raises the gear, etc. My knowledge of 2 crew flying is almost non-existent (I fly single pilot IFR), but that much I have observed

I hope these comments will be received constructively by the community. They're not a criticism...you were very clear that you're just getting started with that airplane, and that this was largely for ATC familiarization and some fun. And boy oh boy, did it look fun!!

[sagrada737]

Thanks for the constructive comments - greatly appreciated. 

I will try to improve in those areas on future flights.  Such constructive comments help accelerate the learning process, and the good news in a Sim is that we get a second chance to correct serious mistaks, which is not always the case in the real world of IFR flying.

I'm re-learning quickly the important of flight deck management combined with ATC communications.  Putting it into practice is another story and a big challenge - especially in the 737.  As they say, "Practice makes perfect", which offers more encouragement to build flying skills in the Sim.

Mike