When 1 becomes 2

The light at the end of the tunnel was fast approaching, but before I could dive head first into the job market, I had one more thing to complete, and that was the MCC and JOC (Multi-Crew Cooperation and Jet Orientation Course) which was conducted over three weeks:

• Four days of ground school

• 20 hours MCC - Pilot Flying (PF) and Pilot Monitoring (PM)

• 20 hours JOC - Pilot Flying and Pilot Monitoring

The reason for the MCC is quite simply to teach us newly qualified ME-IR Commercial Pilots how to work in a multi-crew environment, especially since all of our flying had been single pilot operations up to this point in training. The main emphasis is on CRM (Crew Resource Management):

"using all available sources; information, equipment and people to achieve safe and efficient flight operations"

This is the definition by John K. Lauber, a former member of the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board).

After the MCC it's onto another 20 hours in the simulator for the JOC, which primarily applies what's learnt in the MCC and incorporates smooth handling of the aircraft.

The ground school essentially covers human factors for the first couple of days. As mentioned, CRM is vital in aviation today, with a highlighting of the Tenerife Air Disaster in 1977, where a KLM B747 collided with a Pan-Am B747 during take-off, which was later put down to poor communication between the flight crew and ATC in low visibility conditions. It is said that this accident caused for huge changes to be made in the aviation industry. The purpose was to greatly improve flight safety.

A lot of material was covered in the first few days such as:

• Challenges of being a First Officer
• CRM
• NoTechs; i.e. non-technical skills such as leadership and decision-making
• Personality traits
• Communication
• Threats in Aviation

The good thing about aviation is that there are many reliable and well trained people involved. The bad thing is that people are fallible and they always will be; we are prone to just simply getting it wrong; whether its pressing the wrong button, reading back or saying the wrong thing, even going to the wrong place. 

I found these first few days extremely interesting, and although a lot of it was common sense, it was good to be reminded of just how vulnerable we all are at making errors. The flight deck is a highly complex environment, and with the current trend of these big machines become ever more computer driven and automated, overall control is being somewhat taken away from the human, which is nice if it works, however it leaves us vulnerable to becoming more reliant on something we may not necessarily understand. With that said, it is important that we all understand the risks involved in absolutely everything that we do in the flight deck, and that's what these first couple of days glanced over. 

The last two days of ground school was a run through of the flight deck and checklists. Fortunately me and my flight partner had pretty much lived in the cardboard bomber, which is a cut out of the B737-400 for about a week before the start of ground school, so it was relatively easy to take in, and left us with a lot less pressure for the first MCC session. 

As mentioned, the aircraft simulated is the Boeing 737-400, which originally came into service in 1986, it is therefore only one year younger than I am. Aside from that utterly useless fact, the aircraft was developed as a higher capacity version of the already popular 737-300, and also as a replacement for the aging 727, and to compete with the Airbus A320 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80. It went on to become a popular choice in the short-medium range sector with 486 deliveries to date.

I think the aircraft is an excellent tool for OAA since it not only gives us a good foundation for our first job, but also because the aircraft instruments are a mix of old and new. 

B737-400 Instruments

If you have a small glance at my marvelous photo above, you get a glimpse of this wonderful office. From left to right on the Captain's side you have the ASI, PFD Altimeter, Standby Altimeter and Standby Attitude Indicator. Move one level down you have the RMI, EHSI and VSI, followed by Fuel Gauges and then the Engine Parameters in the middle. The only real difference between the Co-Pilot and Captain's side is the lack of Standby Altimeter and Attitude Indicator. You will also notice that there are these two computers on either side of the central console with green tron-coloured screens, this is the Flight Management Computer (FMC) and this is pretty much where a lot of magical wizardry happens. Here you can set things like the SIDs, STARs and the company LNAV route for the Autopilot to follow. This is also where a the pilot can set performance parameters and holding patterns.

The Mode Control Panel on the top controls the AP (autopilot), FD (flight director) and AT (autothrottle) system. Here you can select heading, speed, altitude, climb and descent rates. You can also as mentioned, set it so that the FD follows the FMC. Usually one person operates it at any one time, if the PF is hand flying, then the MCP belongs to PM, and once autopilot is engaged, MCP is then under the control of the PF.

Of course at this point, it is fairly obvious to say that there is a lot to learn and cover in the three weeks, and I haven't even mentioned the overhead panel and centre console. You may recall me saying that me and my flying partner Stef lived in what they call the cardboard bomber, which is a paper mock up of the 737-400 flight deck.

We lived here for a week

What this does is help you become accustomed to the position of the buttons when doing checks, and to get used to the scan (as much as practicable). We spent countless hours in here and with good reason: firstly spending as little time as possible on the ground and secondly making the inflight checks as fluid as possible. The results of this benefited us in a number of ways:

• More airborne time - Flying is more fun and productive than sitting at the stand and looking for buttons
• More mental capacity - More space in the brain to learn and actually fly the aircraft well under high workload situations
• Instructor will be happy - Easier for him to teach and progress with the syllabus 
• More value for money - This last one should be fairly obvious. The course fees are beyond reach for a lot of people so makes sense to use the time productively

As you can see, there's plenty of reason to put the extra effort in before starting the MCC.

The checks are read off an A4 laminate, which is simple enough. However unlike the checklists which were done in the Archer and Seneca, these are challenge and response checks, making it a two man task. It is worth noting that some checks such as the Before Take Off and After Take Off checks are read and do by the PM, simply because the PF will be too busy at during these stages. I mean take for example the after take off checks; it is of course it's more important for the PF to have full focus on the departure procedure, so the check list is therefore delegated to the PM who has the capacity to comfortably deal with it. 

Checklists are as important as ever on an airliner, even more so due to the increased payload and the complexity of the aircraft, therefore making the flight deck environment more complicated. The challenge and response style checks emphasize the importance of team-working and coordination in order to conduct a safe and efficient flight in a commercial airliner. Strict adherence to SOPs are the best way to mitigate any issues that may arise due to adverse operational, environmental or human factors in the flight deck. 

B737-400 Centre Console

As well as the checks there are other profiles that need to be committed to memory, for instance you have the pre-start and pre-descent prep, otherwise known as the ABCDEFG:

• ATIS
• Bugs - V Speeds and Altitude bug for acceleration altitude or approach minima
• Comms - Appropriate comm or nav aid frequencies tuned
• Either - ADF or VOR selected on RMI
• FMC - Setup if required
• General Brief - Emergency and Departure/Arrival Brief

Then you also have the take off, climb out and approach profiles which of course have to be done by memory since there just isn't enough time during these critical phases of flight to be reading and doing something. Again it's challenge and response; for instance the "80kts" call out by PM on the take-off roll must be checked by the PF with a subsequent "check" response. Not only does this ensure that both the Captain and Co-Pilot's ASIs are reading the same, but it also ensures that both pilots haven't suffered a stroke, and is essentially a point where either the PM or PF can take control and safely bring the aircraft to a stop before V1, which would be the next call out by the PM. Again the same role reversal would occur if say there was no response by the PF as "V1" and "Rotate" are called. SOPs vary slightly from airline to airline, but the point here in the MCC stage is to teach its importance of cross-checking and crew coordination.

On the Friday before starting the MCC, we were asked as a class who we would prefer as a flying partner and also for our preferred flying times. You get a chance to either do the morning sessions which start anywhere between 06:00 to 09:00 local time, or the evening slots which start at 17:00. Me and my flight partner both agreed on taking the later slots since it seemed to make more sense in guaranteeing more sleep and being more awake for the sim sessions (that's a differently worded way of saying we wanted the lie ins), the only downside to this was that we missed out on a lot of the world cup games! 

Each simulator session lasts two hours and there are two sessions a day, alternating between who starts the day as PF or PM. MCC usually starts on a Monday and finishing on Friday, followed by the weekend off and the same routine in the next week for JOC, however there are sessions that run over the weekend depending on the instructor and how big the classes are so there is some flexibility, and the person responsible for the scheduling does genuinely try his best to help individuals wherever he can. 

The lessons all have their own learning objective, building on top of what's been learned the day before. Day one is mainly General Handling, from start up at the stand, with a full taxi to take off. On day one I went first as PF. I remember the feeling of sitting in that seat and holding the yoke for the first time, that was when it truly felt like I was an airline pilot. Even starting the checks, running through the switches on the overhead panel, starting the engines individually, getting pushed back, starting the taxi and lining up on the runway, these were the things I used to be fascinated with whenever I was a passenger, and now I'm actually doing it. Our instructor was impressed as we managed to get our aircraft airborne in about 30 minutes from strapping in, and it was extremely rewarding to know that all of our hard work had paid off to make our session as smooth and productive as it could have been. 

I'm not actually as confused as I look in this photo

The first thing I noticed about flying this aircraft is how absolutely critical it is to quickly and accurately perform checks and at the right times, especially the memory items since things are happening so quickly, even more so on a complex SID. The actual handling itself for me wasn't too bad since the aircraft is heavier and therefore the increased wing loading makes it more stable so long as it's treated nice and smoothly. It is vital to ensure that the aircraft is always in trim, particularly so when configuring for an approach as the landing gear and flaps generate an incredible nose-down pitching moment due to the change in downwash. During straight and level flight, little blips of the trim wheel to keep the aircraft in balance will stop you from getting exhausted too, if you really want to exercise your biceps, you've got arms day in the gym (usually Fridays for me). Another thing to consider too is that this aircraft is big, heavy and slippery. Momentum = Mass x Velocity, the mass is huge, velocity is huge, and the wings aren't affected by prop wash so this thing doesn't like to slow down or turn as easily as the Seneca did. A good way to look at handling a big jet is that it is all about handling the inertia. For example during a climb, the aircraft is probably climbing at a rate in excess of 3000ft/min, so it is vital that the the level out and power reduction is anticipated well before hand or the passengers will suddenly feel like they're in outer space. The same thing goes for corrections during a hand flown Non-Precision or Precision Approach; anticipating rather than turning onto the Localiser is the key if you want to stop the approach looking like a worm (which I successfully did on a few occasions). As you can see, a lot of the Principles of Flight and Aircraft Performance topics come into play here.

There is a variety of interesting scenarios that get taught during the MCC. As well as the routes, there are also emergency procedures such as engine failure, rapid decompression and loss of a hydraulic system. In these cases, the instructor wants to see that you are both using each other as much as possible, along with the other resources that would be available to you in a real flight; whether it's ATC, company, or cabin crew. The Engine Failure lesson was when we made use of the QRH (Quick Reference Handbook) for the first time, which is essentially a step-by-step guide on how to deal with certain technical issues. With most of the critical emergencies, there is typically a memory item before referral to the QRH, so for example: In the event of an engine failure, the PM will know to cancel any master caution of fire warnings that appear on the MCP, he then diagnoses the problem, then the PF checks and confirms. PM will now perform the memory items for an engine failure. Once the memory items are complete, and the engine is secured, the PF will call for the QRH. PM will now refer to the correct section in the QRH and carry out the rest of the engine failure drill. 

This is where it is important to not only manage the time effectively, but also to methodically come to a decision (through the use of DODAR) on how to fix or mitigate a problem and continue conducting a safe flight.

The JOC concentrates mainly handling of the aircraft. Autopilot is still used, however there is an emphasis on performance and handling. For example, working out descent points in order to reach certain points in a STAR by a specified altitude or speed, and also planned descent rates to intercept a glide path from above. There are also unusual attitudes which is quite a lot of fun, particularly when control was handed from PF to PM so that we could give each other some scary situations! One particularly interesting one I remember was the demonstration of Mach Tuck, which is a phenomenon that occurs when the aircraft is accelerated past it's sonic speed, causing these weird magical compressibility effects due to shockwave formation. This moves the centre-of-pressure rearward on the wing, causing the aircraft to nose-down in a rather unpleasant fashion.

The last of the JOC sessions then focused on raw-data flying of SIDs, Precision and Non-Precision Approaches, so no FDs or AT. This was primarily to get us prepped for that all important simulator assessment which most airlines such as Ryanair conduct nowadays.

CRM at its finest

I'd say that these last few weeks of the APP First Officer course were by far the most fun, but also the most serious. As mentioned, this is the closest everyone gets to the experience of flying on the line, therefore it is important not to forget that this part of the course is by no means a time to relax, it is in fact just as important as the rest of the course. The lessons taught here pave the foundations for the rest of a cadet's flying career, not to mention the fact the Chief MCC Instructor will write a comment in a student's final school report, which airlines do look at! 

And that's it, the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. After 19 months at Oxford Aviation Academy, I am now an unemployed commercial pilot... Was it all worth it and would I do it again? Yes and yes. It's by far the greatest thing I've ever gone through, and the people I have met along the way have been nothing short of incredible. I don't think there's anything else I could have done which would have been as challenging and rewarding. 

My goal now is to put all of my tools to use and to hopefully get an interview as soon as possible, hopefully I won't need to wait too long and if all goes well, my next post will be as an employed First Officer!