Familiarization flight

Just because I have the all-important signature in my book now, that doesn’t mean training is done yet. In fact, I’m on probation until next April, technically. But Phase 3, or “line indoctrination” is the next step. This entails flying as a First Officer on a Dash-8, with real passengers on real routes, but with a line-training captain beside me.

On July 6, I was scheduled for a “familiarization flight”, where I would sit in the jumpseat and watch an experienced crew going about a normal day. My route: Vancouver to Victoria and back. It couldn’t be more perfect.

Walking into the terminal at Vancouver in full uniform with my new security pass was like something out of a dream. I felt like I was watching the passengers walking back and forth and listening to the various gate announcements from someone else’s eyes and ears. People would steal glances at me occasionally.

But once we were all on board and the flight deck door was closed, the script was identical to everything I’d just been doing in the simulator. The First Officer, a girl about my age, ran through all the usual checks just the way I had been for the last month. The takeoff was really not all that different than the sim either, except the force of full takeoff power pushed me back in the jumpseat more than the hydraulics of the simulator ever could.

The biggest difference: the scenery was real. We flew over Active Pass, near Salt Spring Island, lined up on Runway 13, and landed at the airport I had been to so many times in the past. Even the air traffic controllers’ voices were familiar. I can’t believe the same guys still work there.

So this was the easy day. The next day, the real deal began.