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Air France / KLM Virtual Airlines Forums | AFVA Operations | New From DVA

AFV121
Captain, B777-300

Joined on March 11 2008
International Tourist

"Hey everybody—watch this!"
Northeastern United States

89 legs, 302.1 hours
5 legs, 19.0 hours online
89 legs, 302.1 hours ACARS
239 legs, 626.9 hours total

Posted onPost created on May 11 2008 20:12 ET by Preston Ehrler

Hey AFV pilots. I've just made the transfer from DVA to AFV and boy I am very glad to be here. I can't wait to get started. Before I get started, I've got a couple of questions for all of ya.

1. On my pilot center in the transfer equipment programs/request additional ratings section, it says I currently have a pending additional ratings request with a partner airline. If somebody could please remove that request, that would be great. Also, it says that I am qualified to fly the A340 in that section as well but not in the top section where it shows all my ratings.

2. I noticed that in the Pilot Promotion Manual is says that the A330 program is stage 4 in AFV and I am in stage 3 in the A330 program which means not all programs listed in the manual are active, could somebody please list which programs are active and what stage they are? Thanks!

3. That's it I think. Anyway, glad to be here and can't wait to get started.

Preston Ehrler (AFV121)

AFV003
Senior Captain, B737-800

Joined on May 03 2002
GVA 10 Year Anniversary
Century Club

"Oh yeah, NOTAM #19 is a must!"
Indianapolis, IN

144 legs, 376.9 hours
59 legs, 129.5 hours online
121 legs, 328.9 hours ACARS
8 legs, 27.8 hours event
276 legs, 632.7 hours total
27 legs dispatched, 38.6 hours

Posted onPost created on May 12 2008 01:32 ET by Caitlyn Champlin

Preston,

Welcome to AFV! We're glad to have you here and look forward to getting you started. I've looked at your profile and don't see any pending requests for additional ratings. This could be from ratings you may have requested from DVA prior to the transfer, or something could have been mismatched during the move. I'll ask Luke to take a look at it and see if there's something whacky going on.

You're correct, you don't as yet hold a type rating for the A340. If you are looking to earn the rating, please let us know. Your chief pilot will be in touch with you soon to welcome you to the A330 and you can discuss ratings with him if you are interested in the A340.

I'm currently reviewing the pilot promotion manual and hope to be finished by the week's end. I'll talk to the rest of the staff when I'm done and we'll discuss revisions such as the program descriptions and classifications. A lot of things have changed since the manual was published and it hasn't been updated since. Please bear with us on that.

Currently our active programs are:

Stage 2: F100; A320
Stage 3: A330; B727
Stage 4: B777; B747-400
Stage 5: Concorde

Again, welcome and please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you settle in. Also be sure to review the NOTAMs section for additional information, especially NOTAM #10, which mandates ACARS useage for PIREP filing.

Ryan

Caitlyn Champlin

Senior Captain, B737-800

AFV010
Senior Captain, A320

Joined on September 09 2004

"Comp guru"
Western Europe

70 legs, 255.8 hours
12 legs, 39.0 hours online
28 legs, 103.8 hours ACARS
3 legs, 4.9 hours event
324 legs, 1,393.2 hours total

Posted onPost created on May 12 2008 06:52 ET by Daniel Counahan

the F100 is stage 1 Ryan, and to be honest the A330 and A340 panels are the exact same apart from having 2 extra thrust levers. I think the A330 and A340 should be in the same stage not having to apply for another rating for it.
Cheers
Dan C

Daniel Counahan

Senior Captain, A320

Posted onPost created on May 12 2008 08:39 ET by Preston Ehrler

Thank you Ryan. I will definitely be wanting to get the A340 rating for sure. However, Here is what is says in the section to get additional ratings:

Additional Rating Request You currently have a pending additional ratings request with a partner virtual airline.

I did not even have an additional rating request at DVA. Well, I withdrew it right before I came over here...maybe it didn't fully go through or something, I don't know. Also, I took some written exams for additional ratings in DVA but did not do the checkride yet, will I have to re-do those tests?

Preston Ehrler (AFV121)

Posted onPost created on May 12 2008 09:24 ET by Caitlyn Champlin

If you withdrew a request and it wasn't cleared out on the DVA side then that's what is going on. Since I don't have access to their resources, I can't tell you for sure. The only thing I do know is that I'm not showing anything on our end.

Whatever ratings you require, just let us know. If you don't have them from DVA, we'll work with you on getting them here. Testing will depend on what aircraft the rating is for. In other words, if it's an active program aircraft that we have an exam for, you'll have to test for it. Since we don't share the same fleet as DVA and have different requirements, you'll have to start over for those aircraft you do not already hold a certificate for.

Please be mindful, however, current regulations at DVA allow you to attain ratings for all aircraft in your current stage and below, as well as one stage above. So theoretically the only aircraft you are not qualified to rate on yet is the Concorde, Stage 5.

There are some major differences between the A330 and A340, besides the flight deck layout. Airbus did a great job in flight deck commonality in order to reduce the training time between transitioning crews. While most flight management systems operate in the same manner, such as FMGC, MCDU, ADIRS, ELAC, SEC, etc, you're dealing with an aircraft that is much larger and has two additional engines. The fuel system is much different in the way it feeds and has a completely different system diagram that you can look up yourself. I've found on Wilco's series that the A330 and A340 actually do not handle the same way. You feel like you're flying a completely different aircraft, and you are. The A340 should feel like a soggy, wet sponge in comparison to the 330. It's a lot heavier, a lot longer (depending on the variation), and your overhead panel is even different. In my own opinion, it's just as well that we have them in separate Stages. The 340 belongs with it's long range counterparts - the B777 and B747.

But please get with Mr. Yogurtcugil for any additional type ratings you're interested in. He can give you the skinny on the requirements. Additional ratings is the chief pilots' domain, and he may want you to get some more experience in your current airplane first, though.

Caitlyn Champlin

Senior Captain, B737-800

Posted onPost created on May 12 2008 12:03 ET by Daniel Counahan

The A330 has the exact same wingspan as the A340, I have read a lot into airbus, and yes there are some differences but they are not big enough to warrant a test to get the additional ratings. The only A340's that have conciderable differences are the newer versions the 500 and 600 variants, different engine plants and can go further, the A340-300 however only goes a few hundred nm further then the A330. And in fact the A340-300 is practically the same size as the A330.
Cheers
Dan C

Daniel Counahan

Senior Captain, A320

AFV006
Senior Captain, A380-800
OLP

Joined on August 22 2004
GVA 20 Year Anniversary

"Split Personality"
Southeastern United States

36 legs, 134.9 hours
13 legs, 38.3 hours online
16 legs, 75.8 hours ACARS
2,342 legs, 9,424.9 hours total
3 legs dispatched, 0.3 hours

Posted onPost created on May 12 2008 14:07 ET by Luke Kolin

If you want to lump the 330 and 340 together, then I don't have a problem with it. Combining the 320 and 330 is significantly different because that will impact the stages for each aircraft.

Preston, I'll take a peek through the database to see what's causing the spurious message.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, A380-800

DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP

Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club

"Col. Panic"
Marietta, GA

2,306 legs, 9,290.0 hours
240 legs, 553.9 hours online
1,964 legs, 8,083.1 hours ACARS
75 legs, 196.3 hours event
2,342 legs, 9,424.9 hours total
91 legs dispatched, 66.4 hours

Posted onPost created on May 12 2008 15:12 ET by Luke Kolin

Okay, I've found it and it's a spurious warning. Log a flight or two in the A330 and it'll go away. It'll be fixed for the next build.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

Posted onPost created on May 12 2008 17:30 ET by Preston Ehrler

Alrighty, thank you. I am flying AF459 from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Paris-De Gaulle, France.

Preston Ehrler (AFV121)

Posted onPost created on May 13 2008 21:43 ET by Caitlyn Champlin

The simulation of these differences between the 330 and 340 makes the entire point moot, really. Both PSS and Wilco have gone to extreme difficulty to model what they can within the limitations of Flight Simulator's environment. I don't see why they can't be grouped, but it just seems natural for me to have the 4 engine A340 with the B747. They are used on only long haul routes, but the A330 is as well.

On the other side of the coin, Airbus also went to some difficulty to maintain a common flight deck layout to ease teh transition for pilots. This is something I highly praise Airbus for and wish Boeing had integrated the same concept, with the exception of the 757 and 767, of course.

Ryan

Caitlyn Champlin

Senior Captain, B737-800

Posted onPost created on May 14 2008 06:12 ET by Daniel Counahan

Regardless of the extra 2 engines on the A340, i think it is better to have the A330 and A340 grouped together. Because it would be better to have Kerem as the ACP of the A330 and A340, rather then having Daniel Biddle as 747-400 chief pilot and having to look after the A340's too, totally different cockpit layout, and systems then the Boeing planes.
Cheers
Dan C

Daniel Counahan

Senior Captain, A320

AFV038
Captain, A220-3(CSeries)

Joined on July 11 2005

"I like wine, women & song"
Western Europe

45 legs, 67.4 hours
42 legs, 63.1 hours online
37 legs, 57.1 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on May 14 2008 13:53 ET by Dave Eastwood

Hey welcome over Preston, I really hope you enjoy your stay.....I know I am

Dave Eastwood

Captain, A220-3(CSeries)

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