CR Positions for FS9

You cannot jump category accreditation from Cat 1 to Cat 4 without first passing the Cat 2 and 3 Check Rides, and you cannot apply for a CR until you have enough hours to do so. You have to achieve the following minimum requirements:  

For CR1  - 60hrs in CAT 1 (for upgrade to CAT II)
For CR2  - an additional 60hrs as a full CAT 2 pilot (for upgrade to CAT III)
For CR3  - an additional 60hrs as a full CAT 3 pilot (for upgrade to CAT IV)
For CR4  - an additional 120hrs as a full CAT 4 pilot (for upgrade to CAT V)
 

If you send in a CR and you are ineligible, it will be returned to you "unchecked". Do not get confused with the difference between the "CAT hours" and "hours" columns on the Pilot Roster. The "hours" column is the progressive total of all hours you have logged, regardless of what category they were flown in.

This is your total flown logged hours at QVA. The other column "CAT hours" is the overriding factor for Check Ride submission. This is the running total of hours you have logged in your current QVA category. You must achieve the minimum hours as stated above in your current category before you are eligible to submit the required CR.  This hour’s column is reset to 0.0 hours when you pass a CR and are promoted to the next category. As check rides can take our CFI department some time to check you will be awarded provisional status in your next CAT level.  This will be seen by a P status next to your QVA id number.  When the CFI has awarded a pass, the P status will be upgraded to full CAT level status.  If you fail, you will be reverted back to Captain level in your previous category.  If for some unlikely reason that your P status has not been looked at before you become eligible for the next CR level, you cannot sit the next Check Ride.  If this unlikely event occurs, contact QVA Operations a.s.a.p. or just drop a quick note in the ops forum directed to QVA02 Dave Thomas.

Upon a successful result of your CR, your rank will be reverted to the lowest rank, but your category will be increased giving you the next level of aircraft access and destinations in APDLS. This is in effect a promotion as it is an advance in aircraft status, but also maintains proper seniority levels. You cannot expect to be a Captain CAT 1, do a CR, and then automatically be awarded Captain CAT 2. This will also ensure a pilot has had enough flying experience in an aircraft category before attempting a CR (as in real life. You have to crawl before you can run). In essence, you have to do the time and experience before you attempt the next CR level. APDLS automated promotion hours requirements are as stated on the Pilot Roster page. You do not have to request promotion within your Category.  That process is fully automated.

FS2004 Aircraft

CR1 - QVA all white 717-200 FS2002 version. 

CR2 - QVA 737-800 VH-VXB FS9 plane.

CR3 - QVA 763, VH-ZXA is used,

CR4 QVA VH-OJD for the 744

FSX Aircraft

CR1 - Default CRJ-700

CR2 - Default 737-800

CR4 - Default 747-400

Anyone know of an FSX Airbus 330 or 767? please email me via the forums.

If you have a payware aircraft that you wish to use for your CR please mail the CFI department BEFORE flying your CR in this plane because the relevant assessor must have the same plane installed for everything to show.

FS9 CRs, the aircraft required is as per the CR applied name. i.e. CR1 717-200, the Jetstar 717-200 is to be used, This is required unfortunately as this simulation requires the particular aircraft to be already loaded into your aircraft hangar and this error message cannot be overridden.

What this means is that you fly the CR in the next category level aircraft. So it is up to you to practice, gain confidence, and more importantly, learn to fly by the numbers in that aircraft type, in your own time. A pilot cannot expect to attain accreditation without first having received training in the aircraft type being attained. That training is now UP TO YOU. You may request Charter flights in the aircraft type/level you are vying for, for these training purposes, but the hours will only be counted towards your total flying hours, not your CAT level type - they do not count for your current CAT level hours.

Hello. I have been asked to write this piece to let you know what I will be looking for in your Check Rides. The following list is not exhaustive as I will keep some points to myself, but I will be assessing the following information in your CR.

Aircraft Handling, how smooth is your input into the control surfaces; I want to see smooth transitions from banking, climbs & descents to level flight

STAR Procedures, (CR1 STAR will be optional), from CR2 onwards I expect you to be able to follow & fly a STAR procedure in accordance with the relevant information on the relevant chart, this includes speeds, longitudinal & lateral navigation of the STAR, descent profiles & missed approach procedures, as you go up in CAT there will be tighter tolerances.

Speed Management, How well do you manage your speed? Are you 20nm out and flying at Vref? I do not want to see a speed less than 200kts if you are between 20nm-15nm out, also I do not want to see speeds of 200kts if you have 4nm to run, I want to see smooth transitions between decelerations.

ILS Approaches, How well do you capture & hold an ILS? How far out? I do not want to see a 20nm final, your ILS approach should be no longer than 10nm-12nm unless depicted by the relevant ILS chart, if I see anything over 15nm then this may constitute a refly.

Also check the relevant ILS chart from Airservices Australia to ensure you descend to "not below" the platform height before LLZ capture, the platform height is depicted on the vertical profile graphical representation.

ILS approaches should be hand flown from about 4nm or the OM (Outer Marker), which ever is sooner, ILS approaches that are flown to minimums on automatic when VMC prevails may constitute a refly.

Profile, Jets are difficult beasts to master when it comes to landing, they are certainly a lot different from your average Cessna or Piper training aircraft, a nose-in landing can cost a serious amount of money. Jet aircraft normally have swept wings which are designed for high speed flight, their coefficient of lift at low speeds are very poor, to overcome this they must fly at high Alpha (angle of attack), this means when you are at Vref you should have a positive Alpha, I want to see 2° nose up in jets no later than the OM (Outer Marker) or 4DME, whichever is later.

Landing, On ILS approaches I will be looking for a touchdown on or around the “touchdown zone”, and preferably on the centreline, I will take into account crosswinds, unless there is a reason for it I want to see spoilers & reverse thrust deployed on touchdown.

Taxiing, !WARNING! ANY CR that contains an aircraft not taxiing back to the terminal and shutting down will be an automatic failure, even if the rest of your CR is spot on, I for one would not like to walk from a taxiway to the terminal, so our virtual passengers should not be expected to do the same, especially if it is raining like it always is in Melbourne. Ensure the recording of the CR video is ceased AFTER you shut down at the terminal. Remember your taxi speeds, you are limited to 20kts on the taxiways & 5kts on the aprons.

General, I want to see the whole CR flow smoothly, and that you can demonstrate that you can stay ahead of the aircraft at all times without letting the aircraft get ahead of you, I want to see a smoothly flown CR with a nice ILS approach, good speed management, a good landing and a shutdown, it hasn’t got to be perfect by any stretch, but show you have a fair understanding of what you are doing.  

Training Captain

Dean May

QVA03  

QVA's CFI Dean May in his office

When saving your CR video, please give it a title using the following format: QVA99_CRx where the "QVA99" is your QVA number and "CRx" is the CR number. So, if your QVA number is QVA10 and you are doing CR4, please name this video as QVA10_CR4.

And most important because of the excessive size of these videos, compress the video file with WINZIP before attaching it to your email, if you are to use another zip program please mail the CFI to see if he has compatible software. The ZIP file too, should follow the naming conventions please, and using the above example, your compressed video file would be called QVA10_CR4.ZIP.

Send your completed CRs to QVA Operations via this link below and it will be forwarded to the relevant assessor  

 QVA Training Assessors 

Make sure you read the below!!!  

In your e-mail text we also REQUIRE that you provide the following information. Non furbishment of all information will result in your CR not being checked, deleted and requested to be resent in the correct format.

1.      YOUR NAME AND QVA NUMBER

2.      CURRENT CATEGORY AND QVA HOURS FLOWN IN THAT CATEGORY

3.      TYPE OF A/C USED

4.      TYPE OF SCENERY USED

5.      TYPE OF EQUIPMENT USED (IE. KEYBOARD, JOYSTICK, OR YOKE & PEDALS)

6.      WHICH SIM USED – FS2004/FSX ... (THIS IS IMPORTANT GUYS)

7.      FLAP AND GEAR EXTENSION SPEEDS (SEE HINTS BELOW)

8.      AUTO BRAKES AND AUTO SPOILERS (WHEN, WHERE, & SPEEDS WHEN DEPLOYED) 

!! IMPORTANT !!

Once you have submitted your Check Ride please go to the Check Ride Submittal forum located here and make a post stating you have submitted your Check Ride, this way we will have advanced warning that it has arrived.

Continue to check your post on the forum for pending information regarding your CR.

Those pilots who fail the CR will be reverted back to a category at the discretion of the CFI.  What this means is that if you fail badly, the CFI can at his discretion revert you to any category.  Any reversion is also back to Third Officer/Training status.  Please do not take this as an insult, but this is a direct result of bad training at your old VA.  We have had occurrences of pilots who transfer to QVA, take a CR examination and cannot line up with a runway correctly, fail to slow down under 10,000 feet, extend flaps at speeds that would in actuality - physically rip them from the airframe.  We take our simulation quite seriously at QVA, but are also aware that it is "just a sim", but there are limitations even for a sim. So big "flown" hours from another VA really equate to nothing, it’s quality - not quantity at QVA. So don't despair if you are reverted back down to 737s from your beloved 767.  You will soon realise you are in good company and take the opportunity to take your simulation to a higher level with QVA.