sailor_pianist
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Any tips on pattern management and keeping a tight pattern? Also, at what point would you ask instructors not to coach? We're on problem 5 today in the TSS.
Tower simulator tips
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breakaway2000
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"Can you grade this problem like it was a PA?" Will quiet even the most talkative instructor. You can even bring in a grading sheet. I'll shout this until I'm blue in the face, you have to, have to, have to, be given the ability to get into a hole and dig yourself out of it, repeatedly. If the first time that happens is in a PA, that's where you see these -173 point scores on local.
As far as pattern stuff goes, the best advice is to keep it tight, short approach everything you can reasonably deem necessary, turn any crosswind early if you can deem it necessary, and work on only extending upwind/downwind the minimum time needed. Also, if you ever think something is close, the pattern traffic ALWAYS gets set around, regardless if they're first or second in the scenario. Adding another person in the pattern who was a full stop is a great way to fall behind.
Remember, your only job is to "beat" the game. Everything is on a timer, the faster your guy can get three touch and goes and full stop, the faster he is out of the problem. Conversely, if you extend unnecessarily and are loose with the pattern, you're going to end up with more people in the pattern then the problem was originally designed for, exponentially increasing your difficulty.
The academy is inversely proportionally to your skill level. The people who struggle will end up with much, much harder problems then the people who know their stuff and do well. How you can control the pattern largely dictates what group you'll fall in.
boots
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Worry about building the fundamentals and learning how the TSS operates then on 9-13 try working on your own. You will get crushed if you are just trying to beat the problem at 5. Try shit out see what works and what doesn't. Don't get in the habit of ever having aircraft do 360s and work on getting your 16 departures out clean.
Also "extend downwind x miles" is a dangerous game.
Also "extend downwind x miles" is a dangerous game.
Hissmeowra
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If you overextend a guy downwind or upwind, don't be afraid to turn the guy behind him base or crosswind to cut in front.
When an aircraft in the pattern becomes airborne, decide if you need to/how to control its crosswind turn, and do the same with the base turn when the aircraft is midfield downwind. This should help you avoid falling behind the problem and having to make reactive decisions.
Stinger
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Extend upwind. Extend downwind.
Don't do the "extend upwind 2 miles". Turn them when you want.
Know your aircraft speeds. You should never be getting a cessna confused with a Navajo if you look at the speeds on the radar.
Instructors won't know about the points, since it's a different group that does the actual evals. If you want to find out where you are, ask the instructor to just document and then talk about the problem in the debrief. I remember problem 6 being a skill check, so that's what's supposed to happen anyway if you can wait one problem.
BrocolliRob
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In my experience, the trainers don’t really understand how the QA guys actually grade so I didn’t have much luck with feedback in terms of a score. Some trainers are much more thorough than others but a lot would just say “keep your pattern tight and remember to say heavy”.
Extending upwind is huge in my opinion, if you can get to them before they turn crosswind, because almost ALWAYS, there is someone calling up from chandler to mess it up. That, and don’t let your downwind get out of control, id always try to extend the faster guys and short approach the slower ones in order to avoid having a skyhawk doing a 6 mile downwind/base/final which will always screw you over. Don’t be afraid to change to 28r if you need to. Upwind also works great for getting your 16 departures out.
Extending upwind is huge in my opinion, if you can get to them before they turn crosswind, because almost ALWAYS, there is someone calling up from chandler to mess it up. That, and don’t let your downwind get out of control, id always try to extend the faster guys and short approach the slower ones in order to avoid having a skyhawk doing a 6 mile downwind/base/final which will always screw you over. Don’t be afraid to change to 28r if you need to. Upwind also works great for getting your 16 departures out.
so don't try.sailor_pianist
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Yeah, this happened to me on the 10's and was an incredibly humbling (embarrassing) experience. Started off ok, but over-extending a fast mover ruined the problem. Did learn about ident, which is something I hadn't had to use up until that point. The 28's have been a little better, but getting the picture back quickly is my main focus
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Ident definitely helps but I'd recommend getting used to the binoculars on local. Use the lock-on if you're having trouble seeing someone. As long as you get the binoculars in the general direction they're in when you hit the lock-on it'll snap right to them.
Stinger
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Sounds like that would take way more time than saying, "aircraft left base say callsign."
Absolutely, if this every happens just say this without keying the mic. Your RPO should then tell you they call sign.
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Don't they nail you on the PAs if you do this too much?
Stinger
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Still better than getting your aircraft mixed up and causing traffic alerts.
breakaway2000
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According to the grading sheet, you get two "free", the third time is 3 points off then 1 point off for each additional time. A much better alternative then a 50/50 guess considering it's automatically 3 points off if you issue control instructions to the wrong aircraft.
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Agreed but just getting that out there so people don't think they can ident or ask for call signs nonstop.
Yes, good to clarify.
