New to you

After learning to fly, checking out in a new airplane is one of the most highly anticipated flying events to follow. It's exciting, particularly if you have the opportunity to try on something fast and sophisticated. But like all good things, there's a flip side to it, particularly as you move up to larger airplanes. Airlines are a great example of this situation. With moving up to the bigger equipment comes the dreaded ground school, oral, simulator time, and checkride. For general aviation pilots, checkouts can range from casual to critical, depending on the equipment, time, and facilities available.

You have spent--or will spend--hours flying the airplane you trained in before you were allowed to solo. Then come more hours practicing maneuvers to hone your flying skills for your practical test. Now, as a certificated pilot, your checkout in an unfamiliar aircraft make and model may be reduced to a few quick turns in the practice area, followed by some landings.

Fortunately most GA airplane checkouts are informal--that is, they don't require that you pass an FAA knowledge test or practical test. However, they still require much of the same study, concentrated learning, memorization, and attention to detail. My introduction to a Piper Cub came after I had several thousand flight hours, most of them flying for my airline. A friend with lots of tailwheel time offered to check me out at a small nontowered field nearby. After a few basic pointers and some touch and goes, he said, "OK, you take it around by yourself." Amazed at his boldness, I said, "Not so fast. Let's switch seats so I can see how it flies--or rather see how poorly I can see ahead--from the back seat, where I'll be sitting when I solo." We did another few circuits and then he hopped out, telling me to "enjoy myself."

Solo, I survived the first takeoff, only to learn on the next landing that there were a few tidbits of information he'd conveniently forgotten to teach me. Our previous touch and goes had occurred with calm winds, so I'd learned his three-point landing technique fairly well. But a strong crosswind developed suddenly. In tailwheel aircraft, crosswinds call for another landing technique called a wheel landing--which my check pilot had failed to teach me. (Initial tailwheel checkouts are much more structured today, thanks to some rule changes in 1991.)

Very early in my flying career, with about 100 hours under my belt, I scared myself trying to land a Cessna 172 in a strong crosswind. My initial checkout some weeks (or was it months?) earlier had been rather cursory, and now, knees shaking with each go-around, it took several passes at the runway before I could begin to tame the airplane into a safe (read: slow enough) landing. Luckily I'd been able to go around (several times) to keep me out of trouble. During that Cub checkout several thousand hours later, however, I had no such luck. Once on the ground, I managed to ground loop the airplane on my very first touchdown!

Two very basic airplanes had created challenges--one, a Cessna 172, at the beginning of my flying days, and the other, a Piper Cub, when I had more than 10 years of flying experience. It can happen to any of us, at any time, as we encounter new flying opportunities. We need to temper the excitement of bigger and faster--or slower and very different--aircraft by paying close attention to the details required to learn new airplane skills. The process can be especially vexing as you progress from flying old-generation equipment to new glass cockpits.

After flying my airline's McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 fleet for 15 years, I found myself faced with the challenge of checking out in a glass-cockpit Boeing 757/767. It was time to go back to the basics of learning a new airplane. Many of the study techniques I used to help in my transition upgrade work well in the GA world, and will help you to absorb lots of new information quickly, while getting over the feeling of discomfort as you begin flying something new and unfamiliar.

When I'm faced with learning a new airplane, I spend some time in the cockpit to acquaint myself with the location of various switches and knobs. I review the airplane manuals as soon as I can get copies, starting with general data as well as looking over the limitations. For a light airplane, reading the introduction to the pilot's operating handbook will provide you with basic specifications; compare them to those of the aircraft you currently fly. If the wings are longer, pay extra attention when you taxi; the turning radius may be larger; and there can be other differences. I'm still a fan of trusty 3-by-5-inch index cards to note airplane stats and limitations. They're portable and provide good review. As a 757/767 captain, I mostly fly the 757 and keep my index cards handy for those occasional trips on the 767.

If you're flying a sophisticated airplane, you'll find that a formal ground school is a flood of material delivered to you fire-hose-style. If you're doing your own ground school, take the time to carefully review each system, or pay for some ground training from a good instructor if you can't attend a formal classroom session.

Gear and flap lever positions, as well as their proper operation, are real safety-of-flight gotchas, along with fuel management, stall characteristics, and emergency procedures. Write down the procedures for each maneuver that you'll be demonstrating and review them often. I've also recorded the information on a cassette or CD so I can listen to it in my car.

Your best asset as you check out in a new airplane is to establish a routine that helps you to cover all the preflight, in-flight, and postflight details. If this sounds like making yourself a good checklist, you're right. Your goal is to become familiar, comfortable, and confident so you can stay ahead of the airplane. That comes with practice, but the checklist is the real key to having a good advisor constantly at your side. If you're transitioning to a technically advanced aircraft (TAA), you'll be entering a whole new world of aircraft operation. Those of us going to glass-cockpit airliners for the first time received an extra week of training on how to "speak glass," and I still find myself scratching my head when the system doesn't respond as I'd expected.

I've found that familiarity is only the first level of learning. Then there's recognizing an error when you make one (skill level 2), then learning how to fix that error (skill level 3), followed by recognizing an error before it develops into a problem (skill level 4). The highest level of learning (skill level 5) is when you don't even think of making that wrong move because you know the consequences ahead of time. Don't expect your transition to occur overnight; the new electronic displays require a lot of practice. You'll find that there are also differences when it comes to programming a GPS to initiate navigation. Now, rather than tuning the next VOR station, you need to understand, enter, check, and recheck the routing to make sure you've actually programmed and are flying the route that you intended to fly.

The other real challenge with TAAs is the excessive amount of head-down time required to load, change, and double-check the data. Once again, I have to force myself to stay heads up when I'm in the terminal environment by asking the other pilot to do the programming. When all else fails I click off the automation and fly the airplane, just as we've all learned to do from Day 1.

Remember that regardless of what you're flying, from a basic low-and-slow trainer to the zippiest new rocket ship, the goal is to fly safely and proficiently--and keep your eyes outside the aircraft. Don't let yourself be lulled into a false sense of security by the assumed ease of it all. Taped to my instrument panel is a small placard that says: "No Aeroplane Flight is Piece of Cake."

Karen Kahn is a captain for a major U.S. airline and author of Flight Guide for Success--Tips and Tactics for the Aspiring Airline Pilot. Type-rated in the Boeing 757/767, MD-80, and Lockheed JetStar, she is an FAA aviation safety counselor who holds ATP and Gold Seal flight instructor certificates. Kahn is rated in gliders, seaplanes, and helicopters. Visit her Web site.