Day 1, Indoctrination

Well I can't say there were really any less surpruses today than there were yesterday. The first surprise came when I pulled up to the ATP hangar at 7:55am this morning. As I got out of my car there was an older gentleman messing with the keypad to unlock the door. I could tell he must be new to ATP as well since he was having difficulty typing in the right code.

I walked up to the door where he was still working on the pad and gave him the correct code. I asked if he was new, and indeed he was, turns out today was his first day as well. His name is Gerald and is 45 and has been an engineer for Chrysler for the last 27 years.

After introducing ourselves and figuring out we were starting the same 90 day program together we met the site manager. The manager is a great guy and I can tell he's truly dedicated to creating the best learning atmosphere for his ATP students. Gerald and I took a 50 question Indoc exam where I missed 3 questions and Gerald missed 12. I could tell Gerald wasn't happy with his score but I tried my best to assure him I had taken the same exam during my initial ATP interview and didn't do to hot my first go at it. I also told him that he's obviously as dedicated as I am to succeeding and that I'd help him as much as possible in the book knowledge area.

The great thing is that for most of the day (8 hours) we went over aircraft systems in great detail and Gerald really showed his strengths over me when he had no problems describing engine systems and components, hydraulic systems, and electrical systems. Gerald was able to turn to me and tell me he'd help me in any way he could to help me nail down the aircraft systems. So together we're going to make a good team.

Tomorrow we'll be discussing multi-engine aerodynamics and getting hands on for 2 hours with the FRASCA which is a fight training device (basically a static flight simulator modeled exactly after the Piper Seminole).

I prmosie to take some photos ASAP.