X-Treme Training
By Les Abend
November 2008
 Wedged into a middle seat of coach, I attempted to concentrate. A 767 operating manual sat on my lap. It was as good a time as any to review again. I was deadheading to DFW for my nine-month recurrent training. It would be the first recurrent training I would attend as a check airman. And I wasn't sure what to expect.
Although I had followed my normal preparation habit, my study focus hadn't felt as intense. It was almost as if I was missing a crucial element that would be the key to a successful training experience. I suspected why.
My check airman position required me to remain more intimate with the details of our operating procedures. I was conveying a good portion of these details to pilots new on the airplane as a normal part of my routine. In that regard, my studying had become a review of material that I was already familiar with. However, I still had a pang of guilt for not applying myself as intensely.
When we arrived in DFW I trotted off the jet bridge and walked to the flight academy shuttle bus pick-up area. I was greeted by the usual glum nods of other pilots that had just deadheaded in for training. I've seen the same enthusiastic expressions on husbands forced to endure a shopping trip to the mall with their wives when it's a good boating day. As was typical, the tone of conversation was more suited for prisoners on their way to the next detention center than for airline pilots on their way to training.
"Whatcha in for?"
"Uh ... an R-9. That's the one with the LOFT, the check ride."
"Yeah, me too. Guess I'll see ya 'round the yard."
The shuttle bus rolled to a stop at the curb of the flight academy. In silence we picked up our bags, grunting as we stepped onto the sidewalk. Although I have always tried to approach my recurrent training as an opportunity to learn something new, it was often hard not to feel a sense of drudgery. But this time was different. The intimidating challenges of a check ride no longer seemed as daunting. In a way, the mystery had disappeared. In a way, I was now part of that mystery.
I glanced at the entrance steps and shook my head. After almost 24 years with the airline, the bag-drag up the steps had become a rite of passage. Why hadn't a ramp been constructed so we could roll our stuff up? Perhaps the bag-drag exercise was a symbol of overcoming adversity. Perhaps sadists enjoyed observing an aging pilot population pop a disc. Perhaps I was just getting old and cranky.
Once inside the building, I dashed to the nearest computer terminal. A quick check of the schedule indicated that my training classes had not changed. Yup ... still five days at the flight academy. For the most part, ground school was as it had always been. The airplane system review class, recurrent international class, security class and human factors class were all listed; nothing new in that department. The only difference was 10 hours of simulator time versus the standard eight hours. Two of the simulator classes were specifically for check airman. And that's where the X-treme training began. But I had two days before I would face that fun.
After a half-day of ground school, I boarded the van from the flight academy to the hotel. As is often the case, most of us find friends and familiar faces. Although I usually take refuge in my room for additional study, and then break for dinner and a beverage, this visit was an exception. It seemed that I found friends in every corner. I elected to put the books aside for another day and socialized with people I had not had the opportunity to catch up with for quite some time. Besides, someone had rented a car. Certainly the diversion would not cause me to flunk out of school.
On the second-half of the third day I walked into our assigned 767 briefing room and shook hands with my simulator partner, Larry. Larry lived in the DFW area and was an X-type check airman. For those not familiar from my previous column (August 2008), an X-type is responsible for both simulator training and regular line training. I am an L-type check airman, which means I conduct no simulator training.
As with any distinction in a given profession, a friendly rivalry exists. Whereas we L-types are initially trained a little less formally, consuming a lot less time, the X-types have an intense training program, consuming much more time (about two months more). I have a lot of respect for those pilots chosen to do that job. It requires a lot of dedication. And for me, way too much time at the flight academy. But then again, the X-type schedule is sometimes more predictable than mine.
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