It has been eight months now since the ink dried on my ATP and Learjet type rating, and I am just now getting my feet damp. Though I had some wonderful introductory flights in Elite Air’s Lear 31A this past summer, it hasn’t been until a recent spate of trips that I have really gotten a sense of the airplane and the life of a Part 135 first officer. What a ride it has been.
FlightSafety in Atlanta took this turboprop pilot of a certain age and introduced him to the wonders of the two-pilot cockpit and speeds and altitudes with which he possessed no actual familiarity. I spent most of those two weeks in awe and a flurry of memorization. I was dimly aware of the first officer to my right, but had no idea how hard he was working to make me look like I knew what I was doing. It wasn’t until last February that I got to make several trips and find out what this is really about.
