Good morning, good afternoon and/or good evening and thank you for returning to our 5th installment in this Storyteller series focusing on A Pilot’s Life. A few things to catch you up on. In the last installment, we traveled from Ketchikan back to Seattle. This was the last flight of the month as I completed it on 31 May. As I get paid monthly, I received a nice paycheck on 1 June and have already made a few strategic purchases which will assist me in gaining more XP per flight. As you can see from the screenshot below of the main APL program screen, my bank account has had a nice $2,253.60 in it.
After purchasing two items in the APL Shop which consisted of a mobile phone and a flight bag, I now only have $983.60. These two purchases will earn me an additional 15% XP per each flight and help me to gain my promotion to the rank of Captain just a little quicker.
While I could have purchased the headset instead of the mobile phone and gained a total of 20% XP, I’m trying to be somewhat practical with these purchases. After all, who doesn’t own a cell phone in this day and age. Next month I’ll make additional purchases.
Present Day
I’m hearing about an opportunity I may soon have to transfer down to San Francisco. As a Sr. First Officer who will soon be moving up and over to the left seat as Captain, I suppose Alaska is looking to ensure I stay both motivated as well keep from burning out by flying back and forth from Sea-Tac. I must admit that I do like the idea of a change of scenery. SFO was the main hub for Virgin America and after the merger, Alaska kept SFO as a hub. I’ll be sure and keep you informed if this move becomes reality.
Flight Details
Today we’re operating Alaska flight 634 with service from Seattle down to Las Vegas. Our flight departs at 10:30 AM. Our planned fuel for this trip is 31,335 lbs and our take off weight is 162,046 lbs. with a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. Our block time is 2 hours and 38 minutes.
Flight Plan: SUMMA1 LKV RYANN J92 BTY SUNST4
Let’s Get Going
This will be a turnaround flight for me. While I enjoy the overnight stays in Vegas, my bank account can do without the possible gambling losses which might be incurred if I were to not have the best of luck. Let’s face it, my luck in Vegas the past few trips hasn’t been the best. I lost BIG TIME at the roulette table and ended up falling off the mechanical bull. But as they say….what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Today we’re flying the Boeing 737-900 with the special 100th year Boeing livery. ServAir is stocking up the aircraft galley.
Next of course comes the bags. We’re set for an on-time departure.
A little help from our friends…
Holding short at 16L
Blasting off and on the way to Vegas.
Just a little hazy this morning. We’re now above the clouds of the Seattle area. Nothing but clear skies to Vegas.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you direct your attention to the left side of the aircraft you’ll see the Vegas strip where I’m sure all of your hard earned money will be left. Welcome to Vegas Baby!
Typical Vegas weather has us landing on the 26’s.
Lake Mead in the background.
Easy does it. I personally love this photo. The sky, the shadows.
Some Southwest aircraft parked at LAS.
At our gate and shutting down. The ground crew needs to get us turned around in less than an hour.
That’s all for now. Tune back in next time for the flight back to Seattle.
Credits
If you are interested in experiencing your own “A Pilot’s Life”, I highly recommend the A Pilot’s Life, by SimBitWorld add-on for Prepar3D, FSX and X-Plane. You can learn more about the A Pilot’s Life by visiting the SimBitWorld website and/or purchase APL at SimMarket. Also, please read my full review of A Pilot’s LIfe here.
Flight Simulator: Prepar3D v4.5 (hotfix 1) Aircraft: PMDG 737-900 Airline: Alaska Airlines (ASA) ATC: VATSIM Airport Scenery: KSEA Drzewiecki Design, KLAS FlyTampa Terrain Scenery: Orbx Global Base, Orbx Vector, Orbx openLC North America, Orbx NA Pacific Northwest, Orbx Northern California, Orbx Southern California Sky/Cloud Textures: REX 5 SkyForce and REX 5 Environment Force Weather Generation: ActiveSky (ASP4) Flight Planning: SimBrief, Navigraph, FlightAware, FlightRadar24
My R&R break in Ketchikan has drawn to a close and it’s time for me to get back to work. Perhaps not as much as I want to, but truly need to. It’s quickly approaching the end of the month of May (as I’m writing this) and as we only get paid once per month, I need to rack up as many flight hours as possible. This flight back to Seattle will be the last flight of the month. As also mentioned on the S1, E2 update, this flight also completes my current schedule with Alaska. I will receive another schedule upon my return to Sea-Tac. I’m still thinking about my future and most likely will discuss that next time.
Present Day
I truly enjoyed the past few days I’ve spent in Ketchikan. But it’s time for me to return back to work. Once again we have beautiful weather here and this will be a late afternoon departure back to Seattle. While the Ketchikan area has many endearing qualities, I think the people are what I truly like about my visits here.
Flight Details
Today we’re operating Alaska flight 9248 with non-stop service from Ketchikan back to Seattle. This flight originated in Anchorage and many of our passengers were part of that flight. Our flight departs at 19:35. Our planned fuel for this trip is 15,743 lbs and our take-off weight is 149,457 lbs. with a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. Block time is 2 hours.
Flight Plan: ANN YJQ YYJ MARNR7
Let’s get going…
We’re in our standard livery today for this B738. We’re ready to go and just waiting on the ground crew to disconnect ground services and get the tug connected. Time is money…
Cleared to start engines and engine #2 is spinning up.
As we taxi up the hill towards runway 11, the sun is setting.
We’re lined up and waiting for our take-off clearance. We had a departing Cessna in front of us. While we have no worries from his lack of wake turbulence, the last thing that pilot wants to see in his rear-view mirror is a Boeing 738. But he’s headed for Sitka, so he’ll be turning and proceeding NW soon.
With the departing Cessna out of the way, it’s wheels up for Alaska 9248.
Continuing our climb up to FL350.
Beautiful weather for flying.
That just about does it for the sun for this day.
And now for the wing view.
Of course the problem with flying at night is…..
Cleared to land runway 16L at Sea-Tac.
Just a few more seconds…..
There we go…a smooth touchdown. Yea…I suppose it’s also good to be back home.
Parked at the gate and beginning our shutdown checklist.
As previously stated, this flight marks the end of my schedule. We get 10 flights scheduled to us at one time. My new schedule set has me returning back to Las Vegas, Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City and finally back up to Juneau.
As I don’t want to commit to any decisions at this time, I most likely will take the Las Vegas flights out and back. I should then be close to the end of the 7 day waiting period on my Sr. First Officer contract and will look at all my options. The deciding factors will be hourly salary and routes. As you can tell from the image below, these are the flights I’ve completed with Sun Country (based in KMSP) and Alaska (based in Seattle). I’d also still love to get hired by a 5 star airline like American, United etc. Time will tell.
Thanks for reading. I’ll keep you posted on my decisions. Talk to you once again soon.
Credits
If you are interested in experiencing your own “A Pilot’s Life”, I highly recommend the A Pilot’s Life, by SimBitWorld add-on for Prepar3D, FSX and X-Plane. You can learn more about the A Pilot’s Life by visiting the SimBitWorld website and/or purchase APL at SimMarket. Also, please read my full review of A Pilot’s LIfe here.
Flight Simulator: Prepar3D v4.5 (hotfix 1) Aircraft: PMDG 737-800 Airline: Alaska Airlines (ASA) ATC: VATSIM Airport Scenery: KSEA Drzewiecki Design, Orbx Ketchikan Terrain Scenery: Orbx Global Base, Orbx Vector, Orbx openLC North America, Orbx NA Pacific Northwest, NA Pacific Fjords Sky/Cloud Textures: REX 5 SkyForce and REX 5 Environment Force Weather Generation: ActiveSky (ASP4) Flight Planning: SimBrief, Navigraph, FlightAware, FlightRadar24
Thank you for returning for another edition of our “A Pilot’s Life” Storyteller series. When we were last together (S1, E2) I had just completed a flight from Seattle up to Ketchikan, Alaska. I mentioned I planned to spend a few days of R&R while there. So this edition won’t really be so much about the APL application as it’s just going to serve as a brief break from flying jets and give me some time to enjoy flying a little lower and slower and taking in all the eye candy that is this region of Alaska and Canada.
Present Day
I’ve been in Ketchikan the past couple of days and have just one full day before I’m due to return back to Seattle on Alaska flight 9249. This will complete my third schedule set with Alaska and I’ll apply for a new set and then see how things look once I’m eligible to apply for other airlines. But this week has all been about having some fun. The weather has been truly amazing with VFR flight conditions each day. So far I’ve managed to spend some time flying, fishing and just doing a little exploring. Mostly I’ve been able to relax and enjoy my time off. They say “membership has its privileges” and rightfully so. This is a pretty darn good life if you ask me.
As this is my last full day, I thought I would rent a Cessna 182 and depart Ketchikan and head east to Stewart, British Columbia, Canada. As I’m also trying to make friends where I can, I asked if there was anything which needed to go to or picked up from Stewart. As long as it would safely fit in a 182, I’m happy to take it. I’m really just planning to fly to Stewart, land and have lunch. Perhaps stroll through town and then head back to Ketchikan.
Doug (the guy that works at the rental desk) knows a guy that knows a guy that knows this other guy. Anyway, there is a package on Annette Island which needs to go to Dawson Creek. The timing isn’t an issue and they figure someone in Stewart will move it along. So the plan will be to depart Ketchikan, fly the 18nm to Annette Island, load the package and then head 76nm northeast to Stewart, BC. Sounds like a fun day.
Of course, we’re not going to fly as the crow would. Especially not on the second leg. I’ll take the safer and longer route and fly along the Portland Canal which makes up the border between the US (Alaska) and British Columbia (Canada).
It’s mid-morning and I show up at the Ketchikan rental facility and directed down to the lower level where my Cessna 182 is waiting for me.
As I’m taxing up the ramp, I see another Alaska 737-800 has just arrived. Most likely from Seattle.
The wind this morning is out of the north, so we’ll be departing runway 29.
Holding short runway 29 awaiting an approaching DHC-2 Beaver on final.
We’re issued our take-off clearance and we get moving. We were allowed to do a 180 degree turn and proceed direct to Annette Island.
Runway in sight, first leg is almost in the books.
We accept the package and quickly resume our travels. My stomach is already growling. I’ve heard there is a little cafe that makes a great burger in Stewart.
We’re back in the air and made our way across Duke Island and the Revilagigedo Channel. We’re now entering the canal. At this point in our flight we experienced a bit of turbulence as we crossed the channel. But all seems smooth for now.
Besides my stomach rumbling, we’re in no hurry and making great time. This second leg is obviously made longer since we didn’t go direct. But hey…I’m on vacation and the weather is amazing. So are the views.
At this point in the flight I’ve switched the auto-pilot off and just enjoying hand flying the aircraft along the canal. The air is nice and smooth.
I begin the descent into Stewart and the ride gets pretty bumpy and choppy.
The approach is an easy one. But at this point in the flight I’m feeling some pretty gnarly cross-wind action. Each time I think about taking a screenshot, I’m reminded I need to concentrate.
On the ground, safely….not too sure just how hungry I am at this point. But I’m sure once I park up and walk around a bit I’ll feel better.
Just spoke to the guy in the yellow shirt. He landed about 10 minutes before I did. I swear I saw him kneel down and kiss the ground just a minute ago. LOL It was a fun approach and landing. I’m thankful for rudder pedals.
Time to go find that $100 hamburger now. That older gentleman sitting down over there will take the package from me.
It’s been a fun, short and very adventurous flight. Looking forward to the return later this afternoon, then it’s back in the Boeing 738 and back to Sea-Tac.
Thanks for reading!
JT
Credits
If you are interested in experiencing your own “A Pilot’s Life”, I highly recommend the A Pilot’s Life, by SimBitWorld add-on for Prepar3D, FSX and X-Plane. You can learn more about the A Pilot’s Life by visiting the SimBitWorld website and/or purchase APL at SimMarket. Also, please read my full review of A Pilot’s LIfe here.
Flight Simulator: Prepar3D v4.5 (hotfix 1) Aircraft: A2A Cessna 182 Airline: n/a ATC: VATSIM Airport Scenery: Orbx Ketchikan (PAKT), Orbx Stewart (CZST) Terrain Scenery: Orbx Global Base, Orbx Vector, Orbx openLC North America, Orbx NA Pacific Northwest, NA Pacific Fjords Sky/Cloud Textures: REX 5 SkyForce and REX 5 Environment Force Weather Generation: ActiveSky (ASP4) Flight Planning: SimBrief, Navigraph, FlightAware, FlightRadar24, SkyVector
Thank you for returning for another edition in the “A Pilot’s Life” Storyteller series. I’m still trying to work out the title format I’ll use. For now, I’m going with Series 1, Edition 2. In each of these updates, I’ll spend a little bit of time catching you up on flights I don’t cover in detail. This way you are somewhat aware of the progress I’m making as I continue my APL career.
After arriving at Sea-Tac from our flight from San Francisco (S1, E1), I had a trip out to Salt Lake City and back to Sea-Tac that same day. These two flights increased my APL XP up to 235.20. I have just over 414 XP points to accumulate until I’m eligible for my promotion to the rank of Captain. (See below)
In addition, this trip up to Ketchikan and back will complete this assigned schedule set. As I can’t consider options from other airlines at this time, I’ll need to accept at least one more schedule with Alaska. If you are new to APL or not familiar with how it works, once you accept a position at a new airline or you receive a promotion during your employment with an airline, you can’t accept a new offer until a period of 7 calendar days have passed. As I was promoted to Sr. First Officer on 26 May, I will not be eligible to accept or apply for any other jobs until 2 June.
As for my plan after 2 June, well…..I really don’t know. I first will take a look at the job offers I receive. If these are lucrative enough, I will certainly consider them. The challenge for me is with 3rd party add-on scenery. The add-on airport scenery I own is mostly concentrated in the USA. So accepting a job with any of the major US based carriers will certainly give me plenty of opportunities. However, accepting a job with a European (or any other region) will certainly give me some interesting route opportunities which obviously will lead to some interesting stories to tell. Again…time will tell.
Present Day
The day has come for my flight up to Ketchikan, Alaska. A number of years ago, I spent some time up in Ketchikan piloting small bush and float planes hauling paying customers to secluded hunting and fishing spots. While there isn’t much money to be made (certainly compared to a commercial airline pilot), I could certainly see myself returning back to the slower life which can be found in places like Ketchikan and Juneau at some point in the future. But of course, time will tell.
The flight today is an afternoon flight out of Sea-Tac in the Boeing 737-800. We’re in our special livery titled “Spirit of the Islands”. You can read more about this special livery here or watch the short video below. The livery honors the Aloha State.
The weather today in Seattle is in rare form. Today is one of those days where (while it’s a great day to fly) you are almost wishing you were flying so you can actually get outside and do something. But I need the work as I am still paying off the student loans. The great news is I have arranged for a few days R&R in Ketchikan. I am going to visit some friends for a few days and will catch a flight back to Seattle later in the week. Weather permitting, I might even rent a float plane and do some exploring.
Flight Details
Today we’re operating Alaska flight 179 with non-stop service between Seattle to Ketchikan, Alaska. Our flight is scheduled to depart at 16:30 from gate N13. Our planned fuel for this trip is 17, 111 lbs. and our take-off weight is 148,985 lbs. Our cruising altitude today is FL340 and we have a block time of two hours, three minutes.
Flight Plan: BANGR9 PANGL QQ PR/N0338F 160 V309 ANN
Walk Around
As the turnaround at Sea-Tac is a quick one today, I’m conducting the walk around while the bags are going in. But all looks good with our aircraft today.
Looks like that’s one heavy suitcase. I’d offer him a hand, but you know…union rules and all that. Remember, bend at the knees.
These guys are good. But of course with Sea-Tac being our main hub, you would expect nothing less. Catering, fueling and the last of the bags are going on. Time to get rolling.
It’s time to push back
It’s a busy day today at Sea-Tac. We have company traffic flying in and out, plus an American and Delta are also preparing to pushback.
We’ve been cleared for engine start. Starting Engine #2.
Good engine start on #2, starting engine #1
As we taxi out to 16L, a Virgin America (now of course Alaska Airlines) Airbus lands. I guess we haven’t got around to painting that aircraft just yet.
Alaska 179, Line up and Wait 16L
Positive Rate, Gear Up!
Beginning our right turn to join the SID.
Wing shot…..Oh Yea!
The view from the office.
Climbing out over Vancouver Island. The views are rather impressive this afternoon.
Beginning our descent. We’re about to cross over Annette Island and the Annette Island Airport (ANN) is visible through the clouds. ANN served as the major airport from the WWII era until the early 70’s.
Slowing our speed as we continue to descend. The appearance of the water is very calm.
The approach into Ketchikan for runway 11 brings us in almost parallel to the airport, then fly out approx. 25 nm. Then we do a easy 180 degree turn. Starting to make our turn now.
Looking forward to spending a few days flying around Ketchikan and exploring. The weather forecast is calling for excellent VFR flying conditions.
Completing our 180 degree turn. As we roll out the runway should be directly in front of us.
We’re cleared for the approach runway 11.
Cleared to land, runway 11
Clear of the active and beginning our downhill taxi.
Just as we roll in, a company 737-800 is about to pushback for Anchorage.
At the gate and shutting down. In just a few minutes I’ll begin my short vacation break in one of my favorite places in the world. I think before I head to the hotel, I’ll walk down and see if there are any aircraft to rent.
Well that just about does it for this edition. I certainly hope you are enjoying reading these as much as I’m enjoying flying and writing about my adventures. I hope you’ll check back next week for another adventure. It might just be a mini-adventure as I rent an airplane and fly around Ketchikan before heading back down to Seattle. Talk to you soon.
Credits
If you are interested in experiencing your own “A Pilot’s Life”, I highly recommend the A Pilot’s Life, by SimBitWorld add-on for Prepar3D, FSX and X-Plane. You can learn more about the A Pilot’s Life by visiting the SimBitWorld website and/or purchase APL at SimMarket. Also, please read my full review of A Pilot’s LIfe here.
Flight Simulator: Prepar3D v4.5 (hotfix 1)
Aircraft: PMDG 737-800
Airline: Alaska Airlines (ASA)
ATC: VATSIM
Airport Scenery: KSEA Drzewiecki Design, Orbx Ketchikan
Terrain Scenery: Orbx Global Base, Orbx Vector, Orbx openLC North America, Orbx NA Pacific Northwest, NA Pacific Fjords
Sky/Cloud Textures: REX 5 SkyForce and REX 5 Environment Force
Weather Generation: ActiveSky (ASP4)
Flight Planning: SimBrief, Navigraph, FlightAware, FlightRadar24
Welcome to the first series and first edition of “A Pilot’s Life” Storyteller Series. For more context on what this storyteller series is about, please read Return of the Flight Sim Storyteller. This will bring you up to speed and set the stage for this first edition.
Commercial Break
LOL OK….I figure this is as good a place as any to plug my new Flight Sim Project, Flight Sim Helpers. Flight Sim Helpers is my way of giving back to the community which has been so good to me for over 35 years. The concept of Flight Sim Helpers, is to help those who are just starting out in the wonderful hobby of flight simulation. However, regardless if you are brand new or a seasoned veteran, all are welcome. I’m actually hoping to recruit others who are knowledgeable in FSX, P3D and X-Plane to serve as moderators and subject matter experts. If you are interested, please let me know. For now, please visit and join the Flight Sim Helpers Facebook Group and also check out the Flight Sim Helpers website. Thank you and I’ll now proceed with the story.
Present Day
Once again I had an overnight layover in the Bay Area. This time at SFO. I enjoyed a nice steak at the hotel in celebration of my new promotion. Looking at my schedule, I’m due to fly back to Seattle then out to Salt Lake City and then back up to Ketchikan, Alaska. Oh…my favorite. But I need to get through the next few days first.
The crew shuttle picks us up at our hotel at 4:30 AM sharp. It really feels like we only just arrived. But I had the rest required by the FAA and anxious to get back to sunny Seattle (NOT). It’s been raining all up and down the West Coast of the US the past several days. We have a great crew with us today, so we expect no issues. Of course I’m dreaming of my next promotion which will finally have me at the rank of Captain. But I’ve gotta grind it out from 212 XP up to 650 XP for this one. But XP points do come a little quicker with each promotion. As a comparison, at FO I earned just a little over 5.0 XP on KSEA to KOAK. However, with Sr. FO on the flight from KSEA to KSFO, I earned almost 8 XP. As soon as I get paid (end of the month), I’ll purchase a mobile phone which will earn me a 10% XP bonus each flight.
Flight Details
This morning my captain and I will be operating Alaska flight 1737, non-stop service from San Francisco to Seattle. Our flight is scheduled to depart at 6:00 AM from gate 52B. Our planned fuel for this morning is 16,720 lbs and our take-off weight is 148,143 lbs. Our cruising altitude will be FL360 and we have a block time of 2 hours, 9 minutes. We anticipate departing from runway 28L.
Flight Plan: TRUKN2 DEDHD DCT RBL DCT LML HAWKZ7
Walk Around
As Sr. First Officer, it’s my job today to conduct the walk around inspection of our Boeing 737-800. This is the first flight of the day for this aircraft and the bags and cargo haven’t arrived yet.
Almost done, checking all lights and this aircraft is looking good.
Here Comes the Bags
Obviously we can’t go anywhere without our passengers and all their bags.
Time for push-back
With our passengers, bags and a small amount of cargo loaded onto our Boeing 737-800, it’s time to close the doors and push back from the gate. The skies are looking a bit rough this morning, but we expect no departure delays this morning.
After a brief taxi, we have arrived at runway 28L.
ASA 1737 is wheels up and on our way to Sea-Tac.
Making our right turn and headed east towards OAK.
The obligatory wing shot.
Making our way along the SID or Standard Instrument Departure, just a slight chop as we continue our climb. We’ll keep the cabin crew in their seats a bit longer, but reports are smooth skies above FL200.
It’s complete cloud cover as we make our way through northern California and into Oregon.
At FL360, we can relax a few minutes before we need to start planning our descent and arrival into Seattle.
Monitoring a thunderstorm as we cruise above Portland.
As we begin our approach and descent into the Seattle area, a little drag is required to meet the speed restrictions of the STAR or Standard Terminal Arrival Route.
Runway 34C is in sight. No auto-land required today. The Sr. First Officer has control.
I think it’s going to be a beautiful day in Seattle today. This makes a nice change.
Clear 34C, Cross 34R and taxi to the gate. Note the other Alaska B738 which arrived just before us.
Parked at the Alaska terminal Sea-Tac.
I’m due to report to another aircraft and Captain for a rotation down to Salt Lake City and back in the Boeing 737-900. Since I only have default scenery for SLC, I will return with my “A Pilot’s Life” Storyteller Series in a few days for my trip to Ketchikan, Alaska. That’ll be fun.
Until then…
Happy Flying!
Jerry
Credits
If you are interested in experiencing your own “A Pilot’s Life”, I highly recommend the A Pilot’s Life, by SimBitWorld add-on for Prepar3D, FSX and X-Plane. You can learn more about the A Pilot’s Life by visiting the SimBitWorld website and/or purchase APL at SimMarket. Also, please read my full review of A Pilot’s LIfe here.
Flight Simulator: Prepar3D v4.5 (hotfix 1)
Aircraft: PMDG 737-800
Airline: Alaska Airlines (ASA)
ATC: VATSIM
Airport Scenery: KSFO FlightBeam, KSEA Drzewiecki Design
Terrain Scenery: Orbx Global Base, Orbx Vector, Orbx openLC North America, Orbx NA Pacific Northwest, NA Northern California
Sky/Cloud Textures: REX 5 SkyForce and REX 5 Environment Force
Weather Generation: ActiveSky (ASP4)
Flight Planning: SimBrief, Navigraph, FlightAware, FlightRadar24
Once upon a time, a few of us flight sim bloggers were into storytelling through our writings and images. This was really before the YouTube thing took off. A few years in, I took the turn down the path of Twitch and YouTube and mostly used the blog for “how to” type articles. Essentially I sort of shelved the storytelling articles a few years ago. My other blogging friends also seem to have dropped out of the blogosphere. That’s sad….as several of them were really good at what they did. But I suppose the trend is more towards watching flight sim livestreams, requesting songs via YouTube and watching someone fly from point A to point B. Nothing wrong with that….at all! I just learned it wasn’t my cup of tea to be that type of content creator.
A few days ago I posted a couple of screenshots over on the “A Pilot’s Life – SimBitWorld” Discord server regarding my quickly approaching promotion to Sr. First Officer. At the time I was less than one XP point away from the promotion and would certainly secure it on my flight from Oakland, CA back to SeaTac. If you haven’t heard about “A Pilot’s Life” by SimBitWorld, then please read my review of this add-on application which has been developed for all major flight sim platforms including Prepar3D, FSX and X-Plane. Anyway, one of the other APL pilots commented “Love your stories, maybe you should write a diary flying APL and the adventures you are facing.” Actually…I agree! So let’s do this!
Is the Blogosphere Dead?
A couple of thoughts come to mind when I ask myself that question. First, my long-term readers will know how I often like to intermix music lyrics or song titles (especially from the 80’s) into my writings. Has blogging suffered the same fate as that of the radio star (Video Kill the Radio Star)? My second thought has to do with the decline of the book store. The major shopping mall I visit regularly is one of those massive double-decker types. When I first moved to the area over 20 years ago, this shopping mall had 2-3 book stores. One of which took up both floors. Today…there are none. Not a single one. We have to drive a few miles down the road to find one of the last major brick and mortar book stores. But….the stats on my website still tell me that I receive plenty of visitors each day. The vast majority of these visitors show up for my flight sim content, so I’ll give it a whirl.
Return of the Flight Sim Storyteller
Before I get going with the first entry (coming next week), allow me to bring you up to speed on my APL career thus far. I feel this is necessary just to bring things current. I purchased APL back in mid April. So at the time of this writing, I’ve been logging hours for about 6 weeks. As I explained in my review, everyone starts off with zero hours and the rank of Junior First Officer. I was hired by Sun Country Airlines (SCX) and based in Minneapolis KMSP. I flew mostly the Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 on routes in the eastern portion and Midwest of the US. These routes took me to cities like Chicago, Memphis, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Atlanta, Washington DC, Cincinnati and Denver.
After working my way through two flight schedules, and accumulating 50 XP I was promoted to First Officer and after fulfilling the terms of that new contract, I wanted to make a change in the hopes of gaining a higher hourly wage and different routes. I was offered the current job I have now with Alaska Airlines and moved to Seattle.
I began my work with Alaska Airlines on 10 May and my first flight was from Sea-Tac down to Las Vegas. My flights with Alaska has taken me to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland in the Southwest portion of the US. I’ve also had flights up to Juneau, Sitka and my favorite Alaskan airport of Ketchikan. I hope to return to Ketchikan very soon.
Upon recently arriving into Oakland, I was less than 1 XP away from my promotion to Sr. First Officer. I had a overnight layover in Oakland and returned back to Sea-Tac the following morning. Upon landing and arriving in the crew office I was presented with my Sr. First Officer certificate and a new contract guaranteeing me a new salary of $39.39 per hour. The terms of the contract state I must continue to work for Alaska Airlines for another 7 days. I didn’t have much time to celebrate as I was due to fly back down to California soon after signing my new contract.
What’s Next
Initially when I began typing this article, it was going to contain the first installment of my “A Pilot’s Life” Storyteller series with a flight from San Francisco back to Seattle. But I realized it might make for a really long first edition, so I will use this post to just bring you up to speed and I’ll return with the first edition early next week. As for how frequently these will come out….for now, we’ll just have to see.
Something very cool has recently made its way onto the flight simulation scene and I’m truly excited to have the opportunity to showcase it here for your review. It’s called A Pilot’s Life. A Pilot’s Life is a payware software application available from SimMarket which was developed by Simbitworld. The cost of the software is $19.49 US (15.05 GBP, 16.75 EUR). The description as stated on SimMarket reads “A Pilot’s Life application has the aim of giving purpose to flight simulation enthusiasts.” In the short time I’ve had access to it, I can certainly say that it lives up to that claim 100%.
Before I start this product review. Please allow me to get the fine print out of the way.
The product I am reviewing was purchased by me and for my own personal use. I receive absolutely no compensation of any form (cash, credit, discounts, promises) for reviewing this product. I have not contacted, nor have I been contacted by the vendor to provide this product review. The opinions expressed (good or bad) are my own, your mileage may vary.
I’ve been involved in flight simulation since the early to mid 1980’s. I’ve talked about how in the early days (before the Internet as we know it) my friends and I would fly our aircraft on our Commodore 64 computers and track our flights on a Big Chief tablet, using a #2 pencil. (Hey it beats slate and chalk) As the Internet age developed, Virtual Airlines (VA’s) roared onto the scene which (at the time) also “gave purpose” to the hobby. Over the years I’ve been involved with many great (and some not so great) VA’s and held just about every staff position from Pilot to CEO. Virtual Airlines are a fantastic way to experience the life of an airline pilot and also meet likeminded individuals who in my case have become dear friends in the process.
A Pilot’s Life
I’ve thought a lot about how I would attempt to describe A Pilot’s Life. While it’s not a virtual airline in the way you may think and it’s also not an airline simulation type program similar to Air Hauler 2. In very simple terms, it’s a personal virtual aviation career simulation. But I might be placing the cart ahead of the horse…allow me to first talk about the system requirements, purchase, setup and use of A Pilot’s Life.
System Requirements
Of course you’re going to need a flight simulator. A Pilot’s Life supports FSX, P3D and X-Plane. The only add-on that’s required is FSUIPC (FSX/P3D) or XPUIPC (X-Plane) and the free versions of both will work. Finally, a permanent internet connection is required which is pretty much standard flare when using ACARS type programs. The only current operating system supported is Windows.
Purchase
As previously mentioned, the A Pilot’s Life application is available from SimMarket. The cost as mentioned in the first paragraph is (in my opinion) fair for what you get and for what it offers. Keep in mind that the price includes both the software and the services behind the scenes that essentially drive the mechanics of the program.
Download/Installation/Activation
If you’ve purchased add-ons from online retailers before (especially SimMarket) then you already should be familiar with how it all works. Basically you purchase A Pilot’s Life via SimMarket and after the financial transaction is complete you’ll be able to download the application from your SimMarket account. The application download is just under 4 MB in size. Once downloaded, just launch the installer. During the installation process a shortcut icon will be placed on your desktop.
Once the installation process is completed (don’t blink, because you’ll miss it), just launch A Pilot’s Life via the desktop shortcut. The application will prompt you to enter the serial key to validate and installation and activation is complete. A Pilot’s Life will proceed to request a few additional pieces of information so an account can be setup. This includes you selecting a username, adding your email address and setting up a password. Remember, A Pilot’s Life is both a software front-end with a supporting web accessed back-end.
Hats off to the developer for developing an easy and intuitive setup process for the application. Being the typical guy who refuses to stop and ask for directions, when I see a software application that I can setup without having to read a manual, I’m a very happy person. A Pilot’s Life is just such an application.
Really the only initial setup which needs to be done is to tell the A Pilot’s Life application which type of aircraft you desire to use with the system. For obvious reasons, only tick the boxes for the aircraft you have in your virtual fleet of aircraft. All the common types of aircraft which are represented in the payware and even some freeware types are available to select. This includes aircraft such as the Boeing 737, 757, 767, 777, 787 and 747 (including all variants). In addition, the popular Airbus aircraft including A318, 319, 320, 321 etc. in all variants are also available to select. Just select the aircraft you desire to fly and that’s about all there is to it.
The main settings screen where you can change password and other account variables. Click the “SET” button to access the licensing and certification screen. See next screenshot.
The Pilot Licensing and Certification screen is where you select the aircraft you would like to use with the application. For obvious reasons, only select the aircraft you have in your sim and those you desire to fly.
After completing the aircraft selection, click Save and really the setup is all complete. It’s time to go get a job!
A Pilot’s Life – Your New Career
A Pilot’s Life career system assumes you’ve already completed all your flight training and considers you as a junior first officer. So there is no requirement to further grind the hours away in a Cessna as you work to get your PPL. You already have been there, done that and have the t-shirt to prove it. But you are unemployed and most likely need to start paying off those student loan debts. Great News! Employment offers await you.
Unlike your typical virtual airline where you move up the ranks based on flight hours alone, A Pilot’s Life is based on XP or Experience Points. XP is earned (or lost) based on flight time, pilot rank and landing rate. The longer the flight the greater the XP earning potential. In addition, the higher the pilot rank you have, the more XP you’ll earn. But keep in mind that landing rates will also influence XP gain per flight negatively. Basically, keep those landing rates under –300 ft/min and your XP modifier will be 100%. Anything greater than –300 and your modifier percentage drops. This is all covered in the user manual.
In the screen below, just click View Offers.
Now here’s where things became slightly confusing for me. Because I’m the typical guy, I do first and read the manual later. By the way, the user manual can be found by clicking HELP or via this link. Anyway, I wanted to start my career with a US based airline. Ideally that airline would have been American Airlines. American would give me the complete line of aircraft options I enjoy flying and as I’ve been involved with American VA’s in the past, I’m fairly familiar with their route network. However, I failed to remember that I’m a junior first officer and not only that, I’m an un-employed junior first officer. The system considers American Airlines to be a full five star airline and again…I’m just an unemployed junior first officer. So come on Jerry. Let’s work our way up.
When you first get started, you’ll always have a few offers available which you can apply for and start your career immediately. I really wanted to start with an airline where I could fly at least the Boeing 737/738. I don’t own any descent regional jet payware aircraft and I didn’t want to spend the money and take the time to learn any just to get things started. So I kept restarting my career (this option is available in Settings) until I had a US based airline which operated the Boeing 737-700 and 737-800. This US based airline is Sun Country. I also found a Sun Country livery for both the 700/800 variants via PMDG’s livery manager.
From what I was told on Discord, if you apply for an airline which you haven’t received an existing offer for, these applications are reviewed every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. So the likelihood of a one star pilot being hired by a 4-star or 5-star airline was highly unlikely. Understandably so!
After accepting the offer with Sun Country Airlines, I was presented with a contract of employment (see below). While there’s really no “fine print”, one very key point to understand is you can’t apply for, nor will you be offered any additional job offers for a period of 7 days.
With a signed employment contract in hand, I was eager to get my first flight underway. As my time is somewhat limited, I selected the option for “short-haul” flights for my schedule. My first schedule was assigned to me and as I’m based in Minneapolis KMSP the first flight is a flight down to Atlanta and back.
The SimBitWorld – A Pilot’s Life application is basically an ACARS system and tracks all aspects of your flight via the FSUIPC integration. It works just like any other ACARS system where you’ll need to click a button on the application to start the flight tracking (typically done while at the gate, engines off and parking brake set) and then click a button at the completion of your flight (again typically done once you arrive at the gate, engines have been shut down and parking brake set).
As you can see from the image below, I’ve completed my very first flight with Sun Country airlines. I operated this flight in the Boeing 738, had a landing rate of –89 ft/min, earned 2.99 XP.
Below is my overall career progress with Sun Country. Pay checks are issued at the first of each month. So I may need to survive on pretzels and water…but I think I’ll make it.
As I arrived into Atlanta a bit late, I’ll layover in a hotel and fly the flight tomorrow back to KMSP. Then it looks like I’ll be going to Denver and back, then Dallas/Ft. Worth and back and so on and so on. From what I understand, you can skip next flight only 5 times per month. As I typically always fly from the last point I landed, it’s unlikely I’ll cancel flights returning back to base. However, I might skip flights to airports from time to time where I don’t have any add-on scenery. We’ll see….
As I stated near the top of this writing, A Pilot’s Life is like a virtual aviation career simulation more than it is a virtual airline or complete airline simulation. While I used Air Hauler 2 for a few months, I neglected it and didn’t make any money as I forgot to keep my hired pilots busy. SimBitWorld’s – A Pilot’s Life is just about YOU and your career!
As for me and my career? I’m going to spend the next week flying for Sun Country and see what offers I receive. My ultimate goal will be to work hard and get hired at American Airlines. How long this takes is unclear at this time. But I’ll certainly update you as I progress. I suspect I’ll need to just pay my dues and grind it out by either staying at Sun Country (pending I continue to get the type of routes I like) or bounce around based on pay/route opportunities as I continue to progress from JFO, FO and SFO. Remember, it’s all about the immersion.
But he’s headed for Sitka, so he’ll be turning and proceeding NW soon.
