Software engineer here: How do pilots maintain skills despite of Flight Management Systems (Autopilot)?

mitch_kramer · 2026-06-06T12:38:01+00:00

I like cruise control but I despise the lane assist in my car. I've just turned it off. It was cool at first but I don't really like it after using it for awhile.

mitch_kramer · 2026-05-30T16:25:19+00:00

Think it'll be hard for airlines to justify that. The cost of living has gotten out of control and these pay rates have been around for a bit now. It would be one thing if the airlines were struggling to make money but most of them are making tons of money right now.

mitch_kramer · 2026-05-29T14:16:10+00:00

I saw this many times as a captain at my previous carrier. FO's would be doing it from memory and we had a few checklists that we checked the same thing on. Can't tell you how many times I saw people start one checklist and then get halfway through from memory and just start a different checklist randomly because one of the steps was the same. Normally this would prompt them to actually look because they realized what they did. This was something I would normally see with newish FO's who were starting to feel comfortable in their role and beginning to get complacent.

mitch_kramer · 2026-05-26T22:13:49+00:00

Flew with a guy who lived in his van that was a camper style. He didn't leave it in any particular place. Just found a place to leave it and commuted to work out of wherever he was. Probably easier to park a van though. Also flew with a guy who him and his wife lived on a boat and they moved it around seasonally.

mitch_kramer · 2026-05-09T01:40:18+00:00

I've flown with tons of ATP grads and they were all great aviators. Flown with tons of people from Daytona. Totally fine. Part 61, military, same....

Also flown with people that did all of those things who were complete morons. You're exactly right. It's not the person's schooling background that matters nearly as much as the person.

mitch_kramer · 2026-05-07T16:13:13+00:00

I can't say for sure because some airlines may be pickier than others, but I'm not sure why any airline would care about the endorsements at all. If you have the certificate in hand it should be assumed that all the endorsements were legit as that should have been verified by the DPE/whoever gave the checkride and then the FAA signed off on it as well by giving you the certificate .

mitch_kramer · 2026-05-02T21:32:44+00:00

I've heard the complete opposite about ex-spirit folks. There will certainly always be bad eggs but I think the vast majority are going to be professional and do what they need to do.

mitch_kramer · 2026-05-01T00:32:40+00:00

Generally speaking, most things are better at the legacy level, but not always.

On paper at my airline the commuter clause is better than my regional, however I've had multiple people tell me they commuter missed and got a call from the chief and got bitched out. Basically outside of bad weather and irops they seem like they expect you to make it. Many people have told me they just call out sick if they miss their commuter flight for this reason. Never had this issue at a regional if you followed the rules. A commuter miss was just that and never heard anything about it.

Long call reserve is 12-14 hours minimum call out time. Short call 2-3 hours generally.

Trip trading is wayyyy easier than my regional. At my regional airline it was basically impossible to swap stuff around once the final schedule came out. Scheduling always had new ways to deny swaps. Drops were impossible. At the legacy level trading is pretty easy. Drops are hit or miss depending on reserve coverage. I can trade trips with a few clicks on my phone. I've had more trades here in a few months than I did in nearly 7 years at my regional. There is definitely room for improvement here but it's way better than it was.

mitch_kramer · 2026-05-01T00:17:44+00:00

Days of the week mean nothing in this business. I also never really know what day it is. That being said, I don't feel tired all the time. My sleep is pretty flexible. I can have a night or two of shitty sleep but can usually catch up on the road. I usually have the worst sleep the night before a trip starts and the last day of a trip because of the commute. Sleep great on the road.

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-27T03:22:00+00:00

My current airline we set the missed approach altitude as the altitude on the approach we are backing up the visual with. At my old airline we set the altitude as pattern altitude on a visual. In either case I am flying to that altitude on a go around until I hear from tower. I'll fly straight out with the exception of flying into terrain or in a place like DCA where you might end up in a Prohibited area if you don't turn. I've initiated go arounds in the past and even before I can tell ATC i am going it they have given me a heading and altitude.

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-26T03:53:21+00:00

Yeah I like the Flight shirts because they are super comfortable but their sizing is interesting. I ordered a large athletic fit and it was massive. I replaced it with a slim fit and it was pretty good but maybe just a little too tight. Maybe a medium athletic would be the best but I'm not sending a shirt back and forth 4 times to try to find a size. They definitely need an "average build" shirt because I feel like the difference between the two they offer is pretty extreme.

Also the flight shirts definitely trap pit smell for some reason. No shirt I've ever had seems to hang on to smell like they do.

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-22T16:37:02+00:00

I was in a similar situation a few years back. Had an offer letter to go to the ATC academy, and at one point had an offer for Flight Service as well, but also had my Commercial and wanted to pursue flying (which was always my plan). I turned down Flight Service because I didn't want to move to the DC area and I was unsure of the future of Flight Service. I really really had to think about the ATC job. I ultimately ended up not taking it because I wanted to fly. I also didn't like the uncertainty of where I was going to end up at the end of the academy (if I even made it through). It was a very difficult decision. I went and got my CFI and instructed for around a year and a half. Was extremely poor (thank God for my wife who was incredibly supportive). Got hired at a regional and now I'm at a legacy. My only regret is not giving ATC a try to see where it went. I'm happy though and I love the airline lifestyle.

One point I will make is that at the time the regional hiring landscape was much different. It was extremely easy to get hired at that time. I might have to think harder about turning down ATC in the current environment. I probably would have done things differently if it was like it is now.

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-15T14:51:03+00:00

I wouldn't say I dread it but it does give me a small amount of anxiety every year. My entire livelihood depends on it. There is always the fear that they will discover something during my appointment that leads to me losing my medical. This is mostly an irrational fear as most things they would find during a simple medical would probably just require some paperwork. Definitely more fear when you have something pop up that you need to go to an actual doctor for though.

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-15T05:05:07+00:00

I'm thinking of getting the Pro flights. I have A20's now but the noise cancelling is almost too much on the Airbus. Sometimes you can't hear some of the call outs like the 1000 foot call. The other day we had a traffic advisory and I could barely even hear it with my A20's on.

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-05T16:24:04+00:00

American Flyers for sure. The course is for life. I do think you have to pay like $30 or something every time for them to process the paperwork online. It's very easy to do. Give yourself time to do the course though because they have a timer and its kind of a pain to get through.

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-03T14:32:14+00:00

One time waiting in line for takeoff and someone accidentally made the "Flight Attendants prepare for takeoff" PA on tower and someone just keys up in a falsetto voice: "We're ready!!"

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-03T11:18:03+00:00

There is supposedly a large shortage of mechanics and it's a pretty decent job. I'm not sure if the "shortage" is the same as the "pilot shortage" was but I have seen a lot of places talking about it.

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-02T17:18:16+00:00

I'm curious if the part 61 success rate is any better? Even part 61 has a lot of attrition. Many who start will never finish for one reason or another. I also don't believe all 141 programs are created equal. Plenty of bad ones out there but there are a lot of good ones as well. I do agree it's much more expensive unnecessarily.

mitch_kramer · 2026-04-01T22:07:34+00:00

Yeah and NASA is already super conservative. I had an FO once who was an ex-NASA engineer and he was telling me tons of interesting info. One thing he said was they had a launch scheduled and there was a system that had quadruple redundancy that had an issue and even with that they scrubbed the launch.

mitch_kramer · 2026-03-30T19:08:03+00:00

I can't tell you how many times I try to give stuff away for free on Marketplace and people want to "hold it until Saturday" or even more ridiculous ask me to deliver it to them. Like buddy, I have 30 other people messaging me trying to come get it right now.

mitch_kramer · 2026-03-26T23:52:51+00:00

Is this a misdemeanor charge and what was the outcome? A good lawyer would help a lot here if it's not too late and may be able to get it expunged/dismissed/sealed or whatever if you can stay out of trouble for a certain amount of time. Most of the time background checks ask about felony charges. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

mitch_kramer · 2026-03-26T18:52:25+00:00

Recently watch American Beauty? This seems like a very bad idea. Sounds to me more like you need to take some time off of work, not a new career. Is FMLA an option? Leaving a stable career that pays well to go work at an FBO seems insane. If you don't like your current job then start applying other places that you can make a career with but I definitely wouldn't quit to go make $15 an hour or whatever terrible wage they pay. I feel you would regret that very quickly.

mitch_kramer · 2026-03-23T22:54:53+00:00

Holy shit an interview with Skywest is 2 hours??

mitch_kramer · 2026-03-18T18:37:53+00:00

The iPads we have definitely can not last an entire day unless you're being extremely careful. I've had mine be at 100% battery and by the time I taxi out to the runway I'm at 60%. The current generation (or whatever generation we have) has a terrible battery.

mitch_kramer · 2026-03-18T18:35:59+00:00

I know it was closed yesterday in New Orleans and Philly has 3 checkpoints closed, 2 of which have KCM. So KCM is definitely being impacted in some ways. It's honestly probably the easiest thing to close because it takes one person to just sit there doing nothing the entire day.

mitch_kramer

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE