Citation II type rating - Day 4 - wait, more sim?

I am going to stop making predictions about the next time we'll be in the simulator, since I was wrong yet again today!

This morning we spent some time learning about the various flight profiles used in the Citation II - power settings, speeds and configurations.

While at first it seemed like there sure was a lot to memorize, it got distilled down to a few basic settings pretty quickly - one configuration for initial approach, one for final approach, etc. Which, I suppose not too surprisingly, is exactly how I teach instrument flying. I just need to translate some of the settings into my "terms" and that will make it much easier. In that regard, this is really turning out to be just another airplane after all - set power and configuration, and you get repeatable performance.

Every day during ground school we review a little of what we did before (by reviewing the "self check" exercises we did the previous night for homework). This of course, allows us to ask questions now that we've had a few hours to digest the new information and has been very beneficial.

This afternoon we covered some basics of the Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) that may be installed in some of these airplanes (that we might fly after completing the course) but is not installed in the simulator we are using for the checkride.

We also covered some of the functions of the Flight Management System (FMS) installed in many of these airplanes, including in the simulator, the UNS-1. The UNS-1 was originally developed in 1982, and it definitely shows when it comes to the interface.

Oh, for a QWERTY keyboard - haven't used one like this since the PIDP computers in ATC.

Once again, our instructor found that the simulator was not going to be in use this afternoon, so we were able to get another short session in it, and used that time to practice using the UNS-1! This was especially helpful for the two of us in the class who have never used an FMS before.

However, after using it for a few minutes, it was interesting to see that a lot of the basic functions and selection methods used by modern GPS receivers were evident in this unit. It was clearly obvious where the Garmin 430, for example, built on some of the design concepts of the UNS-1 (and assumedly others of the era).

As far as flying the sim, pretty much all we did was takeoff, enter an approach into the FMS, come around and land again. But it was still valuable experience, especially since it wasn't even on the schedule. More class tomorrow, then a welcome one-day break!