Learjet school - end day 1

I did not sleep well last night. In fact, I dreamt well - Too well. I had two very vivid dreams which stirred me awake, and each time I came awake the time of morning was still too early. Obviously the memory of the dreams has faded by now, but they each had considerations of the future. The first had me in the right seat of the Learjet 75 flying with a favorite colleague of our west Texas employer, and I was clumsily fumbling around with my headset, unable to straighten out the contraption so I could wear it properly. My captain was making calls over the radio himself, a job I'm supposed to be doing. The embarrassment and feeling of inadequacy that came over me because of my inadequacy to do this very simple job was depressing. In the second dream, I was with a friend going off to some festival type thing, where I got sidetracked and remembered that I needed to be at Learjet class about then. In each dream I was awakened by a conscious trigger that knows, even in a dream, "I can't let this happen". Very interesting how that operates. 

I did get up and made it to Bombardier's flight training facility in time to grab my badge and a freebie "Remove before Flight" keychain and went up to classroom 313 where the instructor was all ready for me and my fellow student. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is a class of two; I have never been in a class that small except in private lessons. Nevertheless, two is the minimum class population because we need to serve as each other's copilot during simulator training. The other guy is working for a larger 70/75 operator at CXO. He has more than 10 years flying older model Learjets so he will be a strong help to lean on. 

We were greeted with all kinds of goodies at our tables. Yes we each get a whole table to ourself. Situated in a very neat array was our welcome folder, a Cockpit fold-out wall chart, business cards for our instructors, a very ritzy boxed pen made by Cross, a yellow highlighter, and a small glass leaf full of maple syrup from Quebec. 

Today's topics were aircraft basic features and Garmin G5000 functions. We spent around 4 hours lecture and two hours hands-on a G5000 desktop trainer. 

When I first stepped up into the flight deck of the Lear 75 knowing that this week was coming, I had essentially no idea what the buttons and levers and screens all were. It is hard to describe ignorance as thorough as that which I had when I first sat in the aircraft. I perceived the awe and wonder that one feels while adoring a masterpiece of artwork. "It's there to just look at...i don't know what it means but it is quite nice. A talented somebody put a whole lot of thought into the pictures and shapes and colors. But I definitely don't know what it all means so I'm going to let it alone."

This week I have been learning what it all means. Behind the shroud of beautiful mystery is a world of functional simplicity that I am discovering little by little. Now when I look at my cockpit fold-out wall chart, I see an instrument ready to whir into action at my command rather than a fragile twig that could break under my ignorant touch. 

Studies before the next class are the preflight and starting procedures. In addition to these, I must also study limitations and those immediate procedures that are required to be memorized.