RoarkJr.
Well-Known Member
Though the fat lady hath not yet sung for me in Primary, I thought I'd dump my Contact AAR now while it's fresh. I'm a Marine SNA with no prior flight time other than NIFE, but at this point I've put in about 150 hours into VR sims. Mostly Flite Advantage T-6B between my main study partner and I, and some Cessna for NIFE prep. I was fortunate to have an absolute stud for a study partner and some great gouge on VR stuff and study habits from this site. I did well in contacts, and though I don't know my multiplier or NSS (they stopped letting us get the post-aero "peek"), I got a lot 5's on most flights and sims and I proficiency advanced in aero.
I graduated NIFE in November 2020 and didn't start Primary ground school until March, so we had quite a bit of time. My buddy introduced me to the Contact Profile Method and we got started immediately. The CPM is just what it sounds like: Study so that you are slowly working up to being able to fly an entire contact profile, as pretty much every flight in contacts is the same. Brief, ADB, Gear, Preflight, Ground Ops (checklists/taxi), Takeoff, Transition to high work, High work, Transition to low work, Low work, Course rules back, with PEL and PEL/P thrown in after the first block. So, what does the CPM look like in practice? For me it was VR sims. Rarely chair flew, no flash cards or copious notes. Just about two to four 3 hour sessions in the sim running through flights for about 3 months.
The first thing was getting the Hollywood Script down to the point where we could just go off the quadfold. While you don't want to wait to look at other stuff until you can go quadfold only, you do want to get there quickly and get your script down perfectly. Make sure your study partner knows to correct you if anything you say is off script or if you do anything out of order or not as described. You should look at anything less than verbatim as unacceptable. Completely read every description. The initial contact sims are for pretty much one thing: Seeing how verbatim and efficient your script is. Static and Avenger sims are decent, but we used my VR sim with the Hollywood Script pinned in the VR world (which eventually became quadfold) to run it until ground school when we could go UTD/OFT.
As we worked our way through the script we would initially just taxi to a runway, takeoff and fly reverse course rules so we could get a view of how every ground checkpoint looked. I have over 100 gigs of custom imagery data so everything looks pretty much spot on. After that we threw in taxi rules for each parking area and runway, as well as specific departure procedures for the MOA's including transition layers, etc. At this point you should roughly be at quadfold only, and can take off and make it to your MOA block properly. Know every step of the comm plan, for both MOA's and Pelican/Wahoo, which is a lot. We didn't have this down prior to ground school but did our best. If you're VFR, just go area common after canceling. If you're MOA put approach on VHF once switched by departure, then immediately put the appropriate VFR area common in UHF. You'll go MOA common over (Pcola Approach (SMOA) or Jax (NMOA)) once cleared to your block if they tell you "frequency change approved." I mostly flew South so, as always, double check FWOP.
At this point we added in the pattern. We didn't have our transition from the MOA (or Pelican/Wahoo) to low work down perfectly, but we ran through ABCDont until we that got finer tuned with on-wing input and more FWOP reading (use SAGDONT for VT-3). The VT-6 modified downwind is a good start for getting on OLF initial. We would run the pattern then fly course rules back to NSE. We were never perfect, again, but you should be able to get the gross motor movements and procedures down and then fill in the finer details as you get more into the FWOP/FTI. You should be constantly trimming and trying to fly with 3 fingers. After that we added high work and PELs toward the end. These are pretty easy so add these in as soon as you can. EP's were a constant, at first just to get through CAMI's and actions, then later we would use them to simulate how the check ride would go, which generally seems to be: a pattern PEL thrown into low work and an EP to PEL from course rules back.
The VR sims are a game changer because you can actually see everything instead of imagining everything with your eyes closed in a chair. I can "walk" from the paraloft to the plane, "climb up" and do the before exterior inspection, "get down" and do exterior inspection, get in the plane and do all checklists while in VR. Taxi from any spot to any run-up and runway, see all visual checkpoints, use the TSD to get MOA orientation, work on trimming the plane, scan, and ops checks. I can customize weather and program failures, change frequencies on the UFCP, use the HUD for aero (meh). The list goes on. The real money to be made on them, however, is prior to ground school. We had a three month head start so by the time we started ground school we had a rough but full contact profile down, but we could pick up on all the nuances while everyone else was still learning the pattern etc. The tests will be easy for you and you'll be able to study other things. By the time ground school starts you'll want to be getting in UTD's and OFT's as much as possible, and I really only used VR if those weren't available, or to quickly fly my profile the night prior to a flight. A quick note on avenger sims, they're okay but not as good as flite advantage because you can't pin checklists, can't walk around, can't really trim etc., but they're still decent.
The key is to get started early. I had a sim instructor write in my grade sheet that my checklists were to the level of a seasoned T-6 pilot. That isn't because I'm amazing...it's reps, period. And it's just a checklist. Any stud can get to that point. And the best part is that if you start early you can chill during contacts, hit the FWOP and NATOPS to clean up your profile here and there, focus on getting your systems briefs and EP's down etc. (study those together). I rarely had to study in contacts unless it was FWOP for gnitty gritty (only CHADS check/solo in the SOUTH), or EP/Systems briefs, or just hanging out walking through flights with people.
Use your voice recorder on your phone for briefs and listen to them in the car. I recorded my buddies doing full sim and/or chair flown flights, NATOPS and systems briefs etc., then would listen to them on way to Whiting so they were fresh in my mind. For systems, know the EP's associated because that's where most of the spicy brief questions come. Sound confident. Be careful with the gouge as there are wrong numbers and sometimes too much info. Stick primarily to NATOPS. Complete EP/Limits sheets often so you're not scrambling prior to your check. NATOPS brief should be stone cold before leaving for off-wing flights in second block.
Aero boils down to this...gouge up a kneeboard card and send it. Always HICK so you don't forget on your check. Recommend flying SMOA/Wahoo as North is boring and you can use survey lines and beach for orientation. No one is ever at Barin and if Summerdale is closed that's the only place you can go. Also there's only one course rules and all the procedures are standard. VT-6 probably won't let you check/solo there but VT-3 was cool with it.
To sum up, first ask yourself how much you want to be prepared. If the answer is "to the maximum extent possible" get started immediately after NIFE. Use VR sims, no excuse to not know what course rules checkpoints look like prior to first flight. I would say that Hammer10k's advice was spot on, know everything for your first flight like it's your solo. You will eventually sign for the plane, so prep for that moment. Ignore anyone who says "my buddy said just go in knowing only Limits and Ep's." Find a motivated partner who is excited to push and crush.
No matter how much you prep the first few blocks will be helmet fire and you'll do dumb shit. Don't sweat it. Also, this is all "YMMV", plenty of people crush doing other things. This is what I did. If you have any specific questions on studying, the VR sim setup etc., shoot me a message. Happy to pay it forward.
I graduated NIFE in November 2020 and didn't start Primary ground school until March, so we had quite a bit of time. My buddy introduced me to the Contact Profile Method and we got started immediately. The CPM is just what it sounds like: Study so that you are slowly working up to being able to fly an entire contact profile, as pretty much every flight in contacts is the same. Brief, ADB, Gear, Preflight, Ground Ops (checklists/taxi), Takeoff, Transition to high work, High work, Transition to low work, Low work, Course rules back, with PEL and PEL/P thrown in after the first block. So, what does the CPM look like in practice? For me it was VR sims. Rarely chair flew, no flash cards or copious notes. Just about two to four 3 hour sessions in the sim running through flights for about 3 months.
The first thing was getting the Hollywood Script down to the point where we could just go off the quadfold. While you don't want to wait to look at other stuff until you can go quadfold only, you do want to get there quickly and get your script down perfectly. Make sure your study partner knows to correct you if anything you say is off script or if you do anything out of order or not as described. You should look at anything less than verbatim as unacceptable. Completely read every description. The initial contact sims are for pretty much one thing: Seeing how verbatim and efficient your script is. Static and Avenger sims are decent, but we used my VR sim with the Hollywood Script pinned in the VR world (which eventually became quadfold) to run it until ground school when we could go UTD/OFT.
As we worked our way through the script we would initially just taxi to a runway, takeoff and fly reverse course rules so we could get a view of how every ground checkpoint looked. I have over 100 gigs of custom imagery data so everything looks pretty much spot on. After that we threw in taxi rules for each parking area and runway, as well as specific departure procedures for the MOA's including transition layers, etc. At this point you should roughly be at quadfold only, and can take off and make it to your MOA block properly. Know every step of the comm plan, for both MOA's and Pelican/Wahoo, which is a lot. We didn't have this down prior to ground school but did our best. If you're VFR, just go area common after canceling. If you're MOA put approach on VHF once switched by departure, then immediately put the appropriate VFR area common in UHF. You'll go MOA common over (Pcola Approach (SMOA) or Jax (NMOA)) once cleared to your block if they tell you "frequency change approved." I mostly flew South so, as always, double check FWOP.
At this point we added in the pattern. We didn't have our transition from the MOA (or Pelican/Wahoo) to low work down perfectly, but we ran through ABCDont until we that got finer tuned with on-wing input and more FWOP reading (use SAGDONT for VT-3). The VT-6 modified downwind is a good start for getting on OLF initial. We would run the pattern then fly course rules back to NSE. We were never perfect, again, but you should be able to get the gross motor movements and procedures down and then fill in the finer details as you get more into the FWOP/FTI. You should be constantly trimming and trying to fly with 3 fingers. After that we added high work and PELs toward the end. These are pretty easy so add these in as soon as you can. EP's were a constant, at first just to get through CAMI's and actions, then later we would use them to simulate how the check ride would go, which generally seems to be: a pattern PEL thrown into low work and an EP to PEL from course rules back.
The VR sims are a game changer because you can actually see everything instead of imagining everything with your eyes closed in a chair. I can "walk" from the paraloft to the plane, "climb up" and do the before exterior inspection, "get down" and do exterior inspection, get in the plane and do all checklists while in VR. Taxi from any spot to any run-up and runway, see all visual checkpoints, use the TSD to get MOA orientation, work on trimming the plane, scan, and ops checks. I can customize weather and program failures, change frequencies on the UFCP, use the HUD for aero (meh). The list goes on. The real money to be made on them, however, is prior to ground school. We had a three month head start so by the time we started ground school we had a rough but full contact profile down, but we could pick up on all the nuances while everyone else was still learning the pattern etc. The tests will be easy for you and you'll be able to study other things. By the time ground school starts you'll want to be getting in UTD's and OFT's as much as possible, and I really only used VR if those weren't available, or to quickly fly my profile the night prior to a flight. A quick note on avenger sims, they're okay but not as good as flite advantage because you can't pin checklists, can't walk around, can't really trim etc., but they're still decent.
The key is to get started early. I had a sim instructor write in my grade sheet that my checklists were to the level of a seasoned T-6 pilot. That isn't because I'm amazing...it's reps, period. And it's just a checklist. Any stud can get to that point. And the best part is that if you start early you can chill during contacts, hit the FWOP and NATOPS to clean up your profile here and there, focus on getting your systems briefs and EP's down etc. (study those together). I rarely had to study in contacts unless it was FWOP for gnitty gritty (only CHADS check/solo in the SOUTH), or EP/Systems briefs, or just hanging out walking through flights with people.
Use your voice recorder on your phone for briefs and listen to them in the car. I recorded my buddies doing full sim and/or chair flown flights, NATOPS and systems briefs etc., then would listen to them on way to Whiting so they were fresh in my mind. For systems, know the EP's associated because that's where most of the spicy brief questions come. Sound confident. Be careful with the gouge as there are wrong numbers and sometimes too much info. Stick primarily to NATOPS. Complete EP/Limits sheets often so you're not scrambling prior to your check. NATOPS brief should be stone cold before leaving for off-wing flights in second block.
Aero boils down to this...gouge up a kneeboard card and send it. Always HICK so you don't forget on your check. Recommend flying SMOA/Wahoo as North is boring and you can use survey lines and beach for orientation. No one is ever at Barin and if Summerdale is closed that's the only place you can go. Also there's only one course rules and all the procedures are standard. VT-6 probably won't let you check/solo there but VT-3 was cool with it.
To sum up, first ask yourself how much you want to be prepared. If the answer is "to the maximum extent possible" get started immediately after NIFE. Use VR sims, no excuse to not know what course rules checkpoints look like prior to first flight. I would say that Hammer10k's advice was spot on, know everything for your first flight like it's your solo. You will eventually sign for the plane, so prep for that moment. Ignore anyone who says "my buddy said just go in knowing only Limits and Ep's." Find a motivated partner who is excited to push and crush.
No matter how much you prep the first few blocks will be helmet fire and you'll do dumb shit. Don't sweat it. Also, this is all "YMMV", plenty of people crush doing other things. This is what I did. If you have any specific questions on studying, the VR sim setup etc., shoot me a message. Happy to pay it forward.
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