In preparation for my yearly recurrent sims, I thought it would be fun to share what an ATP checkride looks like. Throughout training you will face just about any emergency scenario you can think of. There is, of course, not enough time to test all of these scenarios during a single checkride, so each one differs and will usually focus on one or two emergencies.
Today we are operating a CRJ-900 from JFK to Boston. To set the stage, we have been given the following pre flight briefing:
- Route: KJFK MERIT ROBUC3 KBOS, JFK5 departure fly RWY HDG, expect Rwy 22L
- KJFK METAR (abbreviated): 23015KT 1/2SM OVC006
- MEL: none (yay, nothing is broken on the plane!)
- Server: Solo
We arrive to our airplane parked at A17. Today we will be operating the first flight of the morning. Along with that comes some additional checks we do on the aircraft, which are only done on the aircraft’s first flight of the day. These tests include fire, hydraulic, ice detector, and stall to name a few. After about 40 minutes, we have the aircraft set up, all passengers and bags onboard, and the aircraft is fueled and ready for pushback.
Due to the temperature and it being the first flight of the day, a layer of frost has accumulated on the wings overnight. After pushback we will need to de-ice here just outside of the gate area. We call Iceman on the radio and let him know we are ready to de-ice. It shouldn’t take us too long, as the entire process takes maybe 15 minutes for us in our small regional jet.
A short time later, we are lining up on runway 22R for takeoff. With our before takeoff checklist complete and takeoff clearance received, we set takeoff thrust and are on our way to Boston!
“V1, Rotate … Positive Rate, Gear Up”. Reaching 500 feet we hear “DING DING DING!!”, and we look down to see our Master Warning light illuminated, our “L ENG FIRE” push light illuminated, and the L ENG FIRE warning message posted on our EICAS. Anytime you run into an emergency you will jump a little as part of the startle factor, it’s just human nature. But that’s okay, muscle memory kicks in. Keep cool and remember to fly the airplane first! We adjust our pitch attitude to maintain V2, which is our safe single engine climb speed. We advise ATC of our situation and advise them we would like to continue straight ahead in accordance with our engine failure procedure for this particular runway.
Reaching 1000 feet, we lower the nose and begin accelerating. We accelerate to our minimum clean speed today of 201 knots, and begin the “Left Engine Fire” emergency checklist. As pilot flying, the captain had me take over the radios while I flew so he could complete the checklist. I requested vectors from departure and advised them we would need time to work through our situation.
A few minutes later, we have completed the checklist and thankfully the bottles successfully extinguished the fire. Always remember the order of operations; Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. We have successfully climbed to 4000 feet and secured the damaged engine, and we have requested vectors from ATC. Now it is time to communicate our situation to dispatch and coordinate an air-return back to JFK. Dispatch agrees with our decision to return, so we begin coordinating with approach to set up our return.
As we prepare to return to JFK, we are faced with another decision. Currently runways 31L and 22L are closed for maintenance (for the purpose of this scenario, we are unable to request landing on these runways despite us being an emergency aircraft). That leaves us with runway 31R or 22R, based on the current winds of 230@15. Additionally, the glideslope is inoperative to runway 22R. So we must now decide if we want to fly a non-precision localizer approach to 22R with a headwind, or a precision ILS approach with a crosswind. Due to the ceiling of 600 feet and half mile visibility, the captain and I decide to take the ILS approach to 31R with a crosswind, as 15 kts is well within the limitations of the airplane.
New York approach sets us up nicely for the ILS 31R. The normal flap setting for the CRJ-900 is flaps 45. However, with our left engine shutdown, we will need to fly a faster approach speed of 150 kts and land with flaps 20. Runway 31R also has a displaced threshold, with a landing distance available of just under 8500 feet. Knowing all of this, we request that tower roll the fire trucks and have them standing by on landing in case of a brake fire.
We intercept the glide slope for 31R at 3000 feet and start down. Coming through 600 feet, we break out of the clouds. “Runway in sight” calls the captain. (Can’t wait for IF to have clouds)
Touchdown! We land firmly in the touchdown zone on center line, and heavily apply the brakes. We can see the fire trucks on standby at each end of the runway. As we slow down below 30 knots we begin to turn off the runway and come to a stop to allow the fire trucks to inspect our main landing gear. Thankfully for us, no brake fire today!
We taxi uneventfully back into the gate to allow our passengers to disembark. Hopefully they are not too scared to travel with us again. The checkride was a success! Congratulations on your new ATP certificate and CL-600-2D24 (CRJ) type rating!
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!