You know how pilot's can go years and years without ever having any kind of problem occur? I think with these SAAB's the saying is that you can go days and days without a problem. On one of my legs we had a master warning, then on another the prop sync didn't , and another the autopilot switch (electromagnet) lost it's magnetic field. Also had some problems on another flight with the PGB oil pressure. It looked like it was one of the old paddle wheel transducer type of sensors that was running the gauge .

I am almost all finished though. I am on my way home for one day before I come back up to Dulles again. I have a huge layover here in Charlotte, NC. When I get back, I have a fun but red-eye kind of schedule. I do a Binghamton run with an overnight there (basically a stand-up, or high speed as some guys call them). Gotta be up at 4am for a 5am show time, and then off to a 6am flight.... but, since I'm finishing IOE I keep going on an Allentown run and one other leg before I finish at 8pm that night. They give me the next day off, but conveniently I have a 6am flight to Boston scheduled to take me up to Boston for my line check. I get to make a round-trip flight from Boston to Augusta.

At least this time I come back on the 6th and travel home on the 10th. Right now I have three days off because of my 30 hrs in 7 days limit, and we are so understaffed with Captains in Dulles that the checkairmen are full with getting the upgrades their 50hrs of IOE and getting the Fed rides done.

I did get to do my first visual approach yesterday. They are fun, but definitely a challenge. You get used to flying a pattern at 120kts and slowing to 80 or so on final. This plane we are usually slowing through 200kts on downwind and just keep the throttles at flight idle as we work our way down to Vfa. Judging the point to start down is a bit trickier too, because with the extra speed there is a tendency to be just behind the plane enough that you are 3 whites on final. The nice part about the SAAB is that the 11ft props do a great job of pouring the drag on. My visual approach was pretty good, my checkairmen didn't say a word to me.... and his critique was that being close to the end of IOE I handled it just like he would expect.... but he told me to be a bit more confident in myself and to relax . The relax part is easy, but I think until I get done with "firsts" and start getting into the "experienced" bracket I may second guess myself for a bit. That seems normal from my past experiences with most things.... you just need to get a few things under your belt before you really get into a groove.