I finally hit 10,000 hours on a single DHC-6 airframe and it changed how I see the whole job

Everyone talks about moving on to bigger planes or new certs, but I've spent 8 years on the same Twin Otter fleet and that number just surprised me. It made me realize how much deep knowledge you get from sticking with one type rather than chasing the newest thing. How many hours do you have on your longest airframe?

4 comments

4 Comments

victor_jones9917d agoTop Commenter

...and see I gotta push back a little here. @susan130 I get what you're saying about knowing the vibrations but 10k hours on one airframe doesn't make you a better pilot, it just makes you really good at that specific plane. I've seen guys with 15k on Otters panic when they get tossed into a Caravan because they can't read the sounds anymore. The whole "stick with one type" thing sounds nice but it can make you lazy about fundamentals because you start flying on muscle memory instead of thinking. Real deep knowledge means being able to hop into any cockpit and figure out what's going on, not just knowing which clunk means flaps on a single serial number.

grantf7317d ago

Yeah I'm with you Victor, at 12k hours I still can't tell if that clunk is the flaps or my fuel bladder shifting.

susan13025d ago

Crack the 10k mark and you know every vibration that plane makes.

jamiew5325d ago

My first trip over 10k I was gripping the armrest so hard my knuckles went white. After about 50 hours in those seats you start to know which clunks mean nothing and which ones mean you're about to meet the ceiling. The real trick is learning the difference between the landing gear locking in place and the flaps fighting the wind.