My apologies. I didn’t intend for that to sound as harsh and flat arrogant as it came out. I try REAL hard not to be the typical jerkwad waay-holier-than-thout jet driver, and I failed big time here. Sorry.
You’re 100% correct that there’s no max FAR altitude for Part 91 ops with unpressurized airplanes. I was surprised to learn that, but there it is. If you’ve got the gear, both lungs and cojones to hack it, then my hat’s off to you. I still suspect your blood oxygenation gets pretty poor above FL250.
And no, we never get to do anything interesting in the real airplane. Any unusual attitudes, appproach to stalls, engine restarts, hydraulic failures, etc., are all done purely with electrons in the Box.
The closest we get to something unusual in the real aircraft is when the company gets a new type and we may have airplanes delivered before the simulators are fully FAA certificated to so-called level D. Then we have to go do some approaches and landings in the real thing. Nothing like 6 sleepy pilots taking turns shooting touch and gos at 4 am in a big airplane they’re barely familiar with.
No problem … I understand … Yeah, some of the stuff I did was not meant to be a daily deal nor was I recommending it.
I also remember my instrument training at TUL. Try to get in a full approach with the then new 747’s doing T&G’s on the same runway. Had that poor little C-177 Cardinal at way up in the green inside the marker trying to get a full fun in before we had a big boy running up our tail. LOL
When I was hauling checks at night as a second job, I would come back during a lot of AA’s test flights in the early AM at TUL and sometimes things would get a bit abbreviated… he he he
I wish I had the $$$ to do a full SIM of something my size in FL at Flight Safety someday… Never been in a full blown SIM.
