Early last August, I earned my ATP certificate in Atlanta after almost two months of both ground and sim training. It was a great feeling of accomplishment to finally have the privilege to fly a jet. In order to maintain this certificate, however, I must come back once a year for recurrent training and be retested orally on my knowledge and also in the simulator. I have not met any pilots who have positive feelings about this experience, but I'm sure the traveling public would be glad to know we get tested every year to get our licenses renewed. So off I went to Salt Lake City again.
The first day of ground was straightforward, but my sim schedule of 8pm-2am wasn't exactly ideal for maximizing my focus. On the first day of sim, we did everything bad that can happen to a plane -- engines on fire, missed approaches on one engine, lavatory toilet in flames -- the usual things you might encounter when flying Aeroflot. The following day was the actual checkride, but there is only so much studying I can do at a time, so I took the train downtown since I had all day. When I was here last year, I recall a museum on the history of the mormon church that was under renovation.
Well now it's open, and admission is free, so I decided to check it out. I'm not mormon, but I find religions intriguing. Unfortunately, I didn't really get much out of this particular museum. It's more of a museum about mormons for mormons. Everyone else in there was commenting on captions at the exhibits with interest and excitement, but things didn't quite have the same meaning for me. There was a replica of the golden plates that Joseph Smith found and hid under a hat to translate from Egyptian hieroglyphics to English. It did sort of cover the history of the mormons and their various settlements and the lives of the Smiths at least. But I was honestly hoping for a bit more -- like how are certain countries chosen for missions and what's the deal with the secret underwear? See, that's how I know this was not a museum for a mere passersby. While it has amazing reviews on tripadvisor, I feel as though it could have been a bit more inclusive. Though, to be fair, I tried to avoid all museum staff for fear of being recruited, so maybe not too inclusive . . .
Since I covered the museum in a short amount of time, I went to a park near the Mormon temple to go on my phone and study a little bit for the looming checkride. Then I got hungry. My food options back at the airport hotel are quite limited, so I went to a local chain called Crown Burgers, which is like the In N' Out of Salt Lake. It is, however, more expensive and not as good. It wasn't bad per se, but at almost $6 a burger you kind of expect to be wowed. The interior of this fast-food was . . . different. It was decorated like an old man's house that hasn't been updated from the 1970s, but was decorated in the 70s to look like a medieval castle. That probably makes no sense, and I didn't have to foresight to take a picture, but that's the best description I can give.
After taking a nap and doing a little bit of studying, I took my check ride and despite the high stress environment, came out on top with confidence just like this bear driving a car made to look like an Embraer 120 Brasilia turboprop. Everything is confusing in Salt Lake City. Nevertheless, I can relax a little bit for the next 12 months and my parents will be happy to hear that their travel benefits can be extended for another year.
Since I covered the museum in a short amount of time, I went to a park near the Mormon temple to go on my phone and study a little bit for the looming checkride. Then I got hungry. My food options back at the airport hotel are quite limited, so I went to a local chain called Crown Burgers, which is like the In N' Out of Salt Lake. It is, however, more expensive and not as good. It wasn't bad per se, but at almost $6 a burger you kind of expect to be wowed. The interior of this fast-food was . . . different. It was decorated like an old man's house that hasn't been updated from the 1970s, but was decorated in the 70s to look like a medieval castle. That probably makes no sense, and I didn't have to foresight to take a picture, but that's the best description I can give.