AN MD80 FO RPT ON THE DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY HIS CREW TO OPERATE THE VARIANT MODEL MD80 WITH REGARDS TO INSTRUMENTATION; FMS AND ACARS DURING COCKPIT PREPARATION AND TKOF.

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DURING A 4 DAY TRIP; WE HAD 6 LEGS WITH A VARIANT MODEL OF AN MD80. MY TRAINING HAD BEEN IN DECEMBER AND THE CAPT'S TRAINING SOMETIME BEFORE THAT. DESPITE MY EFFORTS TO REVIEW ALL AVAILABLE TRAINING MATERIAL AND OPERATING MANUALS IN THE LAST 2 MONTHS; I FELT VERY UNPREPARED FOR THE MAGNITUDE OF THE DIFFERENCES BTWN THE 2 VERSIONS OF THE MD80. FRANKLY; DURING THE TRANSITION TRAINING IN DECEMBER; I HAD RESERVATIONS ABOUT SEEING ONE OF THESE JETS FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THE STANDARD 40 MINS (AND 2 TERMINAL SPRINT) BTWN FLTS. I WOULD BREAK DOWN MY CONCERNS IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: 1) SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT SCAN PATTERN ESPECIALLY FOR THE DIGITAL ENG INSTS MAKING EVEN ENG STARTS UNCOMFORTABLE AND ESPECIALLY THE SCAN DURING THE TKOF ROLL. ALSO; THE SCROLL DOWN ANNUNCIATOR PANEL DIFFERENCES ARE SIGNIFICANT ENOUGH TO MAKE ASSIMILATING AND INTERPRETING INFO DURING CRITICAL PHASES VERY SLOW. THIS CANNOT BE TRAINED THROUGH INDIVIDUAL HOME STUDY EFFORT AND CAN ONLY BE ACCOMPLISHED IN THE SIMULATOR OR ACFT. 2) MAJOR DIFFERENCES IN THE FMS AND ACARS SYS CAUSED US TO SLOW DOWN THE PROCESS TO THE POINT WHERE WE PULLED OUT THE BOOK AND HAD TO READ HOW TO PROGRAM; OPERATING BOTH STEP BY STEP. IN A COUPLE OF CASES; THIS WAS EXACERBATED BY INACCURACIES IN THE BOOK THAT WERE ACKNOWLEDGED WITH PUBLISHED CORRECTIONS THE VERY NEXT DAY IN THE FLT PLAN NOTES. 3) AN OVERRIDING CONCERN OF BOTH OF THESE ISSUES WAS MY CONCERN THAT THE AMOUNT OF FOCUS AND EFFORT WE HAD TO EXPEND TO MAKE THESE SYS WORK; COMBINED WITH THE BAD WX WE ENCOUNTERED; REALLY MADE OUR JOB VERY HARD. HAD THIS SIT BEEN COMPOUNDED BY EVEN A MINOR ABNORMAL; WE MAY HAVE LOST SITUATIONAL AWARENESS AND FOUND OURSELVES IN A RAPIDLY DETERIORATING SIT. IT WAS MOST HELPFUL TO HAVE A CHK AIRMAN ON ONE OF THE LEGS. IT WAS A VERY SHORT LEG SO WE WERE RUSHED TO LEARN AS MUCH AS WE COULD. SIMULATOR TRAINING WOULD BE PREFERRED; BUT HAVING A CHK AIRMAN ON THE FIRST 2 LEGS WOULD BE ADEQUATE IN MY OPINION.