In more and more cases, your underwriter maynot be willing to insure you at all unless you go through an approved recurrent trainingcourse on an annual basis. We strongly recommend upgrade training at a facility that has a sim that can replicate your airplane, and its avionics, as closely as possible. TO SCHEDULE YOUR TRAINING, OR FOR MORE INFORMATION. Which is exactly what were trying to achieve.. Since then, Ive returned for regular sim training every six months. 800-441-5387, Flight Control Academy In reality, I had a couple weeks. I thought I most needed a refresher on operations and procedures in the aircraft, with an emphasis on abnormals, edge cases, and failures. An annual contract consisting of two semi-annual visits to RTC -a three-day recurrent course followed by a two-day refresher six months later costs$1,585. Other situations that we do try to practice in the aircraft can beaccomplished only in very unrealistic ways. Carlsbad, CA After introductions and the obligatory war stories, training began with a systems-focused test to see how much I knewor didnt. Visual systems offer an extremelyrealistic nighttime-only display, using infinity-focus collimated optics, (but most lackany capability for side views or daytime visualssee discussion below).These sims were built about 20 years ago (when piston GA was at its peak), and each costabout $1 million to build back then. Well, its different. SIMCOMs Scottsdale facility is one of the nicest of the training centers Ive seen outside of Flight Safety and CAE. For example, a full-service contract for Cessna 300/400 costs $4,700 per year. If you like, go finish it off with some time in the real airplane to polish your buttonology and aircraft-specific procedures. He knew his stuff, and his easy-going, southern-gentleman style was refreshing, right down to the unnecessary, Mr. He said that finding and retaining quality instructors is important to ensuring that pilots who come for initial training will return to SimCom when its time for recurrent training. Chris jotted down his first impressions of theexperience, and I think youll find them interesting. Attend our fully interactive ground school training from the safety and convenience of your own home or office. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Less than 5 percent of the students are self-funded, aspiring corporate pilots who dont already have a job. SimCom has expanded and evolved over the years. Being a solo student, I met with my instructor in an office. AVwebpublisher Carl Marbach also wrote up his impressions after he went through recurrenttraining at RTC for his Aerostar 601l. We graded it only to define where we needed to review. 2080 Phillips Lane By eliminating 15 or 20 hours of training flights a year, its easy to saveseveral thousand dollars in operating and maintenance expenses, not to mention wear andtear. I trained in that sim in non-motion mode forseveral years, whereupon FlightSafety built a motion base for it and put the sim up onlegs. ViaMichelin will help you to determine the best route based on various options and, by default, offer two to three routes with varying costs, distances and journey times. I was then shown to the break room where I waited for the instructor. In addition to getting a ballpark estimate for the cost to insure a used King Air, Citation Mustang or new HondaJet, one of the first things the prospective owner will hear from the broker is that any insurer is going to require upgrade training at a facility approved by the insurer. Childs Associates LP, although David is still president and CEO. As you might expect, FlightSafetys training is extremely professional, highlystructured, and quite expensive. What an eye-opener! PO Box 6692 The following year, SimCom added full motion simulators to its lineup in order to provide jet/type rating training. If a place's COL index is below 100, it's cheaper than the national average. Knowing what to do and when to do it thats the value of simulator training. I can tell you fromfirsthand experience that after two hours in the box, youre ready for a long break and atall beer! No. If you get confused or make a mistake, the instructor can freezethe sim and discuss the situation with you, or even back up a few miles and let you tryagain. 1071 East Aero Park Blvd. SIMCOM is committed to delivering training solutions that allow our customers to become safer, more proficient pilots. They combined all those discounts and averaged the price for a more competitive cost. Although a number of flight schools throughout the United States use simulators intraining pilots for certificates and ratings, there seem to be only three companies thatspecialize in sim-based recurrent training for pilots of piston-powered aircraft:FlightSafety International, Simcom Training Centers, and Recurrent Training Center. Thereare also a number of alternative pricing plans for pilots who train regularly with FSI: Until about ten years ago, FlightSafety was pretty much the only game in town forprofessional-caliber simulator-based recurrent training for piston-powered aircraft.Thats no longer true, but FSI is still the dominant presence in the industry, and setsthe benchmark by which other training organizations are measured. All rights reserved. 700 Wyoming Senior Editor Rick Durden has written for Aviation Consumer since 1994 and specializes in aviation law. Email info@ok-aviation.cz. Training by Legacy Flight Training can also be conducted at the owners home base. Previous Experience AVIATION TRAINING: ABARIS Training 5401 Longley Lane, Suite 49 Reno 775-827-6568: Advanced Composite Repair $1,995: Cycled 5 days: Aeroservice Aviation Training Center . ViaMichelin shows the exact distance between South Lyon and Wolverine Lake, based on the route selected. Initial and or Recurrent Training includes a combination of both training in the customers aircraft and in the visual-motion simulators. As a side note, weve found Level D sims are able to remarkably, realistically duplicate flight operations and are possessed of superb displays. You dont have to waste time positioning for multiple approaches and you can more realistically practice emergencies in a sim without putting yourself at the level of risk you would in an airplane. This comprehensive approach to flight training replicates forces that govern and influence aeronautics, while providing practical experience in the cockpit. Simcom and the Orlando Economic Partnership officially announced the new facility, a $109 million investment, on Aug. 4. But as its courses have expanded into bigger jets, the customer base at SimCom has shifted. Many products featured on this site were editorially chosen. That answer is variable with each of us. Simcom Aviation Training announced in a press release on Tuesday that it has acquired a training provider for TBM aircraft to expand training opportunities available to TBM operators. The cost-effectiveness of the SIMCOM technology means better value for our customers compared to other simulation training environments. Initial and or Recurrent Training, at either location, includes flight training in the customers aircraft, or in the full motion simulators, or a combination of both. Ive personally flown a certified AATD simulating a Cessna 414 that would accelerate on an ILS with the power off. Finally, in-aircraft training tends to be a lot tougher on your aircraft than normaloperations. With the advent of relatively inexpensive simulators that meet the FAAs requirement for an Aviation Training Device (ATD)the most basic simulator for which time can be credited toward a rating and recency of instrument experienceany training organization for stepping up to a piston twin, turboprop or jet worth its salt should have an ATD level sim that reasonably duplicates the airplane youre going to be flying. 702-639-6800. 2722 Perimeter Road, Suite 107 5401 Longley Lane, Suite 49 Scheduling varies with each class and number of participants. Finally, the student steps into the full-motion, Level D simulator. Work on aviation training company Simcom International Corp.'s future Orlando headquarters is taking off. While a light- to medium-piston-twin pilot or even a single-engine pilot will likely find quality offerings at SIMCOM, class pricing can leave the pilot breathless, especially if you're on an annual recurrent schedule. Previous Experience Grand Prairie, TX There are pros and cons to both sides of the simulator-versus-aircraft discussion. 52 hours/week But if you can fly the sim you can certainly fly the airplane. Type Rating Sure, we recognize the value of the training and would plan to go anyway, but often plans dont quite make it into schedules. So, without the insurance requirement, we might not go at all or perhaps not as often as we should. Our simulators are designed to give you a real-word experience by using actual aircraft components realistic handling qualities and wrap-around visual displays for realism. But figure out your personal objectives before you go so you can share those with the instructor to make sure thats what you get. So Idecided to do it. Sure, many have been plowed up for houses or 2023 Aviation Publishing Group. The3-day instrument multiengine recurrent course costs $3,000, the 2-day IME costs $2,400,and the 2-day instrument single-engine course costs $1,200. The upset training provided by Patty Wagstaffs company was, I believe, one of the most important aircraft training events I have completed since becoming a professional pilot. I had no idea just how poorly my previous in-aircrafttraining had been in preparing me to handle real-life emergencies. As Pilatus's ingenuity paves the way in the single engine By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL cookies. The sim allows you to be trained todeal with nearly any conceivable emergency situation. Its not clear to me that the SimCom philosophyis better or worse than the one FlightSafety uses. We covered everything, but focused on the areas Id selected. You cant afford to be sitting around and doing nothing during time youve set aside for training. For pilots with at least a few hundred hours in similar airplanes, a simulator-only program is, in our opinion, perfectly satisfactory. The usual curriculum involves 14 days of classroom and simulator time and is designed to take a commercial, instrument, multi-engine pilot with no jet time through a type rating. However, if youre looking to duplicate any particular aircraft, you might get close, but you wont get exact. I found that SimComoffers the same sort of professional-caliber sim training as FlightSafety, but with a fewsignificant differences. Thats the best of both worlds. It is solely the pilots responsibility to ensure that his/her actions comply with current best practices and regulations. Knowing how the systems work and how to troubleshoot them helps isolate problems for the A&P.. Then, theres training. The company, which currently operates two learning centers in Orlando, is investing $109 million in a new headquarters and training facility and plans to create more than 50 new high wage jobs over the next two years. Simcom International Inc 6989 Lee Vista Boulevard Orlando, FL 407-275-1050 : Learjet 20,35,36 PIC Init $11,040: 86.5 hours: Citation I, II, III, V, Bravo PIC Init document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); WORLD'S PREMIER INDEPENDENT AVIATION NEWS RESOURCE. 500 Type At one point, SimCom was paired with the Pan Am Flight Academy, which provides more regional and commercial airline-geared flight training. We toured FSIs HondaJet training facility, one we think reflects its overall approach to training. 2 weeks, K & S In the same time it takes to fly an instrument approach inthe aircraft and fly back to the FAF, you might do three, four or five approaches in thesimulator. FlightSafetys piston twin simulators are exceptionally good. What value do you place on your life and the lives of your passengers? The vision system is a differentmatter. SimCom offers simulator-based training for the Beech Baron and Duke,Cessna 300/400 twins, and Piper Aerostar, Mojave and Navajo. The dismal G.A. For single-engine pilots (Beech Bonanza, Cessna 210, Mooney, Piper PA28 and PA32),RTC offers a two-day recurrent course for $785, or a two-visit annual contract for $1,335. It's also a myth. But, is that bad? This is the sort of training that the airlines call LOFT (Line-Oriented FlightTraining), and is a significant departure from the sort of recurrent training offered byFlightSafety or Simcom. Sign Up; Log In; Sign Up First Name Last Name Email Address Frank he used to address me. Boulder City Note: Minimum prerequisites for enrollment apply to each of the courses above. And they said, well, the other places theyd done training had full motion simulators, so they were better in that way. For example, two pilots can take the Cessna 300/400 recurrent course for $3,800 (i.e., $1,900 each), which represents a 37% discount from the $3,000 One Time tuition. It may seem odd, but in the ways that really count, simulatortraining is far less contrived and far more real than training in an aircraft. Our experience and comments from aircraft owners and training facilities were consistent: If a pilot does not show up multi-engine and instrument current and comfortable and willing to single-mindedly work on the course, he or she will have difficulty completing the course in the basic time allotted. If youve been to the same facility for the last few years, or worse, used the same local instructor, look elsewhere occasionally for a broader base of experience. Its just different. Program A Click here for the PILATUS PC-12 Series Course Information Sheet, TO SCHEDULE YOUR TRAINING, OR FOR MORE INFORMATION. When you train in your actual aircraft, youre polishing every aspect of your proficiency, from buttonology on your equipment to handling the bird in those edge cases your CFI just loves to throw at you. Adjust the weather to be exactly what you want. The Thinking Pilots Flight Manual or, How to Survive Flying Little Airplanes and Have a Ball Doing It, Vols. Aside from multiengine and instrument refresher courses, a pinch-hitter course and a light jet familiarization course, SimComs training programs are all aircraft-specific and last between 4 to 10 days. The prices quoted above are FlightSafetys 1998 One Time tuitions. Aviation Services, Inc. The sims offer full motion and dynamic controlloading, both accomplished via hydraulic actuators. Gary Santos, SIMCOM's Scottsdale Training Centre Manager stated: "I'm very happy to announce that our PC-12 NGX Flight Training Device Level 6 - the highest level of realism for a fixed-wing Flight Training Device - has passed its FAA evaluation today in our Scottsdale facility. Bottom line: Training, and especially proficiency training, is simply better in a simulator. Are designed to give you a real-word experience by using actual aircraft components realistic handling qualities and visual! Cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent sim allows you to be around. Professional, highlystructured, and Piper Aerostar, Mojave and Navajo these will... Ready for a MORE competitive cost as we should sim training as FlightSafety but! Simcom philosophyis better or worse than the one FlightSafety uses those discounts averaged... Nearly any conceivable emergency situation to duplicate any particular aircraft, you might get close, but you get! 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