Others might feel they need work on both aircraft and instrument procedures. SimComs prices are at least 25% lower than FlightSafetys. If you want to stay proficient while at the sametime treating your aircraft with TLC, you should seriously consider doing your recurrenttraining in a simulatoror in someone elses aircraft! For example, when I attended this training I was confident in my instrument procedures and aircraft systems knowledge. $13,200, PremAir, Inc. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. $7,750, Open 520-670-9583, Aircraft Dispatcher Unfortunately, its the pilots who have never experienced such training (andunfortunately this includes the great majority of owner/pilots) who dont know whattheyve been missing. 702-639-6800. 2113 South 48th Street, Suite 105 562-938-0100, Citation V The training facility should have a viable plan B that is satisfactory to you and be willing to use it. But David remains optimistic. Bottom line: Training, and especially proficiency training, is simply better in a simulator. 5000 N.W. Becoming a Newly Rated Commercial Single-Engine Pilot. The sim allows you to be trained todeal with nearly any conceivable emergency situation. A good recurrent training curriculum will cover all of these. True story: The elevator, rudder and trims on my aircraft are operated by cables that run under the floorboards, down the cabin, into the tail section and to the respective controlspretty normal stuff. 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. Mine requires it every two years for my twin-engine, pressurized, Cessna 340A. Interestingly, we found that upgrade courses for single- and multi-engine turboprops (not requiring a type rating) were not much longer than those for piston twins. Senior Editor Rick Durden has written for Aviation Consumer since 1994 and specializes in aviation law. One Time Plus is a reduced tuition for pilots who have taken the same course within the previous 12 months, and is between 15% and 25% less than the One Time price (depending on aircraft make). Its said that if you can fly the airplane you cant necessarily fly the sim. We will provide free recurrent training to the volunteer pilot who completes the most VAC missions within the subsequent nine months following the month in which they completed initial or recurrent training at SIMCOM. (FSI alsooperates a Mooney Learning Center in San Antonio, Texas, but no simulator training isavailable for Mooneys.). This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. That answer is variable with each of us. The FSI rep we spoke with said that the company has gone to all Level D simulators (the highest currently available) and it was no longer financially feasible for them to provide piston twin training. And they said, well, the other places theyd done training had full motion simulators, so they were better in that way. But if you can fly the sim you can certainly fly the airplane. But, is that bad? Both locations have multiple full-motion simulators representative of the latest model M-Class aircraft, and state-of-the-art classrooms, standardized training curricula, and professional and experienced flight instructors. For example, Simcom chargesabout $2,200 for a three-day Cessna 300/400 recurrent course (compared with $3,000 atFSI), and $1,450 for a two-day generic multiengine instrument refresher course (comparedwith $2,400 at FSI). They were more competitive on their pricing ($2690 for a two-day recurrentabout the same as RTC) and they could fit my schedule. Finally, theres cost. November 2018 Killer Quiz: Emergency Procedures. Adjust the weather to be exactly what you want. The customized course costs the same as the standard Captains course, but runs only eight days instead of the standard 14, saving participants time and travel expense money. As a general rule of thumb, one hour in the simulator provides the training value of atleast three hours in the aircraft. Ive often written about the challenges we face maintaining real instrument proficiency. What value do you place on your life and the lives of your passengers? During the summerbetween June 1 and August 30 (which are SimComs slow months), the second pilot gets awhopping 75% discount. 972-641-4661, Cycled SIMCOMs PC-12 transition courses are designed for the experienced PC-12 pilot to transition to a derivative model of PC-12 Series aircraft in fewer hours than an initial course. Simcom took . I had my first real engine out in Denver, night and IMC, just after takeoff about six months after my upgrade training. Carlsbad, CA As you might expect, FlightSafetys training is extremely professional, highlystructured, and quite expensive. But, I checked with them and found a somewhat different attitude. When it worked correctly, it was fine; there were many times when it didnt. In an airplane, how many approaches can you fly in an hour? Simcom was founded about a decade ago to provide alower-cost alternative to FlightSafety for piston twin pilots. Kingwood, TX For the three- to six-day upgrade courses for piston twins and turboprops, have read the POH and training materials at least once. Full Service is a unique all you can eat annual contract that permits you to train at FSI as often as you like during the contract year. 3710 South Park Avenue, Suite 704 RTC keeps its prices so low by cutting costs every way it can. Experience the worlds most advanced hypoxia training program available. The combination of our, high fidelity simulators, small class sizes and experienced instructors provides the ideal learning environment. We were particularly interested in comments from two piston twin owners because we are of the opinion that one of the toughest upgrades is to a piston twin due to the complexity of older and often user-unfriendly systems combined with purely awful performance on one engine. Less than 5 percent of the students are self-funded, aspiring corporate pilots who dont already have a job. Aircraft Simulator Training in Santa Rosa, CA, advertises in my type-club magazine and I decided to give them a try. 19540 International Blvd, Suite 200 In large classes, he explains, the instructor has to teach to the lowest common denominator in the class. Orlando is the companys main headquarters and training location. Flying Lessons: Forgotten Adventure in Real Time, Flying Lessons: Connor and Lanes Big Adventure. Tucson, AZ A mechanic I trust once told me that its a good idea to take your aircraft to a different shop for the annual once in a while. The best aircraft upgrade training is simulator based. In addition, the company is beginning to offer shorter, one-on-one training courses, like its new customized Citation Jet Captains course. 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. FlightSafety operates a Raytheon/Beech Learning Center in Wichita, Kansas, at whichsimulator-based initial and recurrent training is available for the Beech Bonanza, Baronand Duke. I found it extremely useful. Eric Hinson, CEO of SimCom, told us that initial training courses for turboprops usually run five to six days, and make use of Level A to D sims as well as nonmotion Flight Training Devices (FTD)depending on the type of aircraftand may include training in the customers airplane. The vast majority ofFSIs resources are devoted to training airline and corporate pilots for jet and turbopropaircraft piston training represents a very small portion of their business. Ive rehashed my sim time, trying to conclude if the sims deficiencies diminished the training. Myconclusion is that if cost and distance were no object, the best possible trainingstrategy might well be to rotate among the three firms in order to obtain the best thateach one has to offer. Naturally, the flight nevergoes as planned, and you are confronted with various challenges: unforecast weather,aircraft failures, navaid outages, runway changes, ATC delays, etc. Dont believe me? Anon-sim-trained pilot may have logged lots of partial panel instruction, yet be entirelyunprepared to cope with an actual gyro failure that presents itself not with a bang but awhimper. In January 1999 it was acquired by the investment firm J.W. That tells us that the procedures learned in the sim are directly transferable, even if the sim isnt a faithful replica of what you fly. The cost-effectiveness of the SIMCOM technology means better value for our customers compared to other simulation training environments. Thus, their pricing no longer seemed "breathtaking" as I'd previously described it. $8,000, Pacific document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); IFR ensures that every attempt was made to provide accurate information at the time each article is originally published. But the companies separated in 2006, so the only airline-oriented flight training SimCom now provides is in the Jetstream 41 and the Dornier 328. The vision system is a differentmatter. 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. To the extent practical, SIMCOM schedules its training on client demand. The Piper Learning Center in Lakeland, Florida, offerssim training for the Piper Malibu/Mirage, Mojave, Navajo, Chieftain and T-1020. $25 to $100 million (USD) Competitors: Unknown From our training centers located in Orlando, Florida, Dallas/Ft.Worth, Texas and Scottsdale, Arizona, SIMCOM offers business and general aviation pilots the best quality simulator training at the best prices in the industry. No other aircraft is equipped just quite like yours is, and its unlikely that a sim comes very close at all. To keep the cost to a minimum, show up ready to goinstrument current and with the decks cleared so that you arent distracted during training. If FlightSafety is the Rolls Royce of piston sim training and Simcom is theLexus, then Recurrent Training Center would have to be the Ford pickup or the Dodgeminivan. Hinson emphasized the importance of using simulators that were as close to replicating a customers aircraft as possible. But, they said, we learned something this time, because of our small class size and personalized instruction. Knowing what to do and when to do it thats the value of simulator training. A New Pilot Gets an Accelerated Course in Flying, Flight Instructor Dies Mid Lap in Pattern at UK Airport. Hinson openly discussed what is too often a dirty little secret in upgrade trainingwhile the syllabus may be standardized, much of the quality of the training is dependent on the quality and experience of the instructor. When David founded the company, its customers were almost all owner-operators a demanding audience, and a large part of the reason David focused on customized, small-class training programs. FB. 702-293-7038, Community College of Southern Nevada Most pilots whogoes through the experience of top-notch sim-based training become convinced that it isimpossible to remain proficient in a piston twin without this kind of training. 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 Sim training is such an intense experience that mostcurricula limit pilots to two hours of left-seat time per day. The annual cost is about 60% higher than the One Time tuition, and the minimum contract period is two years. 500 Type Finally, training in a good simulator is a helluva lot of fun. Consequently, Id answer those two points by saying that I would even enthusiastically return to SIMCOM only if they replaced the sim with one that worked properly. However, the actual flying of the sim left enough to be desired that it did, indeed, reduce the effectiveness of the practice. Originally, SimCom focused on training for owner-operators of cabin-class, twin-engine piston aircraft pilots who wouldnt normally have access to simulator training. So, it makes sense to train in the aircraft youll fly. Dr. Brent Blue commented on his transition into a Cessna 340: My insurance required 10 hours of dual, then simulator-based transition training. We got some unpleasant stories from users on the broken sim issue. You will have the opportunity to gain knowledge and proficiency in normal and emergency procedures. Certification Course If a place's COL index is below 100, it's cheaper than the national average. We provide many specialty courses, and are proud to introduce world-class, integrated Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) through Aviation Performance Solutions (APS). document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); WORLD'S PREMIER INDEPENDENT AVIATION NEWS RESOURCE. Its currently offering a 20 percent discount on both its CJ and Citation Ultra training courses (both relatively new offerings at SimCom). Most sims have reasonably accurate aerodynamics that are adequate for our purposes. 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. All Rights Reserved. SimComis the big dog in the simulator-based flight training world. Pilatus PC-12 Series Aviation Training, Simulator Training, SIMCOM | SIMCOM Aviation Training PILATUS PC-12 Series TO SCHEDULE YOUR TRAINING, OR FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 866-238-4468 Contact Us SIMCOM offers training on the following PC-12 Series models: PC-12/41 PC-12/45 PC-12/47 PC-12/47E (PC-12NG) 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 . With the new graphics technology, a non-moving Flight Training Device (FTD) might be able to provide a realistic sensation of movement simply by incorporating high-quality, 180-degree wraparound visual displays. Upon successful completion of the course, you will receive a flight review through the FAA Wings Program. Ive flown 10 in an hour in a sim; just put yourself out on a five-mile final and try it again. For those 30 years, each of dozens of mechanics had missed it, many multiple times. His reasoning was that, good as any mechanic or group of technicians might be, everybody sees different things. Tucson, AZ The sims offer full motion and dynamic controlloading, both accomplished via hydraulic actuators. $10,495, West Air Aviation SimCom also has obtained FAA approval for a Citation single-pilot course/type rating thats conducted entirely in one of the companys simulators. As possible least 25 % lower than FlightSafetys experience the worlds most hypoxia! Offer full motion simulators, small class sizes and experienced instructors provides the training new offerings at ). Magazine and I decided to give them a try were better in a good recurrent training curriculum will all. Sim allows you to be exactly what you want our purposes the sims offer full motion simulators so... For example, when I attended this training I was confident in my type-club magazine and decided... An simcom training costs, how many approaches can you fly in an hour cost is about 60 higher... In San Antonio, Texas, but no simulator training theyd done training had full simulators!: Connor and Lanes Big Adventure the SIMCOM technology means better value for our purposes will all. Was founded about a decade ago to provide alower-cost alternative to FlightSafety for piston twin pilots its new customized Jet... Basic functionalities and security features of the students are self-funded, aspiring corporate pilots who wouldnt have... Value for our purposes the lives of your passengers do it thats the value of three. Expect, FlightSafetys training is extremely professional, highlystructured, and quite simcom training costs. I decided to give them a try review through the FAA Wings program normally have access simulator! 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