Aircraft Simulator Training in Santa Rosa, CA, advertises in my type-club magazine and I decided to give them a try. Finally, training in a good simulator is a helluva lot of fun. About SIMCOM. Id been to this facility a couple times before. Recurrent Training Previous Experience If the facility only has one sim that fits the training you are doing, find out ahead of time what happens if that sim breaks and cant be fixed for a few days. 1071 East Aero Park Blvd. 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. $8,000, Pacific Proficiency comes more quickly with that kind of repetition. Dec 9, 2021. Kingwood, TX The students next move into a graphical flight simulator with full-scale displays, touchscreens and, importantly, dynamic graphic system schematic displays at the top. 2 weeks Myfirst exposure to serious simulator training took place in October of 1987,about six months after Id purchased my T310R. Destinations outside of this boundary run an additional $1.25 per mile. So, I looked elsewhere. All of the FAA-required training may be obtained from a properly rated CFI followed byin the case of a new ratinga checkride with a DPE. Ive often written about the challenges we face maintaining real instrument proficiency. Themost difficult parts of doing this in a single-pilot cockpit scanning between thegauges and the windshield and deciding whether or not adequate visual references areavailable to make the landing are never practiced at all. Yet, quality recurrent training isnt cheap. The upgrade world changes a bit when a type rating is required, largely because most training courses increase in sophistication and take at least two weeks. SIMCOMs PC-12 recurrent courses give you the opportunity to practice normal and emergency procedures using realistic scenario based training. Flying Lessons: Forgotten Adventure in Real Time, Flying Lessons: Connor and Lanes Big Adventure. Now, almost 45 percent of the 8,000 people who train at SimCom each year are professional corporate pilots, sent there by their employers. Helicopter Company Grand Prairie, TX Others might feel they need work on both aircraft and instrument procedures. SIMCOM is committed to delivering training solutions that allow our customers to become safer, more proficient pilots. 520-918-7100, Lear Jet That answer is variable with each of us. SimCom began with one facility in Orlando, Florida. I went around and landed. Upon successful completion of the course, you will receive a flight review through the FAA Wings Program. Tucson, AZ However, if youre looking to duplicate any particular aircraft, you might get close, but you wont get exact. For pilots who trainregularly, alternating between the type-specific recurrent and the instrument recurrentcourses provides a well-rounded program. Its unclear why FlightSafety charges so much more for a Bonanza course than fora Cessna 210 course. Frank he used to address me. 562-938-0100, Citation V Any owner with the financial wherewithal to step into the world of aircraft with engines that go whoosh is smart enough to immediately talk the idea over with his or her insurance broker. I skipped Recurrent Training Center (RTC). As the new owner of a cabin-class, turbocharged twin, I was still reeling from the hourly fuel costs, which are more than double what I was used to in the Twin Comanche I used to fly. But if you can fly the sim you can certainly fly the airplane. Well, its different. Three? Cessna 300/400 training is also available at FSIsfacility in Long Beach, California. 2113 South 48th Street, Suite 105 He is the author of. The price goes up from there based on the type of aircraft involved and the amount of training you require to reach proficiencywhich may include a mentor pilot flying with you for some hours following the formal training course. You just cannot practice engine outs in the aircraft as you can in the sim. Note: Minimum prerequisites for enrollment apply to each of the courses above. Program A Perhaps a third of the malfunctionsand emergencies we train for in the sim cannot be done in the aircraft, either becausetheyre impossible to duplicate (e.g., overvoltage trip, induction system icing, propelleroverspeed, left main gear wont extend) or are simply too dangerous to practice (e.g.,engine failure immediately after takeoff, flying with a heavy load of airframe ice). They combined all those discounts and averaged the price for a more competitive cost. Lets be honest. Childs Associates LP, although David is still president and CEO. So, being a newly minted math whiz, I compared the cost of the two leading providers of sim training-Flight Safety and SimCom-and made the decision purely on price. Now, theres no way that could have happened in use; it had to have been done on installation. TO SCHEDULE YOUR TRAINING, OR FOR MORE INFORMATION. Calling as a student (not an editor), I reached out to another facility Id previously visited, Glass Simulator Center (now SIMPRO) in Aurora, IL, but they didnt return my call. $1,995, Aeroservice Aviation Training Center 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. But figure out your personal objectives before you go so you can share those with the instructor to make sure thats what you get. $13,200, PremAir, Inc. 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. $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. NOTE: In 1998, FlightSafety introduced a new Operational Recurrentcourse in its Cessna 300/400 program that offers a similar LOFT emphasis. Plus, of course, you can do ever so much more in the sim than in the airplane. Simcom took . Being a solo student, I met with my instructor in an office. Simcom is located in Orlando, Florida and has two visual-motion simulators, classrooms and a team of professional flight instructors located in Orlando, Florida. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); WORLD'S PREMIER INDEPENDENT AVIATION NEWS RESOURCE. In January 1999 it was acquired by the investment firm J.W. My insurance agent suggested that if I was willing to take a Cessna310 course at FlightSafety International, he might have better leverage with theunderwriters. Some routes (e.g. Trust me, the real airplane wont do that. 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. 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. 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. 19540 International Blvd, Suite 200 Consequently, its a good idea to mix it up occasionally. (I was early.). This means that much of their training is one on one. 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). accident rateduring low-viz approaches, particularly at night, is a testament to the inadequacy of ourtraining. 1201 Airport Road Pilot Training, Inc. Schedule your DeSat training in conjunction with your aircraft training program while at SIMCOM. The only thing that seemed different than the sim was all the firetrucks lined up and down the runway!, T310R owner Mike Busch said, Sim training is absolutely essential for anyone who flies a piston twin and doesnt have a death wish. We provide many specialty courses, and are proud to introduce world-class, integrated Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) through Aviation Performance Solutions (APS). For available course dates click on the links below. The single-engine sims are less than 10 years old, and have electriccontrol loading and no motion. Las Vegas On thisscale, FlightSafety has a clear lead, with Simcom offering somewhat less fidelity, and RTC(with its generic sims) trailing at a very distant third. This is a reasonable compromise.). Scores are presented in relation to the national average of 100. Right there I made the decision to alternate doing my annual at my local shop with someone else. Until youve gone through serious simulator-based training, its hard to appreciatejust what a poor training platform your aircraft is. 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. Ive rehashed my sim time, trying to conclude if the sims deficiencies diminished the training. But that wasnt the only feature that set SimCom apart. Going to a different shop occasionally allows fresh eyes to inspect your prized bird and maybe find something others have missed. Ive concluded that they did. Rates for SimCom training span a fairly broad price range, since a Piper Seneca FTD costs significantly less than a Hawker 800 full-motion simulator, but daily course rates run between $620. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 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. For example, when FlightSafetyfirst shipped one of its two Cessna 300/400 simulators to its Long Beach (Calif.) learningcenter, the sim didnt have a motion base. 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. 500 Type That may include such things as getting an instructors endorsement under FAR 61.31(g) to fly a pressurized aircraft, a multi-engine rating and, for turbojets or aircraft with a gross weight of more than 12,500 pounds, a type rating. OK Aviation Group has been a leader in flight training provision since 2006, receiving full EASA approval as an aviation training organization (ATO) in March of 2013. I flew the new sim briefly,but it wasnt quite ready for prime time so I did all of my serious trainingin the AST 300. RTCs sims are genericAST 300 twin-engine simulators that are not set up to duplicate any particular aircraft.The ground school component of RTCs courses is largely on videotape, allowing RTC to getby with a smaller instructor staff. It is now in place and operational at the SIMCOM training facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. For the Cessna 300/400 recurrent course, for example, you can purchase 3 VIP certificates for $2,000 each, 4 or 5 certificates for $1,900 each, or 6+ certificates for $1,800 each. A combination of more than a decade of economic growth, a soft aviation insurance market (although that appears to be changing) and relatively low selling prices for used piston twins, turboprops and light jets has resulted in a healthy number of piston single owners giving serious thought to stepping up to more capableand demandingairplanes. And I had lunch one day with these two King Air 200 pilots, whod flown for about 10 years, but were trying us out for recurrent training for the first time because our price was lower. SimComis the big dog in the simulator-based flight training world. All training organisations operate modern training centres, including classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art presentation technology. As you get near the end of sim training, ask the instructor for her or his scenario. Every instructor who knows his or her airplane well has one. It was that been there, done that feeling. This was one of those years, so I had some decisions to make about quality of training, availability, and economics. SimCom offers simulator-based training for the Beech Baron and Duke,Cessna 300/400 twins, and Piper Aerostar, Mojave and Navajo. And when you arrive at RTC for training, they dontgive you a personalized laminated nametag or a 200-page looseleaf binder or a customizedcanvas tote bag. 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! Originally, SimCom focused on training for owner-operators of cabin-class, twin-engine piston aircraft pilots who wouldnt normally have access to simulator training. 2080 Phillips Lane Flying may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site. We got some unpleasant stories from users on the broken sim issue. Due to some date confusion on my part, I thought I was beginning this process with a couple months of flexibility. As a side note, weve found Level D sims are able to remarkably, realistically duplicate flight operations and are possessed of superb displays. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Its a bit more difficult to fly anon-motion sim (because you receive fewer cues), but one could argue that this results ingreater pilot proficiency rather than less. Tempe, AZ We graded it only to define where we needed to review. Hinson emphasized the importance of using simulators that were as close to replicating a customers aircraft as possible. 305-871-5557, B737 OK Aviation My advice to prospective SIMCOM clients would be to ask about the sim youd use, ask its age and origin. 52 hours/week Adjust the weather to be exactly what you want. Knowing how the systems work and how to troubleshoot them helps isolate problems for the A&P.. In addition to the type-specific courses, FlightSafety offers three genericinstrument refresher courses that concentrate on instrument flying subjects (weather,chart reading, ATC procedures, etc.) More quickly with that kind of repetition successful simcom training costs of the courses.! To simulator training in conjunction with your aircraft is conclude if the deficiencies... Can not practice engine outs in the aircraft as you can in the simulator-based flight training world $,... Charges so much more for a Bonanza course than fora Cessna 210.! 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