REPRINTED BY PERMISSION ORLANDO • SCOTTSDALE • DALLAS OF J. Mac McClellan EAA SPORT AVIATION BETTER PILOT / Left Seat

Simulator Training That Simulator Training Won’t Break The Bank Makes Better Pilots SimCom brings the best of structured training to personal flying

The safety record of the major airlines in the United States is I have been to SimCom several times over simply astonishing. It has been more than nine years since a pas- the years for recurrent training in my Baron senger on a major airline in the United States was killed in an 58 and have always been impressed by the accident. And the business jet safety record, while not quite as level of personalization designed into the good, comes very close to that of the majors. system. SimCom was created from scratch to Many factors contribute to the outstanding safety record of serve the owner-pilot and the smaller flight these two groups, but I think one of the most important is regular departments. Maximum class size is two standardized training in simulators. A simulator concentrates and pilots with a dedicated instructor, meaning focuses the training time in ways that are not possible in actual air- everyone must participate at a high level, and planes. And because a sim can’t hurt you, it allows instructors to the instructor can be certain that each pilot teach, and pilots to practice, the kinds of in-flight emergencies that understands the material. When I was there would be insane to attempt in a real airplane. for training last December I was the only one For many reasons, the biggest being cost, simulator training was signed up for the Baron for those days so the not available to pilots of propeller airplanes until years after sims had instruction was one-on-one. become fundamental to pilot training in jets. But SimCom Training A typical recurrent training session Centers has done more to change that than any other company by extends over three days with 12 hours building simulators for a range of propeller singles and twins. spent in the simulator: six in the left seat, SimCom didn’t simply adopt the jet-training concept wholesale, but and six more observing from the right. If took the best of sim training and customized it to best suit the way an there is only one pilot in the class, the train- owner-pilot operates. ing can be completed in two days.

Business Jets, Turboprops and Pistons BUSINESS JET: Citation 500/550/560 Series • Citation CJ/CJ1/CJ2/CJ3 Series Learjet 20/30/55 Series • Hawker 400/700/800/800XP Series • Beechjet 400 Series Hawker Beech 400XP • MU-300 Series • Dornier 328 Jet • Falcon 20 • Westwind I/II • Eclipse 500 TURBOPROP & PISTON: PC-12 • TBM 700/850 • Meridian • JetPROP DLX MU-2 • King Air • Cheyenne • Turbo Commander • Jetstream 41 • Twin Cessna Duke • Baron • Navajo • Aerostar • Seneca • Saratoga • Malibu/Mirage/Matrix

VALUE • PERSONALIZED • FRIENDLY Call 1.800.272.0211 for more iinformationf i or visiti i our websiteb i at www.simulator.com ILLUSTRATION courtesy of simcom www.eaa.org 52

PSM_Floodlight-Reprint.indd 1 3/15/11 3:38 PM J. MAC MCLELLAN BUSINESS JET FULL-MOTION TRAINING:

Beechjet 400 • Citation I Citation II/SII • Citation V Citation Bravo • Citation Encore Initial training courses for pilots new simulator can show the way. Learning Your Airplane Citation Ultra to the airplane may take more time, Many pilots become frustrated in their One sim session can teach you more Citation CJ/CJ1/CJ1+/CJ2/CJ2+/CJ3 depending on the complexity of the air- early attempts at simulator flying because about your airplane than hundreds of Dornier 328 Jet plane. SimCom also offers what it calls an it is a challenge. If there is any weakness hours of flying in the real thing because “advanced refresher” course that is aimed in your instrument scan, the sim will all sorts of failures and anomalies can be Eclipse 500 • Falcon 20 at pilots who have been through several quickly uncover it. Believe me, I have explored in the sim. For example, if one Hawker 400/700/800 recurrent courses, and it can be custom- endured these frustrations over the years of the flex drive cables that extend the Hawker 800XP ized to the desires of the pilot. in various simulators, but like most pilots, flaps in a Baron fails, the flap on the other Hawker Beech 400XP Ground school is never going to be a I have a competitive streak. This sim is not wing will extend, generating a powerful Lear 23/24/25 • Lear 31 spellbinding experience, but SimCom going to beat me. Other pilots can fly it rolling moment. The first time this hap- Lear 35/36 • Lear 55 does a good job of delivering the informa- well, and I’m going to be one of those. pens to most pilots we are certain an Mitsubishi MU-300 tion about your airplane in an effective Over the years I have noticed that engine failed because the roll rate is so Westwind I/II way. The printed materials are succinct there are some good IFR pilots who do powerful. You can’t fail the flap drive in and contain the information that you need not fly well in the sim, at least not until the real airplane, but it could fail unex- TURBOPROP VISUAL-MOTION to know to operate your airplane and its logging considerable time. But on the flip pectedly someday. Engine failures are a big part of sim than hitting the crowded residential TRAINING systems, and to help in troubleshooting side I have never seen a pilot who Like other major simulator training training—on takeoff roll, shortly after streets and homes around the lake. failures, without wandering off into infor- masters the sim who isn’t also an IFR centers, SimCom instructors do not ladle Pilatus PC-12 • PIper Meridian liftoff, in cruise, and on final approach. mation you can’t really use, such as the pilot who flies the real airplane with on multiple unrelated failures. But, one Socata TBM 700/850 • JetPROP DLX You can count on having to attempt an Vision Equals Motion timing angle on the magnetos. great precision. The major airline and failure can cause a cascade of events that, if Beech King Air 90/100/200 engine-out go-around at least once dur- SimCom uses both full-motion Level C Each SimCom classroom has a computer business jet record is irrefutable—pilots not handled properly, can leave you in a Beech King Air 300/350 ing the course in a twin. simulators and fixed sims that are tech- and projector that can display course mate- who learn to manage the sim are also on world of hurt. My favorite is a generator or Cessna Conquest • Jetstream 41 Any pilot, even those who don’t fly nically called flight-training devices. rials, but it’s also connected to the Internet top of their game in the airplane. alternator that quits on one engine, and Mitsubishi MU-2 • Piper Cheyenne twins, could tell you how to handle an Most of the propeller airplanes are the to show any available online information. The simulator also allows you to prac- then the other engine fails entirely, leaving engine failure. Step on the rudder hard fixed type, but they are different than Turbo Commander tice IFR procedures in weather you with half the thrust and none of the to stop the yaw toward the dead engine, most because of huge visuals displayed Making Peace With the Sim conditions that are rarely available for generating output. It could happen in real roll in as much aileron as needed to keep on 8-foot-high screens ahead of the Simulators don’t fly exactly like the air- training flights in the real world. SimCom life, and does happen in simulators. PISTON VISUAL-MOTION the wings close to level, and then actual airplane cockpit. The screens plane they replicate. This fact drives most has brand new visual display graphics TRAINING feather the propeller on the failed wrap around the full 90 degrees to the pilots new to sim training crazy. We know that deliver a realistic presentation of engine to get rid of the drag. What the left, and about 60 degrees to the right. Beech Baron • Beech Duke we can do okay in the real airplane, but what actual low-visibility conditions on sim does is take this intellectual knowl- The size of the visual displays, and Cessna 300 Series • Cessna 400 Series the first few times in the sim we really approach look like. edge of how to deal with the emergency their distance ahead of the windshield, Piper Malibu/Mirage hack it up. Just holding heading and alti- We pilots often talk about “breaking and transform it into actions. No matter produce an overpowering sensation of Piper Matrix • Piper Navajo/Mojave tude and staying on the target airspeed out” on the approach, but in the real world how well you know the procedure in motion. The resolution and detail have will be a challenge. of visibility less than a mile, you really Piper Seneca • Piper Saratoga your head, getting your hands and feet been recently upgraded, so you can fly The issue is that the sim can’t deliver never do break out. What you see in actual Aerostar to do the right thing at the right time daylight, dusk, or night. The quality of every subtle cue that the real airplane low visibility is a dim view of the approach takes practice that can only be done at the display is so good it’s easy to fly the does. We don’t think of it when we’re fly- lights, and then some threshold lights, and low altitudes and in critical situations sim visually, which is not true of units ing, but there is a continuous sensory eventually runway edge lights. That’s safely in a sim. that have small visual displays. input of sounds, slight G-loading changes, what the sim visuals show. In the actual Even in the singles such as the TBM The qualities of the simulator are and tiny feedback from the controls that is airplane you can’t find real low visibility The King Air 350 simulator is equipped with a Collins and Pilatus turboprops at SimCom, important in any sim training, but that is missing in the simulator. Those cues help when you want it, and if you could, train- ProLine 21 avionics panel. engine failure is an important part of the not the most crucial issue. What really us know the airplane attitude or airspeed ing flights on those days are usually training. Restarts must be considered counts is the structure of the training that is changing even when flying in the restricted by other traffic in the system. and the glide must be managed to opti- SimCom and other simulator-based train- clouds, but many of those tiny sensations When you compare the agility of the mize your chances in the forced landing. ing schools offer. Flying IFR is all about are missing in the sim. SimCom visuals in re-creating the IFR I even had both engines fail in the discipline, and that is learned best in a The result is that you must have an conditions to the unrealistic view pro- Baron, which is part of the training syl- structured environment. If you don’t excellent instrument scan to fly a simula- vided flying under the hood, the sim labus. The drill is, of course, to feather believe me, look at the safety record of the tor with precision. Of course, we can’t fly training is worth every penny. When you both props immediately to optimize the jet pilots who routinely train in sims. any airplane, real or simulated, with our lift the hood at the end of an approach it’s glide, but after that it’s the usual forced eyes closed, but in the sim the scan is par- a nice VFR day. When you keep the nee- O r l a n d o landing drill. I couldn’t make it back to J. Mac McClellan, EAA 747337, has been amount. The sim has an excellent visual dles centered in the sim you still have lots one of Orlando’s runways so I opted for a pilot for more than 40 years, holds an display, and that helps when flying in of work to do from the decision point on S c o t t s d a l e a lake and took my chances Sully style. airline transport pilot certificate, and owns a simulated VFR, but to maintain a precise to the runway as you descend through The PC-12 NG is a good example of SimCom’s modern It was a crash, but I think I would have Beechcraft Baron. Mac is also writing an online flight path, only the instruments in the realistic murk. panels and enhanced visuals. D a l l a s survived; at least I had better chances blog at http://MacsBlog.com

53 Sport Aviation February 2011 PHOTOGRAPHY courtesy of simcom www.eaa.org 54

PSM_StripAd.indd 1 3/15/11 3:46 PM J. MAC MCLELLAN BUSINESS JET FULL-MOTION TRAINING:

Beechjet 400 • Citation I Citation II/SII • Citation V Citation Bravo • Citation Encore Initial training courses for pilots new simulator can show the way. Learning Your Airplane Citation Ultra to the airplane may take more time, Many pilots become frustrated in their One sim session can teach you more Citation CJ/CJ1/CJ1+/CJ2/CJ2+/CJ3 depending on the complexity of the air- early attempts at simulator flying because about your airplane than hundreds of Dornier 328 Jet plane. SimCom also offers what it calls an it is a challenge. If there is any weakness hours of flying in the real thing because “advanced refresher” course that is aimed in your instrument scan, the sim will all sorts of failures and anomalies can be Eclipse 500 • Falcon 20 at pilots who have been through several quickly uncover it. Believe me, I have explored in the sim. For example, if one Hawker 400/700/800 recurrent courses, and it can be custom- endured these frustrations over the years of the flex drive cables that extend the Hawker 800XP ized to the desires of the pilot. in various simulators, but like most pilots, flaps in a Baron fails, the flap on the other Hawker Beech 400XP Ground school is never going to be a I have a competitive streak. This sim is not wing will extend, generating a powerful Lear 23/24/25 • Lear 31 spellbinding experience, but SimCom going to beat me. Other pilots can fly it rolling moment. The first time this hap- Lear 35/36 • Lear 55 does a good job of delivering the informa- well, and I’m going to be one of those. pens to most pilots we are certain an Mitsubishi MU-300 tion about your airplane in an effective Over the years I have noticed that engine failed because the roll rate is so Westwind I/II way. The printed materials are succinct there are some good IFR pilots who do powerful. You can’t fail the flap drive in and contain the information that you need not fly well in the sim, at least not until the real airplane, but it could fail unex- TURBOPROP VISUAL-MOTION to know to operate your airplane and its logging considerable time. But on the flip pectedly someday. Engine failures are a big part of sim than hitting the crowded residential TRAINING systems, and to help in troubleshooting side I have never seen a pilot who Like other major simulator training training—on takeoff roll, shortly after streets and homes around the lake. failures, without wandering off into infor- masters the sim who isn’t also an IFR centers, SimCom instructors do not ladle Pilatus PC-12 • PIper Meridian liftoff, in cruise, and on final approach. mation you can’t really use, such as the pilot who flies the real airplane with on multiple unrelated failures. But, one Socata TBM 700/850 • JetPROP DLX You can count on having to attempt an Vision Equals Motion timing angle on the magnetos. great precision. The major airline and failure can cause a cascade of events that, if Beech King Air 90/100/200 engine-out go-around at least once dur- SimCom uses both full-motion Level C Each SimCom classroom has a computer business jet record is irrefutable—pilots not handled properly, can leave you in a Beech King Air 300/350 ing the course in a twin. simulators and fixed sims that are tech- and projector that can display course mate- who learn to manage the sim are also on world of hurt. My favorite is a generator or Cessna Conquest • Jetstream 41 Any pilot, even those who don’t fly nically called flight-training devices. rials, but it’s also connected to the Internet top of their game in the airplane. alternator that quits on one engine, and Mitsubishi MU-2 • Piper Cheyenne twins, could tell you how to handle an Most of the propeller airplanes are the to show any available online information. The simulator also allows you to prac- then the other engine fails entirely, leaving engine failure. Step on the rudder hard fixed type, but they are different than Turbo Commander tice IFR procedures in weather you with half the thrust and none of the to stop the yaw toward the dead engine, most because of huge visuals displayed Making Peace With the Sim conditions that are rarely available for generating output. It could happen in real roll in as much aileron as needed to keep on 8-foot-high screens ahead of the Simulators don’t fly exactly like the air- training flights in the real world. SimCom life, and does happen in simulators. PISTON VISUAL-MOTION the wings close to level, and then actual airplane cockpit. The screens plane they replicate. This fact drives most has brand new visual display graphics TRAINING feather the propeller on the failed wrap around the full 90 degrees to the pilots new to sim training crazy. We know that deliver a realistic presentation of engine to get rid of the drag. What the left, and about 60 degrees to the right. Beech Baron • Beech Duke we can do okay in the real airplane, but what actual low-visibility conditions on sim does is take this intellectual knowl- The size of the visual displays, and Cessna 300 Series • Cessna 400 Series the first few times in the sim we really approach look like. edge of how to deal with the emergency their distance ahead of the windshield, Piper Malibu/Mirage hack it up. Just holding heading and alti- We pilots often talk about “breaking and transform it into actions. No matter produce an overpowering sensation of Piper Matrix • Piper Navajo/Mojave tude and staying on the target airspeed out” on the approach, but in the real world how well you know the procedure in motion. The resolution and detail have will be a challenge. of visibility less than a mile, you really Piper Seneca • Piper Saratoga your head, getting your hands and feet been recently upgraded, so you can fly The issue is that the sim can’t deliver never do break out. What you see in actual Aerostar to do the right thing at the right time daylight, dusk, or night. The quality of every subtle cue that the real airplane low visibility is a dim view of the approach takes practice that can only be done at the display is so good it’s easy to fly the does. We don’t think of it when we’re fly- lights, and then some threshold lights, and low altitudes and in critical situations sim visually, which is not true of units ing, but there is a continuous sensory eventually runway edge lights. That’s safely in a sim. that have small visual displays. input of sounds, slight G-loading changes, what the sim visuals show. In the actual Even in the singles such as the TBM The qualities of the simulator are and tiny feedback from the controls that is airplane you can’t find real low visibility The King Air 350 simulator is equipped with a Collins and Pilatus turboprops at SimCom, important in any sim training, but that is missing in the simulator. Those cues help when you want it, and if you could, train- ProLine 21 avionics panel. engine failure is an important part of the not the most crucial issue. What really us know the airplane attitude or airspeed ing flights on those days are usually training. Restarts must be considered counts is the structure of the training that is changing even when flying in the restricted by other traffic in the system. and the glide must be managed to opti- SimCom and other simulator-based train- clouds, but many of those tiny sensations When you compare the agility of the mize your chances in the forced landing. ing schools offer. Flying IFR is all about are missing in the sim. SimCom visuals in re-creating the IFR I even had both engines fail in the discipline, and that is learned best in a The result is that you must have an conditions to the unrealistic view pro- Baron, which is part of the training syl- structured environment. If you don’t excellent instrument scan to fly a simula- vided flying under the hood, the sim labus. The drill is, of course, to feather believe me, look at the safety record of the tor with precision. Of course, we can’t fly training is worth every penny. When you both props immediately to optimize the jet pilots who routinely train in sims. any airplane, real or simulated, with our lift the hood at the end of an approach it’s glide, but after that it’s the usual forced eyes closed, but in the sim the scan is par- a nice VFR day. When you keep the nee- O r l a n d o landing drill. I couldn’t make it back to J. Mac McClellan, EAA 747337, has been amount. The sim has an excellent visual dles centered in the sim you still have lots one of Orlando’s runways so I opted for a pilot for more than 40 years, holds an display, and that helps when flying in of work to do from the decision point on S c o t t s d a l e a lake and took my chances Sully style. airline transport pilot certificate, and owns a simulated VFR, but to maintain a precise to the runway as you descend through The PC-12 NG is a good example of SimCom’s modern It was a crash, but I think I would have Beechcraft Baron. Mac is also writing an online flight path, only the instruments in the realistic murk. panels and enhanced visuals. D a l l a s survived; at least I had better chances blog at http://MacsBlog.com

53 Sport Aviation February 2011 PHOTOGRAPHY courtesy of simcom www.eaa.org 54

PSM_StripAd.indd 1 3/15/11 3:46 PM REPRINTED BY PERMISSION ORLANDO • SCOTTSDALE • DALLAS OF J. Mac McClellan EAA SPORT AVIATION BETTER PILOT / Left Seat

Simulator Training That Simulator Training Won’t Break The Bank Makes Better Pilots SimCom brings the best of structured training to personal flying

The safety record of the major airlines in the United States is I have been to SimCom several times over simply astonishing. It has been more than nine years since a pas- the years for recurrent training in my Baron senger on a major airline in the United States was killed in an 58 and have always been impressed by the accident. And the business jet safety record, while not quite as level of personalization designed into the good, comes very close to that of the majors. system. SimCom was created from scratch to Many factors contribute to the outstanding safety record of serve the owner-pilot and the smaller flight these two groups, but I think one of the most important is regular departments. Maximum class size is two standardized training in simulators. A simulator concentrates and pilots with a dedicated instructor, meaning focuses the training time in ways that are not possible in actual air- everyone must participate at a high level, and planes. And because a sim can’t hurt you, it allows instructors to the instructor can be certain that each pilot teach, and pilots to practice, the kinds of in-flight emergencies that understands the material. When I was there would be insane to attempt in a real airplane. for training last December I was the only one For many reasons, the biggest being cost, simulator training was signed up for the Baron for those days so the not available to pilots of propeller airplanes until years after sims had instruction was one-on-one. become fundamental to pilot training in jets. But SimCom Training A typical recurrent training session Centers has done more to change that than any other company by extends over three days with 12 hours building simulators for a range of propeller singles and twins. spent in the simulator: six in the left seat, SimCom didn’t simply adopt the jet-training concept wholesale, but and six more observing from the right. If took the best of sim training and customized it to best suit the way an there is only one pilot in the class, the train- owner-pilot operates. ing can be completed in two days.

Business Jets, Turboprops and Pistons BUSINESS JET: Citation 500/550/560 Series • Citation CJ/CJ1/CJ2/CJ3 Series Learjet 20/30/55 Series • Hawker 400/700/800/800XP Series • Beechjet 400 Series Hawker Beech 400XP • MU-300 Series • Dornier 328 Jet • Falcon 20 • Westwind I/II • Eclipse 500 TURBOPROP & PISTON: PC-12 • TBM 700/850 • Meridian • JetPROP DLX MU-2 • King Air • Cheyenne • Turbo Commander • Jetstream 41 • Twin Cessna Duke • Baron • Navajo • Aerostar • Seneca • Saratoga • Malibu/Mirage/Matrix

VALUE • PERSONALIZED • FRIENDLY Call 1.800.272.0211 for more iinformationf i or visiti i our websiteb i at www.simulator.com ILLUSTRATION courtesy of simcom www.eaa.org 52

PSM_Floodlight-Reprint.indd 1 3/15/11 3:38 PM