All the kit manufacturers offer transition training
Do they offer it in Europe?
It would seem a great idea, with some types!
For example could one get training on a Lancair Evolution over here?
Certification assures a degree of standardization. Aircraft in certain categories are supposed to handle and feel similar. This is not a good thing IMO, it is counter productive to technological advances.
I don’t think they handle what I would call “similarly”. For example the ailerons in a PA28-181 are far lighter than those in a TB20.
But what certification does achieve is avoidance of stuff like controls becoming lighter when past a certain travel point, which is completely counter-intuitive and is positively deadly unless you have had type specific training, have lots of currency on the type, and make damn sure you that you don’t enter that regime at any speed at which the structural strength might be an issue.
Wouldn’t agree at all that a TP is harder. Push levers forward = go fast, pull back = go slow. When was the last time one could do that in a piston? Took me about 10 minutes to set up LOP operation in cruise in the Aerostar when I should have been looking outside. It’s a constant babying of systems in pistons. TP’s don’t have that problem. Maybe the systems are slightly more complicated, but that would be the only negative.
In regards to SimCom and FlighSafety – they’re simulator trainers. They can drill generic stuff like engine outs etc, get you to know systems, but when it comes to actual experience in type, a common complaint is that most of the instructors there couldn’t point out a Commander or a TBM on a ramp if they had to. So, I’ll take the instructor that has 5000hr in type and costs $600/day rather than shell out $5K to sit in a generic simulator. Don Smith who trained me in Aerostars had a mind boggling 17000hrs in Aerostars alone. He helped build them. Yet, he was half the price of SimCom. Who do you think knows more about Aerostars?
They’ve done a stellar job in convincing people that they’re the very highest standard in the business. Anything else is unsafe. But that’s not necessarily true.
The proof is in the numbers. As written above already, there is decades of accidents (or lack thereof) that make it abundantly clear that additional rating requirements in Europe had no impact on safety.
And the accidents used by regulators to introduce new ratings more often than not had nothing to do with type complexity. The Extra 400 ended up with a type rating requirement because a new owner flew into and crashed out of a thunderstorm… go figure.
Strangely enough, most pilots who fly these things want to survive, and get training. The Cowboys who kill themselves are ignoring the rules anyway (remember the chap who crashed an uninsured, de-registeded Lear 24, a multi-pilot aircraft which he flew single-pilot on a forged ATPL? He and his passenger fortunately survived…)
I don’t really understand why so many pilots resist this freedom. I have never heard anyone t say “I need this because unless forced to do it, I would not get the training”, it is always others…
Fully agree. It’s all about setting minimum legal requirements and then applying good judgement on top of that. Unfortunately, this liberal appraoch is getting lost more and more, not only on aviation regulation.
For light aviation, I wish the guiding principle would be “Would this regulation make sense, if it were a car?”
- Would we have differences training for hybrid cars? Or for front / rear-wheel drive?
- Would we have a rating for driving vans with more than six seats?
- Would we have different licences for left-hand and right-hand driven cars?
- Would we deny credit for driving a left-hand driven car when getting a right-hand-driven car licence?
- Would we insist that everybody logs every trip they make, even if they do not need to prove driving time to anyone?
- Would we require paperwork that costs more than the car to change the radio?
- Would we be restricted to fitting approved parts from the manufacturer?
- Would the manufacturer be able to force us to swap out parts at arbitrary intervals on a whim, even retroactively, because some agency insists?
- Would we have to file a drive plan when driving across borders [does not apply in England, at least until the next Scottish independence referendum]?
- Would motorcyclists only be allowed to use roads with special clearance, given that they are primarily used by cars and lorries?
- Would we all need medicals to drive?
- Would we all be forced to pass 12 exams, including subjects such as road construction (with special attention to types of tarmac), the history of the traffic police, and the exact contents required of the medical kit on board?
- Would we be required to re-take the driving test if we do not drive for two years?
- Would we be required to re-take the driving test every year if we drive a car with more than 200HP?
- [For the Germans] Would we only be allowed to use the road if there is a traffic warden present, and only during approved hours?
…
For light aviation, I wish the guiding principle would be “Would this regulation make sense, if it were a car?”
Several of your items would make very much sense but are politically impossible.
In fact a few of them are already implemented, although not exactly in the way you write.
Do they offer it in Europe?
It would seem a great idea, with some types!
For example could one get training on a Lancair Evolution over here?
Not that I know of. I think they only offer this at their own facilities. The point is that they offer it (some of them at least), and it’s not due to regulation, but due to demand. You can get the same training in someone else’s airplane, the idea is only to familiarize yourself with the aircraft and it’s handling before your first flight in your own aircraft.
I think 50-60% of familiarization is done simply by studying the aircraft, the systems, the cockpit and instruments and “dry training”, this can be done at home. 30-40 % is getting used to flying different aircraft, so you are used to different “styles” of handling and 0-20 % is actually flying the aircraft (some kind of transitional training). Focus only on transitional training in the aircraft with an instructor doesn’t really prepare you, it’s mostly only good for the hour-log of the instructor. But this varies with complexity of the aircraft and your own experience.
From the latest IAOPA newsletter:
Interesting… I wonder what the thinking behind this was. It could be good or bad news.
Cobalt wrote:
- Would we have differences training for hybrid cars? Or for front / rear-wheel drive?
In many countries, you won’t be allowed to drive a car with a manual transmission if you passed your driving test on an automatic.
- Would we have a rating for driving vans with more than six seats?
For more than 9 seats, you need category D.
- Would we have different licences for left-hand and right-hand driven cars?
Some countries don’t recognise foreign licenses from countries driving on the other side.
- Would we insist that everybody logs every trip they make, even if they do not need to prove driving time to anyone?
Exactly so for heavy lorries and buses, except that logging is automatic by the tachograph. Failing to log your driving time incurs a huge fine.
- Would we all need medicals to drive?
We do need them in most countries of the world.
- Would we all be forced to pass 12 exams, including subjects such as road construction (with special attention to types of tarmac), the history of the traffic police, and the exact contents required of the medical kit on board?
Not exactly so, but a few decades ago in some countries one had to pass an exam in vehicle systems and maintenance, and even nowadays in some countries the driver is responsible for maintaining the medical kit in accordance with the regulations and replacing the items with expired calendar.
- Would we be required to re-take the driving test if we do not drive for two years?
- Would we be required to re-take the driving test every year if we drive a car with more than 200HP?
Commercial drivers in some countries have to renew their licenses at regular intervals by attending refresher classes.
