A training hurricane in western Pennsylvania
I had been flying the full-motion flight training device (FTD) for a few minutes and was lining up for an ILS to Runway 4 at New York La Guardia when I asked Rich Kaplan, proprietor of Flight Level Aviation, the name of the hurricane in which we were flying. The motion system was grunting, groaning and pitching like a rutting hog, and the instruments were dancing around like crazy.
That training device is but one element in a training program that is both unique and valuable. The main element is Rich Kaplan, a CFI-I, aviation medical examiner, Cessna P210 owner, and a teacher who is almost evangelical in the way he wants to cover every base with pilots who engage his services.
Flight Level Aviation is located on the airport at Waynesburg, Pennsylvania (KWAY), about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. The primary offering is the service of Rich and the simulator for $500 a day. That would include flying in the student's airplane, or his P210 is available for an extra $125 an hour, which is a real value. His airplane is well equipped, including TKS approved deice, so valuable experience can be had there. Any instrument pilot who wants a real workout would find this a rare bargain.
The flight training device, built by AST, which has been in the business for years, is far from a bizjet/airline quality simulator. This is the first one with the motion system, and it has a visual system as well. Consider that this unit costs about five percent or less of what a real simulator runs when you contemplate its value and quality.
The visual system is basic, and in flying the FTD the main useful thing I saw here was the breakout on an instrument approach. There, the view of the approach lights and the appearance of the runway is at least somewhat realistic.
The motion system is also not particularly realistic. Certainly no airplane that I have ever flown reacts in turbulence quite like this device does. On the other hand, flying light airplanes in bumpy clouds is hard work, as is flying the device with the turbulence level turned up, so there is value to be found in doing this.
The FTD is programmed with Cessna 210 speeds and power settings, but the similarity ends there. The instrument panel is quite generic.
Most folks who operate simulators or devices like this always like to have their gotchas, things that show mere mortals where they will fail. Rich Kaplan is no exception. He gave me a wake turbulence encounter even as I was flying two dots high on the glideslope. Boom, it's upside down. I managed to recover but felt the demo had no value except for one thing. It can reinforce the reason you should fly two dots high on the glideslope when following a heavier airplane. I don't think the fact that I recovered in the device means that I could recover in an airplane. Same goes for other unusual attitudes.
Same also goes for flying with the ailerons hooked up backwards and with a split flap condition. There are just things in flying that are best managed by avoiding them, and nothing you experience in a flight training device is going to ensure that you can successfully survive the same thing in an airplane.
