When I earned my first jet type rating more than 25 years ago it was just assumed that I knew how to fly and could pass the course. If I couldn't, the check ride would find my shortcomings, and I would be out the door. The training was one size fits all, sink or swim, learn it in two weeks or see you later.
When Cessna was developing the Citation Mustang, the first entry-level jet to achieve full certification and enter service without restrictions, it became clear that this lowest-priced Citation would attract a new type of pilot. Many, if not most, Mustangs will be owner-flown; those owners will step into the Mustang with an unpredictable résumé of flying experience. The old "pound every pilot through the same type rating course" just wasn't going to work in the Mustang. A new path to the left seat had to be created.
Cessna was so adamant about offering a new type of training for the Mustang that it didn't automatically offer the program to FlightSafety International, its longtime training provider. Instead, Cessna opened up the Mustang training contract to competition and asked any qualified training outfit for its best ideas. As it turned out, FlightSafety competed hard, and won, with a new course that has the flexibility to train just about any pilot to captain proficiency in the Mustang.
First, it's important to understand that because it is a jet, a Mustang type rating is necessary to fly the airplane. A type rating applies, as the name implies, to a specific type of turbojet, or any airplane certified for takeoff weight above 12,500 pounds. You must have the fundamental ratings such as multiengine and instrument to fly the Mustang, but on top of that you must be trained and checked for a Cessna 510 type rating. You can add the type rating to any level of pilot certificate, but the minimum standard for performance on any type rating check is to ATP, even if you hold only a private certificate.
The Mustang is eligible to be flown by a single pilot, but it is up to that pilot to earn the single-pilot type rating. The other option is to get the basic type rating, which requires you to always fly with a qualified copilot.
Very early on Cessna and FlightSafety realized that it is crucial for both the pilot entering the Mustang course and the instructors to have a realistic expectation of the training outcome. A pilot who lacks the basic experience and skills will quickly become frustrated if he tries to jump all the way to the ATP standards of the type rating. But how does one access the likelihood of success in training?
The traditional training acceptance standards were just the basics of so much total time, and minimum time in category, such as multiengine. That measure is way too broad for the variety of pilots who have bought Mustangs. So Cessna and FlightSafety created a specific Mustang Proficiency Index to help predict how a pilot will do in training and to establish realistic goals.
The index is based on the fundamentals such as certificates and ratings, as well as total time and recent experience, but it also considers other factors. For example, were you trained in the military? How many formal training courses have you attended in your life, and in the past year? Do you have helicopter experience? Do you have other type ratings? How much experience do you have with flight management systems? Have you flown with integrated avionics systems? Have you attended specialized courses on hypoxia, or Garmin G1000 operation, or high-altitude training?
The Proficiency Index summary compares your experience to what FlightSafety has found to be characteristics of pilots who successfully complete a type rating course. The results are presented in a graph so you can see where your strengths and weaknesses of experience are.
Based on the Proficiency Index results FlightSafety recommends each pilot attempt to complete one of five levels of training proficiency. The highest is to complete the 10-day course with an unrestricted single-pilot type rating. Next is a type rating that requires a copilot, or a single-pilot with inflight mentoring assessment after the training course. The third level is to try for a Mustang type rating that requires a copilot. For those on the cusp of experience comes the expectation for a second-in-command approval, or perhaps a type rating that requires further inflight assessment. The entry level is to complete the course with recommendation to be second-in-command.
The Mustang course lasts for 10 days with the weekend off in the middle. That's a typical-length course for a light-jet type rating, but the structure of the course is new. Instead of spending the first several days in the classroom, Mustang trainees spend time in the classroom, procedures trainer and full flight simulator on the first day, and every day. Classroom lessons are immediately put into action in the very sophisticated procedures trainer, and the Level D simulator cements the relationship between book learning and the cockpit. It also reduces the boredom of days of bookwork without touching the controls.
