So I am now 4 days into simulator training for the Citation Mustang. I think it has to be the most intellectually demanding flying training I have ever done particularly having come from light GA and now having to train with, and to the standard of, ATPs. My colleague is from Brazil and is a former Airbus captain now flying bizjets.
Flying
So the straight flying side is very similar to the Meridian in that it is a G1000 aircraft and I am used to that. In that regard I am probably finding it a lot easier than my colleague who is not familiar with the system. You need to be very accurate and be able to cope with failures calmly. It is quite checklist focussed – more on that later.
Simulator
Flying in a full motion simulator is incredible. The way it moves fools your mind into thinking you are in the the aircraft. It is exactly the same as the real aircraft with the exception of ground handling. It is far less stable in the ground during the takeoff and landing roll than a real aircraft. This means you almost have to keep your feet just off the pedals lest you induce pilot induced oscillations in the rolls. Given what else happens during the takeoff in particular that is not ideal – see below.
The realism extends to the failures. Doing emergency decompression actually feels pretty scary. You don the mask and talk and breath through the mask while descending at 6000fpm+. It is obviously far less scary than the real thing in that you don’t get fogging and you essentially know it is coming. But it is very realistic.
The only part which is not real is visual flight as the depth perception is not really there.
Failures
You think you have done failures in ME training in a piston. There is nothing like an actual V1 cut in a jet simulator (except a real one). The yaw is incredible. Equally a single engine go around is very hard to execute given the yaw induced by the engine. In a piston of course it is essentially not possible in most training types.
Quality of training
Think ATO but with really good customer service and facilities. The training is very expensive but you feel like you get really good time and training. Effectively 8 days full time with an instructor (just on the simulator). I must say it is great to think you are doing the same training as real professionals.
So just a quick note but it is really interesting seeing how Neil, chrisparker and what_next on here train. Neil told me it would be good fun and it is.
Great to hear that you enjoy your type rating training. Will you fly your Mustang privately or for a commercial operator? Anyway its a neat airplane!
Jason, you will find that the instability on the ground translates to an exaggerated yaw in a V1 cut in the simulator. As a result of the EASA nonsense I recently did a LST on a real life CJ2+. For my FAA TR recurrents I have been visiting the Sim annually, but the test on the real aeroplane surprised me as it was much less dramatic than the sim. I have only flown a 510 once and didn’t do a V1 cut but I doubt it’s significantly different to a CJ2, but of course I have been wrong in the past.
I suppose its correct that a Sim represents a worst case in terms of difficulty.
Thanks Neil. The 510 is shorter so the effect of a cut a a bit more than in a CJ however you are right. The ground handling is so wobbly anyway it must exaggerate the V1 cut. Anyway as you say, training for the worst case probably not a bad thing.
English please! What’s an LST? Couldn’t find an acronym that made sense on Wikipedia.
Jason,
Thanks for sharing all this. It’s impressive that you’re putting yourself through all this and are able to match ATP standards.
Thanks for sharing all this. It’s impressive that you’re putting yourself through all this and are able to match ATP standards.
Well prob more accurate to say trying to match. Saturday will tell if I can actually match them!
I have done some SIM hours for the CJ3 in Bremen and am impressed by the report you gave Jason. Seems like some hard work that will pay off soon. Thanks for sharing. Where you are upgrading to the jet I am upgrading to the Piper Jetprop DLX :-)
JasonC wrote:
Saturday will tell if I can actually match them!
Of course you will
Yes, I joined MMOPA and MMIG46.