Page 34 - Volume 18 Number 1

by David Miller
Stimulating Simulators
We live in a world governed by technology. Do you have a Blackberry gathering dust in a shoebox somewhere? Begrudgingly, I finally gave mine up for an iPhone. Apple’s technology simply swept the competition. As I found out recently, the same thing is happening in flight simulators. It’s taking place at a small company near San Diego called ProFlight. I just had to take a look.
Recently, I and fellow pilot Ed Turley, Chairman of CJP (Citation Jet Pilots), flew out to Carlsbad, California in his CJ3 to take ProFlight’s recurrent course. Although I fly a CJ1+, the two airplanes are virtually identical in the avionics department and share the same type rating. ProFlight’s founder, Caleb Taylor, says their method of training differs from brands X, Y, and Z in several ways.
First, the typical three-day ground school is taught over the Internet instead of in a classroom. The entire aircraft systems syllabus is transmitted to the pilot in modules, with a brief on-line test at the end of each. The idea being that this is the kind of stuff you can master in the leisure of your own man/woman cave, leaving more time for the simulator experience in person. The modules are interesting, well presented, and did not put me to sleep. ProFlight expects to have formal FAA approval soon to replace the classroom content with this LMS (learning management system). And, speaking of simulators, theirs are the iPhone of the industry. With outstanding visuals and flying characteristics, they are simply the best I have ever seen.
To top that off, ProFlight has another unique feature. Rather than have the sim instructor act as an air traffic controller, you can opt to have an actual retired controller communicate with you, from clearance delivery to shutdown, via the internet during your flight. ProFlight has partnered with a company called Pilot Edge to provide ATC clearances to pilots flying simulators. You can’t get much more real than that.
I found the folks to be genuinely interested in the owner pilot segment of the market. They seem to understand that we are a different breed of pilot, with our own set of strengths and weaknesses. Rather than a standard three-day “cookie cutter” syllabus, they design your recurrent experience more to what you actually need, all the while making sure they “check the boxes” necessary for a 61.58 review. Need a few additional sim rides? No problem and no extra
With 5,000-plus hours in his logbook, David Miller has been flying for business and pleasure for more than 40 years. Having owned and flown a variety of aircraft types, from turboprops to midsize jets, Miller, along with his wife Patty, now own and fly a Citation CJ1+. You can contact David at davidmiller1@sbcglobal.net.
charge. Interestingly, they have a “companion” program, where they put your significant-other in the right seat and have the PIC slump over the controls at FL410, as if he or she is incapacitated. The “controller” then talks the companion through a hopefully successful conclusion. Patty and I are discussing this idea at the moment. Currently, she is petrified.
Right now, ProFlight focuses on the CJ series of Citations with two devices, a full motion Level D simulator and a non-motion level 6 training device. The simulator avionics are perfectly suited to the CJ1+, CJ2+ and CJ3.
Leave your Blackberry behind. Fly safe.
ON FINAL
32 • TWIN & TURBINE JANUARY 2014
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