Pilot Proficiency Program

The purpose of this program is to provide the training most pilots do not seem to get these days and do it with a skill level necessary to improve all aspects of VFR pilot proficiency, confidence and aggressiveness.

Pilots today are being trained to minimum standards with low time flight instructors and it seems the only goal is to “pass the checkride”. Many pilots trained in earlier days have, through the course of the past years, lost the skills they originally may have had due to simply flying straight and level for many hours and only maybe doing a stall on a Flight Review.

Have you experienced, heard your instructor or pilot friend say, or have read any of the following statements:

• Don’t stall in a bank or your might spin
• Don’t use full power in a stall because you might stall and lose control
• Don’t use full power in a stall because the airplane won’t do it
• You can’t hold altitude in a 50-60 degree bank without stalling
• Have you been told not to go over a 30 degree bank because its unsafe or for any reason
• Use very shallow banks or rudder only to make minimum controllable airspeed turns
• Do not use rudder unless you have to
• If you spin you’re done.
• You were NOT taught to do ALL stalls in left and right banks from the beginning
• Slips are dangerous and only to be done in an emergency
• Always land on the numbers
• If you are “uncoordinated” in a turn you might stall and spin
• Have you been told to “keep the ball centered”
• Have you ever had an instructor take the controls early in a maneuver and get on your case for making a mistake
• When landing do you let the airplane land where it wants to or do you land it where you want to
• Do you expect the airplane to stall at or before touchdown in order to make a good landing.

These are just a few of the many things we hear from pilots and students who have been very conservatively instructed to fly. All of the statements above are complete bunk. If you have the slightest hesitation and any fear of normal flying beyond straight/level, stalls, minimum controllable airspeed or stalls you need to get over it. At 50 degrees bank you can do minimum controllable airspeed turns all day and hold altitude. 172s, Cherokees, Warriors, Diamonds, Cirrus, light twins – all of them and you are not in jeopardy of missing supper that night.

We have taken our standard training program and combined it with some advanced procedures we use in aircraft control. We have developed a proficiency course that teaches you how to fly all the BASIC maneuvers you are supposed to know how to do and apply those skills to advance aircraft control for normal flying. It is not an unusual attitude and emergency recovery program. It is the normal flying you are supposed to know but do not. We use normal airplanes you would be expected to fly. You can and will be taught how to do a power-off stall with or without flaps and maintain control throughout a 1500-foot loss of altitude while making left and right turns to headings. You will find out just how safe and controllable your airplane is and its much more fun to fly.

At the end of this program you will come up abeam the end of the runway on downwind pull the power to idle, throw out full flaps and do a slipping 180 approach to touchdown. Everything is done within the limits of the airplane because everything mentioned does not get close to the limits.

If you are a CFI or working on a CFI certificate you can do this program from the right seat.

This program will meet the Flight Review requirement and we will be happy to sign that off in your logbook.

The instructors are well versed in all the maneuvers and use these standards in all our programs. They must meet some in-house requirements in order to instruct in this program. Most are aerobatic and tailwheel qualified. As we say, “There are no children working here.”

This program is for the little airplanes. We use Piper Cherokees, Warriors, Archers, and Cessna 172s as a general rule. We can use yours if it’s not some weird machine built in a garage or there are only a couple of them in the world. We need to be named insured on your insurance if we fly your airplane. You will find the program is best suited for the single engine fixed gear airplane to be most beneficial. At the end of the program we would be most happy to fly with you in your airplane to extend the skills learned.

Plan on a five-hour flight program and two hours of ground training. You can do it in 2.5 days if you want to do it all at once otherwise a normal flight schedule will do. Depending on the airplane the cost will be around $1000.00. We are here seven days a week.

When contacting the dispatch desk or emailing please provide certificates, ratings and general flight time. THIS PROGRAM IS DESIGNED FOR A CURRENT PILOT WHO HAS RECENT EXPERIENCE. IF YOU HAVE NOT FLOWN FOR MANY MONTHS OR YEARS, YOU CAN EXPECT TO TAKE A COUPLE OF HOURS TO GET BACK INTO BASIC PROFICIENCY BEFORE TRANSITIONING TO THE 5 HOUR PROGRAM.

When scheduling for the program we normally need two weeks or more advance notice and a deposit of $500.00 will be required. The deposit is refundable with one week notice. This program is available 7 days a week.