Realistic Training

By ANN Contributor Rob Finfrock

I've never flown a Piper Saratoga but I could get used to it. The bird I'm at the controls of is a brand-new, fully decked-out model, complete with an equally new Avidyne FlightMax Entegra glass panel and an oh-so-sweet turbocharged Lycoming under the cowl. Not bad for a student pilot, really, who's used to poking along in dowdy old 172s.

Runway 2C at Nashville International looms ahead of me, and I'm proud to say that I'm on a perfect glide path at one mile out. According to the wind speed and direction indicator on the Entegra-- information taken from the built-in GPS-- there is a slight crosswind from the north, but it's not really enough to be a factor. I'm still more-or-less stabilized at 95 knots indicated when I cross the threshold, and ritually I begin to softly recite my typical landing mantra: "Don't flare too soon, don't flare too soon…"

I flared too soon, probably about 15 feet above the runway. The Saratoga settled dutifully onto the pavement with a solid whump. I expected the nose gear to collapse, but Pipers are made of tough stuff and the airplane merely rolled along the runway, until it soon stopped. I turned, remorsefully, to the twenty or so people behind me.

No, Piper hasn't radically increased the passenger load for a Saratoga.  Rather, I was at the controls of Frasca's advanced Mentor simulator, on display in Hangar "D" at AirVenture 2005.

The Mentor, introduced earlier this year, is Frasca's answer to the booming glass-cockpit craze that has swept across general aviation, and is now making its way down to the training segment. The system allows small-to-medium size flight schools to supplement their existing simulator equipment, or it can be used exclusively.

My copilot on this flight… if by "copilot" you mean, "the guy who actually knows what he's doing," is Frasca representative Rans Nussbaker. He grins as he critiques my performance. "Not bad…" At least I didn't bend an actual airplane, or for that matter the Mentor. As I ease out of the seat, I am almost run down by the next person eager to try their hand at it.

Already this year, Frasca has sold Mentors to flight schools such as Vectair in Tunica (MS) and Utah State College in Orem. The system can support either a Garmin G1000 panel, or the aforementioned Entegra. It can also be had in a conventional steam gauge layout… but who'd want that?

Although designed mostly for the benefit of an instrument-rated pilot, the Entegra does much to reduce the workload on us VFR guys, too. With only a quick two-minute informal training session from Rans, I felt surprisingly comfortable scrolling through the menus on the MFD, ultimately selecting a page displaying the runway layouts, available lengths, and all control frequencies for Nashville International. Rolling the heading bug proved to be a breeze, too, and the large display screens make it hard to miss any vital information. A quick scan would provide the basic information most VFR pilots need.

Granted, though, this was only on fifteen minutes on a simulator, on a demonstration flight to boot. Still, I was amazed how natural the displays look to my untrained eye. The wealth of information available at a mere button press is daunting, sure… but I have no doubt that I could master it with sufficient training, which would of course be provided at the flight school.

Those fifteen minutes will sure make it hard to step back into that old 172…

FMI: www.frasca.com, www.avidyne.com