Recently I was fortunate to experience something that is probably fairly ordinary for most corporate pilots: initial type rating training at a simulator training center. I had the opportunity to complete a Citation V type rating initial course at FlightSafety International’s Long Beach, Calif., learning center. And for a pilot who hasn’t spent much time in a two-pilot cockpit environment or flying a jet, the experience was tremendously beneficial, illuminating and hugely enjoyable.
The experience at FlightSafety was much more than learning about the Citation V. But what struck me from day one was the incredible amount of information that pilots need to learn in a short period of time. I can't imagine what it must be like for a more complex larger airplane; the Citation V, after all, is about as simple as Part 25 jets get. I don't doubt that the more than 10 days of ground school needed for a Gulfstream type rating are chock full of details about systems that are more complicated and contain many more solenoids, relays, valves, switches and other gizzies and snerds. After this experience, I don't know how pilots keep two or more jets safely in their heads when flying multiple types, but I suppose it can be done because people do that every day.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
