I recently participated in an extraordinary adventure, a G550 initial type rating course at FlightSafety International’s Long Beach Learning Center. What struck me the most about this nearly month-long experience was the intensity of the training process, the enormous amount of information the FlightSafety instructors have to pour into the students in a relatively short time and how amazing it is that seven scheduled days of full flight simulator instruction is enough to bring pilots up to speed on this capable airplane.
My classmates were a diverse group from all over the world, each super-talented in his or her own way. Our instructors brought their own strong flying backgrounds and excellent teaching skills to bear, and with deep stores of knowledge and infinite patience helped us make sense of the G550’s systems and, more important, its Gulfstream PlaneView (Honeywell Epic-based) avionics.
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.
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