Well, for sure you don't! You have a pilot's certificate and it says Airplane, Single Engine Land. It is about the same kind of flying machine you now operate with some level of expertise. You are not going to waste a lot of money flying with an instructor that probably knows less than you, and no one is going to know that your first few flights will be your first in this particular airplane unless you tell them. You can tell your insurance company anything you want to and put what they want to see in your logbook. After all, it is your logbook and this won't be the first time you have recorded a fib. You are probably going to wait until you find the Pilots Operating Handbook before you take it around the patch anyway, so what's the big deal?
I think we have covered everything we need to cover. If something else comes to you that I have missed, stick it in this space for future reference by your next of kin.
I actually like for students to buy new airplanes and then come to me for an insurance checkout and some extra recurrency training. I prefer a little notice so that I can get reacquainted with that particular airplane and get some paperwork on it so that the learning process will be fun for both of us before they arrive on downwind. That is usually what happens. They go look at something, the seller gives them 30 minutes in the pattern, takes their money and here they come. Sound scary? It is for me but it is a thrill for some of them.
And the purpose of this so called Transition Training? Well, of course, it's so the flight instructor can get even richer. We all know that we cannot make you any smarter. It really lets you fill in the blanks on this new craft so that hopefully you will be as knowledgeable about this airplane as you were about the one you are leaving. They might be more comparable than we want to admit, but it will still take some getting used to. Same number of wings, the speeds are close, landing and takeoff distance about the same, fuel burn a little more, gauges are in different places and it has one less, radios are newer, there's a GPS instead of a Loran, no DME or ADF.
We learned all this on the ground before we got on board. Let's check the paperwork and the logbooks to make doubly sure that if we are selected for a FAA Ramp Check, we are ready. We also want to make sure that the airplane is everything we thought it was when we bought it and that the seller told the truth. (It's probably a little bit late for this but you do really need to know.) There are a lot of comparisons you can make about what we are about to do, but it can be simply said: We are adjusting to a new environment and it is something better not rushed.
I know this statement may not seem important to you at this level of your aviation knowledge, but the “Big Iron” pilots have to do this exact same thing every time they change rides. Whether SIM or an actual airplane, familiarity breeds knowledge and without it you simply can't fly the airplane. Defining flying means that the flight will also include a landing. When we look back at NTSB records of accidents—stupidity or lack of knowledge, absolutely no transition training, jumped in the plane and went—all these things fall under the category of pilot error and you have to read deeply into the reports to find the true reason. Ego may play a bigger role than we as pilots would like to admit. I hear this statement all the time but it is never, ever true, “If you can fly an airplane, you can fly any airplane.”
Flying an airplane, and doing it effortlessly, is the result of a lot of study and practice. There is no other way that something this complicated can come to you. There are no natural born pilots! When you see someone that you think is natural born, check backwards and see how many hours of study and flight this person has devoted to being as smooth as they are. Countless! There may be a hidden desire on their part to be good at it, and this certainly helps, but you still have to train. There is just no way around it, and believe me many pilots have already looked for an easier way. It is an absolute chore to be a really good pilot. Write that down, because it is the truth.
Take the time to carefully select the one that will make you as competent in this craft as you have shown yourself to be in others. Ask questions of your insurance company, other aircraft owners of this particular model, call the manufacturer, get online and let Google do some work for you, and certainly ask lots of questions of the potential instructor. None of these should mind one little bit, and if they do, get away from them quickly.
All we want for you is safety, in your flying, your purchase, and in your skill level, and it is available. Seek it out. I certainly get to fly a lot of different models and do transition training on a regular basis for the new owners, so feel free to get in touch with me if you have some unanswered questions. I do not profess to know everything, but I can find someone who does.
Jim Trusty was the FAA/Aviation Industry National Flight Instructor of the Year (1997) and the first-ever FAA Southern Region Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year (1995). He still works full-time as a Corporate Pilot/Flight and Ground Instructor/FAA Aviation Safety Counselor/Published Aviation Magazine Writer. You have been reading his work since 1973 in publications worldwide. He welcomes your comments and e-mail works best (Lrn2Fly@bellsouth.net).
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