For many of my students who fly the Cessna 152, their first question after passing their checkride is when they can schedule a lesson to be checked out in the Cessna 172. I get it; while the 152 is an efficient and cost-effective aircraft to learn in, it doesn’t score extremely high in passenger comfort. It also probably won’t fit the whole family for that first passenger flight. While transitioning from one aircraft type to another can seem easy on the surface there are some important topics to cover to ensure that a pilot can safely operate the aircraft in normal, abnormal and emergency situations.
Types of Aircraft
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identifies seven different families of airplanes when it comes to general flight characteristics: light control forces and/or rapid response, low-inertia and/or high-drag, high-inertia and/or low-drag, nontraditional configuration or controls, nontraditional airplane systems, nontraditional component maintenance requirements, and specialty airplanes.
The reason these families are identified is to assist pilots in creating a training plan and risk mitigation strategy for their transition experience. For example, when transitioning from a Mooney to a Cirrus (both aircraft categorized as high-inertia/low-drag), the training might focus more on the difference in systems since both aircraft have similar flight characteristics.
On the other hand, if a pilot wanted to transition from a Piper Cub (a low-inertia/high-drag aircraft) to a Cirrus (a high-inertia/low-drag aircraft), there should be special emphasis placed on how differently the aircraft slow down. Specifically, the flight training should cover descents from altitude, pattern work, and landing distance awareness to demonstrate the differences in aerodynamics.
Ground Training
No matter how simple or complex an aircraft might be it is important to know how each system of the aircraft operates and what to do if it no longer operates correctly. One of the first steps of transition training should be learning the differences in systems between the new aircraft and ones you have flown before.
One way of learning aircraft systems is to think about the flow of that system; all systems have some kind of flow. For example, a fuel system is better understood if studied from the perspective of how fuel moves from the filler port through to the cylinder or combustion chamber and exhaust.
For pilots transitioning from Cessna to Piper aircraft the fuel system is one of the most important topics to cover. Unlike a Cessna 172, the Piper Archer requires the pilot to select a fuel tank and move the fuel selector lever to balance fuel consumption. As you can imagine, fuel management is of the upmost importance when learning in a new aircraft. The aircraft’s approved flight manual (AFM) should be your go-to resource when learning the systems of a new aircraft.
Flight Training
The flight portion of transition training should focus on normal procedures such as takeoffs and landings, abnormal procedures such as failure of the electric trim or a door opening in flight, and emergency procedures such as engine fire or failure during flight. While the basic flight training concepts can often be applied to any aircraft there will be some differences that are important to keep in mind.
For example, pilots transitioning to a fuel-injected aircraft must learn the additional step of using an electric fuel pump during starting or an engine failure during flight scenario. The use of flows and checklists are essential in reminding pilots of these steps and other procedures specific to an aircraft
A typical aircraft checkout flight will include maneuvers such as slow flight, stalls, steep turns, emergency procedures, takeoffs and landings, and go-arounds. Extra time is often spent covering slow flight and stalls since these maneuvers can carry more risk than normal procedures. It is also in this area of the power curve that aircraft vary greatly in handling characteristics. Make sure to explore the entire flight envelope of an aircraft with a qualified instructor to learn how the aircraft responds in different configurations.
Closing Thoughts
Getting checked out in a new type of aircraft will bring an opportunity to expand your capabilities as a pilot. It also can open up the possibility of renting a different type of aircraft in a rental fleet making scheduling easier. Whenever dealing with an aircraft you are unfamiliar with make sure to seek out additional transition training to ensure you have all of the available information to operate that aircraft safely. Take the Cessna 172N and 172S aircraft, for example. Although the aircraft are the same basic type (Cessna 172), their systems have important differences you must understand.
For more information on how to safely transition to unfamiliar aircraft take a look at Advisory Circular 90-109A: Transition to Unfamiliar Aircraft. This guide provides more information on aircraft families and even points out the significant differences between them. No matter what type of transition training you are going to undertake ensure that is focuses on the aspect that matters most: safety.
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