Upset Recovery / Enhanced Stall Training Study
Filtering the Above Study for Professional Pilots
Apply the Professional Pilot Filter to the APS Upset Prevention & Recovery Training Effectiveness Study Results
PROFESSIONAL PILOT FILTER AS FOLLOWS:
Research Start Date: November 2007 through March 2008
Total Number of Data Points (Pilots Trained at APS) Included in Research: 115 Pilots
Data Filtered Below Includes All Pilots Meeting the Following Criteria:
- Pilots Flying Turbo Prop and/or Turbo Jet Aircraft (total of 75 pilots)
Group Demographic of Professional Pilots Evaluated (Including Initial and Recurrent Participants):
- 88.0 % had greater than 1500 hours of flight experience
- 91.6 % were between the ages of 25 and 59 years of age
- 51.4 % were certified flight instructors
- 81.3 % had less than 10 hours of aerobatic experience
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION RESULTS
Participant Recovery Performance Evaluation for Initial Courses (Before Training versus After Training):
TRAINEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION |
TRAINEE’S ABILITY TO RECOVER |
|
| Upset Scenario Assessed* | Before Training | After Training |
| Over-bank Nose Low Upset | 34.8% | 97.9% |
| Cross-Controlled Stall to Over-bank | 41.9% | 100.0% |
| Severe Wake Turbulence Encounter | 42.9% | 97.8% |
| Nose High Upset / Pitch Mis-Trim | 47.8% | 100.0% |
| Control Failure: Rudder Hard-Over | 40.6% | 92.3% |
| AVERAGE SUCCESS RATE | 41.6% | 97.6% |
| * Scenarios are designed to reflect life-threatening conditions; typically flight attitudes beyond 60 degrees angle of bank and/or 30 degrees of pitch. (Note: Many more scenarios than those listed in this chart are taught during the course. These particular maneuvers are evaluated to give representative indications of training effectiveness) | ||
- Training Courses in the study averaged out to 4.4 training missions per course
- Retention of Skill
Important Note: Of the overall test group of 115 pilots, 35 pilots were repeat customers attending a recurrent upset recovery course at APS. Recurrent participants demonstrated 76.4% retention of skill returning after an average of 19 months between Initial and Recurrent Training programs. Skills are expected to atrophy at a greater rate the longer pilots delay time between Recurrent training courses.
PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK - BY PROFESSIONAL PILOTS AFTER COMPLETING TRAINING
Course Components were Evaluated as Follows:
| Ground Training | 90.7% Excellent | 9.3% Above Average |
| Flight Training | 97.3% Excellent | 2.7% Above Average |
| Recovery Technique Effectiveness | 98.7% Excellent | 1.3% Above Average |
| Quality of Instructors | 100.0% Excellent |
VALUE TO PILOTS:
100% of the participants indicated that LOC-I training as provided by APS was valuable to all pilots with 64.0 % of those votes indicating that APS LOC-I training should be mandatory in pilot certification.
SKILL AND KNOWLEDGE: 100% indicated they learned quite a bit and developed life-saving skills with 76.0% of those votes indicating their understanding and pilot skill-set related to upset recovery training had grown dramatically
AIRCRAFT: 89.3% evaluated the Extra 300L training aircraft as being EXCELLENT with the remainder of the votes indicating it was ABOVE AVERAGE
FACILITY: 73.3% evaluated the APS facility as EXCELLENT with an additional 25.0% assessing the APS Facility as ABOVE AVERAGE
OVERALL EXPERIENCE: 96.0% of the participants evaluated the overall experience as EXCELLENT with the remainder indicating it was ABOVE AVERAGE
MANUAL: 68.0% of participants rated the APS Training Manual as EXCELLENT with an additional 26.7% ranking the manual as ABOVE AVERAGE
SIMULATOR TRAINING: 100% of participants indicated that upset recovery training in a real aircraft develops life-saving piloting skills and awareness that cannot be taught in a simulator. Participants identified the following factors as the primary critical training areas that cannot be duplicated in the simulator:
| 98.6% - G Loading Awareness & Management | 91.8% - Angle of Attack Management |
| 89.0% - Spatial Disorientation & Mental Capacity | 90.4% - Experiential Errors & Learning |
| 95.9% - Flight Beyond Critical Angle of Attack |
SOLUTION TO LOSS-OF-CONTROL IN-FLIGHT:
100% of participants indicated that the solution to dramatically reducing the risk of Loss-of-Control In-Flight must include specialized upset recovery training in real aircraft as provided by APS Emergency Maneuver Training. 61.8% of those votes indicated a full solution should also include extensively updated and redesigned simulator training profiles and curricula.