READ THIS FIRST! A PILOT EXPLAINS THE BENEFITS OF SIMULATORS IN FLIGHT TRAINING.
Air Facts, May 16, 2022
Are You A Pilot?
Train With Our State Of The Art Simulators
Are you an aspiring pilot? Want to make your training dollars stretch as far as possible? Today’s technology has allowed us to create FAA Certificated Flight Simulators that replicate the airplane cockpit so accurately that time spent in them can often be logged as flight time. You still have to spend time in an airplane. By mixing it with flight simulator time, however, you can save thousands of dollars!
The Financial Equation
The cost to rent a single-engine, piston airplane filled with gas runs $165 an hour. Unfortunately, not all of the time you buy is spent training. You pay for the airplane even when you are taxiing, running up, waiting in line for takeoff, flying to the practice area, spinning in the stack, and returning home. Do you get one hour of training during a three-hour $495 rental?
If you use our Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Certificated Flight Simulator with a Garmin G1000 NXi cockpit for some of your training, your average cost is going to be around $70 per hour or less.More importantly, there are no delays or wasted time. Within five minutes of arriving, you can be flying a Visual Flight Rule (VFR) approach. It will take you less than an hour to do two more! Total cost $70!
Click HERE for the Letter of Authorization from the FAA to find out exactly what can be logged on our Advanced Aviation Training Device (AATD). Even if you can’t credit all of your time toward your minimum flight requirements, think how beneficial it would be to practice maneuvers between your in-air training flights. The faster you develop proficiency, the faster you get your ticket and the less money you spend! Simulators play a big role in that.
What People Are Saying
“I think you have really got something here that the independent CFI and certificated pilots are going to find very helpful and economical.”
Bob
Title: Independent CFI
“There are very few places around here where we can shoot an ILS. At Aerial Engagement, we can complete four or five IFR approaches in under an hour!”
Katie Stumbo
Title: CFI
“You never know how long it will take to become proficient at a new skill. At Aerial Engagement, the Unlimited Flight Club meant I didn’t have to worry whether I would be ready for my checkride before I ran out of money!”
Zachary Zimmerman
Title: Flight Student
“The entire experience at Aerial Engagement helped me a lot. So much of the IFR rating requires a strong understanding of the Garmin G 1000 NXi system and they offered a really efficient, cost-effective way to do that.”
Ben Steuri
Title: Flight Student
“I have been very successful using simulators to do instrument training with my students. A DPE recently told me that my student who was trained by me on a simulator with a glass cockpit was the best-prepared instrument candidate he had ever had.”
Jeremy
Title: Independent CFI
“I liked the fact that I could concentrate on learning IFR procedures without worrying about traffic avoidance. The “pause” button was pretty cool, too!”
Marcus Punua
Title: Flight Student
See For Yourself
Using a simulator vs. renting a plane for flight students
Some flight students believe learning how to fly in a rented aircraft is better than using a flight simulator for the same purpose. We’ll compare both of them under certain categories and let you decide for yourself which is better for your flight training.
The Cost
Renting an airplane is very expensive. In many cases, it may cost $165 wet. This means a 3-hour flight training session will cost $495. On the flip side, using a flight simulator will cost you about $70 per hour, far less than the cost of renting an airplane, saving you thousands. What option seems better or more cost-effective when you know that the cost of airplane rental in a week equates to using a flight simulator over several months? The answer is a no-brainer.
Convenience and Accessibility
It's more convenient to use a flight simulator than a rented plane. You spend no time in pre-flight, taxiing, run-up, takeoff or transit to the training area on a flight simulator. You come on in, sit down to a running simulator, go through your checklist and begin to fly. Regarding accessibility, Aerial Engagement has enough machines so pilots rarely have to wait more than a day or two for access. Often, a reservation can be made in the morning to fly that afternoon. Need an instructor? We aren’t a flight school and we don’t employ instructors. Instead, we maintain a list of preferred Part 61 instructors from which you can choose!
Flight Environment or Conditions
When it comes to recreating the flight conditions to test or hone the developing instrument skills of flight students, there's no better option than a simulator. A simulator can imitate turbulent, rainy, foggy, or cloudy weather conditions and you never have to wear foggles! That’s a big advantage in a desert environment with 300 sunny days a year! The simulator can recreate unpleasant flight situations like challenging airports and instrument failures, all of which are scenarios that can happen during a real flight. Think about spin training. Where would you rather experience it for the first time? In the air or in a chair? The key to efficient, speedy flight training is the COMBINATION of technologies. There is no better training than flying a real airplane through a column of air. By combining that experience with the easy, inexpensive reinforcement that comes from time in a flight simulator, however, you can minimize knowledge/skill decay that can occur during long waits between flights!
Flight Simulators That We Offer and Their Specifications
Let us introduce you to our world-class flight simulators that boast top-tier features and specifications, making them some of the best you can find anywhere in the world. With these features and specifications, using our simulators will propel you to a different realm of learning.
FAA Certified
- Garmin G1000 NXi cockpit
- 3 x 22-inch monitors
- X-plane professional software featuring single engine piston Cessna airframes (172s, 182T, T182T, 206H & T206H)
- Advanced Aviation Training Device certification from the FAA
- Garmin G1000 NXi cockpit
- Three 22-inch monitors
- X-plane software professional software featuring twin engine airframes (Piper PA 44 and PA 34 and Baron 58)
- Advanced Aviation Training Device certification from FAA.
- Simulator with 200° x 50° Direct Projection dome with real Schweizer SGS 2-33 fuselage
- VFR simulation available
- Both Aerotow and winch tow simulations
- 3D weather data replication with built-in thermal models
- Simulated airframes include Schweizer SGS-233A, SGS 1-26D, SGS 1-36 Sprite and Schleicher ASK-21
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About Aerial Engagement
At Aerial Engagement, We’re a group of aviation enthusiasts who are passionate about helping you take your aviation skills to new heights!
With more than 20 years of experience perfecting our craft, we’re proud to be a leading supplier of flight simulator training here in the Phoenix valley.
We’ve got seven simulators, two of which meet FAA certification standards. We know how important it is to feel confident in the cockpit, which is why we offer the Cessna singles and the and the Piper and Beechcraft Twins, plus three glider simulators. Trust us, once you fly with us, you won’t want to go anywhere else.
Why Train With Us?
- Booking our awesome simulators for training sessions is a breeze! Just say when, and we’ll make it happen! We use Flight Circle for our booking software.
- Experience top-tier customer service that’ll make you think you’re flying first-class.
- You’ll be using top-tier flight simulators which are FAA certified, too!
- With over 20 years in the aviation industry, our team knows a thing or two about flying!
Learn From The Best!
If you want to develop into a great pilot, you need the right training equipment to achieve that. Reach out to us to book a simulator and begin your journey to the skies of excellence.