After three solid days of immersive flight training in military jets with a “Top Gun” instructor and a former astronaut, it’s difficult not to open with a mishmash of tired fighter pilot clichés. It is much easier to share that upset prevention and recovery training programs are eye-opening experiences, will make you a better pilot, and will ultimately save lives.
Flight Research International offers a comprehensive Fundamental Jet UPRT course; I have a fresh graduation certificate, and I learned a lot. The goal of the training is to equip each student with the skills and confidence necessary to overcome and mitigate the number one killer in aviation—a loss of control in-flight (LOC-I) event.
The three-day course includes solid academics and three training sorties in real aircraft; there are no simulators at Flight Research International. This is intentional because, according to the company, “simulators simply can’t take you to the edge of the envelope or fully replicate the emotions of the actual experience.”
Unique to Flight Research International’s Fundamental Jet UPRT program is an initial training flight in a Rockwell Sabreliner aircraft. The Sabreliner, according to the company, is used because it shares aerodynamics with several large business jets and airliners and has similar stall characteristics. For any professional pilot, this is an amazing opportunity to fly a swept-wing transport category jet aircraft to the edge of its certified flight envelope, including full aerodynamic stalls.
Follow-on flights expand the training to an all-attitude flight envelope in the Aermacchi MB-326 Impala. These flights take the student, seated in a “hot” Martin-Baker ejection seat, far outside of the typical “coffee-drinking” envelope of an airliner or business jet. The Impala is a stout military jet trainer that offers a high margin of safety during this training and has handling characteristics like a normal business jet.
All flights take place in the skies high above the Mojave Desert, which, in the U.S., is the epicenter of flight test activities. Flight Research International, a division of the National Test Pilot School (NTPS), is based at Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field in California. This is where Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in a Bell X-1 named “Glamorous Glennis” and Scott Crossfield first flew above Mach 2.0. Today, the future of flight unfolds at Mojave—it is home to several suborbital space companies, a hydrogen-powered regional airliner, and Boom’s test vehicle, intended to pave the way for the next civilian supersonic transport.
Flight Research schedules three to four UPRT classes each month, with an average of four students per class. My class, a Fundamental Jet UPRT course, had three students: a flight test pilot from a major avionics company, a member/pilot of the Citation Jet Pilots (CJP) association who flew his Cessna Citation CJ3 to Mojave from his home base in the Pacific Northwest, and myself (an airline pilot).
The Fundamental Jet UPRT course is available as a two-, three-, or four-day course. Three-day courses are the most common, with the two-day course considered a refresher. The four-day course is reserved for pilots without prior UPRT or aerobatic training.
The three-day Jet UPRT course included one Sabreliner flight and two flights in the Impala. A flight in the Slingsby T-67 Firefly—a two-seat piston-powered aerobatic training aircraft—is added to the four-day course. Regardless of the course, students will experience an amazing cadre of instructors and support personnel. Each instructor is well-qualified and laser-focused on delivering quality instruction to each student.
Corporate Pilot Clientele
According to Shauna DiCesare, Flight Research International v-p of business development and marketing, most of the Jet UPRT students are pilots who fly corporate aircraft for various companies or government agencies. The company has strong relationships with FlightSafety International, NBAA, and CJP.
Each year, several CJP members flock to Mojave to train with Flight Research. The company supports each CJP pilot who takes advantage of this opportunity and understands the value of advanced training such as UPRT to improve their flying skills and make them safer pilots. These pilots are highly motivated and invest the time and resources to fly their aircraft to Mojave and take the Flight Research UPRT course, the training provider says.
By far the greatest part of this, according to my CJP classmate, was the “bring your own jet” option. He was able to fly the initial training sortie in his Citation CJ3 with a Flight Research International instructor. In this case, the initial Sabreliner “heavy jet UPRT” sortie was replaced by a flight in his Citation.
Just like the Sabreliner, these flights are flown within the certified flight envelope of the aircraft. Maneuvers include energy management, g-unload calibration demonstrations, aerodynamic stalls, and in-flight upsets. CJP members continuing with the Jet UPRT course finish their flying in the Impala.
“Flight Research International goes beyond the Jet UPRT program and offers a vast catalog of UPRT courses that include training in helicopters, turboprops, and general aviation aircraft,” DiCesare said. “All of this is possible due to the relationship with the National Test Pilot School.”
Combined, more than 30 aircraft models can be used for UPRT training. A core principle of Flight Research is to train a student on an aircraft that has a control feeling and loading similar to the aircraft the pilot routinely flies; a business jet pilot would fly the Sabreliner, whereas a turboprop pilot would fly a King Air.
For graduates of the Jet UPRT course, there is a new high-performance course available where students experience supersonic flight. DiCesare believes this is a unique opportunity for Flight Research because the training provider has instructors capable of teaching the principles of suborbital flight, an aircraft—a Northrop T-38—capable of supersonic flight, and access to special-use airspace that allows for flight at high speeds and altitudes.
Academics
Training at Flight Research begins at 7 a.m. each day. This serves two purposes: to beat the desert heat and to fit in a full day of academics, briefings, and flying. The first day begins with a meet-and-greet where students meet the instructors and other support personnel that they’ll be working with during their visit to Flight Research in Mojave.
Before flying, students spend five hours in the classroom learning about aerodynamics and limits; the effects of propulsion, stability, energy management, and lift vector control; and basic maneuvering and upset recovery techniques. On each subsequent day, students spend additional time in the classroom and discuss human and aeromedical factors, the impact of environmental and mechanical issues, and a review of accident case studies.
These academic segments were taught by Michael “Slash” Young, a flight test engineer and pilot, who boiled down some heady engineering topics into plain English that each student could understand. Part 25 certification standards were explained in detail, as well as some relevant topics throughout the maneuvering envelope of an aircraft.
The practical takeaways for a pilot are to fly within the certified flight envelope and to avoid flight at either extreme, both low and high speeds. The goal at Flight Research is to fly within the normal flight envelope and provide the tools to return to the normal flight envelope if it is exceeded.
Students graduating from a Flight Research International UPRT course will be well-versed in two acronyms: RCA and UTAP—the two phases of an upset recovery. Follow-on flights will provide the repetition to reinforce each step.
RCA is the first step to recognize (the stall or upset), confirm (using backup indications), and manage automation (disengaging/disconnecting any automation). UTAP is Flight Research’s “universal recovery” strategy to unload (reduce angle of attack), throttle (as needed), aileron (bank control), and pitch (to re-establish level flight).
Flight Training
Flight training at Flight Research is well-structured and professional. Each flight has a “test card” containing a list of maneuvers to be flown. Before each flight, there is a preflight briefing and an aircraft/cockpit familiarization that covers both normal and emergency operations. This provides ample time at “groundspeed zero” for the student and instructor to discuss the upcoming flight.
Before the Impala flight, each student is fitted with a flight suit, helmet, and oxygen mask by a dedicated support person. Additionally, there is an extensive briefing on the Martin-Baker ejection seat that includes a discussion on “counting six pins” (the number of pins required to be removed to arm the seat), the steps to take during an actual ejection, egress on the ground, and contingencies if the parachute doesn’t deploy or the seat fails to separate from the pilot.
The ejection seat is considered a vital piece of safety equipment that is maintained to exact standards by Flight Research personnel. Instructors continue this training until the student is confident and comfortable sitting on a pyrotechnic charge; although different, once you are airborne, it’s like any other piece of safety equipment. You forget about it until it is needed.
Flight in the Sabreliner followed the test card titled “Heavy Jet UPRT.” During this flight, we would fly several energy management and g-unload exercises as well as a few stalls and upsets. The aircraft was a Sabreliner 65 powered by two Honeywell TFE731-3R turbofan engines rated at 3,880 pounds of thrust. The Saberliner is a nice flying aircraft—it’s well balanced in pitch and roll—and flying stalls and upsets seated side-by-side in business attire is as real as it will get for a corporate pilot.
My instructor was Eric “Smurph” Brye, a U.S. Marine Corps pilot who flies Northrop F-5N Tiger II aircraft as an “aggressor” to other Marine aviators. A former Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot, Brye has been teaching UPRT at Flight Research for several years.
Once airborne, “Smurph” guided me through a series of low-speed energy management exercises that included frontside and backside of the “power curve” demonstrations and slow flight. Next was a series of unload calibration exercises to demonstrate what the proper unload step of the upset recovery should feel like. This cannot be demonstrated in the simulator.
Remember, the first step of any upset recovery is to properly unload the aircraft to roughly +0.50 gs. This is critical to reduce the angle of attack (reattach airflow to the wing) for stall recovery and prevention, and it improves the roll authority and responsiveness.
Following these exercises, we’d fly the Sabreliner through a series of stalls to include recoveries using the “old pilot test standards” method of using power to accelerate with minimal altitude loss to the new standard of unloading the aircraft to fly away more quickly while losing a small amount of altitude. All stalls were flown to an aerodynamic buffet, not to the stall warning device. Afterward, several upsets were flown, including a roll, nose high, and nose low upset visually and under simulated instrument conditions (with and without the autopilot on).
Impala Flights
Flights in the Impala would follow two different test cards: jet advanced handling and jet advanced upset. The Impala is a tandem-seat jet trainer that entered service in the early 1960s; this was an era when air forces wanted a single trainer for elementary through advanced training. Powered by a single Rolls-Royce Viper turbojet (3,400-pound thrust class), the Impala is capable of speeds up to 450 knots (Mach .8).
The aircraft incorporates many simple structures and systems that make it a cost-effective trainer. More than 800 examples were built and used around the world as trainers and light attack aircraft. Flight Research and the NTPS are the largest civilian operators of the Impala.
My first Impala flight, on the second day of my visit, was with Flight Research International’s chief pilot Bill “Billy O” Oefelein, a former Shuttle Discovery pilot with 309 hours logged in space. Oefelein is also a former Navy F/A-18 Hornet pilot and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and Top Gun, the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School.
Once in the practice area with “Billy O,” we would begin with a “g-warm” exercise at 12,000 feet MSL. G-warm is a maneuver to load up the body of the student and the instructor. This ensures that both are ready for the next maneuvers. A bit hesitant at first, I was able to eventually reach +4.0 gs, and on the next flight, I was much more comfortable yanking and banking the Impala into a +4.0 g turn.
Next up was a stall series that included an aerodynamic stall straight ahead at 1 g and accelerated (banking) stalls at 2 gs. Following the stall series, the Impala would become an in-flight lab to demonstrate much of what we discussed in the classroom.
This included performance-related maneuvers such as banking for pitch control and overbanking/spiral demonstrations. Lift vector control and energy management exercises were flown using aerobatic maneuvers such as rolls, loops, and a split-S.
Finally, “Billy O” would demonstrate a couple of advanced maneuvers including a spin and a tailslide. I’d never experienced a tailslide in any aircraft, let alone a jet. During this maneuver, Oefelein would begin at 18,000 feet and 200 kias. Next, he’d pull the aircraft into a vertical climb where the airspeed would bleed off to the point the aircraft’s nose would “flop” through the horizon, where we’d recover using the UTAP strategy.
On the third and final day of the course, I met up again with “Smurph” to fly the Jet Advanced Upset sortie in the Impala. “Smurph’s” low-key demeanor allowed me to have a lot of fun with the Impala. This flight was an absolute blast.
Before the flight, we spent a considerable amount of time gaining familiarity with the front cockpit of the Impala, since on this flight, I’d start the engines, take off and land the aircraft, and go through the motions to shut down and secure the aircraft afterward. Likewise, we pre-briefed each maneuver on the test card.
This is the flight where everything comes together for the student. Here is the gauge, regardless of the upset: if the student employs the RCA and UTAP strategy to recover, they will be successful.
Following the g-warm exercise, we would climb up to 15,000 feet msl where “Smurph” maneuvered the aircraft into position for a long list of upset events. First were the roll upsets, both static and dynamic. The static roll upset was easy; we entered with a bank greater than 90 degrees and recovered quickly using the UTAP strategy.
Next was a dynamic roll upset (continuously rolling) that simulated a wake turbulence encounter. Again, using UTAP we recovered, only this time I would roll through the maneuver. Following the roll upsets, the instructor set me up for a series of six unusual attitude upsets in various combinations of nose high, nose low, inverted, and upright at both low and high airspeeds. In every instance, the training and UTAP strategy paid off, and a quick and precise recovery was completed.
After completing a couple more advanced maneuvers including cross-controlled stalls, we returned to base to fly a simulated engine out approach to a go-around and recover to a normal landing. The Impala with trailing-link landing gear helped smooth my landing.
Beyond the academics, briefings, and flying, there is a lot to be learned from the many organic conversations that take place during breaks, over dinner, while randomly walking out to the flight line, or while passing in a hallway. For three days, the students and instructors are completely focused on one thing: upset prevention and recovery training. Without a doubt, the training at Flight Research is helpful, and any student leaving Mojave will be a much safer and smarter pilot with the skills and confidence to effectively handle an inadvertent upset encounter in flight. z