Story ID: 302APS
APS Expands Upset Training Insurance Incentives
By: Harry Weisberger
Caption: APS and USAIG team to financially reward flight operations for obtaining upset prevention and recovery training.
Word Count: 452
Aviation Performance Solutions (APS) is at the NBAA Convention (Booth 4630) to acquaint the business aviation pilot community with training in recognition of and recovery from inflight loss of control (LOC-I). Based at Phoenix-Mesa (Ariz.) Gateway Airport, APS has conducted LOC-I training since 1996. In September it concluded an agreement with USAIG, the aviation insurance underwriter, to compensate operators for the cost of their pilots’ training. APS also works with underwriter Swiss Re to provide rebates to its insured clients.
  
Here in Las Vegas, APS is introducing the company’s newest trainer type, the Aermacchi S-211, which is on static display at the show. President Paul “BJ” Ransbury, v-p of training Randy Brooks and Faye Hamilton, director of sales, are helping NBAA show attendees learn more about the new insurance incentives. They will also describe revisions and refinements to the APS training syllabus based on the newest addition to the fleet.
  
Ransbury told AIN that the two-place Italian jet fills a niche between APS’s piston-powered Extra 300 and ex-military McDonnell Douglas TA-4 “Skyhawk” jet trainers. He added that the S-211 is equipped with programmable variable flight control sensitivity, which allows it to emulate the handling qualities of other airplanes, with significantly lower operating cost than the TA-4. 
  
APS is now a safety training provider in the USAIG Performance Vector program, and the only one that offers upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT). Ransbury said the Performance Vector program addresses the safety management system needs of flight operations. “They can participate in a two-day program designed for jet pilots, but flown in our Extra 300 based on cost concerns,” he explained. “We offer an upgrade option to the TA-4 and advanced simulator training. USAIG is offering operators a five-percent discount on anything APS offers across the board.” 
  
The Performance Vector program covers the entire cost of putting one pilot per flight department through the upset training course. He cited similarity to a Bombardier Leading Edge feature that since 2012 has included APS upset training with the purchase of a new airplane. The Swiss Re incentive directly reimburses flight departments for up to $25,000 toward their APS training.
  
Performance Vector upset training takes place at either the APS Phoenix-Mesa Gateway site or at Arlington Airport, outside Dallas, for flight training, and simulator training at CAE’s DFW training center. 
  
 “Our program has dramatically evolved to encompass all aviation operators from GA up to and including airline crews,” Ransbury noted, adding that APS has trained more than 7,000 pilots and is instructing more than 1,000 pilots a year. He said his company is participating in the FAA Air Transport Pilot Certification Training Program, which requires some upset training.