Story ID: 326 Flight Research
Flight Research Aims to Close Training Gap
By: AIN Staff
Caption: The Mojave-based flight test company offers upset prevention and recovery training in a Sabreliner.
Word Count: 478
Scott Glaser is vice president of operations at Mojave, Calif.-based Flight Research, a 35-year old flight-test company that uses turbine aircraft to teach its own brand of upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT). Glaser said the company’s purpose in attending the NBAA Convention (Booth C11412) is to spread the company’s message that the number-one cause of fatalities stems from the training gap between military and civil flying.

Glaser said the UPRT course was designed to bring students up to speed on the aerodynamics and limitations of today’s jet transport aircraft, and on the flight regimes where pilots typically operate civil jets and other portions of the flight envelope where they can also fly quite safely. Flight Research, a short hop from Edwards Air Force Base, also supports airframe testing and certification, as well as aircraft, avionics and weapons systems modifications.

Flight Research’s standard course uses a Sabreliner business jet to demonstrate the old method of teaching stalls from the now-superseded practical test standard. That’s when the norm was to power out of a stall with minimum loss of altitude at almost any cost. Glaser said that students recognize early on that the altitude loss trying to fly out of a stall can be considerably larger than by simply reducing the angle of attack to get the aircraft flying again. The new stall recovery method is also much more comfortable to most pilots, Glaser explained.

He added that the Sabreliner training begins in the high-teen altitudes where instructors and students explore fully developed stalls, as well as upsets from a nose-high, airspeed-low attitude. He said Flight Research instructors don’t allow the Sabreliners to go inverted during training.

During the second day of class, instructors cover more in-depth academics, as well as combing through reports on dozens of upset/loss-of-control accidents from around the world. Flight Research uses the single-engine Aermacchi MB-326 Impala for the more advanced UPRT maneuvers because it’s a well-proven military jet trainer flown by the air forces of 15 nations. It operates well in all attitudes, according to the company, with predictable spin behavior and recovery performance that closely parallels that of most popular business jets.

Glaser said the Impala’s control forces are extremely well-balanced, and it’s a fun aircraft to fly. Students typically begin in the Impala’s back seat but can transition to the front if they choose. Because of its military origins, the Impala comes equipped with a Martin Baker Mark VI ejection seat, which means the FAA requires every pilot to complete ejection-seat training before the first flight. Flight Research’s UPRT course is available in either a three- or four-day initial program, depending upon the student’s comfort with flying the jets. The company also offers a two-day recurrent session.