Unusual Attitude Training (UAT), a division of Stallion 51 Flight Operations at the Kissimmee Gateway Airport (KISM), has added a second Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatross jet to its fleet of upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT) aircraft.
“Throughout my many years of experience in the personal and corporate aviation worlds, many pilots are closer to a pending stall in a circling approach than they might realize,” explained Lee Lauderback, Chief Pilot for UAT, LLC. “As an example, if they put any kind of G on the aircraft to increase the turn rate, their V-ref might not be adequate to prevent a stall. This has been verified recently in a couple of circling approach accidents.”
“Simulators are good but not everything in the aircraft can be accurately simulated,” he said. “That’s why the UAT upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT) has become so popular with pilots flying everything from high-performance single engine aircraft to state-of-the art corporate jets. Pilots need to be knowledgeable to recognize a pending upset and use the proper recovery techniques before it becomes potentially dangerous or unrecoverable.”
“When confronted with a crisis, you will not rise to the occasion; you will descend to the level of your training,” he added.
Lauderback said that the program’s growing popularity is the reason they’ve now added the second specially outfitted L-39 to their training program in Kissimmee, Florida.
The purpose of UAT’s UPRT training program is to familiarize pilots with the recognition and recovery from unusual attitudes and in-flight upsets in both VFR and IFR environments. It’s a professional and comprehensive program combining ground, visual, and instrument flight training in actual aircraft, the L-39 Turbojet, and P-51 Mustang.
The UAT L-39s are outfitted with state-of-the-art glass panels capable of withstanding extreme flight attitudes. The L-39s are also equipped with a unique on-board video system that allows for accurate visual and audio debriefs of what the aircraft was doing, what the instrumentation showed, and how you as the pilot responded.
“With the addition of the second L-39 to the UPRT program, UAT is able to keep up with the increased demand for advanced training by flight departments that want to make sure that their pilots are prepared to rise to the occasion,” Lauderback said. “There’s nothing like actually flying an aircraft in abnormal attitudes to bring home the point of what to do when things go wrong. It’s as real as it gets and a great safety enhancement in today’s complex operational environments.”