Foresight Aviation offers Supervised Initial Operating Experience (SIOE) to meet insurance requirements or simply provide additional skill, knowledge and judgment in the cockpit while a new TBM pilot builds real world experience.
Low time in make and model is a very common factor in TBM accidents. For this reason it is typical for insurance companies to require that a pilot new to the TBMÂ receive SIOE with a qualified mentor after completion of an “insurance approved” initial training course. Socata/Daher has partnered with Simcom (a part 142 training organization with two TBM simulators located in Orlando, Florida with one soon to be on line in Scottsdale, Arizona) to offer initial training to American buyers purchasing a new TBM. (For European buyers, Socata/Daher instead provides in-aircraft training at the factory in Tarbes, France.) This training is provided to the buyer of a new TBM at no additional charge.
A common misconception for some pilots transitioning to the TBM, especially as their first high performance turbine aircraft, is that after completion of Simcom’s “Six-day Initial” course they will be competent to fly their TBM single pilot. The reality is that this is seldom the case. While the reasons vary, common symptoms surface quickly during mentoring that often indicate a deficiency in one or more of the following areas:
Stick and Rudder Skills: Coordinated flight and AOA control
Basic Attitude Instrument Flying: Understanding and applying pitch/power/performance relationships
IFR Procedural Knowledge: Knowing the rules of the road
Situational Awareness: Getting the big picture
Sadly, many pilots who find themselves in this position have worked diligently to master the craft of airmanship while laboring under the yoke of an inordinate emphasis on what we at Foresight refer to as “ABT” (Acronym Based Training). Anyone familiar with aviation has heard the terms: CRM, SRM, SBT, LOFT, 3P, DECIDE, FRAT, ADM and others. While these concepts, when properly learned and put into practice atop a firm foundation of basic airmanship, can make one a better pilot; they are no substitute for basic airmanship. The institutions that have begun to focus on these “new” concepts to the relative neglect of flying basics are short changing their students in a way that has become painfully obvious from the ever growing list of TBMÂ accidents that unmistakably point to a lack of basic airmanship skills.
Let Foresight Aviation help you with an honest evaluation of your flying skills as well as your mastery of the systems and characteristics unique to the TBM. If you decide to become a better, safer TBM pilot, we can help with that also. Working with Foresight, we guarantee not only that you will learn and grow as a pilot, but that you will have a lot of fun in the process.
Cost: $900/day; plus expenses