After training in a sim, the checkride is the easiest flight you'll ever take.
The scenarios they throw at you in a sim are impossible to replicate in a real airplane.

3 hours for a type? Monkey see monkey do perhaps. This whole thread is indicative of a cavalier attitude that is minimizing both training and maintenance. I really could care less - it's not my bacon - I provide feedback to try to help Michael, but it seems like it is not resonating or appreciated. Good Luck.

BT contains plenty of windmills for an aspiring Don Quixote to tilt at if that's the target.

I don't think he said it took him 3 hours, he only said it felt like it could have been done in 3 hours.

He did pass a check ride, so are you condemning his instructor and/or DPE, or just him specifically?

I personally have never felt training time was a good measure of capability. Indeed, I think you will find they are anti correlated.

For example, I just met a Citation instructor who had a student now 40 hours flying time into a type rating course. I'm thinking I'd rather be flying with the 3 hour guy.

Mike C.

Hope you keep posting your journey with your new purchase. Don't let the thread get sidetracked.

Really excited for you MT! Keep posting!

Spending stupid money doesn't make you safer, just poorer.

Im with you Mike. Keep us posted. Love the hands on stuff. obviously YMMV. Have to agree some sim time for stuff you can't do in the plane is a must.

This has been a horrible thread drift. Many think that if you didn't spend 14 days at Flight Safety and $19,000 and drop your plane off for blank check Citation Service Center maintenance, you must be a reckless maniac. Not true.

A turbine powered aircraft is incredibly safe and reliable. The Citation series is very easy to fly. There is no better time than right now to own a legacy Citation so I'm going to capitalize on this time.

No matter what anyone thinks of my maintenance or training, it is going to be much safer than flying my Lancair around cross country as I've done and survived for the last 250 hours since parting with my last jet. I'm not stupid or cheap or a crappy pilot, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine.

Flying is about balance; safest thing to to do is to stay in bed all day. I flew my ultralight seaplane the other day at night; probably not for most people. I accepted the very mild risk of engine failure (Rotax 914 military runs them 8,000 hours and I think its a sewing machine) and enjoyed the experience; my decision and I accepted the responsibility if something bad happened. Judge as you may but that's the beauty of being pilot in command, make your decisions and enjoy your ride. I didn't take my wife on this trip because she wouldn't have enjoyed it.

This is a 40 year old vintage jet that I'm going to use for my travel needs 50 hours a year. I'm also going to enjoy fixing it hands on. I don't want or need a newer aircraft for the little I'm going to use it so this suits me perfectly.

This is a life experience I'm going to enjoy. Judging and being nasty isn't going to enhance this experience. Nothing could be more sterile than buying a new plane and dropping it off a the service center. This is going to be unique, raw and definitely un-sterile aircraft experience but equally safe and reliable as a new machine.

What happened to the Grumman Albatross?

New floorboards and fitting Baron cowlings to it

Zombie apocalypse in the boneyard

250hours in 18months of ownership and down for 6 months getting a panel/ac?

you may want to notify the lancair group of this new record as you've beat Bill Harrelson, the guy who flew around the world several times for hobbs vs calendar time

My 550 type rating was 48 hours of classroom and about 12 in the sim. I studied about 40 more. Sim training is considerably more efficient than airplane training because they can position and pause it anytime they want and they can do stuff you can’t do in the airplane. They do a great job of simulating actual emergencies, a real flying airplane can’t do this nearly as well. I paid 12k for my 550 type rating at Simcom (they had a sale). Not sure what an hour in the 501 costs ($1500?) but I’m not sure the airplane is really that much cheaper.

Curious - how many approaches can you (generally) fly in a 2 hour flight?

Sims have limits too, I think the best training includes both.

Neither does a great job preparing pilots for real world operations. These get more complex and nuanced in a jet. The mentor time is key.

Love it!

Michael, thanks for sharing your experiences and I look forward to finding out more as you fly it.
Some of these older jets do seem quite interesting... if it turns out one can safely run one with reasonable ownership costs, that seems very appealing.

I agree. It's perfectly doable. Keep us posted.
Robert