So, I guess the answer to the original question is-

No, no one on here is flying a Vision Jet.





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Pilot training is not killing aviation.

Quite literally, it is doing the opposite. It instills confidence and lower the overall cost by reducing accidents.

Asking a pilot of a high performance airplane to train once a year doesn't sound like an excessive burden. Insurance basically requires this already for most in this class. Let's up the standards and make it a legal requirement to improve the bottom performers.


Your hoped for future is one without pilots.

Mike C.

It would be interesting to see some valid stats on the correlation between pilots who get annual training vs those who get by with the minimums, excluding those who fly the types of airplanes that require it by the FAA or insurers. It does seem likely that annual training would help but I doubt that it would help all that much.

As to the burden, for the rather large group of pilots who fly 25-40 hours per year, a couple hours of training would likely add 10% to their annual flying budget and that's enough that it would be burdensome. But for those of us who fly more than 100 hours per year, the extra cost would be in the noise.

Mike, take away your passion for flying and look at it rationally: would any time-challenged business owner in their right mind want to spend the same time that you've just spent on getting SPE in the V to be able to use it as a tool? No, it's simply not time-efficient. We're relying entirely in aviation on that passion to sustain that self-flagellation. Eventually, with ever-increasing demands in the name of safety, you'll even run out of passionate people willing to put up with it.

That depends on the BUTT.

See bitching gets you nowhere.

From the previous answers I guess it is the pilot, the spouse and the dog. Ok, you can bring the cat.

I respectfully disagree. I'm a fairly busy business guy, and the time I took to get typed wasn't an issue. If you look at the annual CJP convention, you'll see hundreds of people that fly as part of their business lives. It doesn't appear that we're running out of passionate people willing to invest some time in aviation. In fact, it appears to be increasing.

I respectfully disagree. I'm a fairly busy business guy, and the time I took to get typed wasn't an issue. If you look at the annual CJP convention, you'll see hundreds of people that fly as part of their business lives. It doesn't appear that we're running out of passionate people willing to invest some time in aviation. In fact, it appears to be increasing.

There are several flying from my airport. I know two of the operators and I'm familiar with their loading and trips. I've been to Duluth and saw the prototypes in 2010-2012, and I've followed the development and certification ever since.

Like any other plane, it has flexible loading within a 2400+ pound useful load. Being a single engine, the fuel burn is less. Max fuel is 2000 lbs, giving a 1275 NM range. So, you can put 1000 pounds in the cabin and fly 900 NM in 3 hours. Short trips of 2.25 hours can have up to 1350 pounds in the cabin. There are five seats for adults, and two child seats in the back row.

More than 250 SF50's have been delivered, and the current rate of production is 80 per year. I believe the order backlog is still over 400 aircraft, down from a high of 550.

For sure. The problem is that those 25-40 hour/year pilots fly only that much because they can't afford more. Adding 2h or more of mandated training to their budget will cross the line into 'not worth it' territory.

I look at it as a 'tax to enter the game'. As in I have pay $xxxx to be legal before my next trip to pancake breakfast. Suddenly those pancakes don't look too appealing. It's going to be harder and harder to justify spending that money to be able to fly that next mission. Then you stop even thinking about doing it.

I really doubt there are any Jet owner pilots that can’t afford a few hours of training for recurrent training every year. It’s a rounding error in the over all cost to own a Jet.

I don’t think it’s a cost thing. If a owner pilot of any jet is not flying its most likely a time thing. Jets are time machines but sometimes they don’t produce enough of that valuable resource.


Mike

Training is needed as Mike C notes. The main issue with point to point flying is that you're trying to do your utmost to make it a pleasant flight, so you do your damndest to fly straight and level, avoid storms, and ensure uneventful arrivals. Training on the other hand you do the exact opposite. I always feel better after getting 3 days of hard training in.