If a corporate aviation safety man-ager is worth his salt he will con-sult accident statistics to help

determine where his flight depart-ment’s real risks are. It is written largethroughout such statistics that the 1stcause of fatal aviation accidents todayis loss of control in-flight (LOC-I). Thiscategory now tops even controlledflight into terrain (CFIT) in fatalities.You can use Google to find BoeingAircraft Company’s StatisticalSummary of Commercial Jet AirplaneAccidents 1959-2013 and look at thechart on page 22.

If our safety manager operates anSMS, he will have to identify mitiga-tion for this risk. He could, for exam-ple, stress that pilots should accept noless spacing on a visual approachthan ATC must provide them underIFR. Do they know what that spacingis? Or have they forgotten?

Adequate spacing and other mea-sures could diminish the wake turbu-lence threat, but LOC-I has many

causes, not just wake vortices.People die in LOC-I accidents afterthunderstorms and windshear pene-trations, after flight control malfunc-tions—Boeing 737 rudder actuatorsamong them— or due to vertigo orinattention, in icing, in mountainwaves and after messing up withautomation. China Airlines has lost 2Airbus A300s because the pilots mis-handled the automation of perfectlygood airplanes. And the list is long.No single mitigation resource willremove the potential for upsets tohappen.

Colgan Air’s accident at BUF(Buffalo NY) and Air France’s crashinto the Atlantic involved shockinglypoor pilot performance from sup-posed professionals. UPRT for profes-sional crews has come to the fore-front as a remedy. Europeans haveincorporated UPRT in actual air-craft—not just in simulators—intonew IATA guidelines for professionallicensing through the new multi pilotlicense (MPL) airline pilot trainingprograms. FAA is still mulling it over.

Corporate flight depts and someOEMs recognize value of UPRT

Airlines have not yet elected tosend the bulk of their crews to UPRTin actual aircraft. Some, like Alaskaand South African Airways, have sentmanagers and training pilots. Todate, most airlines see training alltheir pilots in aerobatic certified air-craft as just too expensive and timeconsuming.

Corporate flight departments on theother hand have been more proac-tive. Many big name departments—although perhaps not yet the majori-ty—have sent their crews for UPRT. Itcan take an aviation safety mangersome work to convince the corporateflight department boss to buy off onUPRT. As an aviation safety manager,it took me several years to achievethat goal and I can give you someadvice on how to promote the cause.

If you can get your leaders to attenda good UPRT course themselves, yourcase is made. But how do we do that?Professional pilots of multimillion-dol-

100 PROFESSIONAL PILOT / December 2014

Don’t be flustered. Don’t be scared. Be prepared!

UPSET TRAINING

Making the case for corporate UPRT

There are several organizations, likeAviation PerformanceSolutions (APS) thatprovide high qualityground school andflight training in UPRT.This training is vital.Passengers depend onprofessional pilotcompetence in allaspects of flight.

By Don WittATP. Learjet series, Airbus A320,Boeing 737, Boeing 757/767

A wide variety of airplanes are used for UPRT training, fromaerobatic capable Pitts, Extras and Decathlons to jet engineaircraft such as this Impala from Flight Research.

lar jets are mostly used to their nicedigs and fancy airplanes. An individu-al instructor with his Citabria and anoffice in the trailer may give justexcellent training in UPRT. Howeverthere are now several large UPRTschools with very nice new classroomspace, polished PowerPoint groundschool presentations and shiny,expensive new airplanes. AviationPerformance Solutions (APS) facilitiesin Mesa AZ, Dallas TX and now alsoin the Netherlands, and FlightResearch in Mojave CA are goodexamples. Many corporate pilotswould simply feel more comfortable,relaxed and safe in such environ-ments. Those are the professionalenvironments they are used to. It maybe best to focus on such facilities.Show pictures. Arrange visits!

Regardless of the obvious quality ofa school and its instruction, yourleadership may still question: “Whydo we need to do UPRT in the firstplace? We are not likely to have anupset!” Have you heard that? Perhapsthey are simply unaware of accidentdata like the Boeing paper cited. Andwhen data is shown to them, theymay still not believe it could everapply to their department.

A management pilot’s belief thathis/her department never has upsetsis probably based on the fact thatthey are not told about them. Ask inprivate and find the truth. In a large,busy department the only real ques-tion is how many of these upsetshave occurred and how severe theywere. They may often stay unreportedunless the 2 pilots are in conflict overthat event.

If your advocacy for UPRT is in the

minority in your department, pointout that since 2006 Bombardier pro-vided purchasers of new Learjets,Challengers and Globals with UPRTfor 2 pilots (for each aircraft) at noadditional cost. The manufacturer ofthe aircraft believed so strongly inthe necessity of this training thatthey paid for it. Who knows moreabout an aircraft than the manufac-turer? Bombardier still supportsUPRT training as one of severaloptions in their leading edge pro-gram. Learjet gives all of their pro-duction test pilots UPRT every year,which used to be outsourced but isnow done in house in a Pitts S-2with one of the company's manage-ment pilots.

UPRT is not airshow aerobaticflying

“So... agreed, we’d benefit fromthe training. But it’s dangerous!How can I ask my crews to do suchflying?” When such an objection israised it is useful to point out someclear distinctions. Firstly, UPRT isnot airshow flying! In UPRT everymaneuver is completed severalthousand feet above the ground.UPRT is not aerobatic competitioneither. Maneuvers are never done aslow as even the most conservativesportsman IAC aerobatic box floor.There is absolutely no good reasonto be that low during UPRT.Competition aerobatics itself as asport is actually quite safe com-pared to airshow or air race flying.But we are talking apples andoranges here. UPRT is much safer inturn. Point out that an individual

client is always in the cockpit with ahighly skilled professional instructorin UPRT.

The structural integrity of an aero-batic Extra or even a Great Lakestrainer is hardly in doubt. Look atthe strength of the lower strutattachments of a Decathlon andbreath easy! What about mainte-nance? A corporate flight depart-ment should have the resources toaudit the maintenance program ormx provider of the UPRT facility

PROFESSIONAL PILOT / December 2014 101

Viewed from behind the generating aircraft,the left vortex rotates clockwise and the rightvortex rotates counter-clockwise. They spreadlaterally away from the aircraft and descend500 to 900 ft at distances of up to 5 milesbehind it. Vortices tend to descend 300 to500 ft per minute during the first 30 seconds.

Ensure you can rotate before the preceding aircraft’s rotation point. A climb above its flightpath is also necessary until you can turn clear. If this is not possible, delay your takeoff.

After takeoff, avoid crossing below and behind the path of larger aircraft.

Vortices spread laterally from the rear of the aircraft

Up to 5 miles

500-900 ft

Wake turbulence

Departure Taking off behind larger aircraft

Crossing departure coursesLight Medium Heavy

they are interested in. We did, andit proved reassuring.

For a long time Calspan has pro-vided UPRT in an aerobaticBonanza and a highly modifiedLearjet 25, structurally the safest ofthe Lear in the world. A fly-by-wirecontrol system installed in the rightcockpit position allows the aircraftto mimic other airplanes in controlfeel and response. It also allows theaircraft to protect its own strengthlimits in the same way that anAirbus A320 or Falcon 7X FBW air-craft can, through limits in the FBWcontrol laws.

Bottom line: UPRT, chosen withcare, is safe. That does not meanthat a department’s lawyer may notask pilots to sign a waiver in orderto participate.

Watch for ejection seats as theyrequire mx and pilot training

Consider that quite a few UPRTproviders today are offering trainingin single engine jets that came withejection seats. The L39 is a popularexample. Maintaining an ejectionseat is expensive and requires signifi-cant training. Furthermore, if a seat isavailable to a UPRT client, he or shemust be thoroughly trained in its useand that takes time. An untrained orpoorly trained pilot in an ejectionseat is like an untrained individualcarrying a gun, which means he mayhurt himself. UPRT in a single enginejet with an inoperative ejection seatputs a premium on engine reliability.

Flight Research is a provider whodoes not make their jet’s seatsinoperative. They have a long his-tory in support of government andmilitary research projects and inmaintaining military aircraft andtheir equipment. The ejection seatsin Flight Research’s Impala jets arekept fully functional for UPRT.

Sim UPRT is an option

Since some pilots may be proneto airsickness, experienced UPRTproviders have successful strate-gies to reduce it. Still there may becases that are just not going towork out. We can give that pilot apass entirely or just send him toground school. APS has a programwhere a simulator-only curriculumis an option.

We could also consider sendingthat individual to the ETC’s NastarGyrolab Simulator UPRT programin Pennsylvania. The Gyrolab simlike the Desdemona simulator, itsEuropean counterpart, is a crossbetween a centrifuge and a tradi-tional motion-based simulator thatcan simulate flight in a jet cockpitwith realistic G forces. Ideal forUPRT. Unfortunately some pilotswho don’t get airsick doing akro inairplanes do get airsick in theGyrolab! But there are also a fewfolks who don’t necessarily get air-sick at all in aircraft but are justf lat so scared of being upsidedown they can’t or won’t do UPRT.Gyrolab can work for them.

102 PROFESSIONAL PILOT / December 2014

1. Motion sickness: Less than 4% of UPRT students get actively motion sick. Although it is definitely a consider-ation, most students acclimate quickly. The fear of motion sickness is generally out of proportion to the actual threat.

2. IFR recovery: A big difference between UPRT and aerobatics is the practice of recoveries by instrument reference. “We conduct this training using an EFIS attitude indicator and a view limiting device. This is important for professionalpilots who fly IMC and at night, which may be the conditions faced when a recovery is called for,” says Brooks.

3. Transferability: Pilots always ask how recovery skills for jet engine aircraft can be taught in a piston aerobatic airplane. This is a matter of transferability of training, l ike the instrument skil ls learned in a Cessna 172 that are later used to fly a King Air or a Citation. At least 85% of upset recovery concepts are common to all airplanes. For example,teaching how to unload to reduce the angle of attack or practicing the strategicpriorities of upset recovery are concepts and skills that apply to all fixed-wing aircraft but 4-point vertical rolls in aerobatic planes are not transferable to a corporate bizjet.

4. Depth of practice: It’s essential to consider the amount of hands-on training being accomplished in UPRT. Exposure is helpful—and certainly betterthan nothing—but pilots in training must get enough time to practice recovery skills so that they become ingrained and can easily apply them when needed.

APS VP Training & BusinessDevelopment Randall Brooks shares

a few facts as a UPRT instructor:

En route

If a larger aircraft flies less than 1000 ft above your flightpath in the sameor opposite direction, adjust your position laterally—preferably upwind.

When planning to take off from an intermediate point behind an aircraftthat has used full length of the runway, delay your takeoff.

Rotation point

X

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Fear is the main cause of resistance to UPRT

Fear is actually the underlyingcause of most resistance to UPRT.Ironically it is also the primarycause of the majority of fatal LOC-Iaccidents. For whatever reason, anuntrained pilot finds himself in awild attitude with the green earthabove his head, or maybe staringhim straight in the face. Then hepanics and often that is all shewrote. The panicked pilot hauls theyoke back in his lap with superhu-man force and pins it there. The air-craft is doomed.

To those who say that simulatortraining should be sufficient, askhow you replicate that panic in asimulator. If there's an answer thenask how come in decades of trying,sim training hasn’t worked. You just

have to get out there in the realworld, get upside down and getused to it. Fear will leave rapidlyand confidence will replace it. Apilot can then react intelligently toan upset and will also have theknowledge to recover efficiently.Calm and efficiency could be thedifference between a pullout abovethe ground after a wake turbulenceupset on final approach versus asmoking hole and shattered lives.

So far we’ve talked of sticks. Whatabout carrots? Who wouldn’t like tofly an Impala, an L-39 or an Extraand have a video to prove it? UPRTcan even be done in a real P-51Mustang. Crazy Horse, LeeLauderback’s Mustang, provides the1st of 2 flights of the UPRT syllabusat UAT, Stallion 51’s UPRT Schoolin Florida. Good, worthwhile, safe,and fun UPRT schools are all over

the country now. It’s easy to findone to your taste. Just do someonline research.

Price options for UPRT are available

If the cost of additional training isa sticking point, you can proposealternating UPRT with a 6-monthrecurrent simulator schedule forcrews, or go 3 sims and 1 UPRT in2 years. Some major insurers arecoming to see that as a better dealfor safety, and they support it.

Those are some tips to help youconvince your corporate flightdepartment leadership about thenecessity of UPRT training. In thedepartment I was part of they arenow giving UPRT to all pilots, andthey love it! If you are a supporter,keep up the good work. It is a worthycause. We are dealing with today’sbiggest cause of death in aviationand we must make the best case forits only real mitigation.

Don Witt was aUSAF F-4 pilot andholds a DFC. He isa retired B-767 andA-320 UnitedCaptain and former SafetyManager for a large

corporate flight department. He ispresently an FSI Learjet instructorand is a long time aerobatic instructor.

Landing behind a larger aircraft

On final approach, always stay on or above the flightpath of largeraircraft. Visualize the touchdown point and land beyond it.

Touchdown point

Same runway

X

When landing on a parallel runway, also consider the wind direction forpossible vortex drift onto the landing vector. Remember to stay on orabove the larger aircraft’s flightpath and land beyond its touchdown point.

Touchdown points

Parallel runway or vector

X

X

Wind

Less than760 m

On final approach to crossing runways, make sure you fly above largeraircraft’s flightpath. Your touchdown point must be past such flightpath too.

Touchdown points

Crossing runway

X

X