Training Transfer From Small Airplanes to Big Airplanes

Does on-aircraft Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) in a small aerobatic airplane translate to big aircraft flying? In a word, absolutely.

A Foot in Both Worlds

I can say “yes” because I routinely fly in both worlds. Having had a full career flying Navy F-14s, I’m now an on-aircraft upset instructor flying Extra 300 series aircraft. In that role, I educate both the next generation of pilots in a university setting and seasoned pilots with thousands of hours flying corporate jets. The focus is on addressing the leading cause of fatalities in aviation, Loss of Control – Inflight (LOC-I), with a methodical recovery procedure to prepare every pilot for the unexpected contingencies that could occur while airborne.

I am also a captain with a major airline and previously an instructor with that airline. I attend Extended Envelope Training (EET) in the simulator on a yearly basis and address the nuances of how my 767 would respond to various upsets. Qualified on the 747, 757 and 767, I consistently work to challenge myself outside the normal parameters of my job description to better prepare for the unexpected while airborne.

I recently returned to the upset training world after an extended time away due to my airline career taking off, no pun intended. As much as I love big airplane flying, I missed being able to routinely turn an airplane upside down or pull more than 2.5 G without overstressing the airframe. Now, back in the small airplane world and having just gone through robust training in the big airplane world, I further support and recommend that everyone experience on-aircraft UPRT, as the value applies to both worlds.

Comparing Cockpit Philosophies

In the big airplane world with EET, each pilot experiences a series of abnormal attitudes in the type-specific aircraft they fly. These various attitudes vary from extremely nose high and slow to accelerating nose low. Examples include 50 degrees nose high, wings level, or 50 degrees nose high with 50 degrees of bank, or 20 degrees nose low, overbanked to 130 degrees accelerating. Once configured for each demonstration, the instructor ensures that the crews recognize the upset and recover. Other than a few differences in terminology, the process is the same.

As a ready reference, in the small airplane world, the instructor will say something to the effect of, “You’re flying,” and the students say, “Upset; Uncouple, Neutralize, Analyze.” This means uncouple any autoflight systems, neutralize the controls, and analyze the situation to determine if an upset has occurred.

Video Clip – Big Airplane Little Airplane
The author instructing a low time student on recovery techniques which apply to every pilot, regardless of platform.

The Universal Mantra: Push, Roll, Power

In the big airplane world, after the instructor releases the aircraft and says, “You’re flying,” the EET world says, “Upset, Recover.” From there, the worlds meld into the upset prevention and recovery training mantra of “Push, Roll, Power” and diverge again when the little airplane crowd says, “Reset Pitch, Power, Trim, Reconfigure Flaps, and Gear” and the big airplane crowd says, “Stabilize.”

“Push, Roll, Power” are the same for Extra and Boeing products. You need to Push to unload the aircraft and shrink the lift vector to allow the airplane to accomplish the next step of Roll expeditiously to the nearest horizon, and finally, Power, to determine more or less thrust. In the airline industry, you want to avoid zero-G at all costs as it can cause chaos for passengers or cargo, especially if not strapped in appropriately. Each pilot must also maintain airspeed so as not to lose directional control of the airplane.

In the big airplane world, the final step is “Stabilize,” whereas in the small airplane world, the verbiage is a bit more nuanced, with “Reset, Pitch, Power, Trim.” Again, Pitch, Power, and Trim work the same on both big and small aircraft. You set the Pitch attitude you desire, Push the power to the desired setting (pitch and power = performance), and finally Trim out the pressure in the control wheel or the stick.

From Theory to Practice: Proof in the Simulator

During my recent training experience with EET in the simulator, I was the second student in my crew, and the final sequence of that event involved a deep stall and recovery. The simulator instructor talked me into what he wanted: maintain level flight, auto throttles off, let the airspeed decay, hold this until a fully developed stall, dropping more than 10,000/min on the Vertical Speed Indicator (VSI), at which point he would say, “Recover,” and it would be on me.

When he gave the command, I executed: decreasing the angle of attack (AOA) to get the wing flying, allowing the airspeed to build to an appropriate level, slowly increasing thrust, asking the pilot monitoring to re-engage required modes on the mode control panel, engaging the autopilot, and calling recovery complete.

The instructor stopped the sim, looked at me and said I was the first person, in his experience, to recover the airplane on that particular scenario without secondary stalls, overspeeding, or exceeding the jet’s load limit. My sim partner, knowing I was a UPRT instructor on the side, looked at me and said, “Of course he did…” and then laughed.

The Verdict: Crucial Upset Prevention and Recovery Training That Translates

Does on-aircraft UPRT in small, aerobatic airplanes translate to big, heavier, passenger/cargo airplanes? It absolutely does.