Safety: Getting Comfortable with Transition Training

Welcome to the Safety Section of the Flying Clubs Newsletter, Club Connector!

Each month we provide resources for flying club safety officers so that they can keep their clubs informed and safe.   We also include links to the PowerPoint slides that we use for our own club meetings, so that you always have a topic for your club’s next safety meeting.  Along with the slides, we often provide links to relevant articles, videos, and other media that you may also find useful.

Alright then, let’s get on with this month’s safety topic!

February 2023 Safety Topic of the Month: Transition Training:

This month’s Safety topic is all about transition training. When we think of transition training, we usually think of “moving up” to bigger, faster, and more complex aircraft. However, transitioning from something like a 172 to a light sport aircraft or ultralight can be very hazardous unless we approach this transition with the right attitude. Let’s look at some techniques we can use to safely transition to any type of aircraft to expand our flying horizons.

Background: 

The General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC) Loss of Control Work Group studied a

group of General Aviation accidents that may have been caused by inadequate or no transition training received by the pilots involved. THE GAJSC feels that thorough airframe-specific Transition Training conducted by a qualified Flight Instructor is essential to flight safety.

Learning Points:

• The lack of adequate and proper transition training from a qualified authorized instructor or pilot has been cited as a causal factor in many general aviation accidents.
• Pilots usually think of transition training in the context of stepping up to a larger, faster, or more complex aircraft. But transition training works both ways. Believe it or not; it’s equally challenging to transition from high performance airplanes to lower performance craft.
• Transition training is most beneficial to pilots who are moving from certificated aircraft to amateur built or light sport aircraft, training gin a technically advanced aircraft (TAA), aircraft equipped with diesel engines or any other special equipment or accessories that may be installed.

February 2023 Safety Topic of the Month: Transition Training

References:

• AC 90-109A Transition to Unfamiliar Aircraft
• Airplane Flying Handbook, Chapters 12-17 Transition Training

Other Safety Resources:

Here is a quick reminder of just some of the resources available to all pilots:

1. The FAASTeam website is the portal to a vast array of courses, videos, links, and much more.Remember that WINGS not only encompasses “knowledge” activities, but also flight activities.Use the various search options to narrow done, to, say flight activities for a basic phase of WINGS and you’ll be able to find a syllabus and often a worksheet for each flight activity.

    

2. AOPA’s own Air Safety Institute, which by the way, is funded by the AOPA Foundation just like the Flying Clubs Initiative, is packed with amazing content, including exceptional videos, podcasts, accident analysis, online courses, recorded webinars and more.Completing these activities may also earn WINGS credits.Of particular interest to flying club safety officers is the recently updated Safety to Go section.Here, you can download a selection of topics, each coming with PowerPoint slides and speaker’s notes!

WINGS for Clubs:

If you are interested in using the FAASTeam WINGS program with your flying club, feel free to contact Steve, who is a Lead Representative and WINGSPro, and uses the program in his club.  More on WINGS for Clubs can be found here in Flying Clubs Radio Episode 8 and the May 2020 Question of the Month.