King Air 350 Type rating

[JakeSnake]

So, my employer has approached me about getting me a KingAir 350 type rating. The way they want to do it is first, get a Part 91 type rating with training/checkride from a gentleman who will "come to us" for ground training and flight training/checking in the actual airplane--then give me the "part 91" type. Then, what they want to do is send me immediately to Simuflite/FlightSafety for a KingAir 350 RECURRENT at which time I would complete the "Part 135" training. Anybody out there with a similar request from their employer? Anybody out there with types gained under this training scenario? I understand it would save money for the company, but "what's in it for me?" It seems to me to be a bit of an unusual way to go about flight training for a "real" airplane.

 

[mavrck]

ya definitely a bit backwards to the whole approach. Think they are looking at the bottom line of cost. An initial course would cost x amount from the acredited school. The recurrent would cost Y.


Which course will you get better knowledge from? The initial ,basicly cuz its longer and they have more time to feed it to you. The recurrent is just a course on the basics becuz they feel you already know the airplane and been flying it for a certain time.

 

[JakeSnake]

I think you are absolutely right...it is a bit screwy.....they are trying to save each and every possible penny...Don't quite know what I'll do. Thanks.

 

[Kingairrick]

It's bull$hit. But, if you have lots of King Air experience, you'll be OK. It's not a hard airplane to learn. Your profile doesn't list ac types. The 350 is not an airplane to just jump into and fly. There was an accident a couple of years ago in MS i think where a 200 guy decided to ferry a 300 (same type) for a friend and got himself killed because of the differences.

I wonder how your insurance company would feel about this scheme? Maybe they should get an anonymous tip?

 

[PSL]

I don't understand the logic in the plan, if there is any.

By the time you pay the DPE for his/her fee for the training and the rating + the expense of having the DPE come to you + the cost of the airplane (fixed and variable) ... is this really going to be less than a full FAR-135 Course at one of the sim-based schools?

As far as the airplane being different from a BE-200, I'm not sure what previous poster is referring to other than the electrical system being the obvious one. Some years ago, the BE-300 was a combined rating with the BE-1900. It was split for some unknown reason because the BE-1900 and the BE-300 are more similar than the B-757 and B-767 or the MD-10 and DC-10 which are still common ratings (I think ?)

Is the DPE from Texas by any chance ?

 

[aroundtheblock]

Not to steal their motto, but... the best safety equipment you can put in the plane is a well trtained pilot. The airplane costs just under 2 million. What's 13K in comparison. Sounds to me the owner is getting off to the wrong start here and setting a bad precident. As for what's in it for you... 2 checkrides instead of 1.

 

[JakeSnake]

... 2 checkrides instead of 1.

That is 1 of my biggest problems with this scenario--I'm put in jeopardy twice!! Yippee!! Also--the DPE has absolutely no accountability, i.e. if something is going wrong in the training or checking, who do I appeal to? Who knows what standards or syllabus this guy will be teaching and checking? Will I be set up for failure when I go to recurrent at a "real" school, where by definition, recurrent is set up for people who have been flying the airplane for some length of time as a refresher, not initial training. Do I need to list the obvious advantages of sim vs. aircraft training--ability in the sim to freeze and talk about different flight scenarios? Can't preposition in the actual airplane! How about if when the airplane I'm training in gets chartered for 3 days...what happens to my training, do I just stop? What if it charters for all day, and doesn't get back till late at night--will I have the pleasure of training in the middle of the night? Or maybe I'll just get up at 3 a.m. to do my "training" before the airplane goes on a revenue trip. I KNOW my company will not take the airplane off line for my training--and if it did, that would erase ANY cost advantage to this, if there is any in the first place. Will I be expected to fly trips on my current aircraft before/after my 350 training?

The more I think about this, I think this "deal" may be as much about having me at my base airport to be available to fly my current airplane before/during/after my 350 "training", as it is about cost--I had the same question as PSL--how much can this possibly save even under the absolutely best case scenario? Real training at a real school just isn't that expensive when compared to the value of the airplane, and the revenue I will generate flying the airplane. Training is a cost of doing business--PSL also makes a good point about setting precedent...I work for a fairly sizable company--there are pilots behind me right now who will be asked to do the same thing if I go through with this.

I know what my position is and what my answer will be to this proposition. I just want to see if my position is unreasonable.

 

[HMR]

Good Grief! Why do some charter operators go to such lengths to save a buck. It's a multi-million dollar airplane used to fly multi-millionaires and thay want to save a few hundred bucks on training? Just go to SimCom, get your type and take ONE ride with the Feds. SimCom's cheaper and better IMHO than FSI (I don't know anything about Simuflight).

 

[Sphrynxlla]

i did exactly that for my type 91 then 135

 

[Whirlwind]

A slightly off-topic question...

What would be the cheapest way to get a 350 type if you already had time in the airplane flying right seat, but didn't have access to the airplane itself for the checkride?