Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.")

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network.

Aero-Tips 09.03.06

A reader writes:

Re: AERO TIPS (08.21.06) THAT ELUSIVE TURBINE TIME

I know that a helicopter ain't an airplane! But how does experience carry over into something civilian from something that has:

• Retractable, tricycle landing gear
• Turbine engines (twin, 1700 horsepower, computer controlled)
• Dual autopilots, flight directors, satcom, radar and glass cockpit
• Twelve passenger seats
• Requires two IFR pilots
• Really, really complicated. Costs more than a whole six-pack of VLJs

Our reader is obviously completing a rotary-wing military obligation and wants to turn his (he signed the note; he's male) government-given talents into a fixed-wing civilian flying career.  Obviously a lot of his experience translates directly into safe command of an aircraft (not just airplane). But here are the rules from 14 CFR 61:

1. In most cases you can convert your military pilot credentials into a civilian Commercial Pilot-Rotorcraft certificate with an Instrument rating. See FAR 61.73. Do it now, before you get out of the service, because you have a limited time to get your civilian credentials without having to start from zero.
2. You can then obtain a Commercial certificate for airplanes by logging 50 fixed-wing hours, including a long VFR cross-country, several maneuvers and a few other details, then pass a Practical Test (checkride) in an airplane. FAR 61.129.
3. You can convert your Instrument rating to include Airplane privileges you need to log at least 15 hours of actual or simulated instrument time in fixed-wing airplanes, including the "long IFR cross-country" and a checkride. FAR 61.65.
4. Assuming you want your Airline Transport Pilot certificate you'll need to pass the written and amass the experience that qualifies you for the practical test. You need at least 250 hours of pilot-in-command time of (fixed-wing) airplanes in a host of experiences…although up to 100 hours of that time may be in simulators or approved flight training devices that represent an airplane. FAR 61.159.

The good news: You can truthfully enter all your rotary-wing time in your "Total time" column (assuming an employer isn't asking for "airplane total time") and all your multiengine time in the "Multiengine" column (if the application doesn't specific "in airplanes"); all your turbine time counts too (unless an application specifically says "turbine time in airplanes" or similar).

Lastly, you may show up for an interview with a fresh ATP certificate, but your resume and confidence will show that you are a far more experienced and seasoned pilot than most others with the same new paper in their pockets. I hope that encourages you.

Aero-tip of the day: When making a certificates-and-ratings transition look to the regulations for ways to combine as many of the requirements as necessary, to speed up the process and make the change as inexpensively as possible.

FMI: Aero-Tips