ETC's Brilliant Little Trainer Will Help Retain Students, Expand Pilots' Experience

Environmental Tectonics Corporation is fixin' to install a GAT-II® General Aviation Trainer at the Frederick Flight Center, at Frederick (MD) Municipal Airport.

Frederick Flight Center, which offers courses in flight training for Private, Instrument, Commercial, Multi-engine and Flight Instructor ratings, is now offering the GAT-II as part of their Flight Training Program. [They're an authorized Cessna Pilot Center, too --ed.]

Great for Spatial Disorientation Training, as Well

Frederick Flight Center will use the GAT-II to increase student pilot retention, and expand its training curriculum for student and experienced pilots. A benefit of utilizing the GAT-II will be to provide training in the hazards associated with spatial disorientation during flight. According to Mr. Patrick McFadden, President, "Frederick Flight Center is the region's premier flight training facility, and the addition of the GAT-II ratchets us up yet another notch in the professional flight training services available to our clients. The full-motion action of the unit provides a capability not found in very many flight schools anywhere in the country. We will now be able to safely provide training in such areas as emergency upset recovery and spatial disorientation, along with very realistic, more conventional IFR initial and recurrency training, even when real-world conditions keep everything else grounded. Being located right here on the field with AOPA headquarters, we will naturally be working closely with them in support of their Spatial Disorientation training efforts, and encourage everyone to visit us for an intro both to the new GAT-II and to our large fleet of modern, well- equipped aircraft."

Spatial Disorientation training emphasizes the physiological hazards which pilots could experience. FAA statistics show that when spatial disorientation is involved in a mishap, nine out of ten of those mishaps are fatal. Frederick Flight Center is the first in the Northeast to offer this type of advanced pilot training with a GAT-II.

According to Mr. Greg French, Chief Instructor, "We work with a large student base, as well as experienced pilots, who are frequently looking to expand their training beyond the normal flight envelope, to develop an understanding of the conditions that can lead to spatial disorientation, how to recognize the symptoms, and how to safely recover from those effects if they ever find themselves in such a situation. The GAT-II is the perfect device for that training. The ability of the unit to rotate a full 360 degrees in either direction induces kinesthetic effects that the more conventional motion-base units simply can't do. Combine that with the device's pitch and roll capability, and the pilot's head is guaranteed to end up spinning! The training really is invaluable. Plus, folks can get in the unit and instantly start shooting very realistic approaches at virtually any airport in the country under any weather conditions - and that includes GPS approaches, making it a great GPS approach trainer. Everyone's going to want to fly this thing!"

Enhancements expand usefulness...

"The addition of a GAT-II to Frederick Flight Center's training program will significantly complement their training curriculum. Their GAT-II is very well equipped, with a Bendix-King KLN 94 GPS," states Glenn King, ETC's Aircrew Training Systems, Applications Manager.

ETC recently introduced the GAT-II(R) family of General Aviation Trainers. GAT-II(R)s are available in Single Engine, Multi-engine, Helicopter and Regional Jet versions.

Each GAT-II(R) supports VFR, IFR, as well as Spatial Disorientation (SD) training. The motion platform provides roll, pitch, and yaw in response to pilot input. The visual display provides a photo-realistic terrain database and accurate modeling of major cities and terrain features. The list of impressive features includes selectable meteorological conditions, instructor selectable malfunctions; various map views and contains all FAA listed airports and navaids.

FMI: www.etcaircrewtraining.com