Hello…I’m fairly new to the Guest membership of COPA so I apologize if this topic has been broached multiple times…
Does anyone know of, or anyone here offer, a travel-to-the-client
training program to knock out an instrument rating for the owner of an
SR-22? If not travel-to-the-client services, then a client-travels-to-the-instructor program?
I am the Chief Pilot for a business-operated Citation, but the company President owns a Cirrus SR-22 that we occasionally fly with/for him. He is a PPL with around 250 hours, most of which is accompanied by an ATP & CFI-IA rated mentor pilot, and wants-slash-needs to get his IRA to provide him freedom to fly it solo on cross-country business trips as well as lowering insurance costs. Him finding the time to do it “traditionally” has proven difficult because of the demands on his time as a business owner…making an intensive 7-10 day program attractive.
In my position I’m happy to work with him on learning basic and advanced IFR procedures as well as practicing approaches, but I know he would benefit substantially from an experienced, skilled CSIP giving him the high level of instrument instruction the airplane demands to operate safely.
We’re not looking to book anything this week, but I hope to present him with some options so that we can get a gameplan together for accomplishing this goal. Please feel free to respond to this tread, or call in confidence to 502.475.8004.
The Flight Academy does exactly what you are looking for. They are in Vegas and in Seattle/Tacoma area and maybe somewhere on the east coast. Search for them on the forum search and you should find it all, I don’t know how to attach stuff. Try http://www.theflightacademy.com/. Tell Luke I sent you.[:D]
Your question qualifies among the most frequently asked on COPA. This observation isn’t intended to discourage the asking. I say it to point our that COPA’s forum search is a highly productive way to harvest far more than just a single thread-ful of opinions. (This is the dialog box on the top right.)
For instance, see the posts here. (It’s a search for “accelerated flight training”.)
FWIW, I also did my IFR with The Flight Academy. It’s difficult to objectively evaluated how well they do vis-a-vis other premium shop. Many have been mentioned very positively on COPA over the years. But I can say tell you that I found my checkride - with a very tough examiner per local lore - to be anti-climactically easy. I should also point out that as a sometime instructor myself (not flight training) I find Luke Lysen’s ability to adapt to each student’s unique learning style spookily impressive.
As I’m sure you’ll agree, the flight training experience, especially involving Type A personalities like so many company presidents are, can be tricky. In your particular situation, I suggest that you present your boss with a phone-interviewed list of 2-3 COPA-vetted instructors and let him decide whom he might best work with. If his time is valuable enough, it might not even be a bad idea to interview them in person.
Finally, I suggest that you not fixate on the CSIP designation. That is at least partly a marketing construct. However, and I can’t emphasize this enough - ensure that the instructor is very familiar with the Cirrus.
As Jim and Sanjay mentioned, I also highly recommend TFA, The Flight Academy. One of their instructors is Tim Rhoden who runs their operations at Eagle Creek (KEYE) just 90nm away from you at KJVY. They even have a simulator that will make excellent use of your bosses time.
Thank you for the friendly criticism, as I said I’m new here and (wrongly) assumed a Guest doing a search wouldn’t pull info from the paid members’ side of the site.
I can also agree that Luke is a very talented instuctor. I flew with him at a CPPP (Cirrus Pilots Proficiency Program) where Cirrus pilots fly a bunch of refresher exercises or work on advanced techniques. Even out of the context of a narrowly defined curriculum like an IFR course, he was great.
