Important Information

Aircraft Instrument Training in a Simulator

We are a simulator training facility, not a flight school. 

We work with pilots to meet their insurance companies yearly requirement qualifications and initial requirements for approval to fly an aircraft under an insurance policy.  We can perform Flight Reviews and IPC sign offs for those pilots.  We do not teach Private, Instrument or Commercial courses for license.  

We follow the FAA rules on Flight Reviews.  If want to schedule a Flight Review while you are training in the simulator you must let us know and schedule the review.  If you fail to schedule the Flight Review we will do all we can to work you in.  The FAA has taken a hard line on Flight Reviews and so have we.  We think it is an important requirement.  

All training must be booked in advance so that we can prepare for each student so that they can have the best and most thorough learning experience possible.  The price you are quoted when you book your training schedule is the contract amount.  This amount can only be changed by an agent of AST. 

Our sims and sim courses are booked and charged by the day, not by the hour.  We reserve the right to make exceptions on a case by case basis.

Schedules are not confirmed until the deposit is received by AST.  The balance is due upon completion of the training. That amount will be in your confirmation email.  Please review our “Deposit and Booking Policy” below our scheduling request form.  

No changes can be made to rates or confirmed schedules without the agreement of the company, Aircraft Simulator Training. If you are not able to make it to your scheduled training, we will do our best to work with you to reschedule but you MUST cancel within two weeks of training. We allow one cancellation. If you fail to cancel or not show up for training and then you come back you must pay in full for training before you come. Our instructors reserve their time based on you stating will be at our facility on the date designated in your training date request. If you do not show up they do not get paid. We allow one sim with one instructor not group work. Thank you for understanding.

Please note: You do not have a confirmed reservation date until complete your deposit and receive a calendar invite. We have many inquiries each day, most asking for the next available training date. We share that date with each inquiring pilot until it is booked. The “next available” fills very quickly.

Please fill out the pilot form in detail. We plan the training based on what your past experience is.  For example, if you are a 400 hours pilot with little or no time in the aircraft, I will prepare a different training plan (probably focusing on instruments) than I would for a more experienced  pilot.  On the other hand, if you are an airline pilot, I know you guys can fly instruments.  In that case, we will work on different areas of the aircraft and performance. When completing the pilot information form, please list all the aircraft you fly or have flown.  This information helps formulate a training plan.  It is to your benefit to be as thorough as possible when completing the pilot information form.  Just saying on the form that you have 1,500 hours plus and then walking in the door the first morning of training and telling me you are a retired airline pilot isn’t helpful.   

I read numerous accident reports every week. I take that information and put it into my program. One thing that I focus on is that most of the high altitude pressurized aircraft are auto pilot airplanes but auto pilots fail. I have an Aircraft Dispatcher license for airline operations. Along with systems, I try to teach as much about weather as possible.

Location

Turboprop Facility

  • Our turboprop facility is located at 301 South Hanger Dr. Unit 120, Georgetown, TX 78628. 

Class Schedule

  • All of our classes start at 8:30am – we may arrange the next day to start earlier if you are taking a 2-day or 3-day class.
  • All training lasts six hours – six hours, with most of that time in the sim, will drain you. 
  • Please only use your cell phones during breaks.
  • We take breaks as needed.
  • You need to bring your POH for your aircraft, if you have one.  We furnish everything else including iPads with ForeFlight.
  • We bring in lunch at the Burnet facility. There is not enough time as the course is getting longer and longer. We usually discuss material related to your training during lunch. This give you more time to discuss your aircraft and needs with the instructors.

COURSE INFORMATION

This is not a “canned” course. In addition to reviewing the information you provide before you arrive, you will be reviewed on your instrument skills and general aircraft knowledge. Based on this we make suggestions and work a plan for you.

Our goal is for you to leave at the end of the course a better pilot than you were when you arrived, equipped with a working knowledgeable of the worse case scenarios that can happen and how to respond in those situations.  

Instrument skills for emergency work are critical – for this reason we may have to spend time working on your instrument skills. If we “jump up and down” about anything it is “keep up with your instrument skills!”

We try to get you in as quick as possible but even with 3 motion sims and one instructor for each pilot WE STAY BOOKED UP.  We are now working 6 days a week and some 7 days a week.

IF YOU DO NOT MAKE A DEPOSIT IN 48 HOURS FROM THE SCHEDULING DATE YOU WILL LOSE YOUR SLOT.  

WE KEEP A WAITING LIST AND WE ALSO HAVE REPEATED PILOTS WHO COME IN EVERY YEAR OR SOME EVERY 6 MONTHS AND THEY HAVE GUARANTEED DATES.  

IF YOU MAKE A DEPOSIT AND HAVE TO CHANGE IT PLEASE READ OUR CHANGE RULES ON CHANGING A DATE AFTER DEPOSITS ARE MADE. WE WILL WORK WITH YOU FOR EMERGENCIES BUT WE HAVE A GOOD CANCELLATION AND RESCHEDULE POLICY THAT WE FOLLOW.  IT IS FOR THE GOOD OF EVERYONE.

WE WANT TO HELP EVERYONE BUT OUR REPUTATION FOR BOTH OUR TURBOPROP FACILITY AND OUR PISTON FACILITY HAS INCREASED OUR TRAINING SCHEDULE.

OUR SIMS

  • Our sims have “simisms.” What we mean by this is, for one thing sims are harder to fly than the airplane. 
  • Our sim is harder to land than an actual airplane. 
  • We have professional pilots (airline captains, professional pilots and air force reserve training officers) who can make it “stand on its head and give you change.” I want all of our pilots to leave with these skills.
  • When you come out of training, this sim experience makes it easier to fly the plane.

SETTING EXPECTATIONS

If you are coming just to get an insurance sign off, there are other facilities that might be a better fit for you.  I want you to be a safer pilot.  As I often state, I am working with you for the innocent people in the back of the aircraft. I want you to leave knowing you can react to a problem and get the aircraft down safely and in one piece.

I am going to show you things about handling emergencies that you were not taught. We have been taught for years to accomplish what the FAA wanted us to learn. That does not mean one size fits all. If that worked, why are we having so many accidents in twin engine aircraft?

Finally we are going to have a good time. It is very rewarding training when pilots come away telling us how much the training has helped them.  Our full motion sim actually has an air conditioner in the unit.  We know the training is  demanding when a pilot asks us “can you turn on the air.”

Payment & Credit Card Fees

Payment is due at the time of training.  You can either pay by cash, check or credit card.  If you pay by credit card there is a 3.25 percent fee added to the credit card.  We are trying extremely hard to keep our cost down.  We suggest you bring a check for the remainder of the amount owed to save the “upcharge” for the balance of the course using a credit card.  We do not charge a percentage on the deposit.  Again, it is to help keep our cost down.

Our Opinion on the FAA “Wings” Program

Aircraft Simulator Training does not participate in the Wings program of the FAA.  We feel that it is not the best way to keep you current.  The pilots who participate with us are a higher level of pilots flying complicated aircraft.  We train for complexity and to satisfy the insurance requirements of large twin engine piston and turbine powered aircraft.  In our opinion the Wings program is for low time pilots to “slip” by in simple training scenarios.

We have reviewed the Wings programs and our instructors have participated in the program but we feel it does not get a pilot to the standard that a large twin engine piston or turbine aircraft pilot needs to have.

In regard to Flight Reviews, the FAA was very clear on this.  It is a “FLIGHT REVIEW” not a program in some type of non aircraft training.  We do Flight Reviews but they are a combination of detail sim training and detailed in the aircraft training.  There is no such thing as a “Wings” Flight Review.  The FAA needs to figure this out.

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