Originally Posted by
Ascend Charlie
I was to do a PVT IFR instrument "review" in the Boss's chopper, which was the only one of its model in Oz - plenty of similar types, but none of this model. The trick was to find an instructor able to do the renewal. Sadly, the experienced instructor who flew my previous review in this aircraft was the one mentioned above in Camden, and was no longer available. There was another civil ATO with great experience on multis and instrument flying, but not endorsed on type. We had known each other for many years with some mutual respect, and being a "review" it was not a test as such, but to fly the sequences to the required standard, and refresh any that were a bit lacking - there is no "FAIL" in a review. You do it until all is good. I was happy to have him do the flight, as he would not be required to operate the systems. But CA$A insisted that one of their FOIs do the job.
They named one lad in Darwin. I would have to pay for his time from when he left the Darwin office, fly him to Sydney, pick him up, do the test, pay for his overnight, and send him back to Darwin. Plus pay a Test Fee. This lad had a bare endorsement on type and hadn't flown one for 5 years, and of course was not familiar with this model, which had FADEC .
CA$A also suggested another one, in Melbourne, and who I had known from RAAF days. Same situation, pay pay pay and bare endorsement on type and never flown the model. But CA$A reckoned that a type-inexperienced uncurrent desk jockey was safer than a current experienced but non-type-rated instructor. So we used the Melbourne man.
The pre-flight briefing included me telling him :"You will NOT be touching the controls. If you desire to simulate an engine failure, you will say so, and I will work the throttles."
After the review was over, we had to fly back from Richmond to Sydney, via Long Reef and the chopper lanes down the beaches. He asked gingerly "May I have a fly?" so I let him have a go. The grin on his face lit up the cockpit, and probably doubled his time on type.