Aircraft down in Canley Vale

[White and Fluffy]

It would be good to know if company recurrency training in the Mojave involved asymmetric flight or if another type was used for this purpose.

Unfortunately a lot of GA companies do not have any form of check and training or currency/type training. At most the pilot would have completed an instrument renewal in the last 12 months. If he was a casual pilot he probably had to source this himself and hence may have completed it in a small training twin. This requires little asymmetric flying and is usually conducted halfway through an approach when the aircraft is already on descent and close to the airport.

After the last few turbo prop incidents CASA has clamped down on the use of simulators for asymmetric and ongoing training. I think it is time that this philosophy flowed down into GA. There are many good, inexpensive simulators that can replicate a variety of GA twins on the market.

Most airline C&T scenarios (LOFT) place a large emphasis on the decision making processes. Unfortunately GA training seems to focus on dealing with an emergency and not the subsequent decisions. The CASA requirement to include Threat and Error Management (TEM) has gone part way to help, however, is poorly implemented by instructors. Most briefs and scenario that I have seen discussed at flying schools are based on avoiding a Threat or Error, which is part of the process. They also need to teach pilots how to make appropriate decisions after a Threat or Error has eventuated.