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Transition Training for RV-14A

TimO

Well Known Member
I just thought I'd let the RV-14 builders know that I have just received a Letter of Deviation Authorization (LODA) to be allowed to provide transition training as a CFI in my RV-14 (N14YT). I am about to do my insurance renewal, and am unsure of the cost or if I will want to pay the fairly high additional cost that it will take to insure the RV-14 for transition training, but at least I do have the option now with the LODA in hand. I am also unsure as to the quantity of people who will be interested in coming to Wisconsin for such training, and if it would end up being a losing proposition to even get the insurance upgrade.

If you are fairly sure that you would be interested in transition training, maybe drop me an email at Tim@ any one of my domains such as MyRV14.com and let me know. (I prefer not to use PM's on the forum) I'd just like to get an idea of how much demand there is, considering that at present there are not many options available for the RV-14. On the flip side of it too, I'm not interested in making this a primary activity of mine that takes up all of my free time, so I'll have to see how the scheduling availability will work out.
 
Hi Tim,

I'm scheduled for transition training in Oregon next week. I knew you were looking into it but since you hadn't announced anything I went with what was available.

I'm in Chicago and I would have been delighted to be a customer. Whatever demand there is in the midwest it will have gone down by one with me out of the market.

I hope it is worthwhile for you to do. It would be a nice resource to have. Mitch Lock is no longer doing them out east so your market may be bigger than you think.
 
Tim,
I would definitely be interested in RV-14 transition training with you. However I'm probably over a year away from being ready for that.

Of note, when I flew my -14 demo flight with Mitch Lock last November he commented that he was working on his CFI to be able to provide transition training in the -14. I'm not sure where he is at on completing that.
 
I don't believe Mitch was doing any transition training. I was told he wasn't a CFI.

That is correct. I should have said no longer PLANNING on doing them as he was last summer. When I contacted him about it, he told me that he was undertaking a great opportunity with Van's (Now we know what it was) and that he was no longer working on getting his CFI rating or doing transition training.
 
Hi Bob, sorry I missed the timeframe for you. I applied for it back in February and they finally got it processed today. I don't think the MSP FSDO has done one before, so it took maybe a bit of time just for them to digest the concept.

I'm hoping more people eventually are able to offer transition training in other areas of the country to make it easier for everyone. To me, it's a good idea from a safety perspective, but with insurance company requirements it's a real hindrance for some people if they can't get some time in type signed off before their first flight too. I also know that even though I was fairly proficient when I did my RV-10 transition training that it was the training time that made my first flight be very comfortable in the RV-10. Without it, I would have had a lot more to process on that first flight. Even a couple hours is better than nothing.

Todd, sounds good. I've got a big year this year so am happy to have people say it's coming down the road some time. My first daughter is graduating in 2 weeks from High School...top of her class, so we're of course doing the normal events for that, and then on to the college time. My second daughter is about to turn 16 and now has about 45 hours between the RV-10 and RV-14 and will spend her 16th birthday having me solo her in the RV-14. So for me, until June I'm going to have my hands full just keeping everything together.

Looking forward to the long term of being able to enjoy these planes, take them many fun places, and hopefully meet the needs of some people who need transition training.
 
Tim,

I'll give you about three years. Get that third wheel swapped around to where it belongs and I'll go to you for my transition training! :)
 
Wish I could..

Tim,

Unfortunately my nose wheel is about 25' aft of the prop spinner. Wisconsin is much closer than Oregon. I hope you get a lot of interest...it's amazing how many 14's are currently in their final phases of construction.

Cheers, James
 
bad email on file

I sent you an email thru VAF, but it bounced. Bad address.
 
Just as a data point, my intent was to get my CFI and begin transition training back east in the RV-10, RV-12, and the RV-14A. I had passed my written exams and was in the midst of my flight training when this new opportunity at the home office arose. We all know by now which fork I took. Maybe it's time to change the signature line I suppose.
 
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Update on Availability of Transition Training

Having just re-worked my insurance policy for the RV-14, I'm now able to be ready to offer transition training in the RV-14. For the first person, I will need just a very small amount of additional lead time as I did not yet buy the add-on premium for doing so, but I have the quote. I will say that for the next year I should be OK offering the training. Beyond that I'll take a wait-and-see approach to the insurance quote. Here's why:

For me alone, the insurance was around $1000 for the RV-14 (Tri-Gear model).
Add my wife with no instrument rating and 250 hours, and it went up last year to about $1400 approx.
Now, my daughter is just about to do her solo in the RV-14 when she hits her birthday, so adding her raised it up to nearly $2750. While I will happily swallow that cost for my daughter, it gives the benefit of making the transition training coverage be a perhaps lowered additional risk for them since I'm already paying that price premium. To add transition training I'm up to $3434. So as you will notice, that's about $2000 over what it costs to put me and a non-instrument pilot such as my wife, on the policy. With luck, next year when my Daughter takes her checkride, the policy would then drop to something around $1500. Unfortunately, that means next year the add-on for transition training will likely be a much bigger proportion on it's own, as I expect the sum-total to probably not change all that much.

So for the next year or so, if you need transition training feel free to send me an email and we can look at schedules and figure it out. Don't plan to do it until near your first flight period, and do be aware that there is a big tendency to feel like "I'm only about 2 weeks from doing my first flight" when in reality you could be 3 months away yet. There is often much to do in the final wrap-up.

I have a day job, and with teenagers, vacations, and all sorts of other things to keep me busy, I'm not really interested in doing this as anything more than a sideline, so I'm hoping that there will be alternative places to do training as time goes on. I know I flew with Mike Seager for the RV-10 transition training and he was excellent, and would probably be the best you could find. I am, however, a person who really wants to ensure the viability of aviation, with the emphasis on homebuilding, so feel it is my duty to step up since I have the ability, and do my part to not only help you RV-14 builders get your insurance coverage, but help keep our accident rate down as well. I would love for the RV-14 to be an accident/incident free airplane for as many years as we can get. The RV-10 didn't work out that way in some respects, with many bone-headed moves done by pilots, none of which were the fault of the airplane design. But with Van's RV-14 we have the opportunity for a clean slate, so lets do all of our fellow builders a favor and fly well, be responsible, and keep our insurance rates low.

As a side note, unfortunately at present, I can't offer tailwheel training of any time. Admittedly in my 1700 hours of flying to date, I've only landed a tailwheel plane one time, and never received a signoff myself. If that makes me not a real pilot, so be it. I intend to seek out training this summer and get the signoff, and if I then can get some time in tailwheel RV's to become proficient, maybe that will change. So if you're building a tailwheel model, definitely lock in with Mike or find a suitable and acceptable place for your training.

My email address begins with "Tim", and I have a few different web domains...use any of them and the email goes into the same inbox. Shoot me a line when you're getting to the point where you need your training and lets get it done.
 
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