PLANNING GUIDELINES FOR
ON-SITE TRAINING CLINICS
If you're interested in having Rich
travel to your home airport to conduct a hands-on
training clinic, the following information should
help. Feel free to print and use these guidelines for
general planning purposes only -- exact cost and
other details must be coordinated with Rich.
Typical
Scheduling Considerations
Although many variations are
possible, the following format has worked quite well
in the past. Of course, it's best to plan this event
during the most likely time of the year for good
weather (and pilot interest). It is also wise to have
a back-up airplane just in case, if possible.
It's important to plan the event far
enough in advance not only so that the host can
promote it adequately, but also so that all parties
involved can coordinate schedules, equipment, and
other logistics related to the event. For example,
local FAA FSDO's normally requires at least 90 days
lead time to list safety seminars in their
publications. While 90 days is really the minimum
lead time for promoting such an event, I often
require longer notice, as my schedule often books
months in advance!
Weekend Clinic Format
Thursday -- I arrive on-site
in the afternoon, inspect the training aircraft and
host facility, and conduct an evening FAA safety
seminar hosted by a local FBO, flying club, or pilot
group. This seminar is free and should be open to all
pilots, whether they are participating in the
hands-on training clinic or not. A typical evening
seminar runs as follows:
7:00-7:15 -- Host
Introductions/Announcements
7:15-8:05 -- Seminar Topic, Part I
8:05-8:15 -- Break
8:15-9:05 -- Seminar Topic, Part II
Each of the seminar topics listed
below are approximately 45-50 minutes in length. The
host, therefore, can select any two of the topics
(Part I & Part II) for the evening.
During the evening seminar, I make
use of either overhead transparencies and video
clips, or my Power Mac laptop using PowerPoint. The
FAA can usually provide an overhead projector w/
screen, or an LCD projector w/ screen and VCR
equipment for this.
I also require a small table so that
I can offer my books/videos for sale at the end of
the seminar.
Friday thru Sunday -- I
conduct morning and afternoon training sessions each
day, typically broken down as follows: Pilots are
assigned into morning and afternoon groups. A morning
briefing is held for the morning group, followed by
consecutive flights, a lunch period, an afternoon
briefing for the afternoon group, and several more
flights.
Normally, (6) training sorties are
flown per day, with a total of (18) slots available
for a three-day weekend training clinic. Depending on
the airplane and the proximity of the practice area,
a "sortie" is usually 45-48 minutes long.
A typical training day in the summer
might be scheduled as follows:
8:30-9:30 -- Morning Briefing, all
morning pilots in attendance
9:30-10:30 -- Morning Sortie #1
10:30-11:30 -- Morning Sortie #2
11:30-12:30 -- Morning Sortie #3
12:30-1:30 -- Lunch Break
1:30-2:30 -- Afternoon Briefing, all afternoon pilots
in attendance
2:30-3:30 -- Afternoon Sortie #1
3:30-4:30 -- Afternoon Sortie #2
4:30-5:30 -- Afternoon Sortie #3
Monday -- I depart, unless the demand
for training is great enough to justify extending the
training portion of the clinic to (4) days (this
would have to be pre-arranged).
Typical Cost Considerations 
Fixed costs:
1. Round-trip travel expenses.
2. Accommodations--I'm not opposed to
staying in a spare room in someone's house to reduce
costs; otherwise, we need to take into account the
daily rate for a local hotel room.
3. My on-site daily rate. I typically
charge the travel days on either side of the event as
1/2-day each; therefore, with an arrival on Thursday,
training sessions Friday through Sunday, and
departure on Monday would be billed as (4) full days.
I also request the opportunity to sell my
books/videos at the end of the safety seminar.
Variable costs:
1. The hourly rental rate of the
training airplane and accessories.
For budgeting purposes, the fixed
costs are amortized over the number of sorties flown.
The sortie operating cost of the airplane must then
be added to this amount.
Sample cost calculation -- assuming
the following for a weekend clinic:
Round-trip Travel Expenses = $600
Instruction Fee = $2000
Accommodations -- stay in a spare room, bum rides
to/from the airport with the host = $0
Sub-total, fixed costs = $2600
Amortized over 18 sorties, the fixed cost per flight = $2600/18 = $145 ea.
Local airplane rental rate -- assume $150 per hour for something like a Decathlon. The per-sortie rental cost is then 0.8 hours x $150 per hour = $120 ea.
The total works out to be 145 + 120 = $265 per sortie.
In other words, if you can "sell" 18 training slots at $265 each, the cost of such a clinic should be covered. In some cases, the host may want/need to mark this price up a bit to cover advertising and other "local" costs. To date, no pilot interested in this training has balked at such a price, especially when the price is compared to the overall cost for a pilot to travel from their home State to train with me in Santa Paula, CA.
It may be possible to find partial
sponsorship to offset some of the cost as well,
thereby reducing the per-sortie cost to each
participant. Perhaps the host facility, or the FAA,
or your State Division of Aeronautics, or a local
aviation insurance company would be interested in
sponsorship.
Other
Considerations
Insurance -- Rich Stowell
shall be listed as a named insured for all aircraft
in which he will be instructing. The aircraft owner
shall also try to secure a "Waiver of
Subrogation" from the insurance company as well.
Additionally, Rich carries CFI insurance with a
$5,000 aircraft damage liability limit.
Promotion/Scheduling -- The
host shall be responsible for promoting the event
locally, as well as scheduling the flights. Rich
Stowell will provide guidance as necessary.
Seminar Topics &
Descriptions (Note: All topics are 50
minutes unless otherwise noted)
STALL/SPIN AWARENESS -- What You
Don't Know Can Hurt You
Stall/spins account for 12% of general aviation
accidents, but 25% of fatal accidents. And upwards of
20% of the fatal stall/spins occur with CFI's on
board! Find out what you need to know to avoid
stall/spin accident scenarios. Rich Stowell has
performed more than 24,000 spins -- over 1,100
vertical miles traveled while spinning -- with
students from around the world. Interact with Rich as
he touches on insightful spin studies.
THE PARE® PROCEDURE -- A Battle
Plan for the Inadvertent Spin
Learn the difference between spin recovery technique
and procedure. Review the results of NASA spin tests,
the results of a survey of test pilots, and the
results of a survey of aerobatic schools specializing
in spin training. See what is and isn't included in
your POH and compare various spin recovery techniques
against the tried-and-true NASA procedure. An
insightful look at spin dynamics and the development
of Rich's PARE acronym.
EMERGENCY MANEUVER TRAINING --
Controlling Your Airplane During a Crisis
Review the differences between spirals, stalls, and
spins, as well as how to avoid wake turbulence. Learn
the keys to maximizing the probability of surviving a
forced landing and coping with control failures, as
well as the critical sequence of events needed to
recover from various unusual attitudes. Rich also
introduces his trademark emergency procedures -- a
fast paced seminar!
BASIC AEROBATICS -- Fun ... with a
Purpose
Think aerobatic pilots know a lot? Think you can't
possibly know what they know? Think again! Rich's
descriptions of basic aerobatic maneuvers will not
only enlighten you, but it will also expand your
understanding of the whole flight environment.
Discover the building block maneuvers, how compound
maneuvers are constructed, and the aerodynamics of
aerobatic flight. You'll never watch another airshow
the same way again!
ENGINE FAILURE -- Maximizing Glide
Performance
Your engine just quit! Now what? Review critical
thought processes and actions designed to give you as
much control over your situation as possible. Discuss
the effects of wind and maneuvering on glide
performance, as well as defensive flying strategies
you can adopt in the traffic pattern. Learn about the
crashworthiness designed into your airplane and the
relationship between impact speed and impact angle.
LANDINGS -- The Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly
How come everyone sees it when you make a bad
landing, but no one is around to see the good ones?
Discuss this paradox as well as elements and
techniques you can use to make better landings.
Review procedures designed to tighten up the traffic
pattern as well. Rich will describe some of the
memorable of his 15,000+ logged landings.
FLIGHT MANEUVERS DEMYSTIFIED
S-turns, Rectangular patterns, Chandelles, Lazy
Eighties, Forward and Side Slips, Hammerheads, Snap
Rolls, Whip Stalls, Spirals: What do they all mean?
How are they performed? Master Flight Instructor Rich
reveals the secrets behind these and other maneuvers,
starting with a review of the fundamentals of flight.
Never again be fooled by the often-colorful names
given to various maneuvers--you'll know the code
after this seminar!
PRACTICAL AERODYNAMICS (Note:
this seminar is 90 minutes)
Review the fundamentals of flight by addressing the
four main things an airplane does: Why does it fly?
Why does it climb? Why does it turn? Why does it
stall? The answers provide important insight into
airplane performance as well as revealing key
operating limitations. A fun seminar that
doesn’t rely on legions of complicated
equations!
VIEW FROM THE COCKPIT -- A Flight
Instructor's Perspective (Note: More appropriate
for dinner meetings)
The saying goes, “An instructor’s knowledge
is proportional to the mistakes he’s made.”
If that’s the case, then Rich Stowell is a
highly knowledgeable instructor indeed! Come listen
as Rich recounts some of the lessons he’s
learned as a full time flight instructor specializing
in spin, emergency maneuver, and aerobatic training.
Rich’s scorecard includes over 15,000 landings
and 24,000 spins with pilots from all over the world.
Scheduling Worksheet
