AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2015 - 115

in Richmond, Virginia, in November 2014, a well-spent
weekend brushing up on how best to fly my Bonanza
while soaking up the expertise of the most knowledgeable instructors available. The weekend with a couple
dozen other pilots also includes time for hangar flying and socializing.
The day and a half of ground school breezes by and
it's soon time to head to the airport, where I have the
good fortune to be paired with instructor Bill Hale,
who is renowned for his knowledge of Barons and
Bonanzas. The weather couldn't be better for instrument work. Windy, turbulent, a little snow, and scuzzy
clouds-the real deal. I won't need the hood. In just a
couple of hours I've flown a variety of approaches to
Charlottesville, Virginia, and Richmond-hand-flown
and coupled. We enter a hold over the Gordonsville
VOR and I watch as the Garmin gear in my panel
expertly compensates for the brutal winds. While hand
flying is emphasized, so is instruction in how to safely
use whatever gear the pilot has in his panel.
Hale seems pleased with my flying skills, but can
always find a few areas where my technique can be
improved. With his coaching I finesse my liftoff technique to prevent even the slightest drift, even with a
robust crosswind.
I come away with an instrument proficiency check,
a flight review, a host of new tools and techniques to
keep honing my skills, and a great deal of respect
for the experienced instructors who give up their
weekends to spread safety and proficiency to the
Beechcraft crowd.
BPT President John Andrick, a Boston Center
controller who teaches an ATC communications
course over the weekend, said their biggest challenge
is convincing pilots they need the advanced training.
In other cases, pilots seem to be intimidated by the
notion of flying with such capable instructors. The
group works hard to reduce that intimidation factor. There is no pass/fail element to the weekend and
even the most experienced Beechcraft pilots always
come away learning something, Andrick assures.
Pilots can choose the full weekend course of
ground school and flying for $1,395; it's $895 to
take the ground school on site and fly with a BPT
instructor later near your home. Some pilots choose
to just attend the ground school for $595. A companion ground school is $295. A companion can fly with
a BPT instructor to learn to land the airplane for
$295.
AOPA

Training options

Bonanza and Baron pilots are blessed with a variety
of high-quality training options. The BPT program is
an outgrowth of a course started by the American
Bonanza Society decades ago. ABS a few years ago
decided to take its Bonanza/Baron Pilot Proficiency
Program (BPPP) in a different direction, hoping to
attract a greater percentage of its members. It now
offers Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program ground
school online free to ABS members. Members can
then choose to fly with an approved ABS instructor
in their area for $395.
Convinced that there was still a place for
weekend ground and flight courses, several members of the original BPPP organization used their
own money to launch the Bonanza & Baron Pilot
Training program (BPT), which has continued the
time-tested weekend ground and flight courses
with the cadre of highly experienced instructors.
BPT President John Andrick said he is expanding
the program to include ground and flight training for owners of the Columbia/Cessna Corvalis/
TTx models now that Beech and Cessna are both
owned by Textron. The engines and avionics on
new Bonanzas, Barons, and TTxs are very similar,
making it practical to fold the two together. -TBH

BEECHCRAFT BONANZAS and Barons aren't particularly
hard to fly, but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of value
in seeking type-specific training.

EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

WEB www.pbpt.org

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 115

http://www.pbpt.org http://www.aopa.org/pilot

AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2015