New UAT Company Offers Real Time - Real Life IFR Unusual Attitude Training in Specially Equipped L-39 TurboJet

Turn, Burn and Learn: Stallion 51 Launches their new Unusual Attitude Training Program in the specially equipped L-39 Turbojet over Avon Park Range, Avon Park, FL. (Paul Bowen)

Stallion 51 Corporation, the Kissimmee, Florida-based organization, has announced that it will now offer real-time, real-life Unusual Attitude Training in a specially equipped L-39 turbojet. The new program, which will be identified by the unique acronym UAT, is the next evolution in Stallion 51’s 25-year heritage of offering training in high performance aircraft.

“Our new Upset Prevention and Recovery Training Program definitely raises the bar even higher for pilots who fly for a living and under all types of conditions,” said Lee Lauderback, Stallion 51’s president. The former chief pilot for golf legend Arnold Palmer noted that the unique curriculum has been five years in the making. “We now have a comprehensive program that covers all areas of prevention, recognition and recovery from unusual attitudes of flying.”  

“Every pilot’s definition of unusual attitudes is a little different,” Lauderback continued. “The FAA defines them as a position in excess of 25 degrees nose up, 10 degrees nose down and 45 degrees of bank angle. However the real life definition is pilot-specific and is based on variations of experience. Addressing those variations is what sets this program apart from simulation or other training. We tailor our instruction specifically to the individual.”

The newly formed UAT Company is located within Stallion 51’s facility at the Kissimmee Gateway Airport. Its purpose is to train pilots to recognize and respond accurately and quickly before the situation progresses into one from which they may be unable to recover. This type of comprehensive training, with syllabi in both aeromedical and aerodynamics subjects, has not been readily available to civilian pilots until the inception of this program.

At AvMed, the medical division of Stallion 51, Flight Surgeon (AME) Dr. William Busch, also a UAT instructor pilot, teaches the physiology and aeromedical aspects of spatial disorientation that can cause the onset of unusual attitudes.

“Our curriculum offers pilots insight into when and why physiological sensations are experienced in the upset environment, how to overcome them, and then safely respond. Flight simulators are very limited in reproducing those disorienting sensations. That is why our program is a safe way to fully realize those sensations and train for appropriate responses.”

(Matt Genuardi)The UAT L-39 is outfitted with a state-of-the-art Electronic Flight Instrument System with the design capability to withstand extreme flight attitudes. The EFIS equipment closely simulates current corporate and executive aircraft cockpit layouts. The UAT L-39 is also equipped with specially-designed onboard cameras that allow for accurate visual and audio debriefs of the training from both inside the cockpit and outside the airplane.

The NTSB recommends that flight departments provide training in the recognition and recovery from unusual attitude and aircraft upset situations. The UAT program does just that in a manner that has not been done before. This FAA-approved program teaches techniques that will not only create safer pilots, but will hopefully lower insurance rates for aircraft owners as well.