About the Course
AUPRT aims to teach pilots how to fly an aircraft within the safe flight envelope, recognise any exceedance or deviations from it and how to safely recover and return to normal flight. Avoid, Prevent, Recover.
You will be taught to spot both quick and slow exceedances from normal flight and how to recover if things quickly go wrong and you find yourself in a dangerous situation, such as a stall, spin or wake turbulence etc. The primary aim of AUPRT is to spot the initial signs of any deviation from normal parameters and prevent an upset from occurring. The last resort is to recover if the worst happens and you find yourself in an upset, while understanding the physiological and psychological aspect of the undesirable situation.
AUPRT is not the same as an aerobatic training programme.
Our list of providers can be found here
Course Requirements
There are no mandatory specifications for course prerequisites.
Course structure and completion
The course will take around 3-4 days to complete, depending on weather conditions and will be split into theory and flying.
- 5 hours of Theoretical instruction, exploring the fundamentals of UPRT and reviewing case studies.
- 3 hours of flying time, usually undertaken in a Slingsby T67 Firefly, Extra 300 or Cessna Aerobat, to name a few.
The flying details will enable you to experience various scenarios of safe-flight deviation and undesirable situations, encountering between +3G and -1G, where you will recover back to normal parameters.
Your instructor will guide you through each manoeuvre and demonstrate the correct techniques, building on from what you learnt during ground instruction,then let you demonstrate it yourself. Deep stalls, Insidious stalls, Spins, Dives, Wake turbulence encounters,
Completion is achieved by successfully completing all of the hours. There is no check-flight/assessment.
What To Look For In A Training Provider
- AUPRT approved and EASA or CAA Registered.
- Well maintained and serviceable aircraft, as well as availability, scheduling and regularity of flights.
- Qualified instructors available.
- Reviews from past students are important, to get a feel of all aspects of the flight school and course.
- Compare costs between providers to ensure it suits your budget.
- Student support to ensure that your progression throughout the course is as smooth as possible.
- Ask for transparency on prices and packages, i.e inclusion of instructor fees, landing fees, fuel etc
For a more in-depth guide on what to look for in a training provider, click here.
Our list of providers can be found here
Equipment
Everything you need should be provided to you on your course. Ensure you take all of your documents, including your logbook to record hours. Keep in mind that no loose items are allowed to be taken on the aircraft as it is a safety risk during manoeuvres.
Tips and Advice
- Make Sure that you are confident on the manoeuvres you will be practicing and the recovery techniques to recover from them. If you have any doubts or questions, do not hesitate to ask your instructors beforehand. It's better to clear any doubts on the ground rather than being in the air not knowing what to do. You will get so much more out of the course if you're well briefed on the ground and are savvy with the flight content. Of course if you are unsure about how to execute any techniques in the air, you can also ask during the flight as well.
- Wear comfortable clothing according to the weather conditions. No loose objects are allowed in the aircraft so if you take a jumper/hoodie, you must be wearing it, so keep this in mind if you're the type of person to get too warm easily. A T-shirt/ light jumper and a pair of jeans or smart tracksuit bottoms is viable, but do check with your training provider regarding permitted attire.
- Don't fly on an empty stomach as you will need stable blood sugar levels and energy levels as you will be pulling various G manoeuvres. Also don't eat/drink too much and too soon prior to your flight as the last thing you want is to be doing barrel rolls on a full stomach! A balanced meal around 2-3 hours before off-blocks, and possible a light snack around an hour before should suffice.
- If you feel queasy or nauseous during the flight, tell your instructor and they’ll give you a few minutes rest in between manoeuvres to let your body reset again. Feeling a bit sick is completely normal and nothing to be worried or embarrassed about. You'll find that a couple of minutes of flying the aircraft straight & level will realign your vestibular system and make you feel better again.
- Most of all, ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE! It truly is an enjoyable and rewarding course from which you will come out of with increased confidence in your abilities to handle an aircraft and prevent and recover from any upset situations.
Common Mistakes
- Eating too much or too little prior to flying.
- Not being confident enough with the recovery techniques.
Next Steps
This is completely dependant upon which stage of training you conduct your AUPRT course at. Some choose to do it in the middle and others choose to undertake it after completing the CPL and IR.
Our list of providers can be found here
