Lane Aviation Academy, OR

[magiccarpet]

I am looking for a quality RV-12 transition training and I have come across Lane Aviation Academy in Eugene, OR.
I was wondering if I could get some info about that company here at VAF.
Opinions, experience or any other recommendation for a RV-12 training.
Any info is well appreciated.
Thank you!

[DBRuth]

I can't speak for the Lane Academy transition training program, but I can recommend John Albury. He can be contacted here as Jetguy. I trained with him back in August, flying for 9 hours over five days. When I left Dallas,Texas I was very comfortable and proficient in the RV-12. I was able to conduct the first flight knowing exactly what the aircraft and pilot (me) were capable of. John has a very professional program and demeanor. During the week we progressed from wide, long airports (that I used up the whole width of the runway) to a private airport 5 meters wide by 800 meters long where I never left centerline on landing :-) . I had a great time and would recommend a trip to train with Jetguy.

[Mike S]

Originally Posted by magiccarpet

I am looking for a quality RV-12 transition training and I have come across Lane Aviation Academy in Eugene, OR.

I have no idea about these folks, but if you are planning on traveling to OR, why not go to Mike Seager??? He did my transition training, and it worked

http://www.vansairforce.net/transition_training.htm

[JPalese]

Hi Chris:

I sent you a PM.

[rmnelson]

After a 5 year layoff from flying, I went to LAA for a checkout and BFR in the RV-12 in October 2015. I flew with Chief Pilot Paul Lancaster; he is a retired USAF pilot. One of two RV-12s was down for inspection which they do in house, so I did all my flying in just one aircraft. Both a/c are early SLSA builds, so they had some time on them but are in good shape. They are kept outdoors with a cockpit cover. I would judge that they get washed during inspections.

LAA is mostly aimed at turning out professional pilot candidates, so there was some confusion getting me setup since I was not pursuing any rating or certificate. I needed to get an ID from the main campus for billing which required a couple of phone calls because I wasn't the typical student. A small billing error which I failed to catch at the time ended up in a three month "pass the buck" goat rope until I finally got somebody on the phone who could fix the problem. Nothing too difficult, but a tiny bit annoying.

The flying was great. EUG is not a busy airport so there were no issues getting approval for touch and goes or option approaches. You don't burn up a lot of expensive airplane time taxiing. The practice area is nearby, and there are several other airports within 15 minutes flying time. Paul is an excellent instructor who knows the airplane well and clearly enjoyed flying it. We did thorough briefs and debriefs for each flight, and I never had doubts about my performance based on his feedback. We were able to spend some time in the maintenance hangar looking over the -12 that was undergoing inspection with wings removed which was valuable for me since I had no previous experience with the airplane. We spent most of our flying time on basic airmanship. I would say that my skills with Skyview are limited; I can tune the radio and transponder, find the oil pressure, and a few other basics. But that was my choice. I wanted to get comfortable flying the airplane and really get into Skyview with my own airplane (if I get one).

When I finished Paul signed me off for a BFR and Wings credit. I plan to go to LAA for future refresher training.

I live in Eugene, but have no relationship with LAA other than as a satisfied customer.

Richard