My dad and i went to Denton for the transition training offered. I will be the pilot flying the -12, but "chief builder #1" tagged along for insight and information.
John and Colin were more than welcoming and a great powerpoint to start the training. Lots of valuable info there. The temps were in the triple digits during the day, so we spent the afternoon looking at N1212K and comparing notes on items that we are currently finishing up. They opened the plane up and showed us some good tips and tricks. I won't tell all their secrets, but we have dubbed it the "RV-12 Skunkworks". HA.
The next morning, we headed out for an early start to avoid the heat. Most of my time is in 150/152's 172's,182's,Piper Warrior's and some multi time in a Baron E-55. The -12 is a nimble airplane. "Nimble like a Miata" The rotax has a punch to it, even loaded w/ 2 people and 15g of fuel. Even being an LSA, it is still a high performing aircraft for it's category and you still have to stay ahead of it. Plan your decent and approaches. It will float, but not bad when your on your numbers. Treat every T/O as a soft field and it works great. the -12 is a great airplane and i have no doubts it will be a capable XC machine as well as a Sunday flyer.
I flew for about 2 hrs with John, Ins. only required 1, but 2 had me comfortable in the airplane and was good prep for our soon coming first flight. John is a very capable CFI and from my perspective had good habits in the airplane. I would recommend Colin or John to anyone looking at this type of training for their -12. It makes sense, you spend a great amount of time and $$$ on the project, finish it properly and learn all you can about flying it. Plan the cost of this right into the project, don't skimp on your training or safety and make ELSA or EAB pilots look bad (not that i'm finger pointing, but when a "homebuilt" aircraft crashes, the reaction from the public is "Of course it did, a guy who didn't know what he was doing built in his basement!!!".) Even as a Sport Pilot or Private Pilot, you can approach flying as a professional (this makes passengers happy) and keep high standards for yourself. (The tie is optional!!!! haha) And, keep flying fun.
I have been speaking with our local FSDO about our upcoming A/W inspection and over the course of conversation, the inspector was
"very pleased to hear" that I would be receiving transition training.
A big thanks to both John and Colin for their time and ability to do what they do. Their goal is to prepare -12 builders into safe and capable -12 flyers
I'll have some more detail of the training in a blogspot post on the build site
Complete!!
Chief builder #1 had some -12 instruction too