From his seat on the right side of the cockpit, Camden Eppert gripped the distinctive ram’s-horn yoke tightly, listening intently to directions from flight instructor Lisa Martin as he guided an Embraer Phenom 100 light jet, flying at an airspeed of about 210 knots, in a gradual descent through 8,000 feet. Eppert appeared a bit tense, yet confident, as he maneuvered the 10,000-pound jet above Illinois. Was that tenseness because the sophomore at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, was flying a jet for the first time—or because it was the first time he’d flown any airplane?
During the same flight, Purdue freshman Brian Davis also took a turn in the jet’s right seat. Davis appeared more relaxed as he glanced at the primary flight display on the Phenom’s Garmin G1000 panel and then looked back outside. After all, the jet’s glass cockpit was very similar to the avionics in the Cirrus SR20 in which he had already completed seven lessons in his progression toward a private pilot certificate.
Purdue University’s newest trainer has no propellers
“Flying it was awesome,” Eppert said. “We went to Champaign [Illinois] and then to Kankakee [Illinois] and back to Purdue. It was pretty nerve-wracking at times, but the instructor was very good. It was very exciting. We did a couple of turns, we descended—nothing too stressful. I’d never flown an airplane before, so this was pretty cool,” said the aviation management major from Anderson, Indiana.
“We went up and did a little bit of IFR—we went through the clouds,” said Davis, a professional flight technology major from Los Angeles. “This program’s been very immersive.”
While the glass cockpit in the Phenom jet is similar to that in his Cirrus trainer, “the jet is much more powerful, and much more refined,” Davis said. “It climbs faster. It flies a lot smoother, as well,” damping the light turbulence that he often experiences in the much smaller Cirrus.
Why a light jet?
Camden Eppert, a sophomore, flies Purdue University's Embraer Phenom 100 light jet (bottom). It was the first time Eppert had flown any airplane. Freshman Brian Davis, who is training in Cirrus SR20 aircraft, takes his turn flying the jet (top).
One of the university’s objectives in acquiring the jet was to allow every aviation student to fly it, said Mike Suckow, assistant department head of Purdue’s Department of Aviation Technology. “Not just flight students—everyone in Aviation Technology. What better way to excite somebody about the technology than by letting them fly a state-of-the-art airplane?”
He’d love to see the program expanded to aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering—“They design it via the wind tunnels, but they never see it fly”—but doing so would require adding a second Phenom to the fleet. One was delivered in December 2010. The university also uses a Beechjet 400A to provide transportation for employees. However, the Beechjet requires two crewmembers to fly, while light jets such as the Phenom can be flown by a single pilot. That allows a flight instructor qualified in the jet to provide dual instruction in the aircraft.
“What makes this attractive and doable is combining it with our Cirrus fleet. They have the same [Garmin G1000-based] cockpit,” Suckow added.
Students in Purdue’s Gateway to Aviation Technology introductory course each will get about 15 minutes of flight time in the aircraft. “We said, let’s let every student experience this at the beginning. They may not understand—understanding will come later,” Suckow said. “I don’t remember too much about my first couple of college courses, but they’ll remember that experience the rest of their lives.”
Purdue used electronic scheduling for the first time to book those introductory flights, and within 30 seconds of sending the email, a student had signed up. “I messaged my friends to see when we all could fly together—and the first three weeks were completely full,” said Alisha Garcia, a freshman professional pilot major from Indianapolis.
As upperclassmen, flight students will receive 20 hours of training in the university’s new Frasca-built Phenom Level 6 flight training device, delivered in July, then 10 hours flying the aircraft itself. Adding the flight training device allows students to master drills and perform high-risk maneuvers in the simulator. “When we get into the airplane, we’re really concentrating on the command, and on energy management,” Suckow said. “When our students get to a regional carrier, they can say they’ve been to 41,000 [feet].”
Occasionally, students will be able to help fly the jet into Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and other high-traffic-density airspace. “Taxiing into Chicago next to a 747 is, ‘wow,’” Suckow said, adding that students quickly acclimate to rapid-fire air traffic control communications. “It’s always fun the first time. After their first visit, they’re pros.”
Continuing a turbine tradition
Purdue has flown turbine aircraft since about 1969, when it operated Purdue Airlines—which owned two DC-9-30 jets and leased a third, said Tom Carney, an airline transport pilot who has been on Purdue’s faculty since 1972. “During that time we also supplied crews and maintenance for Hugh Hefner’s ‘Bunny Jet,’” also a DC-9. Before the jets, Purdue operated DC-3s and DC-6s. Students flew as co-pilots with faculty members. “That was the beginning of the training that culminated in the Phenom.”
By the mid-1980s, Purdue had two Beech King Air C90 twin-engine turboprops, and a Mitsubishi Diamond jet was added in 1987. “Those airplanes were used to blend the flying needs of the university with the training needs of the students,” Carney said.
The King Airs were upgraded to the B200 model, and the Diamond was replaced in 1998 with the Beechjet 400A. The turboprops were sold to make way for the Phenom.
Proper preparation.
Chris Carrier, an aviation technology instructor and jet pilot, teaches a turbine flight operations class for two hours each week, presenting the Phenom’s systems and integrating concepts his students will need as they move to an airline or Part 135 carrier.
The flight management system got a lot of attention during a recent lecture. “We want you to build the good habit of putting as much info as you can into the FMS. When you go to an RJ or a Boeing, that’s what you’ll have to do,” he told the auditorium full of pilots. “This equipment will take you to the wrong place with a high degree of accuracy,” he continued, to quiet laughter from his students. “Garbage in, garbage out.”
Juniors in the flight program are finishing their ground school and simulator training now, and will fly the jet—from the left seat—in the spring. Eventually, students will have the option to seek a type rating—an aircraft-specific endorsement on a pilot certificate attesting that its holder can fly a large (heavier than 12,500 pounds) or turbojet aircraft—in the Phenom. “We’re not saying that every student will be ready to do the type rating,” Suckow explained. “But those who are will be able to.” About 85 percent of the type-rating evaluation will be done in the simulator, with the remaining 15 percent completed in the aircraft.
“That’s the bold move here,” he explained. “It really forces students to focus on command, leadership, and maturity. You don’t handle this kind of equipment lightly.”
The type rating will be for pilot-in-command privileges, even though insurance companies will be unlikely to cover the new jet pilots for solo flights. “We are not training first officers. We’re training professional pilots, and they need decision-making experience, no matter where they’re sitting.”
Suckow is anxious to get jet students working for the airlines, to see how they do. “That’s the proof in the pudding,” he said. “If we could get them flying in corporate America, we’d love to do that, too.”
“If I’m given the opportunity to get a type rating in the jet, I’d take it,” said Davis, the freshman from Los Angeles, who hopes to become a pilot in the Marine Corps. “Any experience I can get flying jets would be very beneficial to me.”
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