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By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski erial Engagement has set out to prove that not all flight training is done in the air. The Airpark-based simulated flight studio, resuming business after a one-year COVID-19 hiatus, has assembled the technology to make simulated flight training readily accessible to Valley pilots, flight instructors and their students. Here, aviators can rent an FAA-certificated simulator and practice maneuvers to log their pursuit of new ratings or currency on existing ones. And they can do it for about one-third the
Fairfax O'Riley is the president of Aerial Engagement, an Airpark-based simulated flight studio available to Valley pilots, flight instructors and their students. (Photo by Dennis Murphy)
cost of renting an airplane with gas. “The cost is exceptional,” says Fairfax O’Riley, Aerial Engagement president. And it is “dramatically” less than an aircraft rental and, in some cases, less than other simulators. Flight training in an aircraft can often exceed $250 per hour, O’Riley says. When you consider that much of the hour is spent idling, taxiing, and “commuting” to and from the training area, it limits the amount of instruction that can occur in the air in one hour. “Don’t get me wrong,” he says. “You can’t learn to fly without getting in the plane and working hard. But simulated flight training can play a big part in complementing that experience.” Most folks, when they hear “flight simulator,” think of a small, enclosed box on stilts that moves as the pilot practices maneuvers. Those can cost tens of millions of dollars. “What we have focused on is, ‘How do we replicate flight training up to a level that is meaningful and yet keep it accessible to the general aviation pilot?’” O’Riley says. “Commercial airline transport pilots require a simulated flight experience with extremely high fidelity and the ability to simulate external forces — everything right down to passengers complaining about not wearing masks. We’re in the sweet spot below the airlines where the general aviation pilots live.” O’Riley says Aerial Engagement is interested in the recreational or light commercial pilots and plane owners. The company’s simulators are configured to model the most popular general aviation aircraft, including Cessna, Piper Seminole and Seneca MultiEngine. Both certificated simulators at Aerial Engagement have Garmin G1000 glass cockpits.
24 / SCOTTSDALE AIRPARK NEWS / NOVEMBER 2021
The company even boasts two glider simulators, which are great for introducing young people to flight. “We can provide training cheaply, and we can provide it easily. We provide a level of rigor that our local pilot community may want to use on the ground, before trying risky maneuvers in an actual aircraft.” Aerial Engagement is a rarity in the Valley. Usually, O’Riley says, a simulator is part of a comprehensive training program conducted by a flight school. Because flight schools own their own planes, they tend to downplay the need for simulators. “Let’s say I’m an independent certificated flight instructor,” he says. “We have 82 of them on our list. Because they are self-employed as independent businesspeople, they are often seen as competitors to a flight school and are unable to use the school’s simulators. “The niche we’re filling is for the independent, certificated flight instructor and certificated pilot. They can use this place and rent these simulators as they need them. “There are simulators out there — plenty of them. But there are very few like Aerial Engagement that are open to the public. We really provide tremendous access to people who otherwise could not have it.” At the 3-year-old Aerial Engagement, the
