Over the last couple of years I have taken both Coast Flight Academy’s Emergency Procedures Course and Instrument Refresher Course. If you own / fly a SR22, and don’t get in nearly as many hours as you’d like, use your instrument rating primarily to file IFR to VFR on top when the marine layer hanging around, shoot the same approaches all the time to keep current, ever wonder about turning back to the airport on a engine failure on take off, and when should I be using the CAPS system, then I highly recommend both courses. The courses include presentation material with questions and answers followed by several hours in the Coast Fight Redbird simulator. On the simulator you will experience, practice, and learn things that are not possible in the real plane. For example, with an engine failure on take off, you can practice turning back to the airport or pulling the CAPS handle so that the reactions to these emergencies become automatic. You can fly an instrument approach into any airport under any conditions and have system failures along the way. Both courses are great for maintaining important skills and knowledge. They build confidence in your decision making process which adequately prepare you for real emergency situations.

–Tom Brotherton