APS Launches Online UPRT Courses

UPRT specialist Aviation Performance Solutions (APS) has launched new online Upset Prevention and Recovery Training learning options, including video courses, free webinars and customized webinars.

“We took a hard look at the different topics that pilots struggle with when it comes to having a better understanding of loss of control in flight,” APS CEO Paul ‘BJ’ Ransbury told CAT. They developed those topics into 90-minute video courses that can be used as refresher courses or preparation for the practical, in-aircraft training in which the company specializes in Arizona, Texas, Alabama and The Netherlands.

Initial video courses cover:

These courses are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, allowing pilots to study critical academic portions of upset training remotely at their own pace.

Ransbury indicated more courses will be added periodically.

The initiative to develop the courses was spurred by the COVID-19 response. “We were forced to shut down, for the most part. At one point we were going to be able to fly with local customers, but the FAA just said no, training’s not considered an ‘essential’ business,” Ransbury related.

“We made the decision to develop a new division of APS. It’s something we’ve always been contemplating, but we put our heads down and involved the entire team.”

APS also conducts customized webinars, with a capability to host up to 2,000 people at one time – ideal for a fleet department that cannot currently travel. For example, APS will be doing a webinar soon with longtime partner, insurer USAIG, on best practices to overcome LOC-I.

Through 31 July, APS is offering 50% off every program in their online courses section. The discount is built-in to the prices currently listed on the website.

In addition, Ransbury said, “Anybody who spends any money on online courses, whether existing customers or new customers, it's a 100 percent credit, up to a thousand dollars, to apply to a practical training session” when those are allowed to resume.

Anyone who has trained at APS since 1 January 2018 will get free all-access to the online courses for three months.

APS trains pilots for corporate flight departments, business aircraft owner-operators, airlines such as Delta and United, the military and flight schools.

Ransbury commented, “We have great confidence in the ability of the industry to meet current challenges with optimism and innovation and climb back better and stronger than before.”