Sling Shot academy in Torrance what are your opinions?
Posted by Distinct-Medium-6150@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 20 comments
Are there any previous students who can share their experience at Sling Shot Academy in Torrance ?
x4457@reddit
You mean Sling Pilot Academy.
It's a massive pilot mill that turns out sub-par aviators in questionable airplanes for unquestionably high prices.
Mundane-Reality-7770@reddit
What makes the planes questionable? Maintenance or the airframe itself
x4457@reddit
The airframe and engine. Rotax engines have a notably statistically higher failure rate than Continental and Lycomings, and the Rotax fanboys will tell you that's from the 912s buuuuuuttttt anecdotally I don't buy that given how many 914s and 916s I see attached to airplanes in fields compared to the sample size.
SPA has also lost several aircraft to accidents and incidents, but that sorta just happens with pilot mills. Goes with the territory.
BChips71@reddit
"SPA has also lost several aircraft to accidents and incidents, but that sorta just happens with pilot mills. Goes with the territory."
FWIW, I only know of one of SPA's planes that was lost (a TSi about 4 years ago and everyone thankfully survived). They had a rental plane have an off field landing maybe 10 or so years ago. I know there have been a few prop strikes and things of that nature -- which goes with the territory like you said. The local FSDO came in a few years ago because of several incidents. What they found is that, due to the sheer volume of flying they were doing, they had statistically fewer incidents/accidents than almost any other school in greater LA (I heard this directly from the FAA guy). This was several years ago, so maybe things have changed.
Mundane-Reality-7770@reddit
Interesting. Ron Wanttaja has several charts out there showing Rotax (even the 912) with slightly lower failure rates than a Lycoming io360. 5%-7% o-360 6%, o-200-5%.
I'm no fanboy. But I trust the numbers Ron puts out.
x4457@reddit
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/2013/ar-2013-107_research
Happy reading.
Mundane-Reality-7770@reddit
Parsing through quickly... Rotax had the highest number of failures aside from Jabiru. However only 1 in 36 of rotax engines failed. Whereas both Lycoming and continental had 1 in 35. So a lower rate of failure than Lycoming and Continental. But the numbers are so close it's almost statistically irrelevant.
ReadyplayerParzival1@reddit
A lot of the new fadec engines seem to have that max hp limitation. I flew the austro engines behind a da42, they can do 165 hp for 5 mins then it’s limited to 158 if I remember right? I also fly an rv-12 with the rotax 912is. Max continuous is 5000 rpm and roughly 90 hp. It’s not a bad engine but it does have a number of interesting and not very good failure modes, namely if the generator dies your up the creek with no engine.
Overall I think the # of accidents associated with rotax engines can be partially explained also by the fact they are attached to light sport aircraft, which have a higher accident rate than standard aircraft.
x4457@reddit
Not sure how you got that conclusion. See page 8, specifically this section:
Mundane-Reality-7770@reddit
Ahh. I just read the cover to the download. Didn't realize there was a whole pdf to download. I'll read that before bed. Gotta wire some outlets in the apartment above the detached garage.
Nitrag@reddit
Got anything newer than over a decade old?
x4457@reddit
Nope, go ask the ATSB and NTSB for updated data. Would love to see it.
KITTYONFYRE@reddit
worth noting this guy has a bit of a bone to pick with rotax as his buddy died behind a failed rotax
not to take away from the stats. I wish it was more than raw averages, and had a bit deeper statistical analysis. what're the confidence intervals on these numbers, and how certain are we that they're actually different (p-value)? these aren't giant sample sizes, but I'm not good enough with stats to have a good feeling of how much confidence we should have in the exact numbers - they may be fine, or they may be a bit noisy. additional stats could tell us exactly how noisy they are (ALL measurements are noisy, it's just a question of how much)
hank1224@reddit
do you know why they are listed as Elite partner with Skywest if they are questionable ?
x4457@reddit
Because Skywest speaks US Dollars and nothing more.
live_drifter@reddit
Bingo
Distinct-Medium-6150@reddit (OP)
Bruh I’m slow asf. Thx for the input tho
Dr0pped0ut0flife@reddit
Stay away. They have poor management which makes the whole experience a nightmare. Planes can’t fly in IMC conditions either.
Flying-Diver@reddit
The IMC restriction applies to any operation using LSA aircraft for trainers. Which seems to be most of the larger operations these days. And that restriction will be going away after the MOSAIC rules take effect in July. Well, as soon after the rule changes as it takes to get the new certification from the manufacturer and get the op lims re-issued.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Are there any previous students who can share their experience at Sling Shot Academy in Torrance ?
Please downvote this comment until it collapses.
Questions about this comment? Please see this wiki post before contacting the mods.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. If you have any questions, please contact the mods of this subreddit.