Posted for "Matt Hapgood" <matt.hapgood@alumni.duke.edu>:

 Bill,
 
 Those are really good points.  Rigorous simulator-based training would
 likely reduce the accidents in IV's, but the challenge is the $$$ for such a
 program.
 
 Since part of the problem is handling (low speed flight, etc.), the aircraft
 performance would need to be modeled.  This is a really, really, really
 expensive proposition (typically costs over $500k for a turbo-prop).
 
 The cost of a basic flight training device that would reasonably accurately
 represent the cockpit of a generic IV, and offer decent visual cues would
 run about $500k.  A motion based training device would be about $750k, and a
 full flight simulator would be about $3 or $4 million.
 
 So at the lower end the capital investment in the equipment would be close
 to $1.25mm.  Each of your lives is worth many times that, however I doubt
 anyone is willing to invest the capital - with the small fleet size it would
 be extremely difficult for a commercial entity to survive without charging
 Gulfstream training prices.
 
 I am surprised the insurance companies don't require training in an approved
 simulator-based program.  Until that happens, I believe the accidents will
 continue unabated.
 
 As Brent advises in many of his posts:  Assume I am an idiot.  I am also
 biased: I have spent the last 3 years of my life starting a simulator based
 flight training program.
 
 Matt Hapgood