Aviator.NYC — Local services in New York

Back in 2019 I decided to take my first step towards learning to fly. I wasn’t quite ready to get into a real airplane just yet. I knew there were concepts, procedures, and general aviation knowledge I could learn in a simulator, at my own pace, and for a fraction of the cost. After doing a little research I discovered Simtech aviation based out of NYC — I took an introductory 2 hour lesson with Julian. I must say I was skeptical about how realistic the sim would be but after my intro lesson I was reassured how much value I could get out of it. Within the first couple of hours I leaned basic flight theory (four forces of flight), flying attitudes, basic comms, and how to taxi to runway. I walked away with a great experience and I was eager to learn more.

Don’t get me wrong, a sim is a sim, and eventually nothing will be like the real thing and while I’m not looking to simulate what flying feels like, instead, I’m interested in learning things that are pretty much the same and make no difference if I’m sitting in a real plane or a sim cockpit. Things like radio communication, understanding flight controls, creating flight plans, learning how to use the g1000, interacting with ground or air traffic control — real deal concepts I can learn safely without being flustered in the air. I rather spend time learning how to actually fly once I’m in a real plane, bringing all the general knowledge I’ve learned in the sim. Truthfully, I’m a believer this is the right way to learn how to fly. Perhaps technology has caught up and is now more accessible. What was once only available to really expensive rigs for commercial pilots is now available to the every day consumer, and even home gaming enthusiasts. It’s been a few months since my last sim lesson; covid is to blame for that. Now that businesses are opening and NYC has reached phase 4, I am eager to get back on schedule with training. If all the right measures are taken (sanitizing equipment between lessons, speakers instead of headsets, fixed mic away from face, plexiglass between teacher and student) I would feel comfortable with getting back in the sim. I would even be open to remote lessons since I have a basic sim at home to practice. In summary, I’m really happy I discovered SimTech. Everything from the experience, the staff, the technology, and the knowledge makes it a no brainer for me to continue...

Our 8 year old son has been obsessed with aviation for nearly 2 years now. It started with some exciting international travel in 2019 which lead to non-stop drawings of planes along with incessant book reading and online videos, many visits to Intrepid and also LI Air & Space and a rapidly building collection of various scale models. All of this eventually lead to explorations with app-based "flight simulators" which piqued his interest even further, but ultimately seemed a bit complicated to manage without some real instruction (YouTube tutorials were only somewhat helpful and us parents know nothing about flying!). For his 8th birthday, we were looking for a way to level-up his aviation interest and thought about a professional-grade flight simulator lesson, but honestly did not think we would find an instructor willing to work with such a young kid. We also figured it might be too complicated for his age, so we pursued it thinking at least it could be a fun birthday experience. We found Simtech online and booked a 1 hour lesson online with Julian who was in touch with me immediately regarding lesson details and maintained clear dialogue in the days leading up the lesson. When we arrived at Simtech, we were impressed with the high-tech, well-organized space ...and the lesson was even more impressive. Julian was incredibly kind and patient with our young child and provided excellent, inspiring instruction. We were blown-away that our son actually gained a reasonable chunk of technical knowledge in just 1 hour ...and he was immediately asking for another lesson! We booked another 1 hour lesson recently and our son amazingly recalled much of what was taught in the 1st lesson which (in my estimation) was largely due to Julian's teaching style...and we are now ready to book a "student lesson bundle". So, what started as a casual birthday gift is now a more serious skill-building pursuit thanks to the stellar instruction by Julian. I would highly recommend to anyone who thinks their young child might be interested in...

I restarted flying in the Bay Area after a 30 year hiatus. I initially got my (VFR) flight review after which I decided to also get instrument current (I had my instrument rating from my previous flying stint). My wife and I landed up going to NYC for 2 weeks during which I contacted Julian/SimTech. I landed up doing my initial instrument currency training with him in the sim which worked out great! I did seven 3-hour sessions over 8 days during which Julian worked with me on a variety of instrument related procedures on the G1000 equipped sim. Julian is an excellent instructor and he was very flexible on timings (including the weekends). At the end of my stint with him, I felt very comfortable jumping into a 182 with my regular instructor and after 6 flights, he signed off my Instrument Proficiency Check! The sim was awesome with the latest version of the G1000 (NXi). Julian keeps all the databases current which is very helpful too. Beyond that, once I got home, I was having some challenges with my X-Plane and Garmin PC Trainer setup and he was able to help me resolve the issues with both. In addition to being an excellent instructor, Julian is very technically savvy from a perspective of teaching me to use a variety of different tools (both in the G1000 and outside) in instrument flying which is a big change from when I last flew IFR 30 years ago! All in all, a fantastic experience and I would recommend Julian and SimTech...