T-6 Texan flight training - intro flights to full checkouts
Here's your chance to pilot an iconic WWII warbird! I offer flight training in a pristine North American T-6G Texan ranging from introductory flights to full insurance checkouts and am located in California's beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. I specialize in delivering individually tailored T-6 flight instruction that's both unforgettably fun and uncompromising in its focus on standards and flight safety - so strap in and take a step back in time as you savor the adventure and uniquely rewarding challenge of taming the Texan.
About N555Q - our 'Pilot Maker'
The North American Aviation T-6 was the preeminent single-engine advanced training aircraft used by the United States, United Kingdom and other Allied Air Forces during World War II to prepare their pilots to fly fighters. Powered by a 600 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp radial engine and known by a variety of names - Texan by the US Army Air Forces, SNJ by the US Navy and Harvard by the British Commonwealth Air Forces - the T-6 remained in active military service in South Africa as late as 1995. The T-6's earnest but at times demanding and potentially unforgiving flying characteristics earned it the affectionate nickname 'Pilot Maker', and in its retirement the T-6 remains an iconic and highly sought after aircraft frequently used for airshow displays, formation flying and warbird transition training.
Our T-6 was manufactured by North American in Dallas, Texas as T-6D Serial Number 197-042 and was delivered to the USAAF in July 1944. Initially assigned to the 3010th AAF Base Unit, Instrument Pilot School, Air Training Command at Bryan AAF Base she later passed through several other pilot training schools in Texas before being put into storage at Kelly AFB in April 1946. In July 1952 she was shipped back to NAA in Fresno, California for remanufacture as a T-6G and was subsequently delivered to the USAF in March 1953 assigned to the 117th Fighter Squadron, Pennsylvania Air National Guard. She transferred to the civilian register as N555Q in 1958 and spent the next several decades along the East Coast before gradually making her way West, finally returning to California in 2006.
N555Q is based at Palo Alto Airport (KPAO) and rents for $950 / hour wet Hobbs; instructor charges are additional - please contact me for more information. The Flight Handbook for the T-6G is available here and checklists for N555Q are available here. We do not offer solo rental.
Our T-6 was manufactured by North American in Dallas, Texas as T-6D Serial Number 197-042 and was delivered to the USAAF in July 1944. Initially assigned to the 3010th AAF Base Unit, Instrument Pilot School, Air Training Command at Bryan AAF Base she later passed through several other pilot training schools in Texas before being put into storage at Kelly AFB in April 1946. In July 1952 she was shipped back to NAA in Fresno, California for remanufacture as a T-6G and was subsequently delivered to the USAF in March 1953 assigned to the 117th Fighter Squadron, Pennsylvania Air National Guard. She transferred to the civilian register as N555Q in 1958 and spent the next several decades along the East Coast before gradually making her way West, finally returning to California in 2006.
N555Q is based at Palo Alto Airport (KPAO) and rents for $950 / hour wet Hobbs; instructor charges are additional - please contact me for more information. The Flight Handbook for the T-6G is available here and checklists for N555Q are available here. We do not offer solo rental.