OK, everyone open up your log books. Everyone that would like to show off all their recent training flights take a step toward the front of the class.
How come no one is moving?
How long has it been? Weeks, months? Longer??
The truth of the matter is, few us get nearly enough training. When was the last time you voluntarily went to the practice area for some airwork? Remember stalls, steep turns and slow flight? How about unusual attitudes or some hood time?
We were required to do all these things when we became pilots so why are they no longer important?
I think a BIG part of the problem is that when we learned to fly, we did all these things without the benefit of knowing WHY? We did them so that we could pass a check ride rather than understanding how fundamental they are to our safety.
When we practice flight at minimum controllable airspeed we should be becoming “one with our airplane”. We should feel and understand what its like to fly slow and be comfortable with it! After all, isn’t that what we do every time we land?
And how about stalls? Are stalls something that occur at 4,000 feet in the practice area? Of course not! They occur on base to final turn at low altitude and airspeed. We should not be learning to recover from stalls but understand when and why they occur and how to avoid them. That’s the lesson!
And just a word on instrument training (I know you non instrument rated pilots would never think about entering a cloud/fog/ or limited visibility). Do you have the skills and ability to climb and turn without outside references without losing control of the aircraft? Why not validate your skills and ability with a CFI aboard to see just where you stand.
Would you rather have a CFI aboard when you challenge yourself in an airplane to see just how good you are, or your loved ones?
The choice is yours!
Experience is a hard teacher,
She gives the test first
and the lesson afterwards
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hi to all, great informations and a lot of experience to get.
more important is to know where we stand, and that can only happen with more and more practice, especially with more experienced instructors. As for stalls, avoiding them is the target of every instructor for his student pilots, but can we maintain that level of proficiency without obliging the pilot with a minimum of “supervised” flying hours per year? The more responsive pilots mostly fly with another pilot and “practice” together; but couldn’t that be a mistakes multilyer?
In aviation, for sure we all need to practice the minimum basics, and I mean ALL .
Great work your doing. Thanks.