Rusty, Rusty Pilot
The last time I was PIC was back in about 2000, and I stopped flying with about 100 hours on the books. I have been an AOPA member since 1997 and kept up with my monthly magazine reading on general aviation. I joined the Piper community because I recently rode with a friend who owns a Piper Seneca, and I fell back in love with flying... so I joined this community as I aspire to hopefully purchase a Six (or similar 6-seater in the next 12-18 months). Now, I am studying for my flight review, studying private pilot flight maneuvers, and scheduling time with the instructor. What worries me is the new technology; when I stopped flying, it was paper charts and a calculator. Questions: What should I do on the ground to better prepare? Do you have any other suggestions for a pilot who stopped flying 24 years ago?
Comments
Hi Piloto9026,
Welcome back to flying! You ask some very good questions, and I can sympathize with you as I had the same experience getting instrument current after last flying IFR before WAAS GPS! But that is another story...
You are on the right track for sure. The most important part; scheduling time with a flight instructor to get the dust off and also review all the attention robbing technology now installed in your aircraft! If you can settle on one aircraft for your reintroduction into the air, it will help to download the user manuals for the avionics in that aircraft, and be forewarned, THEY ARE ALL DIFFERENT, FROM EVERY MANUFACTURER. So while people poo poo "steam gauges" or what I like to call "legacy instrumentation," of the past in favor of glass, at least a pilot could jump into almost any aircraft and fly it without having to learn a manufacturer specific operating procedure! Not so much now, so concentrate on the equipment you will be using for your Flight Review. Remember to look out the window! Give "the box" only a few moments of your attention at a time, in between flying the airplane and looking out the window!
If you have not looked at the regs recently you will find they have "bloomed" for lack of a better word. Part 61 and 91 in particular have grown in size to cover many areas not affecting the average private pilot such as fractional ownership, turbine aircraft operations, etc. If you have not looked at the AIM in a while, that too has become enormous. It will take some time to review each, but look for the sections most likely to affect your type of flying. The Flight Review should be tailored to your type of flying as well and remember, it is NOT a test. There is no pass or fail. If the instructor feels you need more work on a particular area, they will simply log it as dual, without the 61.56 endorsement. No worries, just take the opportunity to practice and study some more.
Lastly, get a trial copy of ForeFlight and load it onto an iPad with built in GPS. If you do not have an iPad, you will find ForeFlight indispensable for flight planning in seconds what use to take you hours. There are many free training resources from ForeFlight as well. It will also run on your iPhone as a backup!
Tell yourself it is going to take some hours of study and air work, "culminating" in a Flight Review. Do not try to do it all in one flight or one hour of ground. Let the instructor set the pace and use the time to explore any areas of concern or uncertainty. Then, get out there and fly...safely!
Regards,
Mike
In addition to all Mike's comments might want to check out sportys! Lots of back in the saddle information for everyone. Carl
48 yrs A/P IA DAL aircraft inspector. 172N
From one of the CFI's along my pathway, count on at least 1 hour of dual for every year of absence from PIC, especially if regaining IFR. The more time available for committing to recurrent training, the closer to 1h:1y it will take. If only regaining VFR, might take a little less time.
There are a few notable differences in tower instructions. One example is: "Taxi into position and hold" is now "Line up and wait."
To help with budgets, might consider asking for an insurance quote as chances are good that the industry will want to play a bit of catch-up at first from not paying them for all those years.
Agree that stepping into the new technology can raise concern and dampen self confidence. Manufacturers do try to make their equipment as user friendly as possible, although Mike is spot-on regarding each manufacturer going about it differently. Last I recall seeing studies regarding glass versus steam gauges, you are actually in a good place as pilots who learned on dinosaur instruments have an easier time transitioning to glass than those who learned on glass and try to use steam.
When it comes time to start flying a single in the 260 - 300hp territory, get ready to start walking in counterclockwise circles after you do a bunch of touch-and-go's as your right leg is going to bulk-up from a workout.
Another item from the advance prep perspective is that once the purchase occurs, plan on flying some more with a CFI to discover that plane's numbers. Specifically: manifold pressure, RPMs, flap setting, and gear position (if applicable) combinations for each phase of flight and position in the pattern. While a good starting place to gather the numbers is the POH and asking others with the same plane, each plane truly is unique. Once you and the CFI are confident in the numbers, quickly turning them into muscle memory will help with staying ahead of the plane.
Thank you to everyone for taking the time to think through my questions, answer my questions, and give me the best guidance to date!