A short-but-sweet batch of maneuvers

that any pilot can use to brush up on their

skills between those flight reviews.

BY LEROY COOK

RU ST Y

L

et’s face it. Your logbook has dust

on it, and your pilot certificate has

rust on it. Your flight review is still

current, but you haven’t been flying

much lately. Be honest—how long

has it been since you’ve done some serious flying?

A month or two? Last spring? A year ago?

Passing a flight review doesn’t exactly make

you a sharp pilot. A couple of hours of training

every two years may satisfy the regulations, but

between those endorsements, you must satisfy

your own standards of excellence. After all, you

have to be pretty sloppy to keep a CFI from sign-

ing off a flight review. Rather than accept your

deteriorated state, take some steps to hone your

skills to a fine edge when you go back into the

air after a layoff.

We all know that flying an aircraft is like riding

a bicycle; we never really forget how, but we can

certainly get out of practice. We might wobble

a little when we first pedal off down the street,

but after a day or two of relearning, we can turn

the handlebars loose and lean around corners,

just like the old days. Nevertheless, we’re going

to feel uncertain until the rusty skills get some

elbow grease.

The problem is not that your brain has forgot-

ten how to fly but your hands have. As a tactile

endeavor, manipulating the controls to achieve

precision flight takes practice. Don’t be too proud

to seek out assistance to rebuild your skills.

You probably know your own airplane, or the

one you regularly rent, fairly well. But being famil-

iar with it leads to bad habits, ones you might not

even be aware of, so having a trusted CFI watch

you go through your rusty renewal will speed up

your reacquisition of basic skills while helping you

get rid of the bad habits you’ve picked up along

the way. Yes, you can teach yourself to fly again,

but it’s quicker to do it with help. You won’t know

that you skipped over two items on the checklist,

but the instructor watching you will, and having

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