[VictoryRoll]

Hi all- apologies if this has cropped up before - I have skimmed and not noticed a dedicated topic.

We normally have a 28 day rule in our shareoplane regarding currency. This has just been temporarily relaxed and “common sense applies”

I haven’t flown PIC since September.
I now have my medical back after a temporary unfit note. Some of you will know why and things are most improved!

So despite a 10 minute instructor led but me Pilot flying beat up in January - I’ve been out of the game for what I would class as a considerable time....and would normally ask for a check with an instructor...

Now I am considering conducting an extensive TEM and sortie brief, reading all my checklist and procedures (normal and emergency)
And do a spot of ‘hangar flying’ Just to think it through again.

Now I think that, combined with an initial envelope limit of 10 knots within 20 degrees of the runway for the first flight, what do you think?

[foxmoth]

A lot depends on your total experience and ability which can be very subjective and you can think yourself better than you are so I would certainly urge caution.
If you are going to fly then have a thorough briefing from an instructor then start by going into the local area at a good height (+3000’ agl) and practice general handling, especially at low speed and stalling. Make your first approach a go around and first landing a full stop then have a break and think through how it all went especially the landing - was it the right speed/flat/properly held off?
If you or anyone is stuck for an instructor to give a briefing then I am happy to help, send me a PM with your phone number.

[Jack.Tyler]

....and would normally ask for a check with an instructor...

I think there's your answer.

In any case, the currency limits are normally 28 days, but you're saying you haven't flown PIC in 8 months. Are you sure it's wise to go up at all?

[VictoryRoll]

Just thought I would offer my conclusion.

Thanks for the words and offer of a chat Foxmouth.

In the end, after nearly three days of self briefing/discussions with people who have flown with me/risk assessments/TEM and check lists galore, and one aborted attempt due to surface wind, (I set myself SW envelope of 5knots or less to begin with) I got up a few days after the post - and most importantly after landing - the aeroplane was perfectly useable again!

I went up again later that week to check it wasn’t a fluke, and it wasn’t !!

Did some upper air work and wing overs at height (I’ve decided wing overs are a great way to getting the feel of your Flying bottom and the machine again)

No pure aerobatics on either sortie, not pushing my luck just yet...!

I might add that I have seen some people coming back to the game after shorter and longer lay offs and the results have been truly horrific.....

Fingers crossed we don’t have a real nasty.

Enjoy slipping the surly bonds all

[rikur_]

I might add that I have seen some people coming back to the game after shorter and longer lay offs and the results have been truly horrific.....

Fingers crossed we don’t have a real nasty.

Indeed. A whilst I have a certain amount of empathy for a hard landing or something where the skills might be lacking practice .... some of the poor decision making is less excusable .... if you're still in the air doing 70kts with less than 400m of runway remain, FFS go-around, don't push the nose down and hope for the best. That's not currency, that's basic training.
Checklists and a willingness to go-around are in order.

[lobstaboy]

Anybody else concerned about this should get a briefing from an instructor.. They've all been primed to do that and will help you avoid the gotchas that pop up - just because they can't fly with you doesn't mean they can't help.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Yes.

As an instructor who flies for my own pleasure with several syndicates, I've made myself available. I've so far done three briefings via Skype, the longest out of practice was 9 months. All have managed to go flying subsequently without breaking anything. One I double-purposed for an expiring SEP rating extension to November 22nd.

I'm sure other instructors have done similar things.

Any instructor without their own material is welcome to a copy of mine if it's any use as a starting point (and anybody who knows me personally and hasn't an instructor on tap, is welcome to get a briefing from me).

G

[Irv Lee]

Isn't there a pilot derusting DVD that shows all the usual rustiness problems and seems to help pilots after a lay off....?

[Charles Hunt]

Plenty of fuel. And sample.

Tie downs off, chocks removed.

Full and free.

Tyre pressures if the a/c hasn't been used.

Then do everything by the book.

If you don't feel confident, don't go.

[foxmoth]

Change in regs to include

flights in aircraft where social distancing measures can be maintained - such as tandem cockpits spaced by more than 2 metres, or [b]occupancy of separate parts of the aircraft structure[/b]”

we are now operating and can do flights for currency, tailwheel and aeros training or just get your flying fix
Lancsbarnstormers.co.uk

[JAFO]

Isn't there a pilot derusting DVD that shows all the usual rustiness problems and seems to help pilots after a lay off....?

Very good it is, too.

[Irv Lee]

Whilst I always enjoyed Kermode's Flight Without Formulae, I have found that a lot of (even mildly) rusty pilots (or students meeting certain exercises for the 1st time) respond VERY well to a bit of "L vs Alpha" and "L vs V²" in the brief, especially for steep turns and slower flight. Many report that they never had a steep turn worked through like that, from the back pressure through to adding power. Many comment they had been doing the steep turn actions because that was what they had been taught to do, rather thinking through formulae. They had all seen the standard graphic but had never been taken through an actual formula on the white board where someone said words the effect of if you let the speed drop as a drag-consequence of providing more lift to stay level in the turn, you LOSE lift on the "square" - so you MUST combat the extra drag.
I'm also NOT a fan of 'PAT' / 'APT' for climbs and levelling off simply because I find that rusty pilots actually don't think what they are doing, they just try and remember which to use, and quite a percentage get it wrong, especially the APT at the top of the first climb. If you just explain 'look- you are climbing at 75, the cruise speed is 95, if you reduce power first at the top of the climb, what do you expect is going to quickly accelerate you to 95?' followed by.... 'and if you have the S/L attitude for 95 selected, what is going to happen in the longer time it takes ages to get to 95 from 75 at only cruise power?' - once they think through it like that, they get the actions right without the initials, or they use those thoughts to pick the correct initials.

Isn't there a pilot derusting DVD that shows all the usual rustiness problems and seems to help pilots after a lay off....?

Very good it is, too.

[Mandy Rice-Davis]
ta! I flew a rental check with a guy who said he had not flown for nearly a year. S/L at top of first climb out, I was asking him if he'd flown a lot as a front seat passenger as what I was seeing did not match what he had said. After pushing a bit, In the end he admitted watching the DVD twice the previous evening and thinking through the manoeuvres. Rental check time seriously reduced as he was on the ball (yaw pun intended ). There's a horribly voice-overed 60 sec clip on my website, the voice-over on the dvd is NOT that guy!
[/Mandy Rice-Davis]

[foxmoth]

I'm also NOT a fan of 'PAT' / 'APT'

I don’t mind PAT/APT as a reminder but it should follow the explanation you gave rather than being the main part of the briefing.

[Genghis the Engineer]

APT the top PAT her bottom.

G

[Irv Lee]

@Genghis the Engineer (cough cough).... Her?
@foxmoth well with APT/PAT, I was rather thinking of what some pilots ACTUALLY do all the time even if they are not rusty, just from personal observations during the biennial hour or rental check, to be fixed in flight and after-briefed.
I've a few little things that I do NOT brief in advance (unless specifically asked to do so) when flying with long in the tooth grass roots pilots for rental checks or biennials, because I know certain faults are common and need fixing, and if I specifically brief in advance, many do it correctly for that flight only. If I can discover these little glitches by letting them have enough rope, then I can not only fix in flight, I can give a good debrief. If they disguise they have the problem by doing exactly what I asked in a pre-brief, many will revert, and some never improve.
For example, around 2006, 2007 I got my figures on pilots coming for first rental check or biennial and not using ALT when available (over 50% !!) and presented them to the CAA and NATS - disbelief at first, but within a year, NATS had done a bit of research and were including that in presentations. No one was going to discover that watching CPL test candidates, people forget that some pilots are never going to be as good as they were on their initial test, some have a long flying life which is a slow decline from those skill unless someone intervenes., By NOT pre-briefing that they must use ALT, just seeing what they did and then specifically correcting it (giving enough time for them to correct an omission from normal practice), I got the evidence. If I had pre-briefed how ALT was a bee in my bonnet, I would have no doubt found that 100% of pilots used ALT when available.
APT/PAT is the same - if a student, then yes, pre-brief the hell out of it and WHY. If they are not, I observe and correct on PAT/APT - some clearly wonder why they spend a few minutes distracting themselves correcting altitude at the start of the cruise and also why they cannot seem to trim easily after a climb, as they are trimming say at 85 on the slow acceleration to 95 (in this example).