Think back to the day you first took a checkride for a new pilot certificate. I’ll bet you felt like a million dollars. You were at the top of your game. You had focused on that checkride, studied for it, practiced for it—and then nailed it! What a great feeling.
And this only makes sense. Done correctly the intensive practice as you prepare for a checkride—or any other significant life event—will put you at the top of your game. Once you earn that pilot certificate, of course, you’ll look forward to some flying outside of the training regimen. But remember that the basic skills are what got you to this point, and not to simply slough them off in the future.
Proficiency doesn’t necessarily have to go away. You absolutely can maintain it and, if you’ve lost proficiency, you can get it back. Here’s a foolproof road map to follow.
Maintaining your old form—or regaining it, if you’ve not been flying actively—is attainable for one simple reason: You’ve already been there! You know what it takes to be proficient. You got there doing it by the numbers, and the numbers haven’t changed. The standards haven’t changed. Being proficient is nothing more than flying by the numbers—that is, within the FAA’s practical test standards—again. But this time, you’re the instructor.
The power of positive thinking
Just thinking about maintaining your proficiency is the first significant, positive step. Pilots have confided that they’ve felt so rusty at times that just sitting in the cockpit after even a brief layoff made them feel uneasy—until they did something to become comfortable with the checklist and the switches again. They took a positive step. A lot of confidence accrues from that simple act. Proficiency, then, is simply an attitude.
Uneasiness after a layoff is a common feeling. But you can do something about it. If it’s been a while since you’ve flown, jump in the cockpit, run the checklist a few times, and touch the switches. You’d be surprised how much it helps.
The roadmap to proficiency
It takes only three things to become and remain proficient: a good plan, the determination to follow it, and the resources to execute it. Then, of course, you have to do it. If that simplistic view seems too simple, it really isn’t. Just be deliberate and thoughtful. Boring holes in the sky without a purpose when you fly wastes money, dilutes focus, and retards progress.
When you begin crafting your plan, decide what proficiency means for you. The answer will be different for each of the kinds of flying you do: landings (crosswind or otherwise), cross-country, instruments, night flying, and everything in between.
Survey the types of flying you do and adopt as your standard of proficiency just what it says in the PTS. Challenging yourself can be very satisfying. Given unlimited time and money, it’s a cake walk. But if you don’t happen to have unlimited time and money, look hard at the kinds of flying you do and decide what’s most important for your safety and enjoyment—and then focus on those areas.
Flying around the local area is fun, but if your flying requires you to fly cross-country and shoot instrument approaches in marginal conditions, the picture changes. More and different skills are required. Concentrate on the phases of flight in which you’re most vulnerable and where performance counts most. That doesn’t mean, however, that other necessary skills can slip to unacceptable standards. What skills you practice are up to you.
Takeoffs and landings are areas of constant vulnerability. Most accidents occur in these phases of flight. But as a category, takeoffs and landings is too vague a subject to deal with effectively. Drill down to the specific types of takeoffs and landings that your flying most often requires you to do.
Here in Colorado Springs, we’re always flying at performance-reducing density altitudes of more than 6,000 feet. Stiff crosswinds can come up in the shadows of 14,110-foot Pikes Peak at any time. I’m constantly seeking out crosswinds in which to practice, especially with my students. Determine your own challenges, then practice the skills required to meet them.
I seldom operate off of short, soft fields, for instance, but you might have to do that all the time. The key is to figure out what you are called upon to be really good at and practice to make sure that you maintain PTS performance standards.
Once you know what it is you want to practice, make sure to establish targets. Establish specific time and standards targets (hours or flights per month that target specific standards for your proficiency practice—quantitative performance goals that you want to reach and maintain). Focus your time and money purposefully. Be conscious of what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. Practice something every time you fly, but make it really count when your main objective for the flight is to practice those things that, based on analysis, you think you need to perform better.
Finally, make a plan. Flying is 95 percent head and 5 percent hands, so account for both study and stick time in your proficiency plan. I really believe in the 95/5 formula. It illustrates the reality that there are two distinct parts to proficiency.
There is no substitute for a study plan—in addition to your in-flight plan—to keep your knowledge and comfort levels high. Studying saves money. The better you understand what you are supposed to do, the easier and quicker you can execute when you’re paying for Hobbs time.
If you have to fly in crosswinds, for instance, you’ll need to be more proficient in no-flap landings than the average pilot.Most pilot’s operating handbooks recommend partial or no flaps for a crosswind landing. Studying before you fly will remind you that, although all final approaches need to be stable, you’ll need an especially stable—and probably longer—final to nail your airspeed and stability on a no-flaps landing. Your flare will be longer and your sight picture (attitude) will be a little different than for a full-flap landing. So, just for the practice, why not schedule a no-flapper every once in a while?
When it’s time to fly, block out specific time for each task you want to accomplish. When flight conditions are favorable, your objective is to go out and practice specific skills. Build yourself a schedule of maneuvers or events for each flight. Just as when you first began training and your instructor had a lesson plan for every flight, build your own lesson plan before you fly to allocate time to each task—whether you’re solo or flying with a fellow pilot.
A sample practice flight might look something like this: Paperwork, phone checks (weather, notams, and TFRs), and preflight 25 minutes; startup, taxi, runup, and takeoff 15 minutes; flight to the practice area 10 minutes; ground reference maneuvers 20 minutes; five minutes back to the pattern; performance landings and takeoffs (soft-field, short-field takeoffs; full-flap, partial-flap, no-flap landings—whatever you decided that you need) one hour; change runways and practice crosswind landings thirty minutes; refuel, taxi, and shut down 15 minutes.
That might sound tight, but it gives you an idea of the schedule flow for a full day’s work. Whew!
For all of these activities, your standard is performance within the parameters of the PTS. Whether you’re trying to prep for your next flight review or instrument proficiency check—or just achieve the comfort level you want—demand top performance of yourself. When the flight is over, critique your work. Write it down just as if you were grading yourself as a student. Call it your performance logbook and update it every time you fly.
To maximize your time, develop alternatives ahead of time for varying circumstances that might cause you to alter your proficiency plan. Practice crosswind landings when the breezes are right. Some days, you might not even want to leave the pattern. Why not try the same instrument approach three times in a row until the flow feels better?
Don’t be afraid to do it again or reschedule activity altogether from one flight to the next. The only purpose of all these drills is so you can perform to your satisfaction—and the PTS standards.
Be sure to check your logs frequently to see what you haven’t done for a long time and how your proficiency is holding up. Use the info to schedule tomorrow’s practice, or next month’s. Intelligent repetition and maintenance of “the feeling” is the key to proficiency.
One thing’s certain. If you work this plan conscientiously, it will absolutely get and keep you proficient. But if things really aren’t going to suit you, grab the best flight instructor you can find and press him or her into service. A good flight or two and you’ll be right back on track in no time.
Adopt a plan like this, and your proficiency will remain high—and you won’t be able to stay away from the airport because flying is so much fun.
Wally Miller is president of an aviation training, consulting, and marketing firm in Monument, Colorado. He is a Gold Seal CFI who has been instructing for more than 30 years and flying for more than 40.
The road map to proficiency
- Define “proficiency”
- Establish specific targets
- Make a plan
- Schedule practice
- Be flexible
- Assess progress
- Do it again!
Being proficient is the ability to fly within the parameters of the practical test standards under all conditions or, when that isn’t possible, having the good judgment to remain on the ground until such time as you can.
Flying with an instructor is the quickest way to regain proficiency, if you have lost it.
If you feel that you are unsafe as a pilot, the best course of action is to seek the help of an instructor until you regain proficiency. Then you can easily maintain it by following the plan.
If you are safe but not fully proficient, you can regain proficiency on your own with prudent practice, as outlined in the plan.
Proficient landings
- Use the checklist
- Check out the wind—early
- Track in the pattern
- Fly by the numbers
- Pick your touchdown point—early
- Fly a stable final approach—on airspeed
- Pay attention to your touch-down point
- Nail it or go around
Flying is 95 percent head and 5 percent hands, so account for both study and stick time in your proficiency plan.
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