Back to your roots

Fly like this for a few years and you might lose touch with the VFR skills you learned when you began flying, back in the day. Remember?

After years of flight-level flying it’s easy to become rusty on VFR procedures. So the idea of any fun, low-and-slow flying can become a bit intimidating.

That’s why AOPA has initiated a new program—Back to Your Roots—specifically tailored to turbine pilots. The first seminar was held at the National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) in Orlando in November 2016.

Topics in the class included a review of airspace and VFR weather minimums, how to get a VFR weather briefing, using flight following, and a review of sectional charts. VFR pattern entry was a hit, and so were communications at nontowered airports. A review of reading maintenance logs was another segment.

AOPA Director of Flight Training Initiative Chris Moser, who taught the seminar, said that almost everyone attending had been flying jets, turboprops, and helicopters under IFR. Moser said the attendees weren’t knowledge-deficient about VFR flying, just “really rusty on how to do all the old VFR stuff.”

The plan is to do one Back to Your Roots seminar per month in the first six months of 2017. The seminars will be held near major airline hubs, where professional pilots are most likely to be available. Watch AOPA’s website for dates, locations, and to sign up. —Thomas A. Horne, Turbine Pilot Editor