Waypoints: Proficiency on every flight

For the practice, I elected to hand-fly the RNAV (GPS) Runway 27 approach to Garrett County, Maryland. The AWOS was reporting 7 miles of visibility and ceilings a couple of hundred feet above the 250-1 minimums to the upsloping runway carved into the top of a mountain. We were cleared to the initial fix, and from there it was a straight shot to the runway. I kept the flight path marker locked onto the rendering of the runway end provided by the Garmin G500’s synthetic vision. With that, I had to only occasionally glance at the lateral and vertical guidance to make sure we were on track. Minutes later my co-pilot noted some ground contact and then called out the runway. I stayed on the gauges a few seconds longer and then glanced up to see the runway lights.

I never get tired of that, seeing the runway appear out of the murk right where it is supposed to be when finishing an instrument approach.

Forty-five minutes later, after dropping off a couple of passengers, I was on another instrument approach back at home base, Frederick, Maryland. The cantankerous weather had lifted a little, and I saw the runway several miles out and a thousand feet above the ground.

The approaches were good practice for the next couple of days, where a roundtrip through Tennessee and Texas in a Citation M2 had me flying or co-piloting several more very low approaches through a widespread low-pressure system that just wouldn’t get moving.

General aviation flying can be done safely and provides a mental escape from the challenges of daily living.One of my aviation goals for 2021 is to do more of that—maintaining a higher level of instrument proficiency. Earlier in 2020 I had participated in a Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program course from the American Bonanza Society. The course combines in-depth online learning and flights with a CFI experienced in Bonanzas. In my case it was with Ron Timmermans, who has almost as much time instructing as I have total flight time. My flights with Timmermans not only checked the instrument proficiency and annual flight review boxes, they also gave me confidence in my skills. The challenges he presented me went well beyond the minimums outlined by the FAA. Most challenging was flying an instrument approach with just ForeFlight on my iPad. The flight path may not be lovely, but it can be done safely.

In a pandemic it would be easy to allow flying and flight proficiency to fall to the wayside. But general aviation flying can be done safely and provides a mental escape from the challenges to daily living caused by the virus.

In her article “Branching Out,” Alicia Herron outlines some easy ways to set flying goals for the new year (p. 102). The best thing about such efforts is how much fun they can be—checking out in a new type of airplane, getting a new rating, flying to new locations. Some such challenges can be done for no extra cost—land on the center stripe every time . Make every landing a precision landing. Seek out crosswinds for landing and takeoff. Alternate takeoffs between short-field and soft-field—even on long strips of pavement. Maintain your initial climb speed within two knots of V_X or V_Y .

The AOPA Air Safety Institute’s Nall Report shows a surprisingly high number of accidents occur in the takeoff and landing phases, and those that occur in the takeoff phase are more likely to be fatal. There’s more to leaving the Earth than just advancing the throttle and pulling back on the yoke or stick.

Challenging ourselves to fly more and to focus on building proficiency with every flight will keep us safe and, hopefully, prevent us from ending up the subject of an NTSB investigation. In our guest editorial “Aftermath” (p. 26), NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg shares the sobering experience of investigating a VFR-into-IMC flight and the resulting fatal spiral into a bean field.

Proficiency should be a state of mind, something strived for on every flight—not just a logbook entry after a flight with a CFI.

Email [email protected], @tomhaines29