AOPA's Rusty Pilots initiative passes milestone
Free program helped 15,000 pilots reactivate
In 2007, David Wing was just starting his commercial training when the economy turned, his flying club started selling off its airplanes, and work got too busy for him to fly regularly. Like many lapsed pilots, he hoped he would get back into the air, perhaps in retirement, or, he says “perhaps not, time would tell.”
But: “Spoiler alert! I took the Rusty Pilots seminar a month before retiring last year, and I’m back flying!” he said.
Pilot certificates never expire. Once a pilot, always a pilot. You never have to take another test or worry about another checkride. All you need is a flight review (formerly known as a biennial flight review). A little brush-up with your local certificated flight instructor, enough flights to demonstrate competence again (minimum one hour), and you’ll be back in the air.
Wing attended an in-person seminar held at Waltrip Williamsburg Executive Airport in Williamsburg, Virginia, sponsored by the nearby Tidewater Flying Club (based at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in Newport News), which he joined. After 17 years away from flying, he needed just 8.4 hours with a CFI to regain his currency as pilot in command. Another 5.3 hours including the instrument proficiency check restored his instrument currency. In all, 14 weeks elapsed between his first flight back and completion of his IPC. “It was faster than I thought,” he said. “Before I knew it, I was a pilot again.” He bought a 2017 Cirrus SR22T G6 four months later.
“You never really forget your passion. If aviation resonated with you earlier in life enough to become a pilot, you'll be amazed how quickly it becomes familiar all over again once you immerse yourself back in it,” he said. “My advice: really do the immersion and commit to it. The resources now available to you to help with the re-familiarization are immense compared to what they used to be. Take advantage of them.”
Wing now has 442 total hours, his instrument rating, and a high-performance endorsement and just recently flew for public benefit flying organizations SkyHope and Pilots N Paws.
“I got my instrument rating in 2000 but never used it. Twenty-five years later, my IPC this past year was in actual IMC, and it was the first true instrument experience I have had (except for a surprise encounter early in my instrument training). Now I fly almost every flight under IFR.”
Donations to the AOPA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, support initiatives including the Rusty Pilots program and the AOPA Air Safety Institute. To be a part of the solution, visit www.aopafoundation.org/donate.
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