DonFromTX
Well Known Member
I felt the need to share my recent experiences of trying to get back current after 24 years of not flying.
This came about since I had just received an AW for my RV 12 and needed to fly it of course. My gut feelings were telling me that you don't "forget" how to fly, so just crank her up and go be a test pilot! Another little voice inside said, hey look at all the old guys that built a plane then had bad experiences trying to fly it. I am lucky, there are several RV12 owners, CFI people, that have a LODA, letter of deviation authority, so they can instruct in their experimental. One was only 500 miles or so away (Jetguy) and I had received good reports from some friends who had used him, so I scheduled myself.
I am so glad I did that. Maybe you don't actually forget how to fly, but I can attest that you can sure get REALLY RUSTY! I could not believe how bad I had become, and had I decided to just go fly it, it would have ended badly for sure.. After 6 hours of dual in an RV12, I had to interrupt for weather and scheduling, and I am STILL not ready to fly this little simple plane by myself. With some more hours, hopefully I will get back my skills as a pilot. If you THINK you are ready, don't chance it, go get some dual and see if you really are.
This came about since I had just received an AW for my RV 12 and needed to fly it of course. My gut feelings were telling me that you don't "forget" how to fly, so just crank her up and go be a test pilot! Another little voice inside said, hey look at all the old guys that built a plane then had bad experiences trying to fly it. I am lucky, there are several RV12 owners, CFI people, that have a LODA, letter of deviation authority, so they can instruct in their experimental. One was only 500 miles or so away (Jetguy) and I had received good reports from some friends who had used him, so I scheduled myself.
I am so glad I did that. Maybe you don't actually forget how to fly, but I can attest that you can sure get REALLY RUSTY! I could not believe how bad I had become, and had I decided to just go fly it, it would have ended badly for sure.. After 6 hours of dual in an RV12, I had to interrupt for weather and scheduling, and I am STILL not ready to fly this little simple plane by myself. With some more hours, hopefully I will get back my skills as a pilot. If you THINK you are ready, don't chance it, go get some dual and see if you really are.