ARE YOU REALLY


UP TO SPEED?


While straight forward flying skills will still be there after a long break, others might well have become eroded


'Y


ou never forget how to ride a bike’ might be a truism, but if you haven’t ridden one for a while there’s usually a bit of wobbling,


and if you’re really unlucky and take a fall you can simply dust yourself down and get back on again. It just takes a little time and practice to get back on the saddle. You could say flying an aircraft after a long break is similar — a bit wobbly to start with while you get the knack of it again, but the difference of course is that you can’t afford to be wobbly and fall over… Of course one doesn’t forget the basics; the control column/stick moves the elevator for pitch changes, the ailerons provide roll for turns and the rudder pedals make the aircraft yaw. But hang on, what about the secondary effects of aileron and rudder, how’s your co-ordination? Plus, there’s the throttle, trim, flaps, and many other controls. Yes practice, as with riding a bike, is required to get the accuracy back which would be relatively easy if there wasn’t everything else to think about…


4 CLUED UP SPRING 2021


The thing is there are other aspects that account for most people’s rustiness. While muscle memory tends to remain for a long period, with time out of the cockpit mental skills and agility get a bit jaded. Judgement, the ability to anticipate and react quickly have deteriorated. So, coping with high workloads, distractions and the unexpected can be stressful which, while concentrating hard on physically flying the aircraft, can lead to other issues.


'There's no shame in feeling a bit rusty, quite the contrary'


There’s no shame in feeling a bit rusty, quite the contrary, it’s a sign of good self- awareness. Personally, I flew last year on March 6, 2020, the next time following the first lockdown was May 28, almost three months later, the longest gap in my 50 years of flying. As an instructor I had


always flown regularly and it used to feel a bit strange after a rare break of three or four weeks, but after 12 weeks? Was I nervous? Not really, but I was apprehensive and cautious. I thought through and double-checked all I could; what I was going to do on the flight, a close check of the weather, Notams, aircraft documents etc and I took twice as long doing my checks; Once airborne, I remained vigilant over lookout, the usual in-air checks and radio calls and listening-out. So from that you’ll gather that even instructors have their moments after a long lay-off. Following my return to flying I was fortunate to do a couple of maintenance trips for the flying school in June, including an away landing, and by the time I returned to instructing in late July I felt relatively current and comfortable, but I certainly wasn’t complacent. Since then, we’ve had the November lockdown, plus a winter with poor flying weather and now a third lockdown of a further three months. For many private pilots, and probably the


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