Flying after a break: regaining competence

[JamesTigris]

I am about to return to flying following a break of around 18months since acquiring my PPL. I am now in a position to fly regularly and on more adventurous sorties. I have about two months before I will be getting back in the seat with an instructor to get back to a safe level of competence and will then fly through until starting the CPL course in around a year's time, a mix of instruction and solo flying.

I will be using the next two months to read up on the new ATSOCAS as well as on the technical aspects of the aircraft. My question is, can any of you who have been through this before, offer any advice on what you learned, or wished you'd spent more time brushing up on, on the ground before getting back into the air?

Many thanks to all who take the time to honestly share their experience.

[AdamFrisch]

I've just redone mine after not having flown for 14 years, so perhaps I can share my experience.

I took my PPL in the early 90's in Sweden when I was young - I was barely 20 when I passed my first checkride. I let it lapse due to financial reasons and had to redo it in the mid 90's again. I was sidetracked by helicopters at the time, didn't keep it up and once again let it lapse.

This time for 14 years.

A couple of years ago I suddenly got the urge again, but I didn't really know how to go about it having moved to the UK and all. This was the year I followed through. It was surprisingly straightforward - got a new Swedish PPL without a rating, trained here and did a new prof. check in the UK for a UK examiner.

From my experience I can say that the actual flying skills don't really go away. It's a bit like the old say about riding bicycles. I was surprised at how at home it all felt already in the first hour. Landings and approaches also came quite naturally.

The things I struggled with and still struggle with, is the rest. The R/T, the procedures, the rules etc. I have a terrible memory and never remember stuff. We never did GUMPS, HATS, BUMPH, SLIM checks and all those in Sweden, so they are all new to me and I must say I don't particularly like them. For someone with my memory, I struggle to remember what the abbreviated stuff in the bloody words actually stand for, so they're actually counterproductive for me. I'd rather read them off a checklist or visualize them/muscle memorize them.

R/T is a bit strange for me still, but that's probably because I didn't learn to fly in English. It's mainly stuff "that you're supposed to know" that I as a foreigner haven't learned or grown accustomed to use. Phraseology and knowing what to ask for at a given place. Like basic service. That's what you're supposed to ask for in Britain on a local VFR flight. How do you know? You just have to learn. You don't ask for taxi instructions (like we did), you ask for departure instructions, etc.

I've stopped worrying so much about my R/T now - as long as you can make yourself understood and be safe, but perhaps not always using the correct local phraseology, then that's good enough.

Procedures are also all stuff you just need to relearn. For instance, in the UK the Transition Altitude is 3000ft. Yet, in real life nobody goes to 1013HPa at 3000ft. Beats me, but that's how it is and you just have know this.

I'm sure these things will come a lot easier to you not having been away from it for that long. I have to say these boards have been very helpful at times when one wants to brush up or get "real world" experiences.

[J.A.F.O.]

I found Irv Lee's Rust Remover put me in the right frame of mind and gave me ideas of what I wanted to concentrate on - first with an instructor and then solo.

[JamesTigris]

Pardon my ignorance, is that a book? Is Irv Lee an instructor?

[SlipSlider]

It's a DVD, and yes, Irv is an instructor.
A google search on his name should come up with his website.
Slip

[J.A.F.O.]

Sorry, James, should have said but as SlipSlider said it's a DVD and to get you back in the right frame of mind before flying with an instructor I reckon it's worth an hours flying and it's about twenty-five quid.