but Lister if you have recently qualified it would be interesting to know whether you have kept those skills in practice and whether you feel you are a better pilot now than when you first qualified and if not, why not?
A short aside from the main thread. When I was about 19 I was grounded for a couple of weeks by my gliding club CFI for doing some uncleared aerobatics. After chewing me off, he made a comment that has always stuck in my mind. He said "You might be a good
flyer but that doesn't make you a good
pilot" What he meant is that there is a lot more to being a good pilot than just flying skill.
Now, twenty years later, due to lack of practice and I guess "age", I consider myself a less capable "flyer" but possibly a better "pilot". The reason being, that I now
think more about how, why and when I fly, and I know my limitations. whereas back then ... I just flew without much thought! Luckily I was flying a lot more, and had that did have a certain amount of natural ability that got me through unscathed. I just wish I had retained level of currency and could "fly" as well now!
SS