I love these threads. This kind of question gets asked every few months, and there's always one or two replies which make me think "Hey, I quite fancy having a go at that," or "Ooh, I never thought of that!"
It sounds like you're overdosing on training. But saying "just go and fly" probably isn't very helpful, because sometimes you need an aim beyond burning holes in the sky. Here's a few ideas:
- Go to fly-ins. There'll be some advertised on your flying club's noticeboard, especially as we get closer to spring and summer. There's a PPRuNe fly-in arranged at Duxford in a couple of months' time too.
- Take other pilots flying. If you don't know anyone from your flying club, I'm sure you can find some PPRuNe volunteers!
Flying with another pilot adds extra challenges - you have to ensure that you know who's in charge at every point (probably the person whose aircraft you're in, or the person on whose account you're hiring it), and how the responsibilities are going to be shared. Personally, I like to fly one leg and let my passengers navigate, then swap roles for the return leg. I always do the take-off and landings when I'm P1, and I always handle the radios. They're my rules, and I keep them flexible myself - no reason why your rules should be the same.
- Do a couple of longer trips. Go away for the weekend, instead of just for lunch. Go to France, or Holland, or Germany. Go on trips which will require a fuel stop. Can be difficult at this time of year, like you say - but start planning now!
- Check out on some new types. If you've done your PPL on a PA28, you could try a C172, or vice versa... but it's far more interesting to have a go at something completely different. A tail-dragger check-out, for example. Or a complex aircraft.
That's enough to be going on with for now... but I may well come back with more ideas later!
FFF
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