PPL Staying Current
For people who only fly as a hobby (no intention of going commercial, etc), how much do you fly to keep current?
By current, I don't mean legally current. I mean ACTUALLY current. ie. familiar to the point that flying is fairly effortless and also confident on emergency handling.
I am a low time PPL (100 hours), having just finished it a few months ago. I have been flying about every 2 weeks (sometimes longer due to weather and schedule), and I can feel I am already significantly less proficient than when I just passed the checkride.
I am still proficient enough to be confident solo-ing, but flying feels a lot more stressful now (to remember everything) and occasionally I would lose track of altitude or airspeed for a bit and be 100-200 ft off or 10-20 knots too fast. Also, I don't feel relaxed enough that if a real emergency hits, I'd be able to handle it perfectly.
It's probably also due to switching to faster and more complex airplanes (Citabria to DA20/DA40), but I think lack of flying also plays a role.
When I took the checkride, I could fly to about twice as good as required by the test standard all day, and still be sight seeing. I can't do anywhere close to that now.
I am planning to start flying once a week to fix that (I can financially do it... just need to find time), but I was just wondering, how much do people fly to maintain proficiency? and does the requirement decrease as you become more experienced?
Is maintaining a pilot license really THAT high maintenance? (2 hours a week for as long as I want to be current)