ABC: Pilot Recency
 

Coronavirus grounded planes all over the world. Will pilots be out of practice when flying resumes

See my post in Virgin 3.0 thread regarding recency.

From the ABC article :

'Its refresher courses include multiple simulator sessions, ground school training and a mental health assessment.'

I wonder what a 'mental health assessment' involves ? Would be careful answering that one !

The simulator can only do so much, and the limited time available needs to be used to tick the box for the regulatory requirements. Realistically it will take around a month of regular flying practice to feel comfortable again. Fortunately we are not going straight back into a busy environment and the ramp up will be gradual, which gives less pressure whilst we get back in practice.

Remember that it’s not just the pilots that have been affected, air traffic controllers, engineers, cabin crew and ground staff who all perform safety critical roles are in the same position.

For Qantas it’s a workbook. All 35 pages of it...:hmm:

That Lion accident was always going to happen I would be mindful trying to connect that to this pandemic. I wasn’t expecting that machine to make it to its first heavy check in one piece. Give it time, they are the masters of destroying things, they will write it off at some point.

I was relatively comfortable about 3 weeks in. Some others were not, and my advice to all is just go slow. I have had to slow things down, even though I felt fine, for those next to me who were a tad nervous. Or had to slow things down, to those over confident next to me, who said they were fine, then things started crumbling and they clearly sat out of their depth.

I see GT is no longer an "expert" and now an "analyst". He is still talking complete bo!!ocks Coronavirus grounded planes all over the world. Will pilots be out of practice when flying resumes? - ABC News

The only part of the flight that's not automated. That type of incident is ops normal for that airline. Nothing to do with being current.

Yet another professional term traduced by his use.

Anything the ABC puts out as news I treat with a grain of salt, bunch of biased grubs we pay for!

Oh FFS can you spare us, some of us would like to discuss the aviation related topic at hand which will have an effect on flight safety, if you’re such a snowflake that the existence of taxpayer funded media offends you can you just go complain on JB instead of starting a rant here

Actually I think that it was a bit of QANTAS propaganda so Geoffrey could renew his membership of that club.

Quoted for effect.

My understanding is that there are recency rules in Australia. My guess is that they’ll be complied with.

As to pilot ‘mental health assessments’, I have to say that these days I do not underestimate CASA Avmed’s capacity to turn any perceived risk into a potential disaster. And CASA Avmed will undoubtedly be licking its bureaucratic lips at the busy-work that will arise from Covid19-related infection and vaccine risks.

Pilot recency
 

I was expecting this aspect of lack of currency, airlines or GA, to have an effect on handling skills with the result being small but note worthy events. And they are only the ones that we hear about.

Because Murdoch press is so Un-Biased, and never receives a cent of Australian Taxpayer subsidies.:rolleyes::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:​​​​​​​:ug h::ugh:​​​​​​​:ugh::ugh:​​​​​​​:ugh::ugh:​​​​​​​

True. We do pay and they are biased and often conflate news with opinion therefore their leftist output should certainly be treated with suspicion although in this case it seems to be simply a shabby attempt to make news out of perfectly ordinary commentary regarding the hypothetical atrophy of skills.

Ok guys go and get a job or do something useful, instead of whinging about so called bias in the ABC media. If you’ve got an issue I’ll give you a tissue. pathetic.

Speaking personally having just returned to the coal face after eight months' furlough.........

I'm being afforded 7 sim sessions and a few less flights under the supervision of the company's training department. After sim session number 4 I still feel ... rusty, uncurrent and procedurally slow. The actual manipulation of the aircraft doesn't feel too bad, subjectively, but getting back up to speed with the SOP knowledge is taking a while. In reality my manual handling probably peaked about twenty years ago and has been on a downward slide ever since.

Just plain forgetting stuff is always an issue even for guys who remain current, now add the usual number of changes to the operation our lot seem to like introducing routinely, and a break from operating of over 8 months, whilst in my mid 50's, and it's blatantly obvious how lack of currency affects one's competence. And to some degree confidence.

Some of the trainers get it, some don't. That's ok though, always take the rough with the smooth. At this stage of my career I'm not out for brownie points, just happy to still be employed when so many colleagues have been let go forever. Hopefully looking forward to feeling sharp again (well, moderately!) and hoping to deliver a sufficient level of professionalism to keep going.

Best wishes to all.
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Re: Pilot Mental Health
 

And to make the stress of being “caught” with any form of mental health problem slightly more stressful, most pilot loss of licence insurers won’t cover mental health issues even is CASA do cancel your license.

Thanks for your perspective.

It’s going to be “interesting” when the A380 crew are called back after a year or two away, given that all captains, most FOs and a few SOs are north of 50.

The A380 fleet has God’s gift to aviation as one of the Captains. If he can’t do it, then what hope so mere mortals like us have??

Perhaps he will offer discounted copies of his book to all uncurrent pilots, so as to inspire them to greatness upon their return.

He’s gone...

2020 has brought some good news after all.

Question on recency
 

I used to fly the smaller turbo props like King airs.
If I return after a few years I believe I have to do an IFR rating check etc but not an endorsement

For all those pilots flying light or even heavy jets, and let’s say you took a redundancy at age 55, and haven’t flown for a few years, is it just a short amount of sims or the whole type rating again if you want to return?

I'm and hearing different things.
And will an airline pay for that if you have time on type. Thanks

I done a similar thing 12 months ago, however that ended up being a total waste of time thanks to COVID - 19.

The operator would need to put you though a refresher training course, that should include a ground school (or part there of) and a few additional sim sessions. If you can get through that part, the line training and subsequent check to line shouldn’t require anymore additional training outside of the normal if you’re experienced on the type.

In the EASA environment, I think you would be required to do a full type rating after a certain period of time as you loose it.

Good luck getting anything if you’re experienced, currently not employed as a pilot and over 45.

You will notice that most of the jobs for type rated pilots coming up now are requiring recency on type, that’s to avoid the additional training requirements. I think if you go beyond 12 months of a sim OPC or IPC on the type you fall outside the window, although CASA loosened up the sim requirements due to COVID - 19 which has probably been repealed due to the borders operating up and easing of social distancing requirements.

Airline should pay for all the training if they hire you, if not don’t go there!

If COVID has taught us anything, it’s how many people don’t know the difference between border and boarder. :ugh:

School holidays, teachers trying to maintain the recency.

Retiring from an Asian airline, on returning home I gained a job flying a 737. Having not flown one within five years I had to do the complete type rating again. I still remember 'FFS1' with the instructor demonstrating the effect of speed brakes. Riveting stuff. The other problem with homecoming, is the old CAR5 Licence is no longer considered a valid licence despite having 'Permanently Valid' stamped across it.
As far as local recency, I have seen pilots returning from 12 months sick leave just do a couple of Sims and ten line sectors. No big deal. It all depends on an individuals circumstances and the Airlines approved training exposition. Moving in and out of the Country I have managed do the type rating of one of my endorsements four times. That is the complete program from start to finish. There is so much bull-**** in aviation the only answer is to just grin and bear it.

C'mon, it can't be that hard. "Autopilot on" and "Autopilot off" buttons haven't moved have they?? :-)