Golf? That's one skill that I'll never lose.

I've never had any.

In Oman, when the Omani pilots came back from leave they had to do a full week of PLT (Post Leave Training), before they were let loose on the unsuspecting public on their own!
And believe me they needed it! Skill fade- more like skill forgot.

Is it grounds for divorce?

Hmmm, I have read number of memoirs of Vietnam War era military pilots.
Apparently they all had proficiency checks after 2 weeks leave. And most of them considered it necessary as in their own words the were getting 'rusty' that fast.

&

Anyone on the receiving end of one of my Talkdowns after a fortnight's leave knew exactly what skill fade is/was! :ooh:

......forgot.

hardly new, I first heard the term in 2005

I'm sure I used to know the answer to this one!

Applies across all ATC disciplines. In Area Radar back in the 70s one was always cautious about putting people on busy/complex consoles straight after being on leave. A day or so on quiet control positions restored equilibrium.

"Ah! Snooks - welcome back from leave; have a good time did you? Excellent! Console 13 (Upper Heyford CAC) for you my lad! Oh, and there's a surge launch/recovery scheduled for 1030. Have fun!" :eek:

Post leave was always contentious. Two crews may just have gone on leave and two returned so the sqn was down four crews. Pressure on to get them back up to speed but there was the little question of signing for order books.

Properly done the crew should have had time to read all the books refreshing the orders, learning any changes etc etc. In practice crews would sign a signature books saying they had read them.

Friend of mine returned from leave as his F4 sqn was warned for deployment to Gibraltar. He asked for time to refresh his skills. His nav boss didn't allow him the time he needed. As predicted he hit the runway lip. I think they tried to court martial him.

I very nearly lost my Local ticket in Singapore. We had Sgt controllers who, in those days, only did Local. So the rest of us hardly ever got a look in once we were endorsed, unless one of them went on leave. I found myself up there, after many many months away to find myself in the middle of an Exercise! WSRT was the target for attacks, and launching both attackers and defenders. It only took about an hour for me to lose the plot completely with about a dozen on frequency, all priority scrambles, launches, attacks and recoveries.

OC Flying (MWPK) wanted my ticket, but SATCO persuaded him otherwise.

just pilots, sorry, I thought we’d moved beyond one stick one vote, just saying one professional to another 🤩

It's a fair cop, Guv. :ugh:

Surly the correct quote is: "No stick, no vote"!

its a fair cop 👮‍♀️