How long a gap between flights
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: In a hole somewhere
Age: 46
Posts: 378
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
How long a gap between flights
Hi all,
I passed my ppl in june this year and flew my wife about and then my grandad for his 80 th birthday (which he absolutely loved)
My question is this: i havnt flown since august due to my business folding and was wondering what sort of time gap do schools allow before needing to go back up with an instructor or does this sort of rule not exist?
Dont get me wrong i am more than confident and capable of getting in but woudl schools be funny about gaps or even still is there a rule that mentions time gaps?
Please dont be funny with the aips and law books i was just wondering this evening and thought id ask here rather than taking another route
I passed my ppl in june this year and flew my wife about and then my grandad for his 80 th birthday (which he absolutely loved)
My question is this: i havnt flown since august due to my business folding and was wondering what sort of time gap do schools allow before needing to go back up with an instructor or does this sort of rule not exist?
Dont get me wrong i am more than confident and capable of getting in but woudl schools be funny about gaps or even still is there a rule that mentions time gaps?
Please dont be funny with the aips and law books i was just wondering this evening and thought id ask here rather than taking another route
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 370
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
was wondering what sort of time gap do schools allow before needing to go back up with an instructor or does this sort of rule not exist?
You may even have it already documented in the material they probably gave you when you first signed up with them.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: In a hole somewhere
Age: 46
Posts: 378
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ok thanks, just when i thought i was over all that "student - instructor" feeling im back there again!
I guess a few circuits will prove im ok
I guess a few circuits will prove im ok
Dont get me wrong i am more than confident and capable of getting in
You can earn yourself some significant brownie points at your club by not even asking what the rules are - just go in and say that as you've not flown for 2+ months and are still very inexperienced, you'd like to go up with an instructor. Particularly if you've shown that sort of attitude, they should work with you to keep that as short and inexpensive as possible.
G
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cambridge, England, EU
Posts: 3,443
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
You can earn yourself some significant brownie points at your club by not even asking what the rules are
Moderator
I 100% agree with Genghis.
(please take the following in a positive, mentoring spirit - to motivate you to a conservatively safe approach)
It's way too easy to get over confident. NEVER turn down the opportunity (or requirement) for a check ride. If you're that sharp a pilot, one circuit will tell the check pilot. If a pilot who has not flown recently resists paying a check pilot for a half hour of their time, that's a big red flag to me. In my opinion, a cocky (no personal insult intended) pilot, who tells me they don't need a check ride, gets an extra thorough one, with some tricky stuff thrown in just to humle them.
If you have to ask if you need a check ride, you do! When you have a few thousand hours, and fly weekly, you'll rethink this, and that'll be okay then...
(please take the following in a positive, mentoring spirit - to motivate you to a conservatively safe approach)
It's way too easy to get over confident. NEVER turn down the opportunity (or requirement) for a check ride. If you're that sharp a pilot, one circuit will tell the check pilot. If a pilot who has not flown recently resists paying a check pilot for a half hour of their time, that's a big red flag to me. In my opinion, a cocky (no personal insult intended) pilot, who tells me they don't need a check ride, gets an extra thorough one, with some tricky stuff thrown in just to humle them.
If you have to ask if you need a check ride, you do! When you have a few thousand hours, and fly weekly, you'll rethink this, and that'll be okay then...
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: In a hole somewhere
Age: 46
Posts: 378
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ok thanks, just when i thought i was over all that "student - instructor" feeling im back there again!
I guess a few circuits will prove im ok
I guess a few circuits will prove im ok
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: In a hole somewhere
Age: 46
Posts: 378
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi,
Dont get me wrong im ok with a check ride and the instructors and examiners in my club are extremely nice guys.
Financially times are hard and i was trying to get the money together for an hour and was really just trying to get up there on my own (for that personal achievement feeling) without having to spend more money with an instructor... Im wise enough to know my safety, public safty and the safety of the schools plane is much more important than money. Guess i just proven to myself and others who may read this how easy it is to let personal circumstances get in the way of rational thinking!
Thanks guys
Dont get me wrong im ok with a check ride and the instructors and examiners in my club are extremely nice guys.
Financially times are hard and i was trying to get the money together for an hour and was really just trying to get up there on my own (for that personal achievement feeling) without having to spend more money with an instructor... Im wise enough to know my safety, public safty and the safety of the schools plane is much more important than money. Guess i just proven to myself and others who may read this how easy it is to let personal circumstances get in the way of rational thinking!
Thanks guys
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: In a hole somewhere
Age: 46
Posts: 378
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi G
Yeah 55 hours and yes i will go in and say that, makes a lot more sense and feels right to do it that way if i had ample funds i wouldnt have even questioned it!
Money... The route of all evil
Yeah 55 hours and yes i will go in and say that, makes a lot more sense and feels right to do it that way if i had ample funds i wouldnt have even questioned it!
Money... The route of all evil
Moderator
Our pleasure Lyons,
Sometimes hearing something other than what you want to hear, is still the better thing for safety. Trust me, I've been there. When I had 500 hours, I thought I had planes all figured out. When I had a thousand hours, I scared myself with complacency a few times. Now that I have a lot more that that, I think I'm safe, and apparently the insurers do too, but I still take check rides, and get checked out on new types whenever I can.
Please do your part to keep all of us pilots looking as humble and well self disciplined as anyone could wish for. It's worth the cost of the check pilot every time.... (and you'll be amazed at the new things they'll teach you!)
Sometimes hearing something other than what you want to hear, is still the better thing for safety. Trust me, I've been there. When I had 500 hours, I thought I had planes all figured out. When I had a thousand hours, I scared myself with complacency a few times. Now that I have a lot more that that, I think I'm safe, and apparently the insurers do too, but I still take check rides, and get checked out on new types whenever I can.
Please do your part to keep all of us pilots looking as humble and well self disciplined as anyone could wish for. It's worth the cost of the check pilot every time.... (and you'll be amazed at the new things they'll teach you!)
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: In a hole somewhere
Age: 46
Posts: 378
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks, ive had a thought.. I wanted to get differences training in our clubs piper so i think ill go straight into that (save a bit more first) that way im learning more for my money and getting more experience in a different aircraft 
I hope some people can relate to this... I came from a very poor background with people laughing at me when i told them my dream of flying. Its taken me many years to save and prove them all wrong. Its been a long hard road and the gap in flying has made me feel more like a failure (what with business failing too) and it feels like i have gone from Everything back to Nothing
I think thats where all this has come from im normally a sensible rational guy (honest
)
I hope some people can relate to this... I came from a very poor background with people laughing at me when i told them my dream of flying. Its taken me many years to save and prove them all wrong. Its been a long hard road and the gap in flying has made me feel more like a failure (what with business failing too) and it feels like i have gone from Everything back to Nothing
I think thats where all this has come from im normally a sensible rational guy (honest
)
Moderator
prove them all wrong
You have - you're done that. From now on, prove it only to yourself, and your check pilot, no one else matters! A type conversion is a great idea! That will let you show your skill!
On a brighter side, if you're in my part of Canada, we'll do some flying....
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: In a hole somewhere
Age: 46
Posts: 378
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks guys i really appreciate it.
Dar im in uk mate but thanks very much for the offer i appreciate that too
You guys have helped me pick myself up, dust off and im ready to go again!
Thanks again
Fly safe people and ill be back up there soon
Dar im in uk mate but thanks very much for the offer i appreciate that too
You guys have helped me pick myself up, dust off and im ready to go again!
Thanks again
Fly safe people and ill be back up there soon
Join Date: May 2008
Location: EGTT
Posts: 277
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The club I'm a member of enforces a 28 day currency rule. I have gone in and booked to fly a circuit with an instructor in the past and flown, more recently they have said that it is up to the CFI and he was more than happy to let me go without the check ride. Play by the rules and if they are happy with your abilities, it tends to work in your favour 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Dublin
Posts: 2,547
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I'm glad that you've changed your mind about the checkride 
The first time that I had a reasonable gap between flying, I too thought that this won't be a problem at all. I did however have to do a check flight with an instructor (didn't mind doing so, as I thought it would be a formality) I was really surprised at how rusty I had gotten.
The instructor was happy with my flying, but I was really surprised at how much extra mental effort it took me to so that had previously been automatic.
As you get more experienced, you'll find that you can take longer gaps and still be competient, but at your early stages I think you'll surprise yourself at how much skill you have lost in the gap inbetween.
dp
The first time that I had a reasonable gap between flying, I too thought that this won't be a problem at all. I did however have to do a check flight with an instructor (didn't mind doing so, as I thought it would be a formality) I was really surprised at how rusty I had gotten.
The instructor was happy with my flying, but I was really surprised at how much extra mental effort it took me to so that had previously been automatic.
As you get more experienced, you'll find that you can take longer gaps and still be competient, but at your early stages I think you'll surprise yourself at how much skill you have lost in the gap inbetween.
dp