Returning to flying after 3 years out.
 

Hi all, I’m active on here mostly but for the last three years I’ve been a grounded pilot, due to medical issues. I’ve now had my class two revalidated and due to return to flying. This is in the UK, so since then we’ve had Brexit and the EASA transition and obviously this pandemic.

I currently hold a PPL with a night qualification and I’m keen to hear from others who’ve taken time out for this length or more and how they found it when they returned…

I didn't fly for about 12 years, and it took me 3 training flights and 3.9 hours to pass the PPL skill test. Just take a flight, you'll be surprised how easily it all comes back.

You did really well rudestuff. In my experience 1 to 2 hours dual is needed for each year without flying. Obviously this is an average from a straw poll of just my Club pliots.

I'm with rudestuff. I had a few years off flying - kids are expensive - and it came back quickly. One flight and I was signed off.

Re time out
 

Hi .
I had a brake for 20 years and got back into it. .I was told to stop being so hard on my self. ..it's all there just needs tweaked and was told i have the right attitude .it took a year as to all the llock down and I have had to get a tablet and sky demon so I now have a new toy to play with.

How long it will take to get signed off after a lapse of 3 years is largely dependent on how much study and review you put in before your first lesson. I had a student in a similar situation. It took him 2 flights to get fully back up to speed, but he showed up for the first flight with 2 pages of written questions on points he was not entirely sure of after he had gone through all the reference material......

I didn’t fly for 5 years and it took me about 12-15 hrs before I reached a comfort level for solo flight.

Re time out
 

My thoughts are . As I said to my instructor. The CAA have said to me .training as required So ...I was happy to take time to go over what I. Needed to feel ready after all we are always learning am looking forward to my night rating later this year .

I guess it also depends a lot on the level of experience attained before the break.
My question is: what are the licencing requirements? Does one have to re-write the theory exams or the written part of the type conversion if you havent flown that a/c for a while.

Think this discussion is about flying in the UK and CAA requirements - your situation in South Africa may be different.

No doubt, but I am in the process of relocating to the UK.
I would probably have to re-do exams in SA, was just wondering about UK.

Only two writtens (actually online now) to convert your SA licence to UK, plus the training and flight test of course.

Hi Ramo. .
yes I was told training as required also and was told i I did not have to sit my exams again but it's good to go over and I got the new airlaw book .to refresh as I passed in 1989 a lot had changed so catching up was required and is went over the exams that where added also I had to get an English level 6 added to my license as it .i also sent away for the UK EASA in 2019 when I was sending every thing before I started flying.so I have a UK life time and an EASA life time .but I did not realise that after 31 .12..20 20 the UK EASA is not recognised in the EU. I did not know that is could be exchanged to a European member state to preserve my rights .bit i have been told that there are some EUROPEAN states that may still exchange my license. .
am now enjoying flying and take classes when thay cume up to keep me sharp and looking to got my night rating later this year.
am happy to be part of a wonderful avation family
cheers

Squidie,

I am a similar age and had similar circumstances (had a couple of years away from flying due medication). Got revalidated no bother with the helpful guidance of my local club and instructors, literally a couple of check-flights then LPC.

Admittedly working on the airfield made things easy with regards to keeping track of rule changes, procedures & RT, however as others have said it all comes back pretty quickly anyway.

All the best with revalidating.

I had a similar 3 year break, which also coincided with a move from the Northern Hemisphere (UK) to the Southern (SA)

I did about 20 hours including my near 3hr Flight Test, before getting a new license (SA PPL).

The hours were a bit bloated as I had to re-do all the exams, so flew with my instructor during this time exploring the Western Cape, adding mountain flying skills and discovering that density altitude actually exists! The radio protocols are also very different here, along with air-law and the fact the weather and compass does everything in reverse. Oh, did I mention 25 degrees compass variation!

The basics of flying came back quite quickly. The unexpected benefit was being forced to do all the exams again....it was embarrassing how "stuff" much I'd forgotten. And my wizz wheel still worked!

Yes the wiz wheel and charts lpl ..I would love to fly in South Africa. And mountain flying .every thing is now on line now and I now have to get used to using sky demon as it's a fantastic am also gonna get my tail drager rating to add to my skills

I’ve twice had gaps from flying of around 2-3 years (the first time because I lived in a country which prohibited private flying and the second because of work). I’d certainly echo the opinions above that you need to spend time studying to get back up to speed and get the most out of the lessons, knowing the speeds, circuits and even listening to some atclive etc. The biggest hold back is the self doubt, but on both occasions I’ve found wonderful instructors keen to help. With preparation it won’t take long to be solo again,

Just getting back in the saddle after 15 years out, had an hour with the CFI and he adjudged me as needing 4-5 hours to get back up to scratch. I was surprised about how much came back to me, but then I had been thinking about it for a while, had done a lot of viewing of some of the really good YouTube content out there, and did some of the ol' bath and car seat 'piloting' - so my head was getting into the right space before I got in the cockpit. Was still shocked at how much of a blast I had, what with moving from spam cans to three-axis microlights and an instructor very keen to demonstrate the aircraft's capabilities!

Yes I agree there is lots and lots of useful stuff out there. When I trained at first there was no you tube and just some videos but now it's all at your fingertips

No smartphones, let alone ipads either in my day - what a difference a decade makes!