Message-ID: <364999CD.2C41@ibm.net>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 08:06:05 -0600
From: Snowbird <snbird@ibm.net>
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Subject: Re: Proficiency (was: Multi-Engine Checkride...WAY TOO LONG
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LFransson wrote:
 
> In article <3648C941.1DCC@ibm.net>, Snowbird wrote:
> >Can a new pilot, especially a new pilot who did the rating quickly
> >in minimal time, maintain proficiency if they are only flying once
> >a month afterwards, or less?
 
> I won't disagree that frequent practice is important for maintaining
> proficiency.  I do believe, however, that this is a highly individual > thing. From 900+ hrs of dual given (...) Youth seems to do a lot for > picking things up quickly  and retaining them over long periods of > inactivity.

> I've had plenty of experiences through my early and mid-20s where 
> I've gone as long as six months without flying. <...> On
> recurrency flights with an instructor after returning home, neither 
> I nor the instructor could tell I had gone that long without flying.  

How many hours did you have when this was true?  ie just 40, or
at that point already several hundred?  

Would this translate to, in your opinion it will work just fine
for people (esp. young people) to get their license and then
fly very infrequently immediately thereafter?

I am sure many will be very comforted by the thought.

On the other hand, some who are very concerned to finish quickly
don't seem all that young.  Maybe they are amoung those who
pick things up quickly and will retain them over long periods of
inactivity.  

Personally, it's not just any individual skill which I notice
degrading, but the sum of the parts (??)--things which used to get
done, and done right without a lot of thought take conscious 
effort, and that means I don't have so much extra capacity left
over for handling anything unusual.  If that makes sense.  Whether
anyone but me would notice that I suspect depends on how hard 
they are looking and for what.  I didn't fly for 3 weeks before my 
PPL checkride and I could really tell, but the DE passed me.

Snowbird


