On 01/30/07 10:26, Kevin Clarke wrote:
Hi All,

Open question to folks, what strategies do you use to stay current or
better yet, proficient?

Check ride is right around the corner. I got signed off for the ride
today. So the currency question is in the back of my mind now. Most of
my flying is x-ctry (2/month) with some local scenic flights.

thanks,
KC

Right after I got my IR, I didn't fly for about 4 months and was
astonished at what I had forgotten. For example, when asked to enter
a hold (during a check-flight at the club I was joining), I froze
and couldn't think of how to do it.

After the flight, it all started coming back and I felt pretty
embarrassed about it.

What I do now is to practice with a flight simulator (MS FS 2004
is what I'm using for this). It's a great way to stay in the game
with regard to the IFR procedures, button pressing, OBS, etc.

Do you plan to make your x-country flights IFR once you have your
rating? That would help.

Note that making these flights IFR doesn't really help your legal
currency; you still need to do your six approaches, holding and
intercepting/tracking a radial under simulated or actual IMC, but
it at least keeps the knowledge of how to do these things fresh.


--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA