So I just got my Private Pilot Certificate...

[asad112]

And after the general feeling of euphoria has subsided, I am actually a little bit depressed. The reason being, when I was in "training mode" mentality, I could easily justify spending a couple hundred bucks a week on flying. Now that I have my license, spending that amount of money will simply not be possible. Don't get me wrong, I would love to fly weekly, but I just can't afford it. My interim goal is to join a flying club here locally, and perhaps get the complex endorsement (they are renting a Piper Arrow for $135/hr tach). I have promised my wife that our first priority will be buying a house rather than an airplane, so that will have to wait a couple of years.

So my question for the PE community is, what is the best way to stay current at this point? How could I integrate simulation as a helpful tool? My instructor has told me if I am not at least flying 30 minutes every two to three weeks until I have at least 200 PIC hours, I am making a big mistake.

Would love to hear what you all have to say!

[n65z]

Congrats. I am not a RW pilot, so I can only give you my personal opinion. The fact that you are already a PE flyer seems to be the best and cheapest way to remain current in your skills. Personally, FSEconomy is a great motivator to get in the sim, learn and have fun. Also, don't forget the Alphabet Challenge...also another great motivator with some very challenging flights and opportunities to learn.

[wmburns]

+1 on the congratulations. Personally I'm jealous.

If ever there were a testimony for how PE could/should be used, this might be it.

Sooooooooo what are your plans for an instrument rating? Seems to me that PE is a great training aid in that area.

+1 on looking at FSE. Highly addictive. Be sure to kiss your Wife and say hello to your kids every few days or so.......

Seems like you owe us some information. Tell us how you found simulation useful and not so useful. What are your thoughts regarding continued virtual flying now that you have a "real" ticket? IE, has the simulation lost some appeal or do you see it as a way to keep sharp between RW flights?

[Keith Smith]

Based on where you are in terms of experience, my recommendation would be to use the sim as a proxy for your real world flying. That means that the flights you do in the sim should be comparable in complexity to what you would be doing in the airplane. I would start cold and dark in the same airplane you use in real life (this is one of the few cases where using the same plane in the sim is quite useful for r/w proficiency) and use the same checklists.

I suspect that if you do this, you'll be less rusty when you fly the real airplane every 6 weeks rather than every 2 weeks.

In terms of bringing down the cost of r/w flying, joining a club and going on trips with other people is a great way to go. Offer to be a safety pilot for instrument students, too. That'll get you some time in the right seat.

[n65z]

"Offer to be a safety pilot for instrument students, too. That'll get you some time in the right seat." - this alone would be enough convincing for me to go out and get my PPL! Free rides in the right seat...sign me up!

[Keith Smith]

Good article on the requirements of the safety pilot for anyone who is interested: http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All- ... fety-pilot

[Keith_Tyndall]

I earned my pilot's license in the 90's, flew off and on for about a year and then let it lapse. It was expensive to fly, I couldn't rationally justify the expense as a hobby, and I felt like I needed to fly all the time or not at all. I didn't want to be the rusty pilot who got himself killed by doing something stupid. I was always glad that I earned my license, however, and I always kept an interest in aviation and goofed around in flight simulator.

Late last year I made the decision to get current again. I bought the A2A aircraft that incentivize you to operate the aircraft to real world standards, if you don't things will break, and I joined PE so that I could operate to real world standards in an ATC environment. I watched all of the VFR PE training videos, along with other youtube videos such as MzeroA, and I took several of the free online courses offered in the FAA Wings program.

In May I started my real world recurrency training with an instructor. After 5 hours of time with him, including 3.6 hours of flight time, he endorsed my logbook, and now I'm flying again! My kids love going flying with me (my wife not so much), and I've got a list of people of work who want to go flying with me that I'm working through. I wish I hadn't waited 20 years to get current again, but I'm glad that it finally happened!

I think the key this time is that when I made the decision to start flying again I starting putting away money from every paycheck in my flying budget. That way, when I started flying with an instructor, I had a pool of money already saved up so I didn't have to figure out where the $$$ was going to come from. That is one thing that always held me back in the past when I thought about getting current - I just didn't have several hundred dollars sitting around with nothing to do.

So my advice to the OP is to set aside a flying budget. Even if that budget has to be kind of small right now, put the money aside every paycheck or you'll never have the money to go flying. If life happens and you go a couple of months between flights, then you have more money saved up to go up with an instructor for an hour or two to knock the rust off. If your flying budget has to be so small that even if life doesn't happen you can only go up every month or two, then at least you're flying that often instead of never!

In between real world flights fly in PE, and make yourself fly in-cockpit to real world standards. I can definitely say that it made my recurrency training go faster. I felt much more confident with the radio calls and with procedures. Like they say, it engages your "flying brain" and everything comes back to you faster when your in the real cockpit. Also, I do my flight planning and use my checklists just like I would on a real flight. I have Active Sky Next, so I have to make real world weather decisions as well.

It is soooo much easier to stay current now than it was 20 years ago. It's amazing how much of real world experience that you can get in a simulator these days! That's from a decision-making and procedures standpoint, not from a stick and rudder skills standpoint, but it's the decision-making and procedures stuff that get's rusty the fastest, in my opinion, so the more you can operate in a realistic aviation environment, the better.

Hope this helps,
Keith

[snglecoil]

Keith your experience mirrors mine almost perfectly with the exception that I don't return to the cockpit until later this fall. Asad, Keith is 100% correct. The budget is your best friend, especially one that you and your wife agree on. Sometimes it is painful to face financial reality, but believe me, it is futile to try and fly without one.

[Talan2000]

Hey Asad

Congratulations. I remember our posts about Flight Following in Dfw.
And have two near midair a in close succession in on two sequential flights let me now strongly urge flight following EVERY time from regional approach - especially if you are flying out of air park!

PE has helped me tremendously as a "rusty pilot" returning from a decade layoff. I too am trying to complete a partially started instrument ride and share the budgetary challenges. One doesn't want to learn bad habits. Still flying the plane you hope to fly in the real world as has been suggested is very helpful in keeping some form of currency. My goal is to fly 3-4 hrs each month. I think I'll have to start a separate budget for the instrument training. It's a long process checking out. Getting proficient and then advancing your ratings so your instructors advice is good if impractical financially.

That said I happen to be a former member of the club with the 135 arrow. And a new member of another club with a 124 (Hobbes) arrow based at KADS So shoot me a pm if you'd like to discuss pros/cons

Todd

[asad112]

Thanks for all the post fellas, it has been extraordinary helpful. I am going to attempt to budget enough to fly at least 1.5 hours each month. Hopefully doing that, combined with utilizing the sim in a appropriate manor, I will be able to keep the skill fresh enough until I can afford to buy a plane.