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Tactical Currency

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Pilots must prioritize "proficiency," which signifies genuine skill and safety, over mere "currency," which only meets minimal regulatory standards, as proficiency is paramount for safe flight.
  • Maintaining proficiency largely depends on continuous self-assessment, treating every flight as a personal check ride by actively questioning performance and making "reality checks" at critical junctures.
  • This active self-evaluation involves anticipating scenarios, avoiding fixation on single issues, and critically assessing factors like configuration, speed, and environmental challenges throughout the flight.
  • Regular, structured proficiency training with an instructor, focusing on less-practiced critical maneuvers (e.g., power-off approaches, partial panel) and reviewing aircraft-specific accident data, is crucial to enhance and validate self-assessed skills.
See a mistake? Contact us.

The words “current” and “proficient” are widely used to define a pilot’s ability to fly. Actually, being current means only that you meet all the regulatory standards which, in turn, don’t mean a whole lot. Almost six months after your last instrument approach you are still considered current for an ILS to minimums. Or, for VFR, shooting three landings four times a year does the trick. I’ll leave that kind of flying to someone else. A lot of FBOs have far more stringent currency requirements for their renter pilots.

Being proficient means you are reasonably good at it, and as a matter of survival “proficient” is more important than “current.”

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