A December 1, 2020, article published by Bloomberg Quint, “Rusty Pilots Making Flying Errors Is Next Aviation Headache,” highlighted a September 15, 2020, event involving an Indonesian Airbus A330 that experienced a runway excursion on landing. According to the article, an investigation found “the pilot had flown less than three hours in the previous 90 days. The first officer hadn’t flown at all since Feb. 1.” Because the carrier doesn’t have a simulator for the A330 and trains its pilots at third-party facilities, “Covid-19 travel restrictions have made those harder to access.”
While airline pilots have different recency of experience requirements and options than others, the basic problem of not flying enough to remain proficient isn’t something new to general aviation. The ongoing pandemic has highlighted the need for regular training by all pilots, and it’s likely many of us are not getting the same amount of instruction, hood work or sim time as we have in the past, even if we’re flying enough to legally stay current. If we can’t get the same amount of training as before, how can we ensure we’re as good as when we could? What can we do to manage the additional risk?
