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Maintaining Proficiency for Free

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Pilots can productively use budgeted flying time on bad weather days, rather than canceling outright.
  • Options include "chair flying" or using a flight simulator at home, or more effectively, practicing checklists and emergency procedures in the actual aircraft cockpit at the airport.
  • These activities offer a free and highly effective way for pilots to maintain proficiency and familiarity with their aircraft and procedures.
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When the weather’s truly awful the decision to stay on the ground rather than fly is easy. But you’ve budgeted this time for flying anyway so why not get some use out of it?

You might instead decide to “chair fly,” where you sit down and mentally go through various checklist items. If you have a flight simulator program on your PC, you could choose to fly the flight you’d hoped to make that day. You could even dial in the truly awful weather conditions to see what it would have been like to fly — no doubt confirming your decision to cancel the trip.

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