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Staying Proficient

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • There is a critical distinction between legal flight currency and actual flying proficiency, with proficiency being highly perishable and the ultimate goal, especially given advanced avionics.
  • While full-motion simulators are excellent for airline training, affordable general aviation (GA) simulators rarely accurately replicate specific aircraft types or their advanced digital avionics.
  • Achieving comprehensive GA pilot proficiency often requires a multi-faceted approach, combining custom simulators for specific aircraft familiarity, approved simulators for legal currency, and actual flight time, due to current regulations, equipment, and budget constraints.
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Staying proficient, or getting there if you’re not proficient, has long been a challenge for the typical general-aviation pilot. Of course, a proficient pilot is much more likely to be a safe pilot than the pilot who’s rusty.

We’ve long claimed that there’s a significant difference between legal currency and proficiency. That’s unchanged. If anything, the difference has grown, driven by the advanced avionics and systems we increasingly find in our planes today. So, let’s agree that proficiency—including with the avionics—is the goal and hope that legal currency will come with it.

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