Proficiency is even more elusive than currency, but obviously both are important. I’ve written a few times about my travails with my engines. I needed an overhaul on both sides, and the lead time (from RAM, the preferred engine vendor for Twin Cessnas) was six months. That was in December and my engines have arrived and are being installed as I write this in late June.
That means I’m no longer instrument current. Plus, I’m ashamed to admit, that even at the beginning of that downtime I really didn’t feel overly proficient, so as I anticipated flying again I definitely needed some work.
Our May 2024 Sim Challenge was, fortuitously, “Proficient Currency.” That challenge was designed primarily to exercise one’s skills while also keeping the brain engaged, and was just what I needed. Of course, needing currency I had to do this in an approved simulator.
Unfortunately, the sim that is available to me is a 3.5 hour drive from my home. Given that I knew I needed some solid workouts in the sim to regain something approximating proficiency, though, I planned multiple sessions. I gave myself three days—drive down the first morning, fly the sim that afternoon and most of the next day, and the morning of the third, after which I would drive back home.
With the logistics decided, I concentrated on the flying. With that particular Sim Challenge seemingly designed specifically to meet my needs, I decided to use it exclusively. Lacking confidence in my actual hands-on skills, the first couple times I flew the exercise, I did it almost entirely using the autopilot, following the flight plan in the GPS, leaving brain cycles to get back in the groove of staying ahead of each situation and planning how to do what was needed. Of course, I’d also previously spent some ground time previewing, and that helped a lot.
Over my four sim sessions, I gradually lowered the level of automation I used until in the last session I flew completely old school. The Sim Challenge happened to use all VHF approaches where GPS was usable and helpful, but not required. So I used the absolute minimum equipment needed to fly the exercise—VOR, ILS, DME (actual DME, not GPS), the HSI and normal flight instruments. I didn’t use the flight director, program the GPS, or even look at the moving map. Nor did I use my iPad. It was like I was thrust back into the 1980s with the exception of the EFIS PFD in the sim.
While all the sessions leading up to that last one helped me, once again, get comfortable in IMC and with the automation, I must say that the last session did more to build my flying proficiency and confidence than any of the other sessions.
My point is to simply recommend that if you find yourself working to rebuild proficiency, do whatever you think you need to regain proficiency with your automation, but I strongly suggest you try a few approaches old school, without using any of that fancy equipment. You might well find, as I did, that it does more to build your flying proficiency than using all those magic wonder boxes.
