A New Homebuilt And Rusty Pilots

They expressed their nervousness, which was understandable. Who wants to show their flight skills to a critic when those skills are at low proficiency? It is human nature to want to show your best side, but a rusty pilot flight review will show the naked truth. I explained there is nothing wrong with being out of practice, and a flight review is not a test, but an opportunity to learn. Their anxiety acknowledged, we moved on to the needed practice.

Mike Hart

Sunday, June 02, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A flight instructor faced a unique challenge providing a flight review for two rusty pilots whose next flight would be the maiden voyage of their newly built, high-performance experimental tailwheel aircraft.
To mitigate this layered "risk stack," the review systematically addressed regaining basic proficiency, mastering the new aircraft type's specific handling characteristics (like tailwheel control and high-power effects), and practicing critical test flight emergencies such as engine failure on takeoff.
The article demonstrates that complex, high-risk aviation transitions can be safely managed when pilots acknowledge all inherent risks and methodically implement deliberate, step-by-step mitigation and training strategies.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Not all flight reviews are equal, and rusty pilots are not at all uncommon, but I recently faced a scenario that gave me pause. It read like the beginning of an NTSB report with a stack of extremely novel circumstances. My choice was either be one of the contributing factors to an accident or one of the mitigations. My goal was the latter.

I recently had the opportunity to provide a flight review for two pilots—a father and son—who had taken a roughly five-year break from flying. During that time, they built a new plane. It was now ready for its maiden flight, but they, as pilots, were not.