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Don’t Let Personal Pride Interfere with Currency Training

Anyone who holds a pilot certificate already meets minimum FAA standards. Achieving more than that demands personal drive. David Massey – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • True pilot pride stems from continually maintaining high standards of competence and proficiency, actively fighting against complacency, rather than solely from initial certification.
  • The Airman Certification Standards (ACS), which replaced the Practical Test Standards (PTS), define the essential knowledge, risk management, and practical skills required for pilot certifications and ratings.
  • To uphold pilot pride and proficiency, aviators should regularly use the ACS for self-assessment and practice, going beyond minimum flight requirements, and ideally incorporating it into flight reviews with an instructor.
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Pilot pride comes with the certificates and ratings achieved through successful checkrides. But like flying itself, maintaining one’s pilot pride properly is a never-ending effort. Human nature is an ever-present foe. Complacency replaces striving to be better on every flight, and boastful delusions take the place of yesterday’s abilities. Proper pilot pride abhors such delusions, and the Airman Certification Standards can help.

Rob Mark

Rob Mark is an award-winning journalist, business jet pilot, flight instructor, and blogger.

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