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Flying with an Athletic Mindset

Learning to fly is a lot like learning to play a sport, where you start with the fundamentals.

Learning to fly is a lot like learning to play a sport. You begin by learning the fundamentals. [Credit: Derek Eckenroth]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Learning to fly, much like mastering a sport, fundamentally requires extensive repetition, drill, and practice to achieve and maintain proficiency, often countering the Dunning-Kruger effect where individuals overestimate their abilities, especially after a long hiatus.
  • The article extensively parallels aviation and athletics, highlighting the similar learning processes, the necessity of continuous practice and drills to maintain skills and mitigate risk, and the crucial role of a good instructor or coach.
  • For pilots returning to flying after a break, a "preseason training" approach is recommended, which includes reviewing online ground school, studying aircraft procedures and emergency protocols, choosing a dedicated instructor, and exercising patience during the relearning process.
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One of the laws of learning is that it requires repetition, drill, and a lot of practice. It takes as much time as it takes to learn a maneuver, and more time and practice to gain proficiency, yet there are some student pilots and CFIs who resist repetition, insisting that the maneuver has been learned and can be flown to standard after one lesson.

This is dubious at best, and can be an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias where people with limited competence in a particular domain—like flying—overestimate their abilities. It is particularly common with someone who took lessons in the past then returns to it decades later. It can be difficult to accept the fact there is some rust on those skills.

Meg Godlewski

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.

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