One of the best things about recurrent training or a mandatory flight review is that you get the chance to have a critical set of eyeballs look over your flying habits. There are probably things you are doing wrong that you don’t even realize you’re doing at all. Margo Kay, one of the instructors at my home airport, did my last biennial flight review. She and I have a lot in common; we’re both Red Sox fans living way too close to New York, and we both have sons named Elijah. (It raises eyebrows around the airport office when I ask her, “How’s Elijah’s mom?” and she comes back with, “Fine thanks. And how’s Elijah’s dad?”) I learned some annoying stuff about myself from Margo. For example, I now realize that over time I had allowed my use of power on landing approaches to get way out of hand. My old rule of, “I ought to be able to land without power from anywhere in the pattern” had pretty much gone to blazes — mostly out of inattention. I don’t do that anymore.
Margo added some new habits. I’ve always stopped for a quick final check of the aircraft configuration before taxiing out onto the runway for takeoff. Now, thanks to Margo, I also try to stop on the taxiway after landing to perform chores such as raising flaps, turning the transponder to ‘standby’ and resetting the trim. Like talking on a cell phone while driving, those housekeeping tasks can distract from safe taxi procedures. So it’s better to do them while sitting still.
