Salt Lake CQ, and Skiing Too: Learning to Love Recurrent Training

As an airline captain over 40, passing a two-day bout of continuing qualification simulator practice is required every six months.

Sam Weigel

Monday, August 04, 2025 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Key Takeaways:

Professional Part 121 pilots must regularly complete various requirements, including medical exams, ground school, line checks, and recurrent simulator training, to maintain their qualifications.
Airline pilot training has significantly evolved from extensive systems knowledge and complex failure scenarios to a more streamlined, resource-management-focused approach, influenced by the FAA's Advanced Qualification Program (AQP) and post-9/11 cost efficiencies.
The author, initially anxious, now finds modern recurrent training less stressful and enjoyable, even leveraging the location of new training centers to combine it with leisure activities like skiing.

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As a professional pilot operating under Part 121, there are a couple of easy but important hoops I am required to periodically jump through in order to retain my usually cushy, admittedly well-paid sinecure.

Being a captain over the age of 40, I must procure a fresh Class I medical every six calendar months. Once a quarter, I slog through several hours of online ground school. Every 24 months, a line check airman sits on my jumpseat for a few legs and confirms that I can go at least one whole day without terrorizing my first officers or endangering the general public.