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Staying Proficient

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Pilot proficiency, not just legal currency, is paramount for safety, especially with advanced avionics, and is highly perishable without regular practice.
  • While simulators are valuable, general aviation (GA) simulators often lack the specific aircraft and avionics replication needed to build true proficiency for a pilot's actual plane, unlike expensive airline-grade sims.
  • Maintaining GA proficiency currently requires a multi-faceted approach, combining personalized simulators for specific aircraft familiarity, approved trainers for legal currency, and actual flight time in the aircraft.
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Staying proficient, or getting there if you’re not proficient, has long been a challenge for the typical general-aviation pilot. Of course, a proficient pilot is much more likely to be a safe pilot than the pilot who’s rusty.

We’ve long claimed that there’s a significant difference between legal currency and proficiency. That’s unchanged. If anything, the difference has grown, driven by the advanced avionics and systems we increasingly find in our planes today. So, let’s agree that proficiency—including with the avionics—is the goal and hope that legal currency will come with it.

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