When Planning Your Aviation Year Ahead, Don’t Just Wing It

Here are nine ideas for adding hours to your logbook in 2025.

Tuesday, December 24, 2024 at 09:00 AM ET

Verified

For pilots with the annual total in their logbook, the start of a new year can be a great time to make a plan. [Credit: iStock]

Key Takeaways:

Pilots should identify and address personal, financial, or logistical barriers that prevent them from flying, then establish clear, realistic, and specific aviation goals, including shorter 90-day targets.
Proactively schedule flight time and ground instruction well in advance, maximize favorable weather windows, and clearly communicate training expectations to instructors.
Commit to continuous learning and skill development through consistent ground study, regular review of aviation knowledge, and dedicated practice to enhance proficiency and achieve flying objectives.

See a mistake? Contact us.

For many pilots, the closing out of a year comes with it a New Year’s resolution to fly more often. In the aviation world, it’s common, especially when pilots review their logbooks and find disappointment with the annual total.

For pilots seeking a larger end-of-the-year number next time around, the start of a new year can be a great time to make a plan. Here are nine ideas to help add hours to your logbook in 2025.

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.