Bfr

[facthunter]

Always get someone well qualified to give you a thorough workout whether you are rusty or a busy instructor. Everyone can pick up ideosynchrasies or corner cutting traits. That way you get value from the exercise. Not just a tick or a formality.. Nev

[Guest Machtuk]

The real learning starts when you get your plane drivers ticket, instructors just teach you a syllabus that needs to be completed and you demonstrate as much that you are competent during yr check ride.

Airmanship (something almost non existent with so many drivers these days) is something that cannot be taught from some text book! Life's experiences are your best learning tool out there in the real world.

[facthunter]

You learn at the fastest rate when you first start Instructing. YOU can FLY by that stage but CAN you get safely out of the situations some pupils put you in.? You have to let them go till it's evident they have cocked it up or the point won't be made and you come across as a nervous Nellie but there must still be no doubt that you can still maintain/regain control and recover it. AS in all things aviation the fine line of judgement is there and you must have the necessary confidence in yourself but NOT be OVERconfident. Sometimes it's a pulling a rabbit out of a hat moment. You can't rehearse it in advance, but it must work. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

Is EASA land, thee is no such thing as a BFR anymore.. Basically the rules are:

• By your two year anniversary since your last renewal, you have to have flown for at least 12 hours in the last 12 months and if you have, you need to do an hour dual with an instructor in your last three months leading up to the expiry of your renewal. They CANNOT fail you and the flight does not even have to be instructional (in other words, grab an instructor - go for a bimble and land - as long as you are dual and it is an hour, that's all it needs).
  
• If you miss this - or oddly, if you meet the requirement but the instructor doesn't file the paperwork by the expiry, then you have to do a flight renewal test - which is sort of like a BFR used to be, but no flight plan and no navigation - from memory it is the three stalls, PFL, normal and glide approach - may be a bit more - can't recall ever doing short field, precautionary landings, low level or anything like that out of necessity). I think EFATOs are in the test. Remember it is only required if you let your renewal lapse.
  

 

I know a couple of flight instructors who have been very clear to people they have done the biennial hour with that if they had the power, they would have grounded them. They can formally write up areas they think the pilot should get remedial instruction on - no more. How is that for safety? (BTW - EASA think a mountain of paperwork and bureaucracy will make everything allright).

 

My personal minimas are a biut more stringent:

- 90 days since flying or of I am feeling rusty anyway - I grab my examiner and we blow the cobwebs off by doing basically the renewal test mentioned above and more if I feel that rusty (so, for example, it has been over 6 months because of the paint job that overran.. so I will go straight to the next point).

- Every two years - we bascially re-do the whole flight test and then some.

 

In the case of lockdown - maybe they should take a view that if you were current, e.g. had flown, I dunno, 3 hours in the last 3 months or something, the extension could be granted; otherwise, you are likely to be rust anyway and you shouldn't be flying... The precise definition of being too rustly may be 6 hours in 6 months - but has to be reasonable as we know lack of recency is an issue with flying skills.

 

I personally have no problem doing the BFR. Many pilots I speak to who fly many more hours than me loathed having to di it when it was a requirement over here as they were always current. But, almost every time I asked how often they preactices stalls, EFATOs and PFLs, the answer more often than not was they hand;t or at least not enough. It is debatable whether once in 2 years is enough, but at least it gives some meaure of competence and prvides the opportunity to practice if that is required.

 

FWIW, I think road drivers/riders should have to go through similar - maybe every 5 years. Over here, we have speed awareness courses when one gets done (only allowed onve every three years and if you attend, you don't get your demerit points). I attended one (caught on camera going 33mph through a 30mph zone in a village at about 11pm.. Police here would not even bother - shows when public servants get to make the decisions, things are not quite the same), I consider myself a reasonably good driver, and they basically sent through the whole road safety thing - not just speed kills - and it did indeed refresh some of the grey cells that maybe had taken a too relaxed attitude to some things such as distance between cars, skidding, etc.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Jerry_Atrick