Safety and Recurrent Training

Balloon Life,January 2000

by Jim Trusty

Safety and Recurrency Go
Hand in Hand

Are You Up To It?

Whoneedsrecurrency training? Just the
pilots who plan onflying proficiently the
next time they goup. AndI hate to admit
it, but this certainly includes you and me.
There is nothing worse than a pilot on the
groundtellingstoriesaboutwhenthey
used to fly and how good they were when
inrealitytheyarejusttoolazyortoo
proudtoflywithsomeoneinorderto
become current again.
Pilotsareafunnybunchwhenit
comestosomeoneratingorgradingthe
way they perform in the air. I have people
come from 250miles awaytogetFlight
ReviewsandInstrumentChecksjustso
noone fromtheirhomeareaknowsex-
actlyhow goodor badthey may be.
Theawful truth about flying is that by
the time you have completed your Private
Pilot training, you arereally close to being
as good as you are going to get unless you
get it inyour mind that you can be better,
want to be better, and force some instruc-
tortohelpyougetbetter.Someofour
pilotevaluationsendwiththe statement
thatthe pilot weare flying with has reached
their potential. That’s notallthatbad. It
simplymeanstheyare throughlearning
and that they have demonstrated this to us
by theway they arereacting to thetraining
program.
If you are something less than a “pro-
fessionalpilot,” someone who flies for a
living, then itis reallydoubtfulthat you
staycurrent.Andwhydon’tyou?Be-
cause it is not required.But if airlinepilots
and cargo pilots and corporate pilots need
recurrency training every sixmonths and
all are required to take regular check rides
withtheFAAandtheirowncompany
check pilots, are you willing to do less and

still fly? Unfortunately, most are.
I have never meta naturally badpi-
lot!Quickly,letmequalifythatstate-
ment.Ihavemetsomewhocoulduse
more training, some who over the years of
flying by themselves havedeveloped some
awfulhabits,somewhoarejustplain
lazy, some who think the rules are made to
be bent, and, believe it or not, some who
still flyanddon’t reallywantto.
Recurrencyinitselfneednotbea
chore, and it is something that you can do
a lotofbyyourself.Themaneuversre-
quiredtogetyour particularcertificates
and ratings are the ones thatyou are sup-
posed to remain proficient in forever, with
anoccasional update.
Recurrencysimplymeansflyingat
theverytopofyourskilllevelevery
singletimeyouflyaballoon.Practice,
practice,practice. Itmayrequirea little
readingonyourpartandanoccasional
purchaseofanewtextbook.Converse
withthe instructorsinyourarea,attend
some safety seminars, then goup andtry
itallout.Feelrusty? Getabuddytogo
withyou. Change pilots during the flight
andcritique eachother;be hard oneach
other.
Whenyou think youare close to the
topof your game, pickaninstructor you
think you might be able to put up with for
anhourintheairandgoflying.Don’t
waste good moneyjust sittingthere. Ask
questions.Makehimdemonstrate.Ask
morequestions.Pickaninstructorwho
neverseemstobecompletelysatisfied
withwhatyouaredoing.Trainingand
learninghave tobe continuous.
Gettingcurrentis justthe firststep.
Now figure what you are going to have to

doona regular basistostaythatway—
anddoit. People whodon’tflyhaveno
advantageoverthosewhocan’t!Don’t
justsitthereandmildewandwasteall
those hours you put in and all that money
you spent learning tofly. It was great fun
thenandit canbe again. Ballooninghas
alwaysbeenabuddybusiness,agroup
gatheringsortofthing,sogetbackto-
gether with some group and start doing all
those fun things again.
There’sprobablyaballoonclubor
just two or three guys that you kinda sorta
like that need the same thing youneed—
someone to take a flight with on occasion
and then to talkaboutitfor awhile when
you get back.
Stories are no good if you can’t share
them and neither isflying!
Recurrency… don’t let allthis stuff
slip up on you either.It’s adynamic world,
ruleschange or somethingisaddedto or
deleted that you are going to have to learn
or forget. To be on the safe side, you need
tocheckinatleastthreeor fourtimesa
week. Going to be out of town for over a
week? Betterleavea number wherewe
canreach you. I really don’t know how a
pilotcanconsiderthemselvesassafety
consciousandnotfeel that they are put-
tingtheirpassengersandthemselvesat
risk onevery flightif theyare notabso-
lutelyandstrictly current.
I flywitha lotofpeople whohave
simplylettheirskillsdeterioratefrom
disuse. Don’t let this happen to you. I also
fly witha lotof people who have to take
FAA checkrides every six monthsor so
for Corporate 135orPassengerPart91,
andtheytellmethattheyneverdothe
required maneuvers betweencheck rides

Balloon Life,January 2000

because the maneuvers are not a part of
their every day ritual. They take the easi-
est, smoothest, quickest route and then
take a chance on losing their certification
because they can’t fly specific required
maneuvers for the checkride. This abso-
lutelydoes notmake sense to me. But we
can learn from them,that’sforsure. Right?
If you know in advance what is re-
quired of you and you have sixmonths to
get ready for it, whose fault is itif you do
badly? Worse yet is having to fly with a
totalstranger, an instructor, who inreality
probably does notflyasgood as you have
demonstrated you can fly. Don’t do that!
Recurrency is something that has to
be done on a regular basis, and the only
person who can keep up withyour sched-
ule is you. Are you current? Would you
like to be? Start with your nextflightand
let’s get some smoothness and anticipa-
tion back into our flying. Identify those
bad habits that you have let magnify over
the years and let’s make a mental list of
them. Slowly, let’s get rid of them. The
time needed for correction of a bad habit
isaboutthe same amountof timeittook to
perfect it. It’s a worthwhile project and it
willbe noticed bythose who fly withyou.
I’ll see you on the launch field! Al-
waysremember, pilotswhodon’tflyhave
no advantage over people who can’t fly.
What’s your excuse?
Jim Trusty was the 1997 National
Flight Instructor of the Year and still
works daily as a full-time flight instructor
at MQY in Tennessee.