The Pilot’s Lounge: You Can Come Back Baby, Little Airplanes Never Forget

Shea and I were in the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport debriefing after she had successfully demonstrated the required spin entry, recovery, avoidance, and other requirements for the spin endorsement under FAR 61.183(i) when a gentleman walked past the door, nodded at us pleasantly and walked on down the hall. About five minutes later, after we’d completed the debrief, he appeared at the doorway, stuck his head in and asked about one of our instructors who had gone on to corporate flying.

I gave him the update and he said that he’d gotten his private rating here a few years back but had had to stop flying due to things that were going on in his life and was just coming by to see what was going on. The wistful expression on his face was powerful evidence that he missed flying. The three of us introduced ourselves to each other and we chatted for a few minutes about the flying he had done, people he’d flown with—he was pleased to hear that most were still around—and the airplanes he’d flown. He was amused to hear about the unlikely taxiing accident in which a student had managed to go off a taxiway, down a steep hill and wreck a 172 that he’d flown regularly, which the FBO had decided to repair and upgrade with a larger engine, making it much more capable. He said that he’d love to fly it as it is now. I replied that it’s here and waiting for him whenever he’s ready.

He nodded and said, “Soon, I hope.” He said that he needed to get going, that it had been nice to talk with us and headed out. Shea, post-flight paperwork complete, thanked me for the lesson and departed.

I tilted back in one of the ratty recliners and thought about the gentleman that we’d talked to, and how he said he wished he could get back to flying but right now work and kids were taking up too much of his time. I also thought about the scores of pilots I knew who stopped flying sometime for numerous reasons—money was tight, the commute to an airport was too long, small children demanded too much time, a spouse was opposed to them flying, their job required too much time, among others—but who had all started flying again after some long layoffs and were delighted to be back at it.

A number of them had come to me for refresher training. As we would go through the rusty pilot course, we’d naturally talk about what had caused their hiatus from aviating and what they did to speed the process of getting current and comfortable in the air again. The universal constant among those who were able to race through returning to proficiency was that they thought about flying when they weren’t flying. They thought about it a lot—and they used what spare time they had—often very little—to keep their aeronautical brain active and engaged.

In no particular order, I’ll go through what they did that they said helped them be ready to start flying again and kept them sane until that day came. Join EAA and go to the monthly chapter meetings. The fees aren’t bad and there’s a monthly magazine with a great deal of information, flying best practices and encouragement to fly. Returning pilots told me that it was important to socialize with other pilots while grounded—it felt good to be around people who had a passion for flight and made them feel connected—that they truly weren’t out in the cold. Oftentimes, getting to know someone in an EAA chapter would result in a chance to fly in an interesting airplane and some chapters held flyouts for various reasons and the temporarily grounded pilot could go along for the cost of a share of the gas or rental. It also helped them think about what sort of flying they wanted to do, and in what, once it was time to start again. Pilots told me that those EAA chapters that held fly-in breakfasts were especially fun because it felt good to help out, be with other pilots, and get a chance to see a wide variety of cool airplanes that would fly in.

Join AOPA. Again, the yearly fee isn’t bad, and it includes an excellent magazine and its “Rudder and Wrench” section invariably had good technical information on specific areas of flight along with the hows and whys and excellent material on aircraft systems. Better still is the website and the free, interactive courses that are offered to members. I like free a lot and I’ve taken most all of the courses—they are almost invariably well prepared and challenging to one’s flying brain.

Read AvBrief. It’s free and the growing “Smart Aviator” section has superb information on technical matters by authors who know their areas cold.

Read. Read all of the aviation material you can, from popular novels to technical publications. Join your local public library and take advantage of its books on aviation and access to large electronic book libraries for free. Get into the handbooks and manuals of faa.gov. The library is nothing short of incredible. You download all of it for free. You can get all of the current FARs, The Airplane Flying Handbook, Aeronautical Information Manual, Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and Instrument Procedures Handbook to name a few. Put them on your iPad and read when you have free moment. If you commute to work via bus or train you’ve got the perfect time to read all things aeronautical.

The FAA FAAST team regularly puts on safety seminars—they’re free and I’ve attended quite a few that were excellent. Your state aeronautics association may send out notices of fly-ins, gatherings or classes near you. Get the POH or Owner’s Manual for one or more of the airplanes you want to start flying. Go through it. Chair fly with it—going through normal and emergency procedures and visualize taking each action. If possible, sit in one of the airplanes at your local FBO or flight school and use the POH to go through all normal and emergency procedures, touching each switch or lever as you go.

Consciously set aside some time each week to do something involving aviation. It doesn’t have to be long—your schedule is probably hectic—but you can fit in 15 or 30 minutes once a week to focus on aviation. Hey, it’s free. If you have kids, you have the perfect way to stay involved in aviation. If they are small, read to them every night when you put them to bed. Introduce aviation books for kids. Make up aviation stories. When my daughter was little, I told her the true story about the DC-3 in China that was bombed by the Japanese and lost its right wing. The damaged airplane was hidden among some trees and the airline tried to figure out a way to fix it. During the war airplanes such as the DC-3 were very valuable. The airline took a right wing off one of its DC-2s, strapped it to the bottom of a DC-3 and, with a full load of passengers, flew it to the damaged DC-3. Even though the DC-2 wing was five feet shorter than a DC-3 wing, the attach points at the wing root were so close to being the same that the wing would fit. The airline installed the DC-2 right wing on the damaged DC-3. Time was of the essence as the enemy was approaching and people were trying to escape to Hong Kong. Rather than just fly what they were calling a DC-21/2 back to Hong Kong to be fully repaired, the pilots made a quick test flight and then loaded the airplane with every person
they could fit inside, an overload of some 2,000 pounds. It flew everyone safely to Hong Kong.

After telling her the story, my daughter and I decided to call it the Brave DC-3 and over several evenings we took turns making up stories about its adventures and how it saved people from the enemy in World War II.

Take your kids to the airport and watch airplanes—bring a picnic. Some of my happiest memories are of my ten years older cousin taking me to the airport to watch airplanes. He knew all about them and I was fascinated to watch and listen.

Watch free aviation videos—there are some that are simply fun and some that provide good information to help you keep your head in the game.

Remember the passion that brought you to flying. It’s still there inside of you. It will bring you back. When it’s time, the little airplanes will be waiting patiently for you—they never forget. See you next month.