Maintaining My Pilot Currency

Sometimes it's hard to find the time to get out to the airport! Until early this morning, when I took my first flight in over a month, this was the problem! With my Junior Year of High School starting in full swing with AP and Honors Classes, it hasn't always been easy to find time to get out, even on the weekends, for flying. 

After talking with one of my instructors from over the summer, Rod Kellogg (I took a lesson with him in Alabama), about my recent flying, or lack thereof, I decided that it was time to make sure I wasn't loosing my muscle memory from flying.  

It's important that we, as pilots, maintain our muscle memory, and stay current through some regular form of training. I've decided to make sure that I fly at least for a short period every week to practice landings and takeoffs, plus every now and then add in a solo cross country flight. In this way, I'm not going to be spending too much money at one point, but will make sure to get more frequent "air time." 

This is exactly what I did this morning. It wasn't a long flight, but it was nice to get back at the controls again! Because the ceiling was pretty low today, broken clouds around 1,600 feet, I decided to remain in the pattern and practice some crosswind landings and takeoffs. The crosswind was definitely a factor in today's flight, but it was manageable and made for some good practice. Flying for a total of .6 hours today, I did 4 full-stop landings and takeoffs. Only costing $65, this is the kind of practice I'm hoping to do on a weekly basis. It'll make me a safer, more current pilot overall. 

Plus ... I miss being at the controls of this little bird:

In all honesty, for me to go a month without flying wasn't a good (or safe!) decision on my part. There were opportunities to go flying, and I didn't. That changes today with my new weekly schedule. 

Make sure you guys are getting out there and keeping that muscle memory!

Thanks for reading,

-Swayne Martin
Twitter: @MartinsAviation