Coming back after many years share your experience

DFH65

DFH65

En-Route
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
2,630
Display Name
Display name:
DFH65
Those of you who have taken a long time off tell me your stories of getting back in the cockpit. How many hours did it take before you got signed off again?

I last flew a little over 20 years ago. Planning to schedule a flight in the next several weeks a lot depends on the weather. Probably will only be able to do one lesson a month until the summer time then I would like to pick up the pace a bit.
 
I took 31 years off. Lots to do. Medical. Review ground school data as airspace changed. Had to relearn a lot. PM me I can let you know what I went through.
 
17 year break for me, about two hours on the ground to catch up with the new airspaces post 9/11. (I had taken the AOPA pilot refresher course so I knew about most of what had changed) Flew for about an hour and a half and the instructor said I was good to go. Honestly except for the first 30 seconds after take off, (shear terror) it was as if I had never stopped flying.

YMMV
 
Wow, hope it goes that smooth for me. I was figuring 5-10 hours.
 
16 years for me, took a few hours to get into it and then a check ride. Maybe 3 in total? This was in the UK for the old JAA license. But then doing my FAA license (wanted a free standing one, not an issued on the base of foreign) it took a little more than that. Lots to learn about airspace and US procedures I wasn't accustomed to. Took about 20hrs to get the FAA one.
 
Took 23 years off ,did home study on airspace,did three hours flight and an hour ground ,ready to go. Never looked back.
 
16 years off from mid 80s to 2000. The plane handling was the easiest part of getting back in. I guess muscle memory, and sight picture don't degrade as much as I thought. Getting the regs, and the airspace BS figured out was most of the hassle.

I felt comfy in the plane after about 15 minutes. Did three touch and goes on the first flight back, and it was like I never left. Sitting down with the AIM, and the FARs, and the charts with all the blocks was about 3-4 hours of inst. Recap of the weather also took me about 4 hours but I'm kinda anal about weather knowledge accuracy.
 
8 years. Took about five or six hours including ground time and a Flight Review. Also included a type checkout in an unfamiliar type.
 
I stopped flying for about 27 years to raise a family and deal with the move from a very reasonable flying club to significantly higher costs in another city.

A friend took me up for an hour of flight training. I then went to a flying instructor for more instruction (I didn't feel that I was ready for a BFR) and he signed me off with a BFR, maybe the hour on the ground and the hour in the air. I was pretty much ok except when I flew into a short field later I was rusty on my short field technique and scared! myself and my passenger by using just about all of the runway. After that incident I brushed up on my short field technique and feel pretty confident in it. I also haven't landed at a 2300' or shorter strip since my short field adventure.
 
35 years for me. Similar story... Family, jobs, responsibilities delayed getting back as PIC for all that time.
I got involved with building and rebuilding airplanes with the "Antique Aircraft Association of Colorado". I always had the passion to get involved in flying again, and the mission of this organization is something I really liked. Just being around this group is uplifting. Their attitudes and experiences are so contagious! Just a great group of guys. I joined and helped out in the projects with enthusiasm!
Back to the question... After 35 years, I studied for about 6 months, using my old CPC books from the 70's, as well as current books and help from the internet.
Long story short, flight review and tailwheel endorsement is complete and I am current in less than 10 hours with a very great CFI. Most of this time was for pattern practice. Keeping the tailwheel in the rear and on a straight path with the prop was the hardest part. Actual maneuvers in the air came back very quickly. Review of new airspace and just ground review in general was about another 5 hours with my instructor.
I am putting in about another 10 hours or so before taking anyone up with me. And, I'm just enjoying the feeling of being up in a J3 Cub all alone...Something I really had not seen myself doing a year ago.
It's been a very good year. I am very blessed to have met such a great group of guys!
 
20 years (92-12) off for me. Like others have said, the airmanship comes back pretty quick. I was signed off after three flights. Biggest things I had to adjust to were the new airspace nomenclature and the fact that GPS is now a reality. Learning the G430 took some work. Listening to liveatc.net helped brush up the comm skills (ex: figured out there is no more position and hold, now it's line up and wait).
 
tjfelles said:
35 years for me. Similar story... Family, jobs, responsibilities delayed getting back as PIC for all that time.
I got involved with building and rebuilding airplanes with the "Antique Aircraft Association of Colorado". I always had the passion to get involved in flying again, and the mission of this organization is something I really liked. Just being around this group is uplifting. Their attitudes and experiences are so contagious! Just a great group of guys. I joined and helped out in the projects with enthusiasm!
Back to the question... After 35 years, I studied for about 6 months, using my old CPC books from the 70's, as well as current books and help from the internet.
Long story short, flight review and tailwheel endorsement is complete and I am current in less than 10 hours with a very great CFI. Most of this time was for pattern practice. Keeping the tailwheel in the rear and on a straight path with the prop was the hardest part. Actual maneuvers in the air came back very quickly. Review of new airspace and just ground review in general was about another 5 hours with my instructor.
I am putting in about another 10 hours or so before taking anyone up with me. And, I'm just enjoying the feeling of being up in a J3 Cub all alone...Something I really had not seen myself doing a year ago.
It's been a very good year. I am very blessed to have met such a great group of guys!
Click to expand...

Welcome to POA .
 
Awesome keep the stories coming this is very encouraging. Sounds like a lot of people on a similar path. It is no coincidence that my last flight was only a few months after my son was born. Bought a house had a kid and my wife went part time all at the same time.
 
About seven years, for me (ironically, much of that time was while I was in the Air Force). 1.5 hours dual to convince the instructor I was safe, and another five hours solo before *I* was convinced I was safe. :)

I did have considerable PC simulator time in the interval; while it did nothing for the motor skills (we're talking VIC-20, here) it at least kept my mind in it.

About two years later, I took another 1-hour refresher in a Champ to get current for taildraggers to fly the Fly Baby.

Ron Wanttaja
 
21 years. Had about 1400 hours. Flew with instructors for about one year, got my bfr and ipc done. When I quit, there was no such thing as gps. I fly a g1000 now. I'll get more than 100 hours per year easy. Feels great.
 
Last edited:
I had a 15 year break from flying before I realized how much I missed it. It took 8 hours with an instructor. I could have done it in less time but I wanted to ensure proficiency in all areas: pattern work, ATC communication, maneuvers, hood work, night flying, VOR navigation, etc. I also spent several hours at home studying the FAR/AIM, weather and cross country planning. Going through the old written exam test guide was very helpful. Just make sure you don’t study outdated material. LiveATC.net is a good resource as well. That was two years ago. My only regret is not doing it sooner.
 
Took a break from 1992 to 2013 after logging about 300 hrs as a weekend renter pilot. Did about 3 hrs with the CFI, then he wrung me out on my first BFR in 22 years - KAPA to KBJC to KFTG (first time to self-refuel. When did that start?) then back. Y'know, it's not entirely like riding a bicycle - you do get rusty and it takes practice to get smooth again, but somehow it all comes back.

Toughest part for me was the medical. Seems I developed some kind of irregularity in my EKG over the intervening 22 years. Nothing a $2500 cardio evaluation and letter to the FAA couldn't clear up, though.

 
I took a few years off back in the late 80s when my daughter was born. (The nerve of that kid thinking I should spend my flying money on formula and diapers and clothes.) I guess I can't totally blame it on her .. I got involved in kart racing at about the same time and that sucks you dry on money. While I did go fly occasionally with friends it was sparce. I finally sold all that stuff and bought another plane. I think I spent about 4 or 5 hrs or so getting back up to speed. A lot of that was trying to get my Instrument skills revived as I recall.

RT
 
You won't have any problems coming back. The big thing won't be flying the airplane, it will be getting a handle on all of the changes that have occurred over the past 20 years. Things like regulations, terminology, and the tools that we use in the cockpit. There's been a revolution in all of that since you last flew.

Back in 1980, I had the privilege of training a WWII B-29 pilot that hadn't flown anything in 35 years. He came to me with a current physical and I had him do a full private groundschool to get him up to speed on the regs and some of the changes that had occurred during his "flying sabbatical". The flying part went very well - which shows the value of good initial training. It didn't take very long at all before the guy was completely up to speed. I would recommend that you do the same. Get a current set of Pvt Pilot Groundschool Videos and go through them. It will do you good.

If I was working with someone less experienced, I'd treat him as any other student - do what it takes to get him proficient enough to pass a checkride for the ratings he holds - then let him go. I've worked with several pilots in this situation over the years, it's always been an enjoyable experience. The rust usually gets knocked off quickly. Have fun and report back.
 
Last edited:
I have been studying all the new regs and changes to airspace and such. I don't think that will be too much of an issue. I am a tech guy by trade so the new tech isn't scary.

I think my biggest apprehension is finding a good person to work with I am somewhat limited in choices where I live.

When I trained the first time I had a great CFI I really clicked with. He is an airline pilot now. He was a young guy younger than me at the time he would let you make mistakes assuming it wasn't going to kill you and then would say see what you did there and what happened. The other two CFI's that I flew with one was my CFI's dad and a corporate pilot intimidated the daylights out of me the guy was an incredibly skilled pilot but couldn't understand why it was hard for everyone else. The other guy was a newer CFI, I flew with a few times and he couldn't keep his hands off the controls. It drove me nuts. I hated flying with him.
 
About 30 years or so.

Something like 8 hours dual to get flight reviewed in a Cessna 150.

A couple more hours in my new airplane (tailwheel) to get my feet back in the game and to make the insurance company happy with an instructor near where the airplane was located.

Then I flew it home.
 
34 years off for me. Got my PPL in 1976, did a few hours in a C182 toward my CPL and then gave it up. Took it up again in 2010. My "BFR" ran 7.0 hours. Signed off but by no means competent. Immediately rented a C172 to fly to Sun 'n' Fun but realized after intermediate stops that I was not up to it. Tried to get some instruction but instructors were too lax and willing to let me slide. This all the way through to almost ready for my IR checkride. Finally found the means to get my stick and rudder skills sorted out when I got access to a Luscombe for a tw endorsement with a phenomenal instructor. Now I am back to finish my IR.

One thing that helped me make up for lost time was building a huge aviation video library with cheap VHS tapes off eBay. I have about 500 tapes covering everything, e.g one of my favorites is Duane Cole's "VFR Tips For All Pilots" (I love pilotage with a bit of dead reckoning). By no means have I watched all of them but I have watched plenty.

Reading, posting, and asking questions on this board is a big help, too, in making up for lost time.
 
DFH65 said:
I think my biggest apprehension is finding a good person to work with I am somewhat limited in choices where I live.
Click to expand...
I'd contact one of the local DPEs and ask them who they'd recommend. Those guys get a feel for the instructors that their applicants have used. I'm sure you could get some good suggestions. The type of CFI you're looking for is out there, you just might have to look a bit to find him/her. Short of that, just pick one and start. It will become quite obvious if you've made the right choice after your first lesson or two. If it's not working out just change instructors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top