New PPL, How to Stay Knowledgable when you can’t fly

Renesh Kumaresan

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Turb0123
As the title says I haven’t flown since March when I passed my ppl check ride. I chairfly a lot on Xplane and now on fs2020. But how do I stay current and knowledgeable on things like weather theory, aircraft systems and such. Are there any ground courses I could get I do every couple of months to brush up. I’m starting 141 IFR this December, and am going to start flying again pretty soon. Going to with fly instructor first. Also while it is early, could sportys VFR review course be what I am looking for in a ground course to stay current on vfr procedures?
Thanks
 
Nothing comes close to being in the airplane. If you don’t mind sharing why you can’t fly, that seems to be the problem that needs to be solved.
 
It’s just due to COVID but my flight school seems to have very good cleaning procedures for the aircraft and their instructors only come in with good health. Flying wise I know nothing comes close to the airplane but do you think vfr review course is good to stay current on ground knowledge?
 
This is just my opinion, but go fly. If you get the virus, the odds are you won’t die, or even have major issues. Clean the plane yourself, wear the mask around others, but don’t let the virus keep you from living when you don’t even have it.
 
Ok thanks. That is also why I’m flying. I’m young and take many precautions so I’m just going to take the same precautions in the plane. After the flight with the instructor I should just be able to fly alone for most of the time.
 
From the POV of a new pilot - I would suggest go flying with a CFI for a "tune up" a few times to kick the rust off. BTW Congrats on getting the PPL!
 
While working through my training and ratings up thru CFI, I used to go overseas for my job, 6 months at a time, no opportunity to fly. The only thing you can really do, in general, is try to keep your head in the game, aviation-wise, as best you can.
Any variety of things can help, books, magazines, video/online courses, home computer sims, etc. When using a sim (Xplane, MS202, whatever), try to be disciplined with procedures, checklists, etc., as if in a real plane, doing pattern work, short cross country runs, etc. It's always fun to fly the sim under the Golden Gate Bridge, or barrel roll the 747, but that may not have much practical value.
I don't know about the Sporty's flight review course specifically, but that could be one of many good tools to use. If you're an AOPA member, their Air Safety Institute has a whole series of excellent online courses and quizzes, covering a variety of topics from VFR weather decisions, mountain flying, reading IFR charts, etc. You mentioned starting IFR training in a few months, you could certainly check with your flight school to see what ground training materials they use and get a head start on your studies. (Any instrument flying text or videos would help, but best if it's whatever course your school uses). FAA Instrument Flying Handbook, and Instrument Procedures Handbook are free online. Weather is another area you could spend time on, the FAA's Aviation Weather is available online, or any other "advanced" weather studies would serve you well. The FAA also recently came out with a Runway incursion/ safe taxi online course, those are always good https://www.runwaysafetysimulator.com/
The main point, is to try to stay engaged in thinking about aviation, so whenever you get back into the plane, with a CFI for your first "tune-up" flights, you're not so far out of the loop that you forgot how to set the altimeter, tune radios, etc.
 
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I had a break in the action when I was working on my private. I kept up my interest and kept my head in flying by reading aviation related books. I would recommend; “ The Spirit of St. Louis,” “The Right Stuff” and Bob Hoover’s book.
 
Read POA... that’s one of the best ways.
 
BYW. Suggest NOT watching Top Gun and then jumping into your plane. Buzzing the tower, yelling “break left” in the radio when turning base, etc. not going to do it for you
 
Create your own study guides and reference list of knowledge items. I recommend using the FAA docs as your sources so that you’re not trusting someone else’s work. Having quick access to the things easy to forget and to some of the areas not commonly referenced facilitates the transition back to flying and gives you more confidence when you do so.
 
Aviation YouTube videos of course. ;)

Please no. One famous YouTuber said to use the inclinometer to determine which rudder to push during a spin recovery.

Another explained VORs using the terms "from radial" and "to radial".

If I watched aviation YouTube videos more I'm sure I could come up with pages and pages of examples, but I actively avoid it.
 
... Clean the plane yourself....
Be careful; from AOPA, "An aircraft renter with a distillery-produced sanitizer meant well, but improper disinfecting techniques damaged the instrument panels of two Cessna 172s at Florida’s Atlas Aviation and required costly repairs." https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media...r-disinfectant-appears-to-damage-two-skyhawks

I have two suggestions, one pricey, one free:

If you have the means now might be a good time to purchase an airplane, nothing safer from covid than being 6,000' away from other humans.

The best use of your time might be to start work on your next rating. There's plenty to learn for IFR and it'll be handy when you start flying regularly again. Pilotedge has 20+ hrs of excellent IFR training workshops (and they're free) https://www.pilotedge.net/workshops No, I'm not connected to PilotEdge in any way.
 
You said you’re using simulators. Set the sim to real time weather, then go brief the flight and fly it. You’ll learn a lot about how briefings translate to real world conditions
 
Be careful; from AOPA, "An aircraft renter with a distillery-produced sanitizer meant well, but improper disinfecting techniques damaged the instrument panels of two Cessna 172s at Florida’s Atlas Aviation and required costly repairs." https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media...r-disinfectant-appears-to-damage-two-skyhawks

Ooo, that's a shame. Atlas is my FBO. Most of their aircraft have really sweet glass panels.

To the OP: go fly, man. You're not gonna get COVID in an airplane by yourself.
 
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