Oof. The literal ups and downs of progression.

[CerroTorre]

Had one of those days of flying that felt very much like two steps backwards. And of course it happened while taking my BFR.

Has anyone else gotten completely thrown off their game by (after a long time just flying on your own) suddenly having an instructor next to you, telling you what they want to see? Through absolutely no fault of the CFI, I found myself repeatedly flying to their demands, instead of flying the airplane. Terrible speed control, behind the airplane, imprecise glide slope control, etc. On the same tasks that feel every day and casual otherwise.

My takeaways were that I am way out of practice in being instructed and that these basic skills are (obviously) not yet cooked into my DNA. I did not split my attention well, did not focus on flying (stick and rudder) and instead focused on pleasing. I focused on the numbers they wanted, which left me outside of the usual references I use to fly, and suddenly I flew neither their standard or my standard very well. Was I safe? Yes. Was it pretty? Absolutely not. Did I learn anything. Yep - lots.

So a "successful" BFR. Sure. But it gives me pause as I head toward future checkrides. Being assessed and flying with another pilot is a skill as much as any other skill. And I was bad at it.

I set high standards for myself. I think we all should and most do. I've flown with some of the best stick and rudder pilots in existence (truly) ... so I've seen what possibilities exist at that level. And unfortunately I am the type of perfectionist that has a difficult time separating my assessment of my skill level (sub-500 hours) from my assessment of their flying (20k+ hours).

Still progression is the entire point, imho. How do folks get their focus back after getting bucked off the horse a little? What gets you back into the game when you feel out of the game? Specific tasks in the airplane? How to shake the mental funk of feeling like a schmuck? =) Cheers and happy flying, even on the "bad" days. =)

 

[steingar]

During one of my BFRs I completely forgot to adjust the trim and flaps in my airplane, and came close to a departure stall as a result. It was the CFI, I never forget that stuff.

I frequently have long inactive periods in the wintertime. Just not a lot of flyable weather. I get back in I do a bunch of landings, try and shake the rust off. First one is usually crap too.

 

[CerroTorre]

Yeah, it's strange how we can behave differently based on those changes in the environment. I take it as a good reminder that I am not always fully aware of how I am being affected by things going on around me. When I do something strange with a CFI that I'm convinced I never do otherwise I need to understand why. "I never forget that stuff" ... except this time I did "forget that stuff". So what caused that to happen? Could I maybe be missing it when I forget that some thing at other times - oblivious to my mistake?

I come from an old school style of instructing/learning. I learned in the early 90s, then stopped flying until a few years ago, and now am being forced to understand, and unlearn, the habits I developed back 20-25 years ago. Even after several years of flying now in a more "modern era" I STILL battle those old habits.

Flowchecks, checklists, procedures or relating training scenarios to real world application. Those were often glossed over back in the 90s - at least with me. I was passably competent as a stick and rudder pilot back then, and that allowed me to fly by feel, and develop very few ingrained procedural habits as I transitioned to other aircraft, and other instructional styles. Even a quarter century later, those seat-of-the-pants habits are still ingrained. And now, when forced to accept an instructor giving me particulars again, I get distracted by the new learning environment, lose my "feel" for the plane, lose the ability to take in information about how the plane is responding, and focus on the limited goal of hitting the "number" the CFI wants. My bandwidth shrinks and my flying gets chunky and stilted.

Anyway, it's all part of learning and getting better. My ego took a hit with that BFR but everything is a learning opportunity. C'est la vie.

 

[Daleandee]

Sometimes I get in the plane and it just bonds with me. I can nail the centerline, the trim falls exactly into climb mode, the flaps are up at the correct moment, scan (inside and outside) are focused and on target, radio work is spot on, etc. But there are days when I can't quite seem to get that smooth rhythm going along and I feel a bit out of sync although I'm safe to fly and all goes pretty good I'm not satisfied with myself.

It's good to critique yourself but don't be too judgmental as we are all humans. We strive for perfection, and we should, but sometimes it just ain't gonna be a great day. I have a flight review coming up soon so what you wrote has given me some incentive to work on making it a great flying day for me and the CFI.

 

[Clip4]

Funny how a good flight review can humble folks.

 

[Seth.A]

While working on my PPL, I noticed on my first solo XC that I was having a much easier time staying ahead of the plane without that extra weight in the right seat. I was able to think and plan several steps ahead, rather than just trying to react to the specific task a CFI asked me to do. I think its just difficult to really get into a flow when the plan is being flown by a split brain. I've not had the pleasure of a BFR yet, but I can totally see how that would throw you off after flying by yourself for a long time.

 

[Daleandee]

Funny how a good flight review can humble folks.

I've been privileged to have a couple. It was interesting when the instructor asked what I would do if the control stick locked up and then said, "it is, whatcha gonna do?" With the rudder, power, trim, flaps, etc., I soon had us lined up for a landing. Just before the flare he gave me the controls for a go around. Practicing control system failures don't seem to be very common.