Episode #18 – Aircraft Accidents, Recurrent Training, & Pilot Proficiency

Both Carl and Len are airline pilots and go through a great deal of recurrent flight and ground training each year. As an airline Captain, Carl has recurrent ground training once a year and recurrent simulator every six months. As an airline First Office, Len has has the same except his simulator training is only once every 12 months.

As general aviation pilots, we’re only required to have a flight review every 24 months. Do you think that’s safe? Do you think that’s enough to maintain your proficiency for your flight certificates? During this episode, we spent a great deal of time discussing recurrent pilot training, how to stay proficient, and sharing co-host methods for staying safe in their respective aircraft including some excellent reasons why recurrent training is not only important, but extremely beneficial.

Pre-Flight

You may recall in a previous episode the announcement that Victoria was hosting a Women Fly it Forward event at the Frederick Municipal Airport, Frederick, MD KFDK on March 10th. This day is an opportunity for women of all ages to experience their very first airplane ride for FREE as a way to promote aviation to more women. Victoria is PROUD TO ANNOUNCE that ERA pilot Sarah Fraher of Flying Wild Alaska fame will be in attendance at Women Fly It Forward to help promote and share aviation with the ladies in attendance. Don’t miss this event on March 10th! Register today – seats are filling up fast.

Cruise Flight

After Landing Checklist

~ Picks of The Week ~

Rick – Gene Benson Aviation

Victoria – US Wings Pilot Shop

Len – GoPro Hero 2 HD Video Camera. Camera capabilities: Glasair Demo Flight & Women Fly It Forward Promo example videos

Carl – Tailwinds Cafe

Listen to Episode 18 Below

3 Pilots, 2 Airplanes, 1 Camera – Behind The Scenes of Women Fly It Forward

I woke up the other day to a text message from Victoria, one of my co-hosts on the Stuck Mic AvCast, asking me if I’d be available to film a promo video for her Women Fly It Forward event. Well I happen to love airplanes and making videos and hanging out at the airport so naturally I said yes.

The idea was to capture some footage of Victoria explaining the success of her 2011 event and inviting new participants to register for the 2012 event. It’s on March 10, 2012 by the way and just in case you don’t know, the goal of Women Fly It Forward is to introduce women to general aviation by giving them a FREE ride in a small plane. A worthy cause it would turn out as 185 women participated in 2011! Not bad for the first time.

That event won Frederick Municipal Airport, in Frederick, MD the “Most Female-Pilot-Friendly Airport Worldwide” award for 2011. A second and equally awesome accomplishment. Getting back to the promo video – we met at the airport over the weekend with airplanes, video cameras, and other film gear for what would turn out to be a chilly afternoon on the “set.” Having access to some airplanes we pulled the Cessna 172 out of the hangar for a nice back drop. We also did some filming in front of a Glasair but that didn’t make the cut in editing.

After freezing our butts off for 2 hours filming in the winter wind, we finally had all we needed and called it a wrap. Then it was off to warm up over dinner, dessert, and a live band.