Back in the cockpit: first post-deployment flight
Forgetting how to fly while in the sandbox
Early last spring I received word that the Air Force Reserve would be activating me for an overseas tour. As a result I buckled down and re-focused on my flight training because deploying to the other side of the world would force me to let my flying skills lapse. Two months before leaving I took, and passed, my private pilot check ride.
The sheer busyness of deployment preparations prevented anything other than a couple of celebratory flights before hanging up my headset and putting on the uniform. Although I knew that it would be more than half a year before I got back into the cockpit of an airplane, I had hoped that I would be able to use some of my downtime to work on my instrument ground school. Before leaving I signed up for an online self-study program and headed off to the Middle East with the best of intentions of coming back ready to take my written test and dig into the world of IFR flight training.
In the end, the mental aspect of my deployment proved to be extremely demanding and I simply did not have the energy or focus to devote to academics. More often than not, at the end of the day I grabbed my Kindle or a paperback novel, read for a short while, and then crashed. Quite simply, sleep was far more important than study. As a result, I returned to the United States with some very atrophied aviation muscles.
Carefully chaperoned baby step back into the air
Although my newly minted private pilot certificate meant that it would be legal for me to jump back into the airplane the moment I returned to Dexter, my plan had always been to get back with my instructor for a few hours of refresher training. Legal currency is quite a different thing than actual proficiency. Additionally, the fact that I am an extremely low time pilot means that I have less of a foundation to build on, making months of disused flying skills is even more challenging to overcome.
It took a few weeks before I was able to reconnect with my instructor. We have had a wet and rainy spring and my work schedule has been busy ever since I got back home. We talked on the phone a couple of times, but were never able to get a reorientation flight scheduled.
In the end, we finally bumped into each other at a mutual friend’s hangar. Our friend was working on the recalcitrant engine of his homebuilt airplane and needed someone to sit in the cockpit to turn on the ignition from time to time. While I am useless at turning a wrench, I know how to follow a start-up checklist. Mostly, I was the cheering squad for our friend’s mechanical efforts. My instructor saw us finishing up for the day and offered to take me up for an hour’s diagnostic flight to see what I needed to work on.
After checking the flight club schedule to make sure that the plane was free, we got in and took off into a clear blue afternoon sky. The plan was simple. I was to do some maneuvers and a few touch and goes. Because it was a bit of a surprise lesson I did not have time to make myself too nervous. At the same time I was very grateful to have my instructor sitting beside me.
Overall, it felt good to be back in the air, but the truth of the matter is that I was always a step behind the airplane. My maneuvers were rough and I found myself breathing hard when we got close to stalls. Pattern work was reasonably decent, but I was unable to maintain a consistent glide slope on approach. More than once I was corrected for being too high or too low. At one point we exchanged the controls and I followed through with him on a trip around the field.
Still much work to do
Because he was with me I did not bend the airplane or hurt myself. On the other hand, it showed me just how far my skills have deteriorated in half a year. Our plan is to keep flying together for a few more hours and use this process as a flight review.
As much as I look forward to flying solo again, the reality is that proficiency is very fragile. Safety is paramount and I am blessed to be able to work with such a skilled and experienced aviation mentor. In the meantime, I will keep training and dreaming of the first overnight cross country flight my wife and I get to take together.
