Armchair flying
Not exciting, but effective
Or perhaps it’s a combination of factors: your work life, your family responsibilities, the inconsistent weather, or the availability of an airplane. At any rate, you’re looking at staying on the ground for an extended period and you don’t like it. Not one bit.
Shake your fist at the gods, then go home and start chair flying. This is a time-honored tradition, and an excellent way to keep yourself somewhat sharp while you’re stuck on the ground.
Grab your checklist. Sit in a chair. Go through the pre-start and start-up checklist. Point to each dial, knob, button, or lever as if it’s there in front of you. Now “fly” a pattern, making your radio calls and calling out airspeeds, required altitude, noise restrictions, and anything else that pins the sequence more firmly into your brain. Don’t forget your pre-landing checklist.
Practice flows. These are the sequences you’ll use in the event of an emergency, such as an engine failure. The goal is to imprint that sequence so that you’ll have it in the event of an actual engine failure.
Talk to yourself. Chair flying is especially suitable for practicing radio communications, because who’s going to hear you? You can stumble all you like without fear of embarrassment. Listen to LiveATC.net, choose an airport—it doesn’t have to be yours—and immerse yourself in the back-and-forth between controllers and pilots. As you get more comfortable with the sequence of directions, you can choose an aircraft and repeat the pilot’s radio calls (or substitute your own if you think you could do a better job).
Training for the instrument rating? Get out a chart, choose a fix and a heading, and then choose which type of hold you would enter. Get an approach plate, pretend you’re 15 miles from the airport, and brief that approach. Do this out loud.
You can make chair flying as high- or low-tech as you like. For a higher-tech experience, invest in a flight simulator program and devise and fly your own routes. For an extra dose of reality, join the VATSIM community, connect your flight sim to its network, and enjoy real-time air traffic control guidance from other VATSIM members.
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