Have you been out of the skies for more than 90 days? Or maybe for years, but plan to return someday soon? If so, you may want to attend one of AOPA’s Rusty Pilot seminars!
As you know, sometimes life gets in the way. For pilots, flying is rarely their top priority as they build families and careers. But the dream of flight never goes away and most pilots plan to get back into aviation someday, when time and money permit. So maybe NOW is your time to start returning to the skies. Getting into the air again is not as difficult as most pilots think and AOPA is rolling out Rusty Pilot presentations around the country to help get you back in the sky.
You can find a list of all Rusty Pilot presentations here. And in you’re in the San Francisco Bay area, I encourage you to register for one of the two Rusty Pilot seminars I’ll be giving in Palo Alto on behalf of AOPA. Just click to register for the Wednesday, July 23 at 7 PM seminar or September 13 at 9:30 AM seminar. If you know an inactive pilot, tell him or her about the seminar!
Noncurrent pilots come in all varieties. For some, their 90-day currency has lapsed, while others haven't flown for five, ten or even thirty years. And some student pilots never quite get around to finishing their pilot training! Regardless of how long you've been away from the controls, Rusty Pilots will sharpen your aviation knowledge and update you on recent changes in aviation.
The Rusty Pilots program is designed to acquaint returning pilots to the changing flight environment. Discussion includes use of newer technology, changes in the airspace system, new resources available to pilots, and much more. Most importantly, this program fulfills the ground instruction requirement of your Flight Review (formerly called a biennial flight review or BFR). Rusty Pilots was designed to address recent changes in the world of flying. Regulatory discussions include light sport aircraft, medical requirements, airspace, and common regulations. Weather includes TAFs, METARs, Internet briefing, and FSS/ Flight Watch. Operation discussions include traffic patterns, communications, incursion avoidance, and pilot responsibilities.
So why is AOPA doing the Rusty Pilot program? Last year, they discovered that there are more than 500,000 lapsed pilots in the United States under the age of 75! And when the survey some of these pilots, they found the vast majority of them planned to return to the skies someday. So helping these pilots get back into the sky is a great opportunit for growing GA.
If you're a noncurrent pilot in the S.F. Bay area, I hope to see you at one of my seminars!