Are You Actively Flying Enough

Over the past few months, I have been talking with mechanics in the aviation industry who I encounter, and I have been asking a question, “What is the average number of hours you see owners fly their aircraft between annual inspections?”

 

The answer is surprisingly low for many general aviation aircraft owners. I regularly get answers of 16-20 hours per year. I have even talked to a few mechanics who say they have clients who only average 3-5 hours of flying per year between inspections. In these cases, it works out to going out and staying current with the 3 takeoffs and landings every 90 days and the time it takes to fly the aircraft back and forth to where they get the annual done.

 

Owning an aircraft is a dream come true for many aviation enthusiasts. It provides unparalleled freedom, flexibility, and the joy of flying on your own terms. However, one of the critical aspects of aircraft ownership is how much time owners actually spend flying their planes each year.

 

The average flight time for aircraft owner pilots can vary significantly based on several factors, including the aircraft type, the purpose of ownership, geographical location, and personal schedule. However, it sure seems to me that many general aviation aircraft owners fly their aircraft very few hours per year.

 

According to some data from general aviation surveys, aircraft owner pilots have been perceived to typically fly between 50 to 100 hours per year. This range accounts for both leisure and business flying. Even if we take this number and assume the business flying operators are flying more, they pull the average up to this range. I have to think that if we were able to separate out the business fliers from our numbers and just look at pleasure-flying aircraft owners, it would work out very close to what my mechanic contacts are telling me.

 

This raises a question: Are these owners flying enough to be not just current but proficient and safe? Those are two very different things.

 

Many owners don’t fly very often, and their planes sit in the hangar most of the year. They stay “current” and maybe fly a couple of trips for holidays or visit some family a couple of times a year between periodic and minimal flights to reset landing currency.

 

But landings aren’t the only thing we need to stay proficient at as pilots, are they? The skills required to manage slow flight, maneuvering, cross-country planning and flights, operating with ATC services, and what it takes to stretch our legs and go to other airports are all part of that mix. Exercising those skills more frequently improves our skills and keeps them sharp.

 

It is easy for us to think about going flying, and then “life” gets in the way, and we put it off for another day. We always tell ourselves, “I will fly the plane this weekend,” but then have the weekend get busy. Two or three weekends like this in a row, and quickly it becomes a month or two between our flights. This can be especially easy to let happen in portions of the country where seasonal weather really hits our flying hard, and the plane ends up in the hangar a lot more. I also know flying is expensive, but so are the consequences of not staying proficient when a flight goes bad.

 

If you are reading this and thinking, “Yeah, I am one of these pilots who doesn’t get to use my plane much; this article is talking about me!” I can offer a couple of things that might be easy first steps to increasing proficiency.

 

Fly more frequently, but on shorter flights.

 

You don’t have to fly a 3-hour cross-country flight to stay proficient. In fact, longer flights also can degrade our skills. We just sit there as we cruise and don’t do much else for most of the flight. Take more frequent flights during which you keep those skills in exercise. The law of exercise indicates that the more frequently we do something, the better our skills remain. Shorter flights let us not incur the time or financial cost like longer ones do. Even a quick 45 minutes on the way home from work can be a good thing to do. Plus, isn’t going flying after work a great way to wind down and get work out of your mind?

 

Fly to other nearby airports to exercise skills.

 

Just going to another nearby airport, even one 20 or 30 miles away, forces you to use new traffic patterns, navigate different runway and taxiway orientations, and maybe use ATC or different CTAF frequencies along the way. All of these things reengage those skills and make you rebuild proficiency.

 

Make flying friends.

 

You don’t always have to be the pilot, either. Go flying with others and take others flying with you. Find some buddy pilots you fly with. You might split up radio and flying duties on such a flight between you. Just being in a plane and actively engaging keeps your “brain in the game.” It helps. No, it might not always be loggable, but it can be a way to keep your mind engaged with flying activities more frequently.

 

Set a goal for proficiency and hold yourself to it. Make time in your life to fly if you own a plane. You have the asset, use it. The plane will be happier too.

 

At some point, aircraft owners also need to critically evaluate their flight activities and honestly decide if continued ownership is a good thing. There does come a point in every pilot’s (and aircraft owner’s) life when it is also time to hang up the game. If you are at a point where you can’t afford to fly your aircraft and don’t expect that to change anytime soon or have hit an age where you don’t feel comfortable with your skills anymore, or have any other life conditions that make it unlikely you will actively fly again. In that case, it might be time to hang up flying. No one wants to face that, but a critical evaluation of your own life situation might lead you to that realistic decision point. In such a case, you might sell your aircraft and see the next generation make more use of it than you can. It isn’t a bad thing to leave as a legacy of your aviation experience, either.

 

I hope this isn’t the case for you, but if it is, that’s OK.

 

If you are going to continue owning and flying your own aircraft, you might just need to re-focus, prioritize, and make better use of your aircraft. Focus on your proficiency in flying to make sure when you do need to use your aircraft, you won’t have just flown the minimum hours. Practice more skills than just landings. Don’t let yourself become the owner who the mechanics see only fly a few minimum hours per year between those annual inspections. At least if you do this, the cost per hour of flight compared with the cost of the annual inspection will look better and you will be getting more out of your investment.

 

In the end, perhaps you can use this discussion as an excuse to fly more. I mean, just to be safer, right?

 

 

Jason Blair is an active single- and multi-engine instructor and an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner with over 6,000 hours total time, over 3,000 hours instruction given, and more than 3000 hours in aircraft as a DPE. In his role as Examiner, over 2,000 pilot certificates have been issued. He has worked for and continues to work with multiple aviation associations with a focus on pilot training and testing. His experience as a pilot and instructor spans nearly 20 years and includes over 100 makes and models of aircraft flown. Jason has published works in many aviation publications, a full listing of which can be found at www.jasonblair.net.

 

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