AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014 - 84

P&E

PROFICIENCY

II. "I got to fly with a lot of old timers,"
he recalls. The lessons they taught him
stick with him to this day. Among them is
a standard of achievement sketched out by
a captain he flew with in his younger days.
The older pilot said, "There's three kinds
of pilots. There's regular pilots; there's the
intermediate pilots-they're the professionals; and, ultimately, you become an
artist. Son, anything you do, you want to
become an artist."
AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE, the FAA has a
thing or two to say about the flight review.
It starts with Federal Aviation Regulation
61.56, which requires a minimum of one
hour of ground training and one hour of
flight training to complete a flight review.
A review of Part 91 is required, as are the
maneuvers the instructor deems necessary to demonstrate the safe operation
of the aircraft in the system. The FAA is
interested in proficiency. It produces a document that can be downloaded as a PDF
from the Internet for free, "Conducting an
Effective Flight Review" (www.faa.gov/
pilots/training/media/flight_review.pdf ).
While a minority of flight instructors will utilize this document on their
own, very few pilots likely will ever read
it. That's unfortunate because this short
publication covers everything from managing expectations to establishing a training
plan to filling an ever-expanding number
of deficiencies. Changing regulations; the
installation of advanced technologies, both
in the aircraft and on the ground; and even
the introduction of new maneuvers to the
practical test standards for various pilot
certifications virtually guarantee all pilots
will have a hole in their knowledge base at
some point.
What about Pierce? Does the pilot who
spins and rolls and zips over the surface
of the Earth with the dirty side up have
limitations? "Absolutely," he says. "I don't
hesitate to tell people that."
Being really good at what you do isn't
about knowing everything. It's often about
knowing where you are weak, and putting
in action a plan to strengthen that weakness.

84 | AOPA PILOT September 2014

It was many years ago that Pierce
decided he wasn't as good at instrument flying or multiengine flying as he would like to
be. So he chose to focus his career on singleengine operations in VFR conditions.
With those self-acknowledged limitations in mind, it's no wonder Pierce's
greatest challenge during his flight review
wasn't VFR cloud clearance limits or airspace rules. No, his greatest challenge
was stepping out of the Stearman with
which he is so closely associated and
taking the controls of a Cessna 172. "It's
strange, almost like I never flew a Cessna
172 before," he said. "I remember how the
rudder felt different, but it's only the sec-

Being really good at what
you do isn't about knowing
everything. It's often about
knowing where you are
weak, and putting in action
a plan to strengthen that
weakness.
ond time I've flown anything other than a
Stearman in four years."
Add to that slight disorientation
because of the Garmin G1000 glass panel
in the aircraft, and it isn't hard to see how
even a highly skilled pilot with logbooks
full of flight time might have a hurdle or
two to clear during a flight review. The
Stearman, by contrast, has a decidedly analog instrument panel.
In this respect Pierce is not much different from the rest of us. The flight review
isn't about being the best pilot on the block.
Its purpose is to discover the pilot's level of
understanding and ability to perform basic
maneuvers and tasks in an aircraft they are
rated to fly.
"It's actually a commercial pilot checkride to commercial pilot standards," says
Alcorn of Pierce's flight review. That's
because Pierce is a commercial pilot. A sport
pilot flight review would reference the sport

pilot standards and a private pilot's flight
review would reference the private pilot
standards. "Basically, I use the PTS [practical test standard]," says Alcorn.
That choice of using the PTS as a guide
rather than basing the outcome of the flight
review on personal opinion or the strength
of a friendship is what makes Alcorn as
professional and highly skilled in his field
as Pierce is in his. "You would be surprised
how many pilots can't plan a cross-country,"
Alcorn says. He peppers his customers with
questions designed to find their strengths
and weaknesses. "How much fuel can
we take? What is the daytime VFR [fuel]
reserve?" These questions and more pop
up in the ground and flight portions of the
flight review. The pilot has answered all
of them before, although it may have been
many years ago for some.
"It's not about what you know," Alcorn
says. "It's about finding out what you don't
know." It's also about filling the holes in the
customer's knowledge base so they can be
safer and more confident when they fly. "I'm
glad to work with them," Alcorn says. "I'll
sit down with them and do a weight and
balance."
Alcorn tells the story of a highly experienced Hawker business jet pilot who was
thinking about buying a lighter aircraft. For
all his flight time and experience, he hadn't
flown VFR in nearly 25 years. So before
making the purchase he enrolled in a private pilot ground school and used it as a
thorough refresher course.
How did Pierce do on the flight portion
of his review? "He pulled out the checklist
and used it to do the preflight," Alcorn said.
"He's got the checklist on his leg and uses
it while he flies the maneuvers." Which is
exactly what an examiner wants to see on
a commercial pilot checkride, and what an
instructor wants to see on a flight review.
"Walt is the ultimate professional,"
Alcorn says. Sure sounds like a successful
flight review endorsement-and a green
light to fly for another two years.
AOPA
JAMIE BECKETT is a pilot and writer living in

Winter Park, Florida.
http://www.faa.gov/pilots/training/media/flight_review.pdf http://www.faa.gov/pilots/training/media/flight_review.pdf
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014
