Comments on: 8 years as a licensed pilot https://lahso.megginson.com/2010/08/29/8-years-as-a-licensed-pilot/ Flying a small plane. Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:26:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: davidmegginson https://lahso.megginson.com/2010/08/29/8-years-as-a-licensed-pilot/#comment-1739 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:26:31 +0000 http://lahso.megginson.com/?p=411#comment-1739 In reply to Patrick Pohler.

Absolutely right, Patrick.

I wish I could have loved local recreational flying more, because it would have been less work (and money) and a great social experience, but I was bitten by the distant-horizons bug. On the most recent page of my log book, every single flight was cross-country.

In Canada, maintaining an instrument rating is an even bigger hassle than in the U.S. — we have to keep up currency like you do (we call it “recency”), but we also have to retake the entire IFR flight test every two years with an examiner in the right seat.

I wouldn’t bother if I didn’t need it, but I would have had to cancel or postpone almost half my flights this summer without an instrument rating: when you’re flying 200-500 nm in the summer, there’s often IMC somewhere along the route even when the airports at both ends are good VFR.

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By: Patrick Pohler https://lahso.megginson.com/2010/08/29/8-years-as-a-licensed-pilot/#comment-1737 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:32:13 +0000 http://lahso.megginson.com/?p=411#comment-1737 Its good to find a level of recreational flying that suits your needs and desires. I’ve let my instrument lapse simply because I don’t do a lot of long cross-country flying. I’m usually stuck between the desire to keep up my instrument proficiency (to protect my training “investment”) and my pocketbook/time. I’ve found that while I have a lot of fun training for a new certification or rating, after I get it I revert to puttering around the pattern or short $100 hamburger trips in central Ohio.

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