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Description
Let's be honest. Our ADF tracking skills were probably the sharpest on the day we passed our instrument checkride. Since then, many pilots' ADF skills have atrophied to a point where an NDB approach without a GPS is considered an emergency procedure. Rationalizing deteriorating skill by not accepting an NDB approach might be a solution were that the only skill that suffered. The truth is, without regular training all our instrument skills go south.
Worse yet is the reality that our personal standards are most likely the same standards we were tested against. Pilots who carry a Private ticket in their pocket are usually satisfied with private pilot performance. The reality is probably that pilots who don't participate in some sort of formal recurrent training would struggle to pass a flight check administered to Private Pilot standards.
Pilots who believe a BFR and instrument currency (mostly flown by the autopilot) will keep their skills at an acceptable level are fooling themselves and their passengers. These pilots have an equal chance of passing the aforementioned flight check or surviving a vacuum pump failure--about zero. If the rationalization to that scenario is a standby vacuum system, then the point in this missive is missed.
Raising the Bar
Even with regular proficiency training, instructors adjust their expectations to... |
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