posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Sep 18
After nearly four years of no flying, I am again current to fly myself and passengers! 2.1 hours of instruction (over two flights) was enough to get me comfortable in the cockpit again, and my instructor signed me off for both my Biennial Flight Review and to rent aircraft from the flight school with no instructor needed to come along.
Getting back into a plane was a little weird after such a long absence…. I had to read the checklists very closely just to remember what certain things meant - even on the preflight - and I had to repeat several things because I had forgotten to do them… even though they were right there in front of my eyes, in writing, on the checklist!
I had a little trouble starting the engine on the first flight, but the second went smoothly. It didn’t feel very real to me until I started doing maneuvers - specifically steep turns - on the first flight. Once I felt the extra Gs of steep turns though, It started to come back to me pretty quickly. The first landing since October of 2003 was a little ugly - picture a dollar sign ($). The straight line is the runway and the S is the path I was flying the plane trying to land… It didn’t help that it was also at night!
The second flight we did mostly touch and goes at a small airport to the south of the field we departed from - and I started to get my bearings back on landings. By the end of the second flight, my instructor was pretty much staring out the window as I did all the flying and radio calls.
Finally! I’m ready and raring to go at this thing again… I even feel like I’m a better driver when I’m a current pilot. 
Anybody interested in helping pay for flight training? I’ll put up a PayPal donation button soon… and tell people about this blog! Every little bit helps.
Fair Winds,
Andrew
