Robinson R22 helicopter at a private site

Preparing to fly again – guide for GA pilots

With the recent relaxation of lockdown restrictions now allowing recreational flying, many of you may be thinking about getting into the air again.

Of course all pilots regardless of experience will inevitably incur some level of skills fade over time. Even if you flew in the days immediately prior to lockdown you still would have been out of the cockpit for a significant period.

Aware of this, the CAA has issued guidance for general aviation pilots returning to flying. We strongly advise everyone reads this, even if you are not planning to go flying imminently, as it will get you thinking about how you need to prepare to get back behind the controls.

Some of the key points are:

  • Are you fit and well? Don’t even think about going flying if you have Covid-19 symptoms
  • Is your licence and medical current?
  • Remember before carrying passengers currency requirements still apply
  • If you’re an owner make sure your aircraft maintenance and documents are up-to-date
  • Make your self aware of any procedural changes at the airport (eg changes in air traffic provision)
  • Do an extra thorough Check A before flight
  • Make your first flight in a local area in good weather
  • Do a ‘hangar flight’ – give yourself a few minutes in the cockpit to re-familiarise yourself with it
  • Take extra time on your first flight and use checklists

The CAA advise that low-hour pilots, those with low hours on a new type or new flying qualification or those that have not flown for a while should consider getting a check flight with an instructor once restrictions are lifted further and dual-training is possible. At Advance we think this is really important so have taken the decision not to go ahead with self-fly-hire until such a time.

Hopefully, training will be allowed again in the coming weeks and at Advance we’re preparing for this. In the meantime we would strongly recommend reading the CAA guidance now so you can get in the preparation mindset and be ready as soon as we get the green light. Another resource worth looking at is the GASCO presentation on returning to flying.

Flying Rewards

Here is a quick update of some of the recent happenings at Advance Helicopters.

We’ve been rattling through various student successes recently including:

1st Solo Flights – Rob and Christian

Cross Country Qualifying Flights – Sara and Alex

Type Rating Tests Passed – Adrian, Tony and Lulu

PPL Tests Passed – Piers, Will, Manuel, Tony

CPL Tests Passed – James and Ed

Congratulations to all our students on passing these great milestones.

 

We also had a fantastic flyout with four helicopters (see picture above) to West Kent Shooting School. They have a great location to land and provided us with some excellent facilities for a really fun day of clay pigeon shooting. A great day was had by all – just don’t ask who can first and who came last!?!

If you’d like to discuss any of our training or the social side of flying helicopters then feel free to drop in for a chat, or for more details contact us  and see how we can help you enjoy life to the full.

ELCAS Approval

Advance Helicopters is pleased to announce that it now approved for the MOD’s Enhanced Learning Credits Administration Service (ELCAS) scheme.

This means that we can now offer armed services personnel the opportunity to use their Enhanced Learning Credits (ELC) to help pay for their pilot training. 

The ELCAS scheme can be a very valuable financial help to service personnel looking at training as a pilot. Now with Advance Helicopters ELCAS approval any scheme payments can be made direct to the training provider making life quick and easy for the candidate. 15

If you’d like to discuss any of our training for military personnel or the ELCAS scheme then feel free to drop in for a chat, or for more details contact us and see how we can help you today.

In House Examiner

Advance Helicopters is pleased to announce that it now has an in-house Flight Examiner (FE).

Thanks to our Head of Training now gaining his Flight Examiner rating we are able to offer PPL(H) Skills Tests and Proficiency Checks with even more convenience and flexibility than before. 

This adds to our in-house skill set on top of the services we could already offer such as Ground Examiner and Instrument Proficiency Checks.

If you’d like to discuss any of our in-house training or testing then feel free to drop in for a chat, or for more details contact us  and see how we can help you today.