Frequent Flying Leads to Piloting Success
Success! Learning to fly brings pilots a wonderful and rewarding feeling. Successful flying requires many things, but most pilots and instructors believe that flying frequently is the key. However, “frequently” is a relative term. For some, flying frequently means at least twice per week. For others with busy schedules, twice per week may be nearly impossible.
Most of the people who are learning to fly at Sweet Aviation have a full-time job as well as a family begging for their time. But I’ve seen many of these people find a way to make it happen — and they love it because frequent flying helps them enjoy success.
There are other important benefits to flying frequently. With less time between lessons, the material from your previous lesson stays fresher. This means you can make more forward progress with each flight and spend less time reviewing the previous lesson. Not only does this save you money, but it also provides you with a greater sense of accomplishment and boosts your enthusiasm for the next step. Some of us have experienced the frustration of feeling somewhat trapped in a rut of endless review.
As flight instructors, this is something we’re particularly watchful for as individuals approach such milestones as their first solo flight or a check-ride. In addition to allowing you to review a plan or a syllabus for completing your goal during each pre-flight and post-flight briefing, flying frequently ensures your steady progress toward completion of your goal — and bringing you that great feeling of success.
In addition to finding time in your busy schedule, you may find the cost of flying frequently to be a challenge for balancing a budget. Please let us know if the expense presents an issue for you, and I’d be happy to discuss options for keeping you flying frequently — even on a limited budget. And to overcome the challenge of finding the time to fly frequently, I recommend scheduling multiple flights in advance. Flight Schedule Pro makes this fairly easy for you to do, via the “recurring” check box on the reservation window. If you haven’t done so already, please consider taking advantage of this option for scheduling multiple flights in advance. If the weather is bad, you can meet for ground instruction — at least for an hour or so. This will help to keep you moving forward and feeling good about your progress.
Learning to fly should be an extremely satisfying and rewarding accomplishment, and the journey to get there should be half the fun. Fly frequently, with a good plan of action that ensures an enjoyable journey and a timely completion of your training goal. In my opinion, that equals success! If for any reason your training process is not going as well as you’d like, please let us know. I’d love to meet with you and find a solution that will guarantee success by keeping you happily flying frequently.