Sadly this week we’re not going flying, but there are loads of things you can do as a private pilot to make the most of your time when you’re not flying. I made this video of my top 21 pilot tips to try and maximise your time and help prepare you for the next time you are flying.
Now some of the tips may not be relevant to you, and some are presented in a slightly tongue-in-cheek way, but hopefully you’ll get some ideas for ways in which you can make the most of your time when you’re wishing you were at the airport.
To make things more interesting I also tried to edit these tips for pilots down to 60 seconds.
Video: 21 tips for pilots in 60 seconds
My 21 tips for pilots in full
And if you don’t want to watch the video, here’s the full list of all of those tips:
- Chair fly your next flight from start to finish practising all your radio calls
- Start reading that aviation book you got for Christmas
- Plan the dream flight you’re going to do when you get your next rating
- Check out what all the other pilots are up to on YouTube
- Go plane spotting
- Go through all your old maps and throw out the ones that are outdated
- Study the synoptic charts and try to predict what the weather’s going to do tomorrow
- Buy unnecessary aviation t-shirts
- Run all those software updates on your electronic flight bag
- Declutter your flight bag
- Replace all those batteries in your torches and headsets
- Get friends and family members to surprise you with engine failures
- Do some practise weight and balance calculations
- Do some practise 1 in 60 calculations
- Clean all your lenses
- Stay healthy, get some exercise
- Sharpen all your pencils
- Book in 30 minutes with your instructor for a quick chat about your progress so far
- Revise your VMC minima and Class D separation requirements
- Log on to LiveATC and start practising some radio calls
- And thank all those people in your life that make aviation possible for you