Spring is now upon us and it’s time to start thinking about returning to flying! If you’ve had the winter off, we’re here to guide you through the important things to consider before getting back into your aircraft.

For this episode we’re joined by James Shipp and Tom Gravett from the CAA General Aviation Unit to discuss pilot currency, aircraft airworthiness and airfield conditions.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for areas that you’d like us to cover in this podcast, please get in touch at gapodcast@caa.co.uk.

Related information

• Safety Animation – Returning to flying, pre flight checklist
• Safety Animation – Loss of Control: Stall and Spin Awareness
• Safety Animation – Flying in Cloud
• The Skyway Code
• Safety Sense Leaflet - Care of Passengers
• Safety Sense Leaflet – Loss of Control: Stall and Spin Awareness
• Clued Up – Weight and Balance
• Astral Aviation Consulting Workshop – Skill Fade

Welcome to the general aviation podcast from the UK Civil Aviation Authority

Hello, and welcome to another episode of our general aviation podcast. My name is Marnie Burroughs and I will be your host for this session. In December, we released a podcast covering various aspects of winter flying. And since we're now coming to the end of the winter season, we're going to be talking about returning to flying post winter, and things we need to think about in the spring. On the podcast today, I'm joined by James Shipp and Tom Gravett from our general aviation policy team. If you can please both take a minute to introduce yourself your role at the CAA and a bit about your background in aviation.

I am James. I am a Policy Specialist in the GA policy team here at the CAA in my spare time, a PPL I fly PA28 and a bit of tailwheel at the southeast of England.

Hello, I'm Tom, also a policy specialist with the general aviation unit with a focus on airworthiness. I also fly the weekend I've got a CPL and an IR. But I do enjoy my aerobatics at the weekends also in the South East of England.

Perfect. Thanks both for joining us today. So there are a lot of things to consider when we're talking about returning to flying after the winter, around currency and aircraft air worthiness. So starting off with currency, what are things that general aviation pilots should be thinking about for their first flight back after some time off?

Well, Tom, I think let's go with first things first. When does your SEP expire?

That James is an excellent question. I don't know off the top of my head. But it's a great point. And my medical as well. I know that I've had it fairly recently, but they're valid, you know, last who's valid for like five years. So the question

I'm in that same camp with you, I don't know. I think it's in '25. Yeah, lord knows when I medical I did my medical check a few years ago. So I suppose the point I'm trying to make here is that there is a paperwork angle to do before you even look at or getting an aeroplane is to look at those documents that have been sat in your bag, perhaps for a few months and make sure that they are all good to go. The dates are still within their validity range and illegal to go flying. It's easy to forget.

So we're talking licences, ratings, medicals. Especially, you know, think about the mission that I think you're thinking of doing. If it's an instrument fight, for example, it's your instrument racing valid. You know, you got to start off with your licence and your SEP or MEP whatever it's you're flying. But yeah, just possibly be aware as well of the specific mission you're doing. Or rated for it. Yeah, absolutely. Very good point.

I'm very I'm very simple. Tom, I just have an SEP and PPL there's not a lot to lose, but I know experience manage yourself as might have a whole a whole litany that need to need to keep on top of it's a good point. I put myself probably in the in the rusty pilot category at the moment. Sure. I usually fly out the grass airfield, it's been flooded most of winter. And even last year was well, it was quite pants. Can I say pants? Or castle? Rubbish, rubbish increment, increment the weather. So look, I've not flown a whole lot. Say, I'm feeling rusty. And I think the first my certainly first port cause was structure. I had to do it anyway. Because I'm a renter, not an owner. And like most people, we have insurance and as a 30 day limit, so I had to get back into currency. You know that that instructor hour was really fastboot corks I knew I just wouldn't be on my game, as I normally be. Say that was that was part of my thinking getting back into season is that can I am I at that same level? It's assessing yourself and your own performance. Yeah,

absolutely. I think it's the same as like an aircraft a check if you like, but when yourself you know, you've got the AMSAFE acronym to use when you're getting back to flying Am I fit and well enough to be getting back to flying? Do I feel right on the day? And, you know, do I feel that I've got enough knowledge to carry on flying as well? You know, do I need to refresh anything? Do I need to look through some of those ppl books and remind myself of some of the key things that I think about when flying, you know, from the theory side, and then after that is looking, you know, at the day as well, you know, is the weather good enough? Are we skipping on a bit?

Yeah, no, no, no, I think I think yeah, the weather's you know, the weather is challenging. I think we I think we have a sort of perfect storm at the moment where the weather's not quite there but you've got a lot of pilots sitting on their hands and looking for that gap that just might be good enough. You know, but I was out the other day and visibility was not great. See The sun was lay the clouds are lay, you know, it was just about sort of marginal. And I think it would have been challenging. If I was say lay, especially with the with currency, I'm a VFR any pilot think yeah, if I hadn't had an instructor there, that would have been dicey. But I guess the weather puts that sort of artificial pressure on you, especially if you want to get going on and get the season going, you're starting to think about things, maybe you've got an aircraft that sat in a hangar that you own, and you're like, Oh, God, you know, that really needs some usage, it gets some usage out of it for my buck, you know, may be as those pressures there, and I think it's just being aware that you might not be as on it as you would be. And perhaps in a, if you have been at the top of your game, in the summer, last year flying leads, you know, towards autumn, you might have been pushing some of that weather, then taking a break for whatever reason, it's about recognising that you might not jump, jump yourself right back into that situation, or that there's maybe some skill failure, you might want to just ease yourself back in the simulator missions, do some flight plans, profiles that you're familiar with, rather than ask yourself straight to France or something, you know, take on those challenges. Again, it's, it's tricky, isn't it for us as a regulators kind of comment, because it's a really personal thing and feeling currency. It's not quite, it's not something you can quantify. I think, you know, we have the regulation, you know, we have the what set out in the SEP currency rules, or the MEP currency rules, or wherever you're flying, there will be some associated currency rules. But those are sort of the bare minimum and minimum of QAT, you really need to Eyespace part of the part of the game of flying, is the key yourself critically engaging in it? Is this a good idea? Do I feel happy about doing this? You know, and I think this time of year, especially is the time that we need to be thinking about that.

And as you said, going with an instructor as well is, you know, perfect way to get back into flying, you've got someone who should, you know, be current you know, they've had more opportunity to be flying. But it might be worth asking your instructor rather than just a normal checkout, it might be good to ask them for some scenario based training. We've all had the engine failure after takeoff, where you're sort of expecting it. But you know, what happens if you're in the cruise and you've got, you know, 20 Miles or.to, go to your destination, and you get a partial power failure? Do you recognise that you know, what you do with it? Does it call for immediate an immediate landing? Or can you count to destination, so might be quite good to look at those from failures point of view, but also stuff like stalling? Spinning, if you're, if you're also inclined, you know, to see those visual cues again, to fill those cues, and and how to deal with that scenario. How is your still recovery? Can you get the aircraft flying again? So yeah, good to speak to the instructor about not just a checkout for checkout sake. But can you get something valuable out of that lesson, and that that checkout? Are 100%?

I mean, nine times out of 10, you'll be you'll be paying for the pleasure, right? So I think it's about not being shy to ask the instructor for what you want. And a lot of us are guilty. A Joe pilots listening to the podcast, even myself, in some ways, guilty of just wanting to get through the checkout, you just want to get signed off on the aeroplane because you got a trip you want to do you want to start your season? You know what, yeah, you know, you could probably get away with with one quick stall, and a quick whizz round the PFL is Oh, yeah, it's good enough. Yeah, we would have made that why not back home to metals, but I think it's, is that going to help you in the long run? And what if something does happen? Right? How many failures are a spectacular engine failure, especially in the crews losing total power, I think the statistics are that that's actually the minority, much more likely to happen in a get gradual bleeding of power reduction to a lower level of power. And then you got decisions to make, I think, too few of us don't practice those decisions, not only on the ground, but also in the air, because it's a mental capacity game. And it comes right back to currency again, because the more current you are, the more mental capacity you have to deal with situations was definitely when I flew after the winter. I'd been off for what, like six months, I think I've been off flying, you get back into it. You know, your mind has to catch up a little bit. Yeah, you are a little rusty. Yeah, the the circuit profiles a little scrappy. And then perhaps you're getting a bit too slow on approach, but you're not focusing on that because you're fixated on the runway, you know, and it's all those things, less bad habits. So there's bad things you did during student they start to creep back in because you've not been doing it. You're not in that mindset, your brain needs to get back into the zone. So it's much better to have that process occur. Someone who is current as an instructor there to keep an eye on, on what you're doing, rather than just just going out there and doing it by itself and includes aircraft owners, even if you can legally jump back in the aircraft and Fly as you would in your Sep, you know, should you? Or is it worth just investing that time in yourself, getting an instructor to take you around doing some of that scenario based training, and really getting yourself in the same for the season, I think at the end of the day, that will help you maximise your own efficiency of flying, you know, because if you're on your game earlier in the season, and maximise those opportunities further into the summer, it's an investment in your own time and space. Yeah,

it's a great point, you make that the capacity game. And it's true, you know, we all went through it when we were we were doing our PBS, you know, our first licences, you were behind the aircraft, because you know what to expect, you didn't know what the reaction was going to be. And you know, when you step up to faster aircraft, again, usually behind the aircraft, everything's happening bit quicker or more complex. So you've got more things to think about. So yeah, that practice makes perfect kind of thought is hugely important so that you gain or expand that capacity to deal with not just ops normal, but ops aren't normal, I've got something weird flashing on the dashboard, what do I do about it, and you know, if your mental capacity is taken up by just flying the plane, it doesn't give you enough in reserve to go, like, I'm flying the plane, let me diagnose properly what this is, and get the outcome that I need from this. And I think this is, you know, just get back to your point, you said about ensuring that you're safe for you, you know, if you do fly an aircraft that's got more than one seat, it's likely you're going to be taken up a passenger or two or three at some point, it's likely that you're going to be flying over some congested areas at some point during your flight. Definitely what we can say from a regulatory point of view is, you know, we're here to try and reduce the risk to third parties. And you know, by doing a check out properly, and by practising stuff that you wouldn't normally practice or wouldn't normally do, you are reducing that risk. And that's what we're all here for, is to reduce the risk of flying.

You both covered some really great points there. And we do have a lot of safety resources that we've already got available on our website on different things, such as Safety Sense Leaflets for Care of Passengers and Loss of Control, Stall and Spin Awareness. We also have a lot of safety animations, specifically one that is looking at return to flying and pre flight checklists, which are really, really helpful for anyone looking to get back into flying after some time off. We'll pop everything in the podcast notes below so you can easily access everything. So we talked a lot about currency and things that people need to consider when coming back to flying. But we also need to think about conditions at aerodromes obviously, through the winter, this year, we've had an exceptionally wet winter. There's been a lot of rain, which causes a lot of standing water, especially on grass surface aerodromes and airfields. So what are the sort of other things that you need to think about when you're kind of going to visit your aerodrome?

Yeah, for sure. It's it's still wet out there. I'm looking at clouds at this moment. We've had what the worst rainfall for 200 years.

Yeah, it was one of the wettest February is ever wasn’t it?

Yeah, exactly. So I think there's a lot of a lot of grass airfields, definitely suffering and struggling at the moment. And if you're, if you're gonna be operating off them, once they open if yours is open, a big part of preserving the airfield surface for other people, is about how you're bracing the aeroplane, on that soft surface, let alone sort of performance factors involved. If you're riding heavily on the surface, if you're using excessive braking, making sharp turns on that surface, it will chew that surface up. So you know, whether you're on a grass strip or just a bigger grass airfield, I think it's about thinking now about preserving that surface for the summer. Because if you churn it up now, it'll be really rough when the ground dries out. So that's part of your operating equation.

Yeah, I mean, you know, and it starts even before you start, it starts even before you get in the aircraft, you know, going to have a little walk out onto the taxi area. And if it is squelchy under foot you know, it's soft and you're getting through that first layer of grass, you should really consider whether operating today is the right thing to do. If you're taxiing along and your nose wheel digs in and you ding the prop that's a very expensive mistake for trying to get out earlier than you should have done. You know, so it does start before you know you can you can make that decision before you even start getting the aircraft and if it is you know it looks damp but it does look doable. It's about taking it slow enough that you're not going to skid if you need to make a stop. But also you also need to consider about not stopping where possible just in case you're thinking.

Yeah, we had we had not too long ago was it was it a couple of years ago we had a real spate of accidents to do with aircraft spats and mud being churned up into the spats leading to sometimes aircraft even flipping over. We had a couple of injuries, couple of fatalities. If you are operating on the wet it's about checking those spats for buildup of grit and mud. And even you know, perhaps if the ground is bad enough, and you're still operating, perhaps removing those spats within obviously the guidance in particular aircraft. But yeah, just eliminating that as a factor completely.

Yeah and James, you mentioned safety factors earlier. So you've assessed the ground you've assessed, it's safe to taxi. So you've taxied across and you haven't got stuck. Good job. Thank you, thank goodness, you can then start to think about your shortfall takeoff and your shortfall landing performance. Or in fact, actually, it's just stopped for you get the aircraft, you know, you should do your calculations based on dry grass, wet grass, dry tarmac, wet tarmac, there are safety factors associated with those, I need to make sure that mass and balance wise and performance wise, you are within the envelope of your aircraft. So it's really important that you do those numbers, you know, again, before you get out to the aircraft and get taxiing. And it's then using those techniques as well using your short field, takeoff and landing techniques as per the pOH. To ensure that you can get those figures because

you'll travel further right, you know, wet grass, even wet tarmac, you're gonna be takeoff run longer, your landing run especially longer. So even if you're in and out of some of these tight spots as people operate from, it's being aware that you can skate on wet grass. It's something that happens it's put many of GA aircraft in the fence. So really being aware more so than you are perhaps in the height of summer of these performance factors and what is the surface you're actually operating off because it has been so bad recently.

Yeah, that's worth talking to your aerodrome as well. You know, speak to the people that go and look after the aerodrome. If you've got crews that go out and inspect the runways and inspect the field, speak to them say hmm, have you noticed any particularly bad patch around the aerodrome at this time? And again, it just gives you that situational awareness that you can avoid those patches where possible, and ensure that ultimately, you have a safe flight.

So you mentioned your pre flight weight and balance considerations. Is there anything else you'd be thinking about before going out to aircraft? Weather is probably a big part of this?

Yeah, 100% I think at the moment, it's vital to give yourself a really, really robust weather briefing using as many resources as you can get hold of because it's the season, it's always sort of spring in the UK, there's a lot of instability about the atmosphere, things are changeable, you know, forecast can change, it's very hard to predict. So I think you really need to be staying on top of your weather, especially if you're VFR, it's important to know what the conditions are to have a good idea of how they're going to change across the course of your flight. Start thinking about alternatives.

Yeah, absolutely. Definitely includes any kind of like diversion airfields as well, not only looking at your departure and destination airfields, but you're on routes as well. Again, we mentioned about failures earlier. But weather goes through as well, you know, the weather might close into your destination. It's always good to have a plan B, and C, and D, it's good to have an out and make sure that you're aware of the gist of what's going on with weather enroute as well.

Yeah, absolutely. We have some fantastic tools to do that. Now, you know, we've got sort of iPad based flight bags, that are great tools when used properly. But again, it's almost like your own currency, lots of these devices, probably been sat in a flight bag. over winter, I know mine has been at the back of my cupboard. So it's about putting out that beforehand and making sure you've updated the software, you've updated the maps, and everything's working as it should be, perhaps, you know, you've renewed your contract via wireless cell reception. And make sure that equipment that's going to give you that situational awareness is going to be working as you want it to and you want to really do that on the ground, not in the air, you don't want to find one of these snags in the air. So that's one of those sort of PACE winter things to do is just get out the tech and make sure it's all working as you want it to.

And if you're old school like me, even maybe a paper chart as well make sure that's up to date, things happen, I've winter dangers, get created. Airspace changes, all of these things that can happen, just whilst you're not looking, you know, whilst flying isn't in the priority list because the weather is a bit bad. And the stuff that you would have usually just kept an eye on. Yeah, they can pop up as well. So it's really good to make sure that your chart is up to date, and you've notated any additions for airspace or danger areas or, or anything like that as well. Just make sure that from an even from a planning perspective and getting it done on the ground, so you're as prepared as you can be before you set out on that flight. Because very difficult to do that in the air.

I think also make sure that you're signed up to skywise so that if you want to keep an eye on any airspace changes or any know terms, you can find them on there and it's a really, really helpful tool. If you're ever looking for anything that might be coming up in your area. We've talked about currency and we talked about this in your aerodromes and things to consider around weather. Obviously one of the most important aspects of flying is checking your aircraft and through the winter obviously there's a lot of changes that can happen obviously, the weather is a big asset Fact is, is your aircraft sat out on Grace surface? Is it in a hangar? What are some things that people need to think about when getting their aircraft back out? Ready to Fly?

It's good question. I think this, this applies to all of us across the board, not just those who aim. Also those like me who rent, some aircraft will have been out all winter, perhaps in the hopes something optimistic, weather wise, that never worked out, you know, and maybe someone hasn't seen them for days, maybe they've been open to the elements. So it's worth really getting into that detail when you first sort of rock up to the aircraft, making sure that everything is how you'd want it to be before you go fly.

Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, the use of checklists here is going to be hugely important, you know, a checklist has that external section, to do your walk around. And it's your paycheck as part of your paycheck is, so you do an a check for every single flight. To me, especially if I haven't flown for a little while, it's just an extended version of that a check, it's having a very good look around the aircraft, making sure you know, the hinges are clear, making sure that the control surfaces aren't sticking, they've got no sticking points, the tires are inflated, making sure that you've got enough pressure in there in the videos as well. Petone static vents are all clear. You know, the simple stuff that you would probably otherwise look over because you know, you know your aircraft, you know your way around it. But it's really good. After a period of time to make sure you have a deeper look, just give it a really good look over and make sure things are how you want them to be how you'd like them to be.

Yeah, and you make a great point about the control checks. You know, there's other aircraft out there, gliders, especially but I know some types of microlight as well, that might be stored, a collapse folded up, the wings potentially off. So you might be reconnecting some of those control lines after a long, long stay in storage, say it's about really making sure that you're doing this positive control checks about making sure you've got full free movement, all those controls, they're working in the correct sense, as you'd like to see them. I think, Tom, it's fair to say that even if an aircraft has been hanging over winter, you really want to be careful with some of this stuff, right?

Oh, absolutely. You know, hanger ash is a thing. You know, people are moving aircraft in and out. And, you know, usually aircraft share hangars. And you know, accidents do happen. And a lot of our community are very honest and will tell you, but if something's happened, and someone didn't realise it, you know, if it was a small scrape, that they didn't feel when they were pulling out their own aircraft, sometimes they didn't know either. So it's really good to make sure that you have a look for those kinds of things can happen out in a field as well. It can happen in a hangar as well, hangars can also be quite harsh environments, they can get cold, they can be damp, they can have earth nesting, for example, you know, dust can settle on your aircraft. Yeah, so it's really important that you look at those kinds of things and make sure that, as I say, the aircraft is how you want to see it. So another thing I was thinking about James was actually the, as we mentioned earlier about licences and ratings is the aircraft paperwork, you know, is the art valid, or the certificate validity valid? Are the radio station licenced?

Is that still valid, you know, all of the insurance, all the paperwork, items that you've got in that big folder that's sat somewhere, probably not looked at for a few months? It's making sure that those kinds of things are valid as well. You want to make sure we were legally flying? Absolutely. And that's caught up to not necessarily even the aircraft owner, it's up to you is that the pilot in command, so ensure that everything is in date and valid news flying the aircraft? So renters? Also keep checking those documents because you never know things can slip through the net? Absolutely.

Thank you both so much for your time today. And just to say that all the safety resources that were mentioned in this podcast, plus anything else that may be relevant to the topic can be found in the notes below. And if you have any comments or questions, either on this podcast or if there's a topic you'd like us to cover in the future, please do get in touch with us at gapodcast@caa.co.uk. Thank you so much for listening.

Thanks for listening. This is the CAA general aviation podcast.