My two most recent flying lessons were proof of what happens when I spend a long time away from the cockpit. On lesson 26 I spent the entire time bobbling around, blowing landings, and generally being a mess while flying. It was as if I had erased several months worth of flying skills and had regressed to a much earlier phase of flight. I knew I’d be a bit rusty, but this was bad news.
On the 27th lesson, after around 5 touch and go’s, some of the old flying skills returned. It was truly maddening to think that the effort I had put in so far was gone in just 3 weeks of non flying. It is obvious to me that I still have so far to go to really “get flying” to the point of it being a learned behavior. Throw in flights started at a new (San Carlos) airport and I have feel as if I need to start a few steps back from where I was just a month or two ago.