So, I've got about 500 hours and my schedule often requires significant amounts of time away from airplanes followed by a return and period of refamiliarization and polishing to get back to proficiency. But I'm not totally green. That said, I recently took a very unplanned break from flying and am battling a little more than usual to polish things off now that I'm back in the air. I broke my collarbone in a ski accident a couple months ago, and (following all the proper approval from the doc and the AME) returned to flight. The first couple flights were with CFIs to make sure I was safe and competent, and since then a bunch of flying solo to get things dialed in again.
And strangely ... and embarrassingly... my landings have continued to be, in my view - pretty terrible. Normally this is an area where I'm pretty quick to get back in the saddle. This time, for some reason, the normal habits and muscle memory of handling the plane in the flare just seem to be not clicking back into place.
This is different from a student pilot learning how to properly land a plane for the first time. I would argue that I know HOW to manage an approach, round out, flare and touch down. That's what makes this a little more confusing. My thought is that the one month of near total immobility of the arm has caused some significant strength loss and proprioception / muscle memory / fine motor control, and it will take some extra time to get the refinement back.
My question: has anyone else experienced this? How did you practice to get past it? Specific PT exercises to regain fine motor control (to be clear I am not an invalid - I'm an athlete with above average normal baseline fitness and activity level)? How long did it take to get "back"? I figure good old pattern work with a CFI might be in order to help point out more specific points where I'm messing up but any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm tired of coming back from every flight feeling like I'm just not solving things. I'm a perfectionist and recognize the spiral of stress (and resultant decreasing performance) that can put us into - so if nothing else I'm just gonna try meditating more
Thanks.
And strangely ... and embarrassingly... my landings have continued to be, in my view - pretty terrible. Normally this is an area where I'm pretty quick to get back in the saddle. This time, for some reason, the normal habits and muscle memory of handling the plane in the flare just seem to be not clicking back into place.
This is different from a student pilot learning how to properly land a plane for the first time. I would argue that I know HOW to manage an approach, round out, flare and touch down. That's what makes this a little more confusing. My thought is that the one month of near total immobility of the arm has caused some significant strength loss and proprioception / muscle memory / fine motor control, and it will take some extra time to get the refinement back.
My question: has anyone else experienced this? How did you practice to get past it? Specific PT exercises to regain fine motor control (to be clear I am not an invalid - I'm an athlete with above average normal baseline fitness and activity level)? How long did it take to get "back"? I figure good old pattern work with a CFI might be in order to help point out more specific points where I'm messing up but any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm tired of coming back from every flight feeling like I'm just not solving things. I'm a perfectionist and recognize the spiral of stress (and resultant decreasing performance) that can put us into - so if nothing else I'm just gonna try meditating more
Thanks.