For private, student and club pilots
Flying Competent: Private Pilot: what is inside
Volume 2 of the Flying Competent series, written for student, new and club pilots. It takes the ideas that airline training built around threat and error management and the nine core competencies, and puts them in the world you fly in: one pilot, light aeroplanes, mixed weather and mixed experience, with no first officer to catch a slip.
By Matthew Dowell, airline training captain and examiner. Written in a personal capacity. The ebook is available now in all major stores; the paperback follows shortly.
The idea
A licence tells people that on one particular day you flew a test to a standard an examiner accepted. It does not tell them whether you will make a sensible decision about the weather on a marginal Saturday in November, or whether in six months you will still be good at any of it. Flying has always been taught by counting hours and ticking boxes, and a list can only tell you whether you have been exposed to something. This book is about the question that matters more: can you do it reliably when conditions are against you?
You are the safety net
An airline flight deck is built on redundancy: two pilots cross-checking, a dispatcher, procedures written by the operator. On a Saturday morning at your club you are the dispatcher, the captain, the first officer and the engineer, all in one head. The book is honest about which airline ideas carry over and which do not.
| In the airline world | In private flying |
|---|---|
| Two pilots cross-check | You cross-check yourself, which is much harder |
| Standard operating procedures written by the operator | Your own habits and your club's rules |
| A dispatcher and a briefing pack | You, and a browser tab |
| Scheduled recurrent checks | Whatever your licence and club require, and your own honesty |
What is inside Flying Competent: Private Pilot
18 chapters, plus a glossary and sources. The book also reads eleven real general aviation incidents from the pilot's side.
Foundations
- 1. Why "Competent" Beats "Current"
- 2. Why Private Flying Is Different
- 3. Threats, Errors and the Last Line of Defence
- 4. The Nine Competencies in Plain English
The nine competencies, applied to private flying
- 5. Knowing It and Following It: Knowledge and Procedures
- 6. Saying It So It Is Understood: Communication
- 7. Flying the Aeroplane: Manual Control and Automation
- 8. In Command, With or Without a Crew: Leadership and the Passenger
- 9. Go, No-Go, Turn Back: Decision Making
- 10. The Picture in Your Head: Situation Awareness
- 11. Too Much, Too Soon: Workload Management
The decisions and habits that matter
- 12. Fuel, Weather, Airspace: Three Decisions That Cannot Be Undone
- 13. The Long Gap: Currency, Rust and Returning to Flying
- 14. Using Your Instructor Well
- 15. Taking the Skill Test as a Competent Pilot
- 16. The Pilot as a Person: Fatigue, Stress and Health
- 17. Learning From Others: Reporting and a Safety Culture
Putting it together
- 18. A Personal Competency Plan
A personal competency plan
The last chapter turns the framework into something you will use: a one-page plan. It is not a grade and it is not for the regulator. It is for you, and for your instructor if you choose to share it. You describe your flying, look honestly at each of the nine competencies for strengths, weaknesses and the risk in your kind of flying, and decide what to do about it.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Flying Competent: Private Pilot for?
Student, new and club pilots: people who fly light aeroplanes with no first officer to catch a slip. It takes the ideas airline training built around threat and error management and the nine core competencies and puts them in the world you fly in.
Why "competent" and not "current"?
Currency and hours are easy to count, but they are a weak stand-in for the thing that matters: whether you can do something reliably when it is cold and bumpy, when you are tired, or when something else has just gone wrong. The book is about the gap between the day you proved something and the thousands of ordinary days when you have to do it again.
Is it a substitute for my instructor?
No. It has a chapter on using your instructor well. It is a way of thinking about your own flying that you can bring to your instructor, and the final chapter helps you turn it into a one-page personal plan you can share with them if you choose.
Is it only for UK or European pilots?
The ideas apply to any pilot who flies light aeroplanes. The competency framework is explained in plain English rather than as regulation, so it works wherever you fly. Your licence, your club's rules and your authority's regulations always take precedence.
When is it available?
The ebook is available now in all major stores, and the paperback follows shortly. Flying Competent, the first book in the series, is available now and covers the same framework from the airline side.
While you wait
Flying Competent: The Pilot's Guide to Competencies, TEM, CBTA and EBT covers the same framework from the airline side and is available now. The free Competency Self-Assessment sheet gives you a page per competency to try on your own flying.
Flying Competent on Amazon UK Amazon US Free competency self-assessment sheet
Related: Competency-based training explained ยท The Competent Instructor