Time for my Second Biennial Review

Well, it's time for my second biennial flight review which brings me to the surprising realization that I became a pilot four years ago. It is crazy how 2007 seems like so long ago, yet the time seems to have gone by so fast when I only think about the fact that four years has elapsed since 2007.  A lot changes in four years. 

I am amazed when I think of all I have been blessed with during that time, the great trips - Europe - St. Lucia, weddings of two of my good buddies, a sister, my own wedding.  My wife and I purchased a home since I became a pilot and have since moved out of that home turning it into a rental property.  Multiple new jobs and possible new career change in the not too distant future.  I wonder where I will be in two years when my next biennial is due - kids maybe? A new home?

I am already seeing how flying could become more of a challenge to keep up in the future.  This year, as my wife and I are working to save for a down payment and the other related costs of buying a new home, my flying has mysteriously ground to a halt.  I posted on here some pictures from my flight to Shelter Cove in September, I managed to do some local landings in November, and a few flights in December, but have not made it out to the airport since.  My biennial was actually due at the end of January, but because I was still trying to pay for the flights I took in December, decided to wait until February to do my review. February came along but I spent most of my extra time that month preparing for two good job prospects I was pursuing that needed all the study and attention I could manage.  The review had to wait. I am ready to study now and hopefully will be ready to do my biennial in a week or two.

I am optimistic though that with a week or two of studying, I will feel comfortable doing my review.  I am also aware that the review is not really any sort of test, but rather an opportunity to brush up on rusty skills and knowledge.  I figure that spending a week or two every couple of years really studying the rules and procedures can only help.  I always feel like I could memorize the material better, and that I really should have all details - always- fully memorized.  However, I feel like I know what I need to have memorized for a flight and study each flights details carefully before departing. But cramming before a test is never as good as maintaining proficiency day in, day out.  I need to find an easier way to maintain mental proficiency so little issues en-rout don't leave me digging for answers. Example:

I was on a VFR cross country flight when I lost the vacuum pump needed to run two of my gyroscopic driven cockpit indicators leaving me without an attitude indicator or heading indicator. Neither affected my ability to fly safely as I was in decidedly VFR weather (thank god!), however I wasn't sure it was legal to continue flying.  Do I continue flying? Or should I safely land the plane at the nearest airport.  I feel like those are the questions, the really random questions that you would rather never have to answer that are harder to keep fresh - even with extra study.  How do those airline guys keep the vast amount of information fresh in mind?   Crazy!

Well, I guess I better start studying . . .

P.S. Examples of Federal Aviation Regulations:

FAR 61.56


Biennial Flight Review


(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (f) of this section, a flight review consists of a minimum of 1 hour of flight training and 1 hour of ground training. The review must include:
(1) A review of the current general operating and flight rules of part 91 of this chapter; and
(2) A review of those maneuvers and procedures that, at the discretion of the person giving the review, are necessary for the pilot to demonstrate the safe exercise of the privileges of the pilot certificate.
(b) Glider pilots may substitute a minimum of three instructional flights in a glider, each of which includes a flight to traffic pattern altitude, in lieu of the 1 hour of flight training required in paragraph (a) of this section.
(c) Except as provided in paragraphs (d), (e), and (g) of this section, no person may act as pilot in command of an aircraft unless, since the beginning of the 24th calendar month before the month in which that pilot acts as pilot in command, that person has--
(1) Accomplished a flight review given in an aircraft for which that pilot is rated by an authorized instructor; and
(2) A logbook endorsed from an authorized instructor who gave the review certifying that the person has satisfactorily completed the review.
(d) A person who has, within the period specified in paragraph (c) of this section, passed a pilot proficiency check conducted by an examiner, an approved pilot check airman, or a U.S. Armed Force, for a pilot certificate, rating, or operating privilege need not accomplish the flight review required by this section.
(e) A person who has, within the period specified in paragraph (c) of this section, satisfactorily accomplished one or more phases of an FAA-sponsored pilot proficiency award program need not accomplish the flight review required by this section.
(f) A person who holds a current flight instructor certificate who has, within the period specified in paragraph (c) of this section, satisfactorily completed a renewal of a flight instructor certificate under the provisions in Sec. 61.197 need not accomplish the 1 hour of ground training specified in paragraph (a) of this section.
(g) A student pilot need not accomplish the flight review required by this section provided the student pilot is undergoing training for a certificate and has a current solo flight endorsement as required under Sec. 61.87 of this part.
(h) The requirements of this section may be accomplished in combination with the requirements of Sec. 61.57 and other applicable recent experience requirements at the discretion of the authorized instructor conducting the flight review.
(i) A flight simulator or flight training device may be used to meet the flight review requirements of this section subject to the following conditions:
(1) The flight simulator or flight training device must be used in accordance with an approved course conducted by a training center certificated under part 142 of this chapter.
(2) Unless the flight review is undertaken in a flight simulator that is approved for landings, the applicant must meet the takeoff and landing requirements of Sec. 61.57(a) or Sec. 61.57(b) of this part.
(3) The flight simulator or flight training device used must represent an aircraft or set of aircraft for which the pilot is rated.