As the calendar turns a page into the new year, pilots once more show they are a special breed. While most people come up with resolutions that involve more exercise and fewer snacks, pilots take a look at the logbook and nearly always commit to flying more in the next year than in this one.
Unless you’re flying for a regional, perhaps! But seriously, many of us total our hours at this time, whether to report them for updating insurance, or reconciling accounts for a business, or just to reflect upon those precious times we were able to go fly.
We nearly always dream of flying more, filling our days at the hangar, or flitting off to more hospitable climes. More is more, right?
As seasoned pilots know, however, it’s not the number of hours that count in the end—it’s the quality of those hours. So as you craft your flight plan for 2026, consider the following ideas for adding purposeful time to your logs, whether they’re leather-bound books or automated entries into ForeFlight or Garmin Pilot.
If You Want to Build Proficiency
- Regular flying not only helps ensure you are practiced and competent, it also helps extend your airplane’s life—especially that of the engine. So make a weekly date to go out to the hangar that can’t easily be moved. Perhaps the trick to making this appointment stick is to meet someone there—a student you are mentoring, or a fellow pilot that can hold you accountable. We’re less likely to break that date if someone we care about is involved.
- Assign yourself a mission to every practice flight, so that you’re not marking the same hour over and over. Yes, you can work your way through the maneuvers you demonstrated on your last check ride (private, instrument, commercial, multi, or ATP) but also fill in with a bit of fun. Aim for spot landings, or pick a place to perform ground reference maneuvers that you have always wanted to see in more detail from the air (at a safe altitude, it goes without saying)!
- Pick a new airport to fly to, with a new restaurant or activity there so you are encouraged to shut down and stay for a spell. Take a new friend along, someone who hasn’t yet been exposed to the access that general aviation provides to us all.
If You Want to Build Skills
- Nothing charges up the imagination like a new airplane—or a new one to you. And whether your current hangar beauty is an old friend or a new acquisition, you can also expand your horizons by seeking out flying in OPAs (Other Peoples’ Airplanes). One idea: Find the pilot in your hangar row that has an experimental, like an RV, that you’ve always wanted to fly, and offer to exchange rides, or a helping hand, for a flight.
- Is an instrument rating in your playbook for 2026? Then it’s time to hit the latest app and put on your studying hat, perhaps while the weather isn’t as conducive for flying. Then you’ll be prepared to log time when it makes sense to hit it head on.
- Already IFR? Did you know that getting another advanced certificate (commercial or ATP) may reduce your insurance premiums? Talk with your provider, and if so, you may look at adding a new card to your wallet. Another idea is to go for your flight instructor certificate. Becoming a CFI and imparting your knowledge to the next gen of pilots is both rewarding and the best way to hone your own skills—by having to explain things to others.
- Take an aerobatic course, or an upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT) course to further add to your repertoire. No matter where you live, you can find training along these lines, or pick a destination course, such as that run by aerobatic legend Patty Wagstaff, for a reason to fly and a reason to head south for the winter.
