How to Choose Flying Chair?

Author: Sam

Dec. 23, 2024

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A Simple Guide to Chair Flying - Mike Hodge

I was sitting in the airplane with my instructor working on various commercial maneuvers in preparation for my Commerical ASEL checkride. We had just completed a chandelle and the instructor says to me, &#;I smell smoke&#;. I didn&#;t respond right away and he says, &#;Yep, there is an engine fire&#;. Clearly, this was a training scenario, but I really struggled. I wasn&#;t really sure what the correct technique was, nor was I at all familiar with the checklist for an engine fire (having not practiced one since my PPL training in the early s). My performance was as terrible as you&#;d expect and in the debrief he suggested I &#;chair fly&#; in order to become more familiar with emergency procedures. I had never heard of &#;chair flying&#; and so he explained it to me. It has become one of my most favorite techniques to use for both myself and my students.

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What is &#;Chair Flying&#;?

Chair flying is a process where you sit in the airplane (or a chair at home, or anywhere really) and practice going through the procedures of whatever it is that you are working on. The key to being successful with chair flying is to really picture yourself in the airplane and to make sure that you have any available resources (such as a cockpit photo, or checklists) to make it as &#;realistic as possible&#; 

How can &#;Chair Flying&#; be helpful?

There are two primary benefits to chair flying: the development of muscle memory and deliberate practice. Think about what is required to take the airplane around the traffic pattern. There are the radio communications, the pre-takeoff briefings, the &#;action points&#; (abeam the numbers, 700AGL on upwind, etc), and their associated checklists and the actual flying and controlling the aircraft itself. All but the last item can be practiced at home or in the airplane on the ground all without the added cost of the airplane. Not only does this help develop that muscle memory, but it also helps alleviate the workload as you are more able to focus on flying the airplane and not being overwhelmed by the other tasks that are required to be performed.

One caveat to chair flying is to make sure that you actually talk with your instructor about the particular maneuver or thing that you wish to practice to make sure that you are performing the correct sequence of steps correctly prior to committing that into your muscle memory. That will prevent you from needing to unlearn a bad habit.

What do I need to &#;Chair Fly&#; successfully?

All you need to chair fly is your imagination and anything that you would need to do whatever it is that you are practicing in the actual airplane. 

There are some people that like to go all out with their setup for chair flying (the below image is a bit of an extreme, but funny, example), but to me, the minimum would be a cockpit poster or image (for learning the locations of buttons/switches) and the checklists (to help develop a good flow). 

Beyond that, anything else that you need to help you better visualize yourself in the airplane is fair game (so go and grab your headset, I won&#;t judge). 

I hope that you implement chair flying into a normal part of your routine. It&#;s been so helpful to me since discovering it and I&#;ve seen the benefits (and cost savings) it gives to my students as well.

An Introduction to Chair Flying

For any new skill, practice makes perfect. However, practice for flying can be quite difficult if you don&#;t have access to an airplane, a flight simulator, or any type of realistic cockpit once you leave your flight school. To help bridge the gap between sessions with your flight instructor, chair flying is an effective way to supplement your flight training at home.

What Is Chair Flying?

Chair flying involves taking a few quiet moments to visualize a specific aircraft procedure or task and perform each step in your mind, often by talking through it out loud and going through the appropriate motions with your hands and feet. Chair flying is simply a way for students to complement their flight training in the airplane and flight simulator with minimal hardware requirements. Practicing the repetitions of different maneuvers and flows without having to leave the comforts of your home is what makes chair flying so productive and valuable.

Why Should You Do It?

Since it allows you to practice flying in your living room without a meter running, chair flying can help you reduce the cost of learning to fly. A basic chair and a creative imagination are all that you need to reinforce the actions learned in your flight training.

Outside of flying an actual airplane or flight simulator, chair flying is one of the most productive ways to practice what a pilot does in the cockpit. Chair flying, flight simulator training, and aircraft training actually work well collectively to build your confidence and proficiency at the aircraft controls. Without any visual or auditory stimuli, your mind is unfettered when you chair fly, and you can talk your way through a task before practicing it with visual and motion cues in a flight simulator and performing it amongst all the distractions of a real airplane. 

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When you're learning landings, for example, each type of practice has an important role as you build your proficiency:

  • Chair flying helps you visualize yourself at the controls of the aircraft and talk through how to plan and execute your approach to land.
  • Flight simulation helps you hone your muscle memory and proficiency by shooting hundreds of approaches in a row without needing to taxi back out and fly to the practice area.
  • The airplane helps evaluate what you've learned and practiced amidst the distractions of real-world flying.

Then the cycle repeats for a new task.


Chair flying is a beneficial practice at every stage of flight training, whether you&#;re a private pilot student learning the different configurations of the airplane, an instrument student learning to program an approach, a multi-engine student learning your engine out memory items, or a flight instructor student learning how to fly from a different seat. The ability to flow from different configurations or phases of flight will make you more efficient and confident in the aircraft, and that starts with the visualization practice you gain from chair flying.

How Do You Do It Effectively?

As a student, you can get as simplistic or creative as you want with your chair flying practice. For a basic approach to chair flying, you can simply practice on your couch with your kneeboard and checklists as you visualize the cockpit and each step for the task you are performing. A step up from this would be to obtain a picture of your airplane&#;s cockpit so that you can have a simple visual item to correlate with your actions throughout the practice session. Perhaps the most ideal scenario involves getting to your flight school early or staying late in hopes of being able to sit in the cockpit or simulator of your airplane. All of these methods can work as you&#;re continually building the muscle memory that is so valuable throughout your flight training. Many student pilots like to alternate between the options at different stages of their learning.

However, regardless of the method you prefer, be sure that you practice as if your instructor or examiner is sitting in the airplane with you. Though the saying is practice makes perfect, we should tweak it to perfect practice makes perfect. The goal with chair flying is to start building the neural pathways to make flying a bit easier. If we are instilling the wrong memories or connecting the wrong pathways, this can be detrimental and lead to the formation of bad habits.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you begin to turn your living room into your personal training airplane.

  • When you&#;re chair flying, try to make it as if you&#;re in the cockpit of your airplane. Find a quiet area to ensure that you won&#;t disturb anyone or be disturbed. If you fly with a kneeboard, strap that on and have the appropriate checklists readily available.
  • Have your study guide nearby so that you can ensure you&#;re adhering to the correct steps in each maneuver or flow.
  • Talk yourself through each session and say each step aloud. This is crucial. It allows you to catch mistakes that you might otherwise miss if you weren&#;t talking yourself through the maneuvers. For example, you may know your go-around procedure is max power followed by an incremental raising of the flaps as you climb away. If you talk yourself through the procedure and miss a step, you&#;ll likely notice that something sounds off, and you can reference your study material to ensure you&#;re not missing anything.
  • Lastly, though it may seem or feel silly, put yourself through the physical motions. This is going to reinforce the muscle memory and motor skills associated with that particular action.

When Should You Do It?

You should aim to chair fly both before and after a training flight. Chair flying before a flight will help ensure that you&#;re prepared for your upcoming lesson. Being prepared for each lesson is critical so that you can continue moving forward in your flight training and avoid becoming stagnant.

You should also find a few minutes to chair fly after each of your flight lessons. With the new information that your flight instructor gives you, along with any critiques of previously learned material, you can continue to tweak and build your techniques before practicing them in a flight simulator.

Related Content: Using a Simulator for Private Pilot Training

You&#;ll be surprised how much turning your living room couch or office chair into your airplane for a few minutes a night will help immensely in your flight training. Chair flying can be a tool for pilots of all levels and at all stages of flight training. The visualization of maneuver steps, cockpit flows, and emergency procedures is incredibly valuable in helping you progress through each stage of training. Not to mention, it is completely free training that will help you tackle those difficult maneuvers, leaving your flight instructor happy and impressed with your performance.

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