P&E PROFICIENCY Hover like a hawk Making slow flight fun and relevant B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N VIEW THE VIDEO GARTH GLAZIER Play the hover flying game in this video. SLOW FLIGHT IS AN ESSENTIAL skill for pilots to understand and master, but practicing it can be a drag (literally and figuratively). And the way we practice tends to make slow flight into a head-down chore. We do it by rote with eyes darting back and forth between the airspeed and vertical speed indicators, an activity that bears little resemblance to real-world situations in which we might actually encounter critically low airspeeds and high angles of attack-such as maneuvering in a traffic pattern while scanning for traffic. Making slow flight relevant requires getting your eyes focused outside the cockpit and keeping them there while adding tasks that demand flying by feel. The best game I know for this I call "Hover Like a Hawk." We've all seen those remarkable kestrels that point themselves into the wind and hover at will over a ground-bound target. The challenge in this flying game is to imitate the kestrel with your airplane. At a safe altitude, identify the wind direction and turn into it. Then slow down using landing gear, wing www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 79http://www.aopa.org/pilot