What is Chair Flying?

Back when I played hockey in highschool, I was a goalie and there was a certain routine I would do before games that improved my performance. It wasn’t some superstitious ritual like hockey players are known to have. It wasn’t a physical routine like stretching or catching tennis balls off the wall. 

The routine was all mental. I would put headphones in, throw on some high energy electronic music, and visualize pucks coming at me. I would imagine the types of shots I might take and visualize myself stopping them to the beat of the music. It primed my mind for what I was about to be doing. Whenever I did this routine I noticed that I played better. If I skipped it or didn’t have time to do it, I noticed my performance suffered.

By visualizing successfully doing something, it’s almost like your brain treats it as real experience. In my hockey example, I might not have stopped every puck in a real situation, but in my imagination, I stopped every one. My brain was learning to successfully stop hockey pucks and that led to my physical performance improving. 

Visualization is a powerful tool for just about any skill. This translates to other sports, public speaking, and flying an aircraft. In aviation, we call this chair flying. Chair flying is where you sit in a chair and imagine yourself flying the plane. You practice running through your checklists and procedures as usual. You practice talking to ATC. You get your brain in the habit of doing the things you'll be doing while you're flying.

The pros know the value of this. The Blue Angels, one of the most elite groups of pilots in the entire world practice by chair flying. They visualize their maneuvers and master their communication before ever stepping into the cockpit.

If you’re a student pilot, you might be thinking, “The Blue Angels are doing things that are way beyond anything I’ll ever do. Is it really necessary for me to chair fly?” It might not be necessary, but it’s still extremely valuable. 

Think about it. Flying is ridiculously expensive and time consuming. Hours in a plane are hard to get. If you can train your brain to learn what you need to do without having to practice it in an actual plane, you will save a ton of time and money. You can show up and fly through your flight lessons. Not to mention, you don’t have to worry about weather or maintenance issues delaying your training.

There is a lot that goes on when you’re flying a plane and you only have so many mental resources to use at a given time. If you can learn some of the skills and procedures before getting in the aircraft, it’s going to free up some of those resources and prevent you from getting overwhelmed. Chair flying is a great exercise for improving your flight skills, no matter if you are a beginner or wanting to fly with the Blue Angels.