"ShawnD2112" wrote in
:

snip

To get back to my original post, which I hadn't realized was causing so
much followon conversation, my point was that most of the activity I
see at our local airport involves people taking off, going away to land
somewhere else, and then coming back. Two flights, two landings, lots
of cruise in the middle. And they usually take the longest and widest
runway unless the wind is dramatically favoring one of the other
shorter ones (onto which a local pilot regularly puts a KingAir!).

snip

I think there are several types of pilots. Some pilots learn to fly with
the intent of obtaining a career in aviation. Others learn to fly with
intentions like what I believe you described in your earlier post - to
learn to control the machine like a racecar. Yet others learn to fly as a
means of transporting themselves further, faster.

I happen to be one of the latter. And so since I got my PPL, it is true
that MUCH of my flying involves takeoff, cruise, and landing. But I would
tend to agree with the poster who said that piloting skill is directly
proportional to frequency. Many pilots fly infrequently and their skills
suffer. Others fly more frequently, and will find "excuses" to fly even if
the flight is not within the scope of their original intentions. (ie: If I
find that I haven't flown in a couple of weeks, I will hop over to the
airport and spend an hour practicing maneuvers or T&Gs.)

But I think some pilots get into a comfort zone, think their skills are OK,
and don't do much practice again until their next BFR, if at all...

Of course, I have no actual evidence of this.. Just personal opinion based
on stories I have been told by instructors, FBO owners, and others that I
have talked to... You know, the stuff urban legend is made of!