Last year I wrote:
For the next year, things are looking up. I got a SkyDemon subscription as a birthday present and want to make good use of it. Goals will be simpleTake my father on a flight (I promised it as a birthday present for him)
Take the friends who missed out this year due to weather on a flight, preferably to the East Frisian islands
Finally take my wife and kids airborne with me
Get checked out on at least one more of the school’s aircraft. They have recently bought a PA28, a type which I have never flown before, and I might try to get some UL time as well.
Realistic goal at the end of the year is about 10 hours of flight time. The more, the better.
I had tuned down my expectations for 2020, as one can see in this quote from last year’s thread, but ultimately only managed less than half of the meagre 10 hours I was hoping for:
4h 31min in 2020, stretched over a total of 6 flights. Still, @Mooney_Driver beat me into last place of those who got any flight time at all, it seems 
Surprisingly, I still achieved two of the goals I quoted above:
Obviously, as an anaesthesiologist in one of northern Germany’s leading hospitals, Covid-19 did heavily shape my year, although less directly than I expected in March: Our department had planned to turn part of our operating theatres into an ad-hoc ICU and staff it with those of us who have some ICU experience if possible, which put me front and center in the list of possible candidates, but alas it turned out we didn’t require this measure in the 1st wave (and, as of yet, not in the 2nd wave either). But my flying was heavily affected by another measure: the free days we get as a compensation for working on weekends were scrapped (instead, we were paid more). This lead to my bank account filling with lots of money I had no time to spent for, especially not for flying. There were a few days were I had time to and wanted to fly but alas, I got unlucky with the weather on those (and that in a year that generally had lots of flyable weather). 2020 showed once again that, pandemic or no pandemic, being employed as a hospital doctor just doesn’t afford one with enough free time to pursue this hobby in earnest.
Still, I am not discouraged from continuing. For 2021, I hope for an improvement once again. My goals are mostly those leftover from late 2019:
and, most importantly
I had just under 10 :-(
Our new engine wasn’t fitted until late February (we did a prop upgrade too) and then we had lockdown 1.0, and then time went by too fast… and then more lockdowns.
At this stage for me, I see flying as a social activity with other group members, and this wasn’t really the year for that!
Was hoping to get a job flying in 2020 and I partially accomplished that by completing my FI and getting 2 hourly jobs as an instructor. I flew 209 hours in 2020, my best year to date, especially because I paid for maybe 5 of them. 30 hours was my FI course, a couple hours ferrying a DA42 in Sweden, and the rest instruction.
Instructing has slowed to 1 hour in december, I hope it picks up soon.
I should be spending the down time freshening up my theory knowledge and preparing some more lesson plans.
I want to get my UPRT finished in January, I’m still on the lookout for any type of flying job. I’d love to get into the brave world of ferry flying (reading Kerry McCauley’s excellent book Ferry Pilot atm).
If the COVID lockdowns ever end I’d like to go back to the States for a couple of weeks and take my CFI/CFII (or at least the written exams).
I’d also like to build some formation flying skills and take an aerobatic course, but those are going to depend on me finding a job since I’m getting laid off in February.
A tad more than 37 hours this year, longest trip of the year was down to Corsica. Currently getting more comfortable flying a PIVI but hopefully with the replacement of its mechanical trim with electric trim, it will have a lesser tendency to pick up speed on final and float, the mechanical trim being as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike….
All in all, I cannot complain about 2020. I kept my job on the Challenger and flew 290h on it, and flew into some wild places with it. I was three and a half months on standby because of…well…. you know. But as for now, the job looks stable fingers-crossed.
I completely missed out on instructing and flying for fun with the wife. This is something I definitely want to pick up again in 2021, along with unfreezing the ATPL.
I did my SEP renewal in august 2020 and boy… I never struggled so much in a C172 
Carb heat? What do you mean, carb heat?
3 hours to renew my SEP, 3 hours in the SIM to renew my IR.
I’ve given up on goals at this stage.
56 hours on TB20 or PA32R-301T.
I also managed 15 hours in the P2 seat but not logged.
2 trips to France and Germany made up 15 hours of the total. Places of interest visited Koblenz, Mendig, Cannes, Montelimar, Carlisle.
I managed to renew all my ratings and medical in 2020 and don’t have to worry about that until the summer/autumn this year.
Hopefully 2021 will bring the opportunity for even more interesting trips and fewer restrictions and special rules. Friedrichshafen (my first long trip of 2021) will hopefully go ahead – I have not been for 3 years.
2020 was a good year, notwithstanding more than five months AOG due to lockdown, an engine problem and annual.
Managed my yearly average, 75 hours, and the flying was good.
Twice to L’Elba and Sicily, with more than 10 hours over water, four new airfields among which San Marino, some formation flying and reacquaintance with tailwheels.
Just hope 2021 is as intense
Just under 12 hrs for me in 2020. A low number (was around 30hrs in 2019) mainly due to Covid restrictions but also some instances of life getting in the way I’m afraid. I did however manage to achieve my restricted IR (R) in February which felt like a great achievement with my overall limited hours. For 2021 I hope to fly 25hrs, cross the channel from dear old Blighty to France and/or the Channel Islands and also complete the night rating. Happy flying all.
