PlasticPilot.net

If you’re not a newcomer to this blog, you certainly know that I’m a private pilot with an instrument rating. But what about you ? If you’re a private pilot as well, I’d like to know whether you’re instrument rated or not, and why.

The why particularly applies to those of you who don’t held an IR ticket. I know many possible reasons:

• Lack of time ?
• Money ?
• No FTO where to train in your area ?
• No IFR aircraft ?
• No IFR airport ?
• You think there is too much complex theory ?
• Or that getting the rating is too complex ?
• May be too complex to maintain ?
• Getting an IFR rating is useless ?
• Flying IFR in small planes is dangerous ?

There are probably other reasons, so feel free to add yours to the list. If, on the other hand, you’re instrument rated, you probably know why. I however would like to know the reason that decided you to get it.

If you don’t mind, I also like to know from which part of the world does your license comes. I already know what to expect, but it will be a confirmation. And who knows, may this will help other pilots to join the IFR club. This is my (no longer) secret (naive ?) hope behind this post: encouraging more pilots to get this wonderful rating.

I’m indeed ready to discuss all of objections you could have against the fact of getting IR rated. Not only because it is safer, but also because it enlarges the range of what is possibly to fly, and improves flying skills. I’m not trying to criticize VFR pilots, nor to say that IFR pilots are somehow superior. Any comment in that direction will be deleted. The last thing the aviation community needs is one (more) internal conflict.

Now, please let us know if you are IFR rated or not, and why. If you prefer do to that in a more confidential way, you can also send me your answer per e-mail, via the About page.

Thanks in advance.

One of the important roles of a pilot’s logbook is to keep track of all examination flights, endorsements and ratings. Some are simply signed by the examiner, others come with a stamp. In all cases, a form is sent to the administration that issued the license, but a long term mark is also left in the logbook.

I got the first stamp below after my very first examination flight, which validated the first part of my basic training. After that, I was the proud holder of a Restricted Private Pilot License. This is a swiss national rating, whose privileges include flying to non-controlled airports (except the place where the pilot got his / her training), outside of controlled airspace, and within Switzerland only. For obvious privacy reasons, I blurred out the examiner’s name and license number.

I flew with that rating for 10 months, building some experience, and training towards the full JAR PPL. This involved more radio-navigation, radio-communication, and a longer solo navigation. That second rating  allowed me to fly in all Europa.

There is another souvenir of this flight in my logook: a post-it like instrument cover that the instructor used to simulate an airspeed indicator failure during one of the landings. I kept it as a precious trophy earned on a particularly warm summer day.

As you probably already noticed, I’m rather proud of the next one. There is no stamp, but a simple endorsement by the examiner, but later on a new line was printed in my license: IR(A), standing for Instrument Rating. I still consider getting and holding this rating as a great achievement, even if I can’t use it a lot nowadays.

Instruments ratings have to be renewed every year through an examination flight, so I already renewed it three times. The last time was during the FADEC challenge, flying on a DA40-TDI with G1000 - a state of the art aircraft when it comes to modern airframes, engines and avionics.

I’m wondering where my next IFR renewal flight will take place. Switzerland ? Germany ? France ? Some new place ? Will that be a flight on a good old PA28 ? A PA32 ? A DA40 with G1000 ? A Cirrus ? If you’ve something to propose, I’m open to anything.

Stamps of some swiss airports I visited.

For the last months I’ve been a low time pilot (read about the reasons here), and this will continue at least until summer 2008. The strategy I defined is working fine - I renewed my IFR rating last week. I will move to my new place by the end of march, and I will publish an update about being a low time pilot after a couple of months.

Renewing my instrument rating was an important step before changing homebase. What it takes to renew and IFR rating is a simple proficiency check flight… but with no recent experience, it’s not that easy.

My last instrument flight was last summer when I flew from Cannes to Bastia, with a DA40 TDI. My last flight with a PA32 Saratoga was in November was also my last flight, so my recent experience was low. Even if this meant more flight time and money, I decided to make a preparation flight with my instructor. Certainly a good idea…

The departure and en-route part of the flight were a non-issue. I had a good review of the procedures and checklists before, and the SID was an extremely simple “climb in the axis” one. Weather was fine, despite a medium wind from the north.

I slightly overshot the axis of the holding because I corrected too much for the wind, which was lower at holding altitude than at cruising altitude. The ensuing ILS approach was fine. I certainly had to concentrate much more to keep the needles centered than when I was flying more IFR, but applying the good practices (attitude indicator first) worked fine.

The second departure and en-route segment were also fine - apparently one never forgets about IFR. Weather was still fine, no single cloud to fly through, making the things easier. The second approach was VOR-DME which I had to fly at high-speed (160 kts). Ok, jet guys will say this is slow, but flying it single pilot is not so easy.

My descent management was not exactly good, and I did reach the minimum altitude with an excessive descent rate, so I undershot the altitude by a few dozen feet. Same thing on the check day would make it a failure…ooops.

My instructor pointed a couple of factors during the debriefing, helping me to identify the problems. One week later, I took my check-ride. Thanks to the previous training - and good conditions again - it was succesful. I made a couple of minor mistakes, but nothing problematic.

According to my strategy, my IFR rating is now valid for one more year. It is clear to me that my recent experience is not sufficient to manage an hard-IMC flight in adverse weather. Once again, it is not because something is legal that it is safe.

Before re-flying IFR solo, I will go through a refresher course, to remain on the safe side, but also continue to enjoy it…