Instruement checkride...for real this time (long)

[Jack Allison]

The short answer: I passed :-)

The long version:
After last weekend's check ride was postponed with the examiner coming
down sick at the last minute, I had an extra week to fly and study. It
turned out that I was only able to fly once but had plenty of time to
hit the books.

I didn't sleep very well Friday night and just like last Saturday
morning, woke up before my alarm went off at 5:00 am. Get up, make
coffee, fire up the computer and start looking at the weather and
printing up everything I'd need. The weather from LHM to SAC was good
with no early morning fog (quite common at SAC). Looking back, it was
nice to go through the drill last weekend as I knew exactly which charts
I wanted to print out this morning.

Off to the airport at 6:30. It was a beautiful morning with some high
clouds turning pink/purple in the early morning sun. I had to fly from
Lincoln (LHM) to Sacramento Executive (SAC) to meet the examiner and my
CFII. My plan was to leave early enough so I could practice an ILS into
SAC (Look Mom, no hood!).

Wheels up at 6:45. It was pretty hazy with visibility around 8 miles.
No clouds but less than wonderful visibility up and down the central
valley. I requested a practice ILS approach at SAC so that I could go
through the procedure once by myself and generally loosen up. I also
had a chance to figure out the winds at 3000 ft. so I'd have an idea
what I'd be up for later on. I managed a pretty decent ILS approach and
I'm glad I had a chance to practice as it required 15 degrees of
correction to the right to keep the localizer centered.

Met my CFII and the DE and things got underway in fairly short order.
First up: Going through the 8710 and my log book and aircraft logs.
After 15 minutes or so, my CFII gets to bail out and the real fun begins.

The oral lasted about an hour and a half and the DE used my cross
country plan as the basis for me explaining things on the enroute chart
and the approach plates. We went over the entire route covering lost
comms, a bunch of chart and approach plate symbols, how would I fly to
my alternate. He also had me review the prog chart and DUAT generated
weather text I'd printed up for the flight. I had a bunch more charts
printed but he never asked about them.

Other things we covered. I'm sure there is stuff I'm leaving out. My
brain is toast:
- What would I do in a total electrical failure?
- What do the regs. say about icing?
- GPS CDI sensitivity on each different scale?
- What is RAIM, how can you do RAIM predictions, how long are they good for?
- Which instruments operate on the pitot/static system, which are vacuum
driven?
- What happens to the pitot static instruments if the static port ices over?
- How do I get my weather information?
- How would I pickup an IFR clearance at a non-towered field? I love my
answer to this one. "Call up Norcal Area E from my cell phone". Nice
to have partners in the ATC world.
- What is the benefit of flight watch vs. a FSS for in flight weather?
- What's a SIGMET, what's an AIRMET?

Ok, oral done, it's time to take a break then go fly. We talked about
the approaches we'd do, where we'd deal with unusual attitudes, and a
DME arc.

Pre-flight with the DE present and we're pretty much talking airplanes.
He pointed out a couple of things they've experienced with their
club's Arrow. Good stuff to tuck away for future reference.

Time to fly. Crank up, get the ATIS then call ground for an IFR
clearance to Mather (MHR) just a few miles away. The plan was to do the
MHR ILS 22L, published missed, cancel IFR, do unusual attitudes, a DME
arc at SAC, pilot nav VOR 2 at SAC, then vectors to GPS 2 at SAC.

Taxi out and am given my clearance just as I stop in the runup area.
Copied and read back correct (I love hearing "Arrow two one zero four
tango, read back correct"). A few more minutes of setting up all the
nav equipment and we're ready to go.

First mistake (which I'd hear about later)...turned at 400 MSL vs. 600
MSL. I had "diverse departure" in my brain but had neglected to read
the noise abatement procedure for runway 20. Something that I won't
forget again.

I get vectored to the ILS at MHR and it takes me a few swipes at the
final approach course to get the localizer to stick in the center.
Things start to happen pretty fast as we intercept the glide slope. The
trick of dropping the gear and first notch of flaps when the GS is at
the top of the donut work like a charm. Power to 16 inches and we start
down. I kept things centered up pretty well, got outside the donut a
few times but nothing that I wasn't able to fix fairly quickly. At
minimums, we execute the published missed and it's off to COSKA
intersection to hold. Direct entry right off the SAC 058 radial...nice.
One turn around the hold and the DE is happy so we cancel IFR and fly
South a bit for unusual attitudes.

I'd been practicing unusual attitudes with my CFII, doing both full and
partial panel. We'd always done them where I put my head down, close my
eyes, and take my hands off the yoke. CFII then messes things up and
says "Recover". With the DE, it's different in that I keep my hands on
the controls and follow his instructions to turn left or right or climb.
It's amazing how your butt tells you one thing then when you look at
the instruments see that the plane is doing something completely
different. Recoveries went well. On the last one, we were just going
from a nose high to nose low attitude when I was told "Recover". I
didn't pickup the fact that airspeed was starting to increase. Rather,
I saw that it was low and prematurely applied power. DE said I
recovered ok but did ask if I thought I was nose high or low then told
me what was really going on.

Next up: fly direct to the SAC VOR and fly a 10 nm DME arc to the South.
We're about 17 nm from SAC at this point. At 11 nm, I turn 90 degrees
left, roll out and DME says I'm at 10.5. Twist 10 degrees on the OBS,
turn 10 more degrees right, then wait a bit. DME still showing 10.5 by
the time the CDI centers so I turn 15 degrees right and twist the OBS
another 10. When the CDI centers, DE says "Ok, that's good". This was
the shortest DME arc I've ever done.

Next, pilot nav for the SAC VOR 2 approach. Ooooh, I get a choice on
the procedure turn. Direct or parallel?....choose wisely young
Skywalker. I opt for the direct. We hit the VOR and I turn right.
Roll out abeam the VOR on my outbound heading and, yikes, I'm really
close to the inbound course. Turned left some (not enough I would find
out later). At a minute outbound, I turned back inbound to 016 but was
pretty far left of course and about 2.2 from the VOR. I correct to the
right but by the time I cross the VOR, I'm still too far left. Enter
cone of confusion (the VOR and me at this point). I drop the gear and
10 degrees flaps, we cross the VOR and I wait for the needle to come off
the peg...it doesn't. Crap, we have a full scale deflection inside the
VOR. DE says we shouldn't see that when we're inside the VOR and
immediately I replied that this is where I'd execute the missed
approach. He says we'll have to go do another one. At this point, I
realize that I've just been tossed a very nice bone. I get the 016
radial back and we execute the missed at 3 DME from the VOR.

Next approach is a partial panel GPS 02 at SAC. Just as I level off at
1500 and ATC gives me my first vector for the downwind, I start to setup
the GPS for the approach and realize I don't have enough time as I'm
most likely going to get another turn soon. Ah, but I know the answer
here. "Norcal approach, Arrow zero four tango requesting a delay
vector". Granted...I get to continue my present heading and let them
know when I'm ready. Sweet! DE then tells me I made the exact right
decision. I activate the GPS approach and tell ATC I'm ready for my
vector. The rest of this approach goes well and I execute the missed at
the same 3 DME from the FAF.

Last approach, take-2 at the VOR. I get to do this one full panel and
via radar vectors. It goes *much* better as I maintain the inbound
course within the donut. Circle to land runway 20 and I land. As we
taxi off the runway, I hear the best words all day. "Well, if you can
get us back to parking without hitting anything, you'll have your
instrument rating".

Taxi to transient parking, shutdown, shake DE's hand, make obligatory
phone calls to my wife and CFII (yes, in that order), and then debrief
with the DE after he's written up my temporary certificate.

Random thoughts for anyone either in the process of getting an
instrument rating or considering doing so:

- It's a lot of work but very much worth it. As others have said, it's
a tough rating, much more difficult than the PPL.

- Better to over prepare for the Oral. As with the PPL though, know
where to find stuff when you have to say "I don't know" (and you *will*
have to say that during the oral)

- Stress safety when talking to the DE (Thanks to Jim Burns for this
suggestion). Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should
do it (like a 0/0 takeoff under part 91).

- Talk your way through everything. I pretty much do this anyway but
made sure to verbalize even more today. IMHO, it lets the DE know what
you're thinking and why.

- If you fly the airplane well and screw something up, fix it
immediately or have the right answer.

- It pays to do well at the basic tasks of heading/altitude and the
airwork tasks. I fully believe that had my flight not gone as well up
to the point of my messed up 1st VOR approach, I wouldn't have passed.

- If you can fly the same plane, do it. If you can fly your own
airplane, that's even better. The DE commented that I had very good
command of the plane during the flight. Gee, that's because I've been
flying the wings off the thing since buying it last year.

- If you can get some actual IMC time with your CFII, do so as often as
possible. I was fortunate in the time of year that I've been flying
that we were able do so.

- As with the PPL, try to fly as often as possible. Instrument flying
makes your brain hurt sometimes but you've got to keep at it
consistently for things to sink in. I found that if I could
consistently fly twice a week, I was able to make pretty good progress.

It feels good to be done...but I can hardly wait to start flying IFR on
x-c trips even when it's a CAVU day.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice along the way. It's been a long
road as I started this in November of '04. Buying a plane and having my
CFII go work for the airlines for a bit didn't speed things up but I'm
very happy with the outcome. I had a great CFII and the chance to log
even more time in my own plane. Not a bad combination.

Ah, and last but not least, the updated sig. line. Cool! :-)

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Jack Allison]

Now, how come spell check doesn't handle the subject line? Where's the
"recall" button? Argh...fried brain on floor...

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Peter Duniho]

"Jack Allison" > wrote in message
...
> [...]
> - It's a lot of work but very much worth it. As others have said, it's a
> tough rating, much more difficult than the PPL.


Congrats...you said it all, right there. Out of four checkrides I've had
for ratings so far, the instrument was the hardest training I've done.

Good write-up too...it would be useful reading for anyone preparing for
their instrument checkride.

Pete

[Robert A. Barker]

"Jack Allison" > wrote in message
...
> The short answer: I passed :-)
>

Jack: Big Congrats!!!!!!! I have heard many times
that the instrument is the toughest.I have not even scratched the surface of
inst. flying.I do have a friend
that I go with as safety pilot while he keeps current and
I realise how complicated some of the approaches are.
With my plane (C150) I would probably not fly many
(if at all) times in IFR even if I had the rating.( At least
not on purpose ) :-)

All the best

Bob Barker N8749S

[john smith]

Congratulations Jack!
I will email you later about the Arrow tips.
Regards, Eric

[A Lieberman]

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 22:27:13 -0800, Jack Allison wrote:

> The short answer: I passed :-)

Well done Jack!

Now go out and bust some clouds on your own (after picking up your
clearance of course *big smile*.

You will feel like you are starting to solo all over again, 'specially when
that right seat is empty!

Allen

[Chris Ehlbeck]

Jack Allison wrote:
> The short answer: I passed :-)
>
> The long version:
> After last weekend's check ride was postponed with the examiner coming
> down sick at the last minute, I had an extra week to fly and study. It
> turned out that I was only able to fly once but had plenty of time to
> hit the books.

Way to go Jack!!

Chris

[Jim Burns]

Congrats!!!
Ok, now you deserve a few days in Vegas!!

Jim

"Jack Allison" > wrote in message
...
> The short answer: I passed :-)
>
> The long version:
> After last weekend's check ride was postponed with the examiner coming
> down sick at the last minute, I had an extra week to fly and study. It
> turned out that I was only able to fly once but had plenty of time to
> hit the books.
>
> I didn't sleep very well Friday night and just like last Saturday
> morning, woke up before my alarm went off at 5:00 am. Get up, make
> coffee, fire up the computer and start looking at the weather and
> printing up everything I'd need. The weather from LHM to SAC was good
> with no early morning fog (quite common at SAC). Looking back, it was
> nice to go through the drill last weekend as I knew exactly which charts
> I wanted to print out this morning.
>
> Off to the airport at 6:30. It was a beautiful morning with some high
> clouds turning pink/purple in the early morning sun. I had to fly from
> Lincoln (LHM) to Sacramento Executive (SAC) to meet the examiner and my
> CFII. My plan was to leave early enough so I could practice an ILS into
> SAC (Look Mom, no hood!).
>
> Wheels up at 6:45. It was pretty hazy with visibility around 8 miles.
> No clouds but less than wonderful visibility up and down the central
> valley. I requested a practice ILS approach at SAC so that I could go
> through the procedure once by myself and generally loosen up. I also
> had a chance to figure out the winds at 3000 ft. so I'd have an idea
> what I'd be up for later on. I managed a pretty decent ILS approach and
> I'm glad I had a chance to practice as it required 15 degrees of
> correction to the right to keep the localizer centered.
>
> Met my CFII and the DE and things got underway in fairly short order.
> First up: Going through the 8710 and my log book and aircraft logs.
> After 15 minutes or so, my CFII gets to bail out and the real fun begins.
>
> The oral lasted about an hour and a half and the DE used my cross
> country plan as the basis for me explaining things on the enroute chart
> and the approach plates. We went over the entire route covering lost
> comms, a bunch of chart and approach plate symbols, how would I fly to
> my alternate. He also had me review the prog chart and DUAT generated
> weather text I'd printed up for the flight. I had a bunch more charts
> printed but he never asked about them.
>
> Other things we covered. I'm sure there is stuff I'm leaving out. My
> brain is toast:
> - What would I do in a total electrical failure?
> - What do the regs. say about icing?
> - GPS CDI sensitivity on each different scale?
> - What is RAIM, how can you do RAIM predictions, how long are they good
for?
> - Which instruments operate on the pitot/static system, which are vacuum
> driven?
> - What happens to the pitot static instruments if the static port ices
over?
> - How do I get my weather information?
> - How would I pickup an IFR clearance at a non-towered field? I love my
> answer to this one. "Call up Norcal Area E from my cell phone". Nice
> to have partners in the ATC world.
> - What is the benefit of flight watch vs. a FSS for in flight weather?
> - What's a SIGMET, what's an AIRMET?
>
> Ok, oral done, it's time to take a break then go fly. We talked about
> the approaches we'd do, where we'd deal with unusual attitudes, and a
> DME arc.
>
> Pre-flight with the DE present and we're pretty much talking airplanes.
> He pointed out a couple of things they've experienced with their
> club's Arrow. Good stuff to tuck away for future reference.
>
> Time to fly. Crank up, get the ATIS then call ground for an IFR
> clearance to Mather (MHR) just a few miles away. The plan was to do the
> MHR ILS 22L, published missed, cancel IFR, do unusual attitudes, a DME
> arc at SAC, pilot nav VOR 2 at SAC, then vectors to GPS 2 at SAC.
>
> Taxi out and am given my clearance just as I stop in the runup area.
> Copied and read back correct (I love hearing "Arrow two one zero four
> tango, read back correct"). A few more minutes of setting up all the
> nav equipment and we're ready to go.
>
> First mistake (which I'd hear about later)...turned at 400 MSL vs. 600
> MSL. I had "diverse departure" in my brain but had neglected to read
> the noise abatement procedure for runway 20. Something that I won't
> forget again.
>
> I get vectored to the ILS at MHR and it takes me a few swipes at the
> final approach course to get the localizer to stick in the center.
> Things start to happen pretty fast as we intercept the glide slope. The
> trick of dropping the gear and first notch of flaps when the GS is at
> the top of the donut work like a charm. Power to 16 inches and we start
> down. I kept things centered up pretty well, got outside the donut a
> few times but nothing that I wasn't able to fix fairly quickly. At
> minimums, we execute the published missed and it's off to COSKA
> intersection to hold. Direct entry right off the SAC 058 radial...nice.
> One turn around the hold and the DE is happy so we cancel IFR and fly
> South a bit for unusual attitudes.
>
> I'd been practicing unusual attitudes with my CFII, doing both full and
> partial panel. We'd always done them where I put my head down, close my
> eyes, and take my hands off the yoke. CFII then messes things up and
> says "Recover". With the DE, it's different in that I keep my hands on
> the controls and follow his instructions to turn left or right or climb.
> It's amazing how your butt tells you one thing then when you look at
> the instruments see that the plane is doing something completely
> different. Recoveries went well. On the last one, we were just going
> from a nose high to nose low attitude when I was told "Recover". I
> didn't pickup the fact that airspeed was starting to increase. Rather,
> I saw that it was low and prematurely applied power. DE said I
> recovered ok but did ask if I thought I was nose high or low then told
> me what was really going on.
>
> Next up: fly direct to the SAC VOR and fly a 10 nm DME arc to the South.
> We're about 17 nm from SAC at this point. At 11 nm, I turn 90 degrees
> left, roll out and DME says I'm at 10.5. Twist 10 degrees on the OBS,
> turn 10 more degrees right, then wait a bit. DME still showing 10.5 by
> the time the CDI centers so I turn 15 degrees right and twist the OBS
> another 10. When the CDI centers, DE says "Ok, that's good". This was
> the shortest DME arc I've ever done.
>
> Next, pilot nav for the SAC VOR 2 approach. Ooooh, I get a choice on
> the procedure turn. Direct or parallel?....choose wisely young
> Skywalker. I opt for the direct. We hit the VOR and I turn right.
> Roll out abeam the VOR on my outbound heading and, yikes, I'm really
> close to the inbound course. Turned left some (not enough I would find
> out later). At a minute outbound, I turned back inbound to 016 but was
> pretty far left of course and about 2.2 from the VOR. I correct to the
> right but by the time I cross the VOR, I'm still too far left. Enter
> cone of confusion (the VOR and me at this point). I drop the gear and
> 10 degrees flaps, we cross the VOR and I wait for the needle to come off
> the peg...it doesn't. Crap, we have a full scale deflection inside the
> VOR. DE says we shouldn't see that when we're inside the VOR and
> immediately I replied that this is where I'd execute the missed
> approach. He says we'll have to go do another one. At this point, I
> realize that I've just been tossed a very nice bone. I get the 016
> radial back and we execute the missed at 3 DME from the VOR.
>
> Next approach is a partial panel GPS 02 at SAC. Just as I level off at
> 1500 and ATC gives me my first vector for the downwind, I start to setup
> the GPS for the approach and realize I don't have enough time as I'm
> most likely going to get another turn soon. Ah, but I know the answer
> here. "Norcal approach, Arrow zero four tango requesting a delay
> vector". Granted...I get to continue my present heading and let them
> know when I'm ready. Sweet! DE then tells me I made the exact right
> decision. I activate the GPS approach and tell ATC I'm ready for my
> vector. The rest of this approach goes well and I execute the missed at
> the same 3 DME from the FAF.
>
> Last approach, take-2 at the VOR. I get to do this one full panel and
> via radar vectors. It goes *much* better as I maintain the inbound
> course within the donut. Circle to land runway 20 and I land. As we
> taxi off the runway, I hear the best words all day. "Well, if you can
> get us back to parking without hitting anything, you'll have your
> instrument rating".
>
> Taxi to transient parking, shutdown, shake DE's hand, make obligatory
> phone calls to my wife and CFII (yes, in that order), and then debrief
> with the DE after he's written up my temporary certificate.
>
> Random thoughts for anyone either in the process of getting an
> instrument rating or considering doing so:
>
> - It's a lot of work but very much worth it. As others have said, it's
> a tough rating, much more difficult than the PPL.
>
> - Better to over prepare for the Oral. As with the PPL though, know
> where to find stuff when you have to say "I don't know" (and you *will*
> have to say that during the oral)
>
> - Stress safety when talking to the DE (Thanks to Jim Burns for this
> suggestion). Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should
> do it (like a 0/0 takeoff under part 91).
>
> - Talk your way through everything. I pretty much do this anyway but
> made sure to verbalize even more today. IMHO, it lets the DE know what
> you're thinking and why.
>
> - If you fly the airplane well and screw something up, fix it
> immediately or have the right answer.
>
> - It pays to do well at the basic tasks of heading/altitude and the
> airwork tasks. I fully believe that had my flight not gone as well up
> to the point of my messed up 1st VOR approach, I wouldn't have passed.
>
> - If you can fly the same plane, do it. If you can fly your own
> airplane, that's even better. The DE commented that I had very good
> command of the plane during the flight. Gee, that's because I've been
> flying the wings off the thing since buying it last year.
>
> - If you can get some actual IMC time with your CFII, do so as often as
> possible. I was fortunate in the time of year that I've been flying
> that we were able do so.
>
> - As with the PPL, try to fly as often as possible. Instrument flying
> makes your brain hurt sometimes but you've got to keep at it
> consistently for things to sink in. I found that if I could
> consistently fly twice a week, I was able to make pretty good progress.
>
> It feels good to be done...but I can hardly wait to start flying IFR on
> x-c trips even when it's a CAVU day.
>
> Thanks to everyone who offered advice along the way. It's been a long
> road as I started this in November of '04. Buying a plane and having my
> CFII go work for the airlines for a bit didn't speed things up but I'm
> very happy with the outcome. I had a great CFII and the chance to log
> even more time in my own plane. Not a bad combination.
>
> Ah, and last but not least, the updated sig. line. Cool! :-)
>
> --
> Jack Allison
> PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
> Arrow N2104T
>
> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
> with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
> you will always long to return"
> - Leonardo Da Vinci
>
> (Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Mark Hansen]

On 02/25/06 22:27, Jack Allison wrote:
> The short answer: I passed :-)
>

[ snip]

Big Congratulations, Jack!

Do you mind if I ask why you decided to make your turn at 400' when
initially departing KSAC? I was told that, barring any other restrictions,
you should not begin a turn until within 300' of TPA when VFR, and above
circling mins when IFR.

And by the way, if it was just a brain fart, I'll tell you what happened
when I was asked to do a DME arc and holding during part of my IFR check-out
at the new club ;-\ ... it may make you feel better about yours.

Now, after you get a chance to relax and revel in your success, I want to
talk about staying current ;-)

--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

[[email protected]]

Jack Allison wrote:
> The short answer: I passed :-)

Wow...CONGRATULATIONS!

Thanks for posting your checkride story. I'm about to begin, and have
printed out your story to re-read when more of it will make sense to me!
LOL. Hope you saved a copy, too. I wrote my private checkride story
right afterwards, and it's fun to go back and read it every once in a
while. I would have forgotten some of the details if I hadn't written
them all down.

Not having done the IA rating yet, it's a little daunting to hear
*everyone*, even those that have gone all the way to ATP, say the
instrument rating was the hardest one! Doesn't ANYONE say, "It was hard,
but not as bad as I anticipated" ???

> Ah, and last but not least, the updated sig. line. Cool! :-)

Yeah!! Good job!

[Cal Vanize]

Jack Allison wrote:
> The short answer: I passed :-)

<snip>

>
> It feels good to be done...but I can hardly wait to start flying IFR on
> x-c trips even when it's a CAVU day.
>
> Thanks to everyone who offered advice along the way. It's been a long
> road as I started this in November of '04. Buying a plane and having my
> CFII go work for the airlines for a bit didn't speed things up but I'm
> very happy with the outcome. I had a great CFII and the chance to log
> even more time in my own plane. Not a bad combination.
>
> Ah, and last but not least, the updated sig. line. Cool! :-)
>


So glad I passed my instrument in 1970.

[Mark Hansen]

On 02/26/06 08:16, wrote:
> Jack Allison wrote:
>> The short answer: I passed :-)
>
> Wow...CONGRATULATIONS!
>
> Thanks for posting your checkride story. I'm about to begin, and have
> printed out your story to re-read when more of it will make sense to me!
> LOL. Hope you saved a copy, too. I wrote my private checkride story
> right afterwards, and it's fun to go back and read it every once in a
> while. I would have forgotten some of the details if I hadn't written
> them all down.

If you like reading about other peoples IFR training, here are a couple
that I've run across which provide lots of great gems of wisdom:

This is an online log of the accelerated IFR training written
by Marc J. Zeitlin:

<http://www.cozybuilders.org/2005_Instrument_Training/>

Here is a good accounting of Joe Campbell's IFR training experience:

<http://www.campbells.org/Airplanes/Diary/toc.html>

And finally:

Ed Williams Aviation Page:

<http://williams.best.vwh.net/>

Ed is a CFII with lots of great information on his site.

>
> Not having done the IA rating yet, it's a little daunting to hear
> *everyone*, even those that have gone all the way to ATP, say the
> instrument rating was the hardest one! Doesn't ANYONE say, "It was hard,
> but not as bad as I anticipated" ???

I will ;-)

Seriously, I expected it would be much worse than it was. I had a hard
time getting over the knowledge test hump, in that initially, it seemed
like an incredible amount of information that I had to somehow learn.

However, there are lots of things you can do to make this work, and
they each just take some time, so you have to be patient and be willing
to study.

Personally, I used the Gleim test prep book (along with reading the FAR/AIM,
and other books, etc.). In the end, I got an acceptable score (okay, it
was 100%, but that was really an accident ;-) )

As far as the training goes, the CFII will walk you through it. What could
be easier than that? ;-)

Also, there are a lot of folks here with lots of great advice to help
you along your way!

--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

[[email protected]]

Mark Hansen > wrote:
> Seriously, I expected it would be much worse than it was.

Thank you! <sigh of relief>

> I had a hard time getting over the knowledge test
> hump, in that initially, it seemed like an incredible
> amount of information that I had to somehow learn.

I'm pretty good at studying, so I'm not as worried about the knowledge
test *or* the flight as I am about the oral exam. I'm simply *the worst*
at verbalizing what's in my brain. Now, if you could answer the
questions in writing, essay format ...

> I got an acceptable score (okay, it
> was 100%, but that was really an accident ;-)

;-) <shaking head and grinning> Yeah, 100% would be "acceptable". Kudos!

> As far as the training goes, the CFII will walk you
> through it. What could be easier than that? ;-)

The flight training is the part I look most forward to. And I *have*
heard one other person say, similar to what you just said, that in some
ways IFR training is easier because everything is choreographed *for*
you, rather than VFR flying, where you're looking at the options and
making a lot of the calculations and decisions on your own.

> Also, there are a lot of folks here with lots of great
> advice to help you along your way!

True. Thanks for posting the links to other instrument checkride
stories. I remember most private checkride stories putting me more at
ease before mine.

[Jack Allison]

Mark Hansen wrote:
> Do you mind if I ask why you decided to make your turn at 400' when
> initially departing KSAC? I was told that, barring any other restrictions,
> you should not begin a turn until within 300' of TPA when VFR, and above
> circling mins when IFR.

Our clearance was: Cleared to KMHR via heading 090, radar vectors.
Climb and maintain 2000, expect 3000 5 minutes after departure...

KSAC doesn't have an obstacle DP so therefore meets the "diverse
departure" criteria (you won't hit anything if you start a climb at a
minimum of 35 ft. from the departure end of the runway, climb 200 ft/nm,
and climb to 400 ft). Lincoln, OTOH, does have an obstacle DP due to
the terrain to the East (Climbing turn to the MYV VOR then climb on
course). So...all that to say that as I was departing KSAC, I was
remembering my CFII saying you wouldn't start a turn until 400 ft. The
brain fart on my part was not realizing the noise abatement stuff for
runway 20 at KSAC. Had I waited until 600 ft., I would have been above
the circling minimums.

> And by the way, if it was just a brain fart, I'll tell you what happened
> when I was asked to do a DME arc and holding during part of my IFR
> check-out
> at the new club ;-\ ... it may make you feel better about yours.

Well, even if it doesn't make me feel better, I think that since you
offered, do tell :-)

> Now, after you get a chance to relax and revel in your success, I want to
> talk about staying current ;-)

Relax? What's that again? Hehe, sure, anytime you want to hookup for
currency stuff, drop me an e-mail. I figure to fly our plane a couple
more times before it goes in for some maintenance then for the annual.
I'll have more than normal safety piloting availability during the last
three weeks of March since that's when we've lined up all the work.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Jack Allison]

john smith wrote:
> Congratulations Jack!
> I will email you later about the Arrow tips.
> Regards, Eric
Sweet...any/all tips/tricks/hints/etc. about the Arrow gladly accepted.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Jack Allison]

Jim Burns wrote:
> Congrats!!!
> Ok, now you deserve a few days in Vegas!!
>
Gee, and it just so happens that a couple of frozen Iowa/Wisconsin
families will be thawing out in Vegas in March...go figure! :-)

Should we start an OSH food/party fund where everyone sends you/Jay say,
maybe $5 and you guys see what you can do at the casinos? Nah...you
guys would just buy some beer and drink it all...bad idea. :-)

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Jack Allison]

Mark Hansen wrote:

> Here is a good accounting of Joe Campbell's IFR training experience:
>
> <http://www.campbells.org/Airplanes/Diary/toc.html>

This is definitely a good read. I have to checkout the others.

>> Not having done the IA rating yet, it's a little daunting to hear
>> *everyone*, even those that have gone all the way to ATP, say the
>> instrument rating was the hardest one! Doesn't ANYONE say, "It was
>> hard, but not as bad as I anticipated" ???
>
>
> I will ;-)

Figures... :-)

> Seriously, I expected it would be much worse than it was. I had a hard
> time getting over the knowledge test hump, in that initially, it seemed
> like an incredible amount of information that I had to somehow learn.

To me, this is one aspect that added to the "overall harder rating"
idea. Sure, once you get your head around some stuff and can deal with
the procedures (while flying the plane), things get easier. However,
getting to this point can be mind numbing at times and can take much
more concentrated effort. In the end, I'm glad that I experienced total
brain overload while flying *and* having my CFII in the right seat.
These times were very good object lessons that you really need your act
together while flying IFR.

> However, there are lots of things you can do to make this work, and
> they each just take some time, so you have to be patient and be willing
> to study.

Yes, patience patience patience and study study study. Lather, rinse,
repeat...


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Jack Allison]

wrote:
> Thanks for posting your checkride story. I'm about to begin, and have
> printed out your story to re-read when more of it will make sense to me!

Glad to hear that my experience can be of benefit to you. I've done the
same with other posts. I remember reading through all the checkride
posts from Gene Whitt's website before I took my PPL checkride.

> Not having done the IA rating yet, it's a little daunting to hear
> *everyone*, even those that have gone all the way to ATP, say the
> instrument rating was the hardest one! Doesn't ANYONE say, "It was hard,
> but not as bad as I anticipated" ???

Well, MarkH did already so there's one :-) To me, it wasn't daunting
hearing this but did help set my expectations a bit. As usual, study
and fly as much as you can. Always think of questions to ask your CFII.
Realize that there is absolutely no way to know it all but know where
to find the answers.

Congrats on deciding to pursue your instrument rating. It will be worth
it in the end. Post your progress too as I know many of us here would
enjoy reading the progress.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Mark Hansen]

On 02/26/06 09:17, wrote:
> Mark Hansen > wrote:
>> Seriously, I expected it would be much worse than it was.
>
> Thank you! <sigh of relief>
>
>> I had a hard time getting over the knowledge test
>> hump, in that initially, it seemed like an incredible
>> amount of information that I had to somehow learn.
>
> I'm pretty good at studying, so I'm not as worried about the knowledge
> test *or* the flight as I am about the oral exam. I'm simply *the worst*
> at verbalizing what's in my brain. Now, if you could answer the
> questions in writing, essay format ...

Well, the point of the exam is not to see how well you take oral exams,
so the DE should work to determine if you know the material, and should
also allow for typical 'exam jitters'. Just take each answer slowly and
think about it. If you know the material, you'll do fine.

>
>> I got an acceptable score (okay, it
>> was 100%, but that was really an accident ;-)
>
> ;-) <shaking head and grinning> Yeah, 100% would be "acceptable". Kudos!

Well, I knew the material, but the test computer threw me nothing but the
easy ones and no hard ones. It was really strange. Just prior, I had taken
three practice tests on the FBO computer test simulator, and missed one or
two each time, so go figure ;-)

>
>> As far as the training goes, the CFII will walk you
>> through it. What could be easier than that? ;-)
>
> The flight training is the part I look most forward to. And I *have*
> heard one other person say, similar to what you just said, that in some
> ways IFR training is easier because everything is choreographed *for*
> you, rather than VFR flying, where you're looking at the options and
> making a lot of the calculations and decisions on your own.

That's true. There are some things you're going to have to learn, but
they're not all that difficult (like DME arc, holding entries, etc.)

>
>> Also, there are a lot of folks here with lots of great
>> advice to help you along your way!
>
> True. Thanks for posting the links to other instrument checkride
> stories. I remember most private checkride stories putting me more at
> ease before mine.

I think you'll have a lot of fun. Best of luck!

--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

[Mark Hansen]

On 02/26/06 10:56, Jack Allison wrote:
> wrote:
>> Thanks for posting your checkride story. I'm about to begin, and have
>> printed out your story to re-read when more of it will make sense to me!
>
> Glad to hear that my experience can be of benefit to you. I've done the
> same with other posts. I remember reading through all the checkride
> posts from Gene Whitt's website before I took my PPL checkride.
>
>> Not having done the IA rating yet, it's a little daunting to hear
>> *everyone*, even those that have gone all the way to ATP, say the
>> instrument rating was the hardest one! Doesn't ANYONE say, "It was hard,
>> but not as bad as I anticipated" ???
>
> Well, MarkH did already so there's one :-) To me, it wasn't daunting
> hearing this but did help set my expectations a bit. As usual, study
> and fly as much as you can. Always think of questions to ask your CFII.
> Realize that there is absolutely no way to know it all but know where
> to find the answers.
>
> Congrats on deciding to pursue your instrument rating. It will be worth
> it in the end. Post your progress too as I know many of us here would
> enjoy reading the progress.
>
>

And, just keep in mind that getting the rating is not the end of the story.
I'm going to create a separate thread on currency after getting the rating
which will offer my experience; please have a look at it.

--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

[Jim Burns]

I'm sensing a severe lack of trust here... hmm... now why could that be?

Perhaps you know us too well.

Speaking of beer, have one on me, you deserve a few. Congrats again.

Jim

"Jack Allison" > wrote in message
. ..
> Jim Burns wrote:
>> Congrats!!!
>> Ok, now you deserve a few days in Vegas!!
>>
> Gee, and it just so happens that a couple of frozen Iowa/Wisconsin
> families will be thawing out in Vegas in March...go figure! :-)
>
> Should we start an OSH food/party fund where everyone sends you/Jay say,
> maybe $5 and you guys see what you can do at the casinos? Nah...you guys
> would just buy some beer and drink it all...bad idea. :-)
>
> --
> Jack Allison
> PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
> Arrow N2104T
>
> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
> with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
> you will always long to return"
> - Leonardo Da Vinci
>
> (Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Jay Honeck]

> I'm sensing a severe lack of trust here... hmm... now why could that be?
>
> Perhaps you know us too well.
>
> Speaking of beer, have one on me, you deserve a few. Congrats again.

Ditto and roger to all that! Way to go, Jack!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jack Allison]

Jay Honeck wrote:
>>I'm sensing a severe lack of trust here... hmm... now why could that be?
>>
>>Perhaps you know us too well.
>>
>>Speaking of beer, have one on me, you deserve a few. Congrats again.
>
>
> Ditto and roger to all that! Way to go, Jack!
I'll collect at Oshkosh this year. :-)


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Montblack]

("Jack Allison" wrote)
> Now, how come spell check doesn't handle the subject line? Where's the
> "recall" button? Argh...fried brain on floor...


COENGRATULATIONS Jack!! :-)


Paul

[Montblack]

("Jack Allison" wrote)
> I'll collect at Oshkosh this year. :-)


Ok.

> PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
[didn't have the heart to strip this portion. <g>]

Nice write up.


Paul
If I make it out to Vegas and you find me betting on spring training split
squad baseball games - call the Gambling Help Hotline. Thanks.

....stupid Seahawks!!

[three-eight-hotel]

Congrats Jack! And, nice write-up.

I can completely relate to the lack of sleep, the night before, and
waking up before the alarm! I purchased the King check-ride video
(mainly because I knew I could get a refund, if I busted :-), and
watched it over and over again the two days prior to ride, and 3 or 4
times the night before. Although annoying at times, and riddled with
fopahs, it worked well at getting the routine of a standard check-ride
into my head.

The rating, as you said, a lot of work, and much more difficult than
the PPL, but in hind-sight not really that bad (for anybody considering
going after it). It is definitely an accomplishment to be proud of!
The ability to fly the plane precisely, and better handle an emergency
is much worth the price of admission.

Way to go!!!

Best Regards,
Todd

[Denny]

Great story...
Interestingly, one of the locals on my field just took and flunked his
IFR check ride last week... He says the the oral and the ride actually
went like clockwork... He felt confident and he felt that it showed in
his handling of the airplane...
The examiner told him to finish the ILS they were currently shooting,
by declaring the miss at the DH and fly the missed approach to the
holding fix called out on the plate, fly it once around then depart to
a VOR-A approach back to our field and that would be it... So thinking
ahead, as soon as he hits the DH for the ILS approach he calls the
missed approach and begins flying the profile, he quickly dials in the
VOR-A approach on the Garmin 430 NAV-COM and presets the OBS for the
proper radial (125) to be set up for the VOR-A as soon as he departs
the hold, then he uses the 430 moving map to navigate to the holding
fix... As soon as he turned inbound to the holding fix the examiner
told him he was busted for failing to use the OBS.. Period... End of
discussion... Ride over...
So, today he was to refly the missed approach to the holding fix and
then fly the VOR-A to complete the ride... I don't see his choice of
using the map as a disqualifying error... I would have told the
candidate that he needed to depart the hold, reacquire it using the OBS
and demonstrate proficiency... The DE saw it otherwise...

denny

[Jack Allison]

Interesting Denny. One thing I remember my CFII saying was that when
flying the VOR approach, plan to use the VOR and not the GPS. His take
was that it showed the DE I could do a VOR approach *without* the GPS.
Sure, I'd probably use the overlay whenever possible in actual
conditions (and do practice approach work without it)...anyway, that was
his idea.

As for MarkH's point, IIRC, if you can identify the holding fix with the
GPS, you can legally use the GPS. As I understand, it comes down to the
fact that if it's in the GPS database, you can use it. I'd pull out my
AIM but, gee, I just put it back on the shelf and sort of don't feel
like looking at it for a bit...go figure. :-)

As for the guy that busted, sounds like the DE could have been more
clear as to what he wanted to see vs. busting him.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[A Lieberman]

On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 19:13:30 -0800, Jack Allison wrote:

> As for MarkH's point, IIRC, if you can identify the holding fix with the
> GPS, you can legally use the GPS. As I understand, it comes down to the
> fact that if it's in the GPS database, you can use it.

For you to use the GPS approach in the Garmin 430, the approach must be
labeled GPS on the approach you select. For example, I select the VOR
alpha at my airport (KMBO), the approach has gps next to it.

This means I can use the GPS mode for the approach or use the OBS for the
approach.

Personally, love the map overlay. If you cannot keep the lil plane on the
purple line, you have no business flying IMC or you are in conditions
beyond your capabilities.

I am so glad I got my IFR ticket b4 getting my 430 installed. Makes me
fully appreciate the ease of situational awareness with the 430.

Allen