BFR yesterday; first instrument approaches!

[Michael Ware]

My BFR was due in June, so I figured I'd get it out of the way a little
early so I wouldn't have to possibly ground myself. I scheduled for
Saturday, but the weather was looking marginal (I'm VFR only). Saturday
morning rolled around, TAF called for IMC. So I called my instructor to get
his thoughts. He asked me if I was instrument rated (no), I asked him if it
was possible to incorporate some simulated IFR into the flight portion of
the review. That's what we did.
After some ground discussion and Q&A, we filed IFR from OSU (Ohio state
University, Columbus OH), to CYO (Circleville OH), to TZR (Bolton) and back
to OSU. Prior to this, the only instrument training I had was the hood time
for the private, and an hour here and there for aircraft checkouts, unusual
attitude etc. I have to tell you, I am quite excited about persuing my
instrument rating now. It is one thing to read about it or watch a video on
the topic, quite another to actually do it. Being vectored around for
traffic, given clearance for the approach, etc. was a great experience and
lots of fun. Wirh the weather as it is right now in Ohio, at 4000 feet it
was absolutely the smoothest ride I can remember.
So, I got to do some IFR approaches, Bill (the instructor) got to evaluate
my flying skills and I got myself current for another 2 years. Worked out
well.

Mike

[Bob Gardner]

Cautionary note: When you begin instrument training in earnest, don't go
right into approaches, no matter how much you enjoyed this experience. Your
instructor should give you a solid basis in flight by instrument reference
(maybe five hours of very boring stuff for him) so that when you do get into
approaches you will have the muscle memory down cold and will be able to
transition between level and climb, climb and level, etc etc without really
thinking about it.

Having said that, I always tried to end an hour of practicing "control
solely by instrument reference" by shooting an approach. Sometimes I let the
student do it under the hood, sometimes we did it VFR so that the student
could relate needle position to the proximity of terrain and obstacles.

Bob Gardner

"Michael Ware" > wrote in message
. ..
> My BFR was due in June, so I figured I'd get it out of the way a little
> early so I wouldn't have to possibly ground myself. I scheduled for
> Saturday, but the weather was looking marginal (I'm VFR only). Saturday
> morning rolled around, TAF called for IMC. So I called my instructor to
> get
> his thoughts. He asked me if I was instrument rated (no), I asked him if
> it
> was possible to incorporate some simulated IFR into the flight portion of
> the review. That's what we did.
> After some ground discussion and Q&A, we filed IFR from OSU (Ohio state
> University, Columbus OH), to CYO (Circleville OH), to TZR (Bolton) and
> back
> to OSU. Prior to this, the only instrument training I had was the hood
> time
> for the private, and an hour here and there for aircraft checkouts,
> unusual
> attitude etc. I have to tell you, I am quite excited about persuing my
> instrument rating now. It is one thing to read about it or watch a video
> on
> the topic, quite another to actually do it. Being vectored around for
> traffic, given clearance for the approach, etc. was a great experience and
> lots of fun. Wirh the weather as it is right now in Ohio, at 4000 feet it
> was absolutely the smoothest ride I can remember.
> So, I got to do some IFR approaches, Bill (the instructor) got to evaluate
> my flying skills and I got myself current for another 2 years. Worked out
> well.
>
> Mike
>
>
>

[Jack Allison]

Congrats. on the BFR Mike...and for getting a taste of instrument
flying. As Bob said, you'll need to get some basic attitude instrument
flying in before jumping into approaches. Still...that first taste of
IMC is an eye opener, eh? Way different than flying under the hood. I
had a chance for a couple hours of IMC time during my PPL training and
was glad my CFI and I did so. In the last few months of my instrument
training, we had a chance for much more IMC and it was all a great
experience. Glad to hear that you're excited about the instrument
rating. I found it to be a lot of work and my brain was mush after
several flights but in the end, it's very much worth it.


--
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)

[Dan Luke]

"Michael Ware" wrote:

> ... I am quite excited about persuing my
> instrument rating now.

Go for it.

Getting the rating was tough for me; it took a year, and at the end I was
just about fed up with it. I was also a much more proficient pilot with both
yoke-and-rudder and the ATC system.

If you fly much for serious travel, I believe you will find the rating
useful. At the very least, you will get better radar service when flying
IFR.

Beware, though: using the rating can get you killed if you do not maintain
proficiency well beyond what is required by the FARs for currency. Everyone
firmly resolves to do this, of course, but it is a tougher resolution to keep
than it might seem.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

[A Lieberman]

On Mon, 15 May 2006 09:46:10 -0500, Dan Luke wrote:

> Beware, though: using the rating can get you killed if you do not maintain
> proficiency well beyond what is required by the FARs for currency. Everyone
> firmly resolves to do this, of course, but it is a tougher resolution to keep
> than it might seem.

Please heed Dan's advice above. See
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.aviation.student/browse_thread/thread/b3998f4ba6960ee7
for why my experiences concur with Dan's advice.

I had only gone 6 weeks without doing actual approaches and felt like I was
out of shape and that was after flying 2.4 hours level flight in actual
conditions.

Allen