wrote in message
oups.com...
I am a 300+ hour private pilot living and flying in the NYC area
(specifically Caldwell NJ / Teterboro). I am interested in taking an
accelerated instrument course and have been attracted to the PIC 10 day
course and other similar 10 day courses. I already have about 10 hours
of simulator time and am familiar basics of partial panel instrument
and approach training. However I now want to complete my training in a
focused and intense training environment.
I suspect there is no such thing as an unbiased opinion on this subject. We
all learned a certain way, and those who are happy with the way we learned
will argue that it is the best.
Like you (I'm guessing) I was a busy professional motivated to get my IR
done and finished. The PIC concept appealed to me, but I ultimately chose to
work with a local instructor and took about 18 months and 55 hours to do it,
with probably half of that time being the usual friction of life.
In my mind, a big part of the question has to be whether you can link up
with a true CFII in your area. By this I don't mean a 500-hour graduate of
some ab-initio program, but someone with some serious time. A key question
to ask is whether they will take you up for training in actual conditions,
and what their comfort margins are. With 25 hours in, I was going up with my
CFII on days with 300-400' ceilings and 1mi vis. That's a good workout.
You may well not find anyone who fits this bill. It's not unlikely that the
guy you do find does not work for the local flight school as he has a list
of steady clients who keep him busy and pay $40/hr right into his pocket. If
you can't find such a fellow, then go ahead, go with PIC. I do not doubt
that they will teach you the procedures well, and that's what you need to
pass the test. There's no shame in that and if you're a 22yo kid who wants
an airline job it's probably the sensible approach.
But perhaps more so than any other rating, the difference between what you
need to pass the test and what you need to really use the rating well as a
private pilot is gigantic. My CFII believed that it was important to work on
the skills over 6-12 months so the procuedures got really imprinted into
your brain and allowed you to see a variety of conditions. This is doubly
true up here in the Northeast where you've really got three entirely
different climates to fly in. Again, if you have a CFII who won't fly when
the ceilings are below 1500', this doesn't make much difference.
Also, if you really want to use the rating, at least for the first year or
two you will want to do a lot of recurrent training. I try to fly
approaches, holds, etc. in actual with my CFII at least once every three
months. In this case it is good to have someone local who knows you (and
vice-versa) you can call on when you have some free time and the clouds roll
in. If you don't have the time to get the rating the old-fashioned way, do
you have the time to keep yourself proficient enough to use it?
Can anyone recommend an excellent course in this area or others areas
around the country? I am particularly cost sensitive and would be most
interested in a complete course (aircraft time included) for less than
$7000.
We all have a budget, but $7000 is pushing it a little, at least in the
Northeast where a plane + instructor will be at least $130/hour.
I'm just going to throw a few more cents in here... The IR is simply
*different* than all the others, because it's a license to take yourself in
harm's way. You can be a VFR private pilot, and as long as you follow some
pretty basic rules, probably never come anywhere close to grief, especially
if you stay proficient.
IFR flying is different. People on the ground looking up at a sky of fluffy
white clouds cannot appreciate just how harsh and unforgiving environment it
really is up there. With the right equipment and skills it can be challenged
safely most of the time. But if you really want to use the rating, you owe
it to yourself to train like your life depends on it, and there is simply no
cheap way to do so.
-cwk.
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