Need recommendation on accelerated IFR courses

Folks !

I am planing to get my IFR ticket. preferably in one of accelerated programs.
I have read about a few but I am still looking for one where they take you
on a cross-country ride to say west-coast or Alaska (I am in east) and you
don't shoot same approach twice. AT the end of the trip you take your
checkride. Do you know of such a course ? How do they compare to ones
that remain local ?

thank you,

-Sanjay Kumar

Sanjay,

but I am still looking for one where they take you
on a cross-country ride


Well, accelerated and cross country probably don't go together that
well. Flying IFR enroute isn't the hard thing to learn about the
rating, so you're bound to waste some time during the long portions of
the flights.

You can see that from the fact that the cross country courses have
advance training requirements.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

"Thomas Borchert" wrote

Well, accelerated and cross country probably don't go together that
well. Flying IFR enroute isn't the hard thing to learn about the
rating, so you're bound to waste some time during the long portions of
the flights.

I suppose someone could invent a cross country course that had you landing
at multitudes of airports, all close together, while going across the
country. A new record for numbers of landings while going across the
country? g
--
Jim in NC

Saw this one in an article I believe. Sorry, can't recall which publication.
http://www.dsflight.com/

Marco Leon

"Sanjay Kumar" wrote in message
...
Folks !

I am planing to get my IFR ticket. preferably in one of accelerated
programs.
I have read about a few but I am still looking for one where they take you
on a cross-country ride to say west-coast or Alaska (I am in east) and you
don't shoot same approach twice. AT the end of the trip you take your
checkride. Do you know of such a course ? How do they compare to ones
that remain local ?

thank you,

-Sanjay Kumar

I am planing to get my IFR ticket. preferably in one of accelerated
programs. I have read about a few but I am still looking for one where
they take you on a cross-country ride to say west-coast or Alaska
(I am in east) and you don't shoot same approach twice. AT the end
of the trip you take your checkride. Do you know of such a course ?

AFAIK no such course exists. The ones that teach IFR flying on long XC
flights generally require that you already have a significant amount of
instrument time (some require you to be rated). None are geared
towards the checkride.

There is a reason for this. The goal of the program is not to get you
ready for a checkride in minimum time. If that were the goal, the way
to go would be to go to some place with great weather, fly every day
(maybe twice a day) strictly under the hood (no actual), hit the local
approaches hard (and don't go further from home than the DE will be
willing to go), make only the one required XC flight, and take the
checkride immediately. If what you want is a piece of paper rather
than the ability to safely make flights you can't make VFR, this is the
way to go. Fast and cheap.

The purpose of a long range XC flight is very different - it exposes
you to a variety of conditions (different approaches, ATC facilities,
weather, geography) to maximize your preparation for actually using the
rating.

So what is your goal?

Michael

Sanjay,
Check this thread where I posted links to IFR accelerated training
reports

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...e=source&hl=en

Few months ago, I were considering several accelerated training
options with special considerations to DSFI's East Coast trip or
Morey's West Coast trip. We thought it would be a great thing to
combine IFR training with mountain flying and cross-country experience.

I did a Wings training course with Doug Stewart who ran the East
Coast trip and took an introductory IFR training flight with Bill
Zaleski. I was impressed with both instructors, but decided to sign up
with Bill for several reasons: First, as someone had pointed out in
this thread, while you do learn quite a bit in the enroute IFR phase,
the long travelling time does reduce your opportunities to shoot
approaches. Secondly, to go with Doug, we would either have to use his
plane (with a Stormscope) or to add in-flight weather information to
our plane. Either option will add to the cost of the training. Lastly,
Bill happened to have a slot for us right away vs waiting several
months for Doug. We may take short version of the EastCoast trip with
Doug next year as an IFR refresher and to get some mountain flying
time.

We were surprised that Bill thought we were ready after 5 days of
training. In the end, it took 7 days for the two of us. It is
expected that people are very skeptical of accelerated training course.
I would never have gone for one during primary training but instrument
training is a different story. Having seen the struggle my husband went
through with a 'traditional' IFR training, I am convinced that the
'cram' IFR course is a very effective way of learning.

If you read several threads on IFR training, you will see some
people advocate getting some VFR flying experience, doing a lot of long
cross country trips etc. prior to starting IFR training. Both my
husband and I each had over 100hrs x-country (50nm) time prior to
taking the course. We had also prepared for the course by taking the
written exam, reading many books, practicing on the simulator and
getting some hoodtime serving as each other's safety pilot. This
preparation compensated for the fact that we were not 'natural' flyers.
While we made some mistakes during our training and the checkrides, we
felt the course prepared us well for the real world of IFR flying. We
did a long IFR x-country trip (NY-MI-IL-NY) a month after passing the
checkrides and plan to embark on a longer one (NY-MI-MN-C0-NY) in few
weeks. With lots of preparation, we hope that the two of us will have
a fun but unevenful trip ;-)

Hai Longworth

"Roy Smith" wrote in message

A lot of people on this group were acting
like being asked to "say intentions" when their flight-planned route
turned
out to be unavailable was a major crisis.

I agree with your point but not your example. Sometimes the most
experienced IFR pilots have the mindset and judgment to question ATC
rather than accept whatever is given and sometimes that is essential
for safe IFR flight.

If you sorted the responses to that situation, I think you would find
fair representation by capable and experienced IFR pilots on both sides
of the
issue.

Y'All,
I have prepared pilots to take Field's program. A California trained pilot
has great difficulty getting truly hard IFR experience. An IFR rating in
California does not prepare you for what you will meet in
Great Lakes, Northwest, Southwest and the Midwest.

You can get the basics in California but Field (He is named after his
father's airport) will train you to be a survivor. His program is the
best available for those who require the best possible experiences in an
accellerated realistic program. Not everybody can take it and make it.
Field has a syllabus for your local CFI to use before you
fly to Wisconsin.

He also has taken some of my pilots to the Bahamas and Alaska.

Gene Whitt

"Gene Whitt" wrote in message
ink.net...
Y'All,
I have prepared pilots to take Field's program. A California trained
pilot has great difficulty getting truly hard IFR experience. An IFR
rating in California does not prepare you for what you will meet in
Great Lakes, Northwest, Southwest and the Midwest.

You can get the basics in California but Field (He is named after his
father's airport) will train you to be a survivor. His program is the
best available for those who require the best possible experiences in an
accellerated realistic program. Not everybody can take it and make it.
Field has a syllabus for your local CFI to use before you
fly to Wisconsin.

He also has taken some of my pilots to the Bahamas and Alaska.

Gene Whitt

Unfortunately the program run by Field and his son Rich has now finished.

wrote:

SometimesÂ*theÂ*most
experienced IFR pilots have the mindset and judgment to question ATC
rather than accept whatever is given and sometimes that is essential
for safe IFR flight.

One of the reasons I chose the CFII I did, back when I did, was his comfort
with ATC. It was the start of my education regarding the advantages of a
"well seasoned" CFI. I've since become quite a bigot on that topic, in
fact laugh.

One of the "real world" concepts he taught, in addition to the small matter
of IFR flying, was dealing with ATC. I've found far more seasoned pilots
surprised at my negotiation style, and I owe it all to that instructor.

That said, I have to admit that I'd be disturbed to be in IMC w/o a
clearance to some airport. That's a serious problem just waiting for a
comm failure.

I don't recall whether it was real IMC in that earlier thread to which Roy
referred, though.

- Andrew