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#71
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"Mark Astley" wrote
Just to give you a data point... I guess I fall into the low time pilot category at about 250 hours TT. You do. When you're that low time, a lot of things make a difference that will be irrelevant at 500+ hours. My insurance bill was about $90 lower this year possibly as a result of attaining the instrument rating. Of course, this may be a break due to TT rather than an IA, except that I don't think you get a break because of TT until at least 300 hours. First off, this varies by insurer but there isn't a single insurer I know of that treats a 100 hour pilot the same as a 250 hour pilot when it comes to flying a simple airplane. So don't be so quick to discount total time - in general, both total time and time in the past year are more important than ratings. More to the point, though, continuing training (in whatever form, as long as it is in your airplane) is attractive to a lot of insurers. It shows that you are flying regularly, are training regularly, and are disciplined about your flying. A rating (any rating) acquired in the past year is generally worth something as long as your rates have not bottomed out (and yours, at 250 hours, have not). Still, I didn't get the IA for the insurance. I did it to increase the usability of my plane. Here in NJ we get a lot of hazy summers and the occasional scuddy days in fall/spring (ceiling around 2k). Do you really believe that ceilings of 2000 AGL and visibilities of 3-5 miles require an instrument rating in a Cherokee? Michael |
#72
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Mark Astley wrote: Of course, this may be a break due to TT rather than an IA, except that I don't think you get a break because of TT until at least 300 hours. I spoke to the Cessna insurance people at the AOPA flying at Frederick a few years ago. They said their first price break is at 210 hours. George Patterson Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would not yield to the tongue. |
#73
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"Michael" wrote in message
om... "Mark Astley" wrote Just to give you a data point... Still, I didn't get the IA for the insurance. I did it to increase the usability of my plane. Here in NJ we get a lot of hazy summers and the occasional scuddy days in fall/spring (ceiling around 2k). Do you really believe that ceilings of 2000 AGL and visibilities of 3-5 miles require an instrument rating in a Cherokee? Require? No, of course not, if you're content to get beaten senseless cruising around down low. A hazy NJ summer can easily be less than 3 miles, then there's the occasional freak occurence like smoke from Canada blowing down into your airspace. mark |
#74
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Still, I didn't get the IA for the insurance. I did it to increase
the usability of my plane. Here in NJ we get a lot of hazy summers and the occasional scuddy days in fall/spring (ceiling around 2k). Do you really believe that ceilings of 2000 AGL and visibilities of 3-5 miles require an instrument rating in a Cherokee? Michael I do. I'm about half way through my ifr training (about 230 hours total time over 3 years). My pesonal VFR minimums are 3,500 ovc, 3,000 bkn. I had to divert once due to weather going from 4,000 bkn to 800 within 20 minutes. Luckily I was right over an airport when I called ahead to my class C home base. Fetched the plane the next day. Even so, once I get the rating, I'm betting my ifr minimums will still be around the 2k agl mark (2-3 miles visibility). Given the severly blown practice LOC approach last night under the hood, I need some room. :-) Hard to tell though. I haven't even had any actual, yet. 1st time may scare my minimums even higher. |
#75
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"Mark Astley" wrote
Require? No, of course not, if you're content to get beaten senseless cruising around down low. So what you're actually increasing is comfort rather than capability. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I've been known to file IFR myself just because it was more convenient or comfortable - but it's not the same thing as not being able to make it VFR. A hazy NJ summer can easily be less than 3 miles, Really? I'm there quite a bit, and I can't recall the last time the haze made the visibility less than three miles. Not saying it can't happen, but I don't see it happening much. What I do see a lot is a tendency to dramatically underestimate visibility. Whenever I fly with a student in hazy conditions, I always make it a point to ask him what he thinks the visibility is. Then I point out a distant but prominent object that I know is further than that, and ask him how far away he thinks it is. Then we either find it on the map and fly to it, until he realizes the visibility was a lot better than what he thought. In my experience, I've NEVER had a pilot with less than 1000 hours fail to significantly underestimate the flight visibility in haze. Just one of those things I've started noticing since I started teaching. then there's the occasional freak occurence like smoke from Canada blowing down into your airspace. Yeah, that happens. I remember when the smoke from Mexico blew into Texas. I had about 300 hours then, and I remember thinking how bad it was, and wondering if I was busting VFR mins. Now that I've racked up several approaches in 2-4 miles of vis I know that it probably never got worse than 4 miles. Sure seemed worse at the time though. Michael |
#76
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Steven,
My pesonal VFR minimums are 3,500 ovc, 3,000 bkn. Hmm. Bold statement. I wouldn't get in the air much with that as an unqualified limit. Some questions that immediately pop up: What kind of terrain? Where I fly a lot, it is all flat. Goin with a ceiling of 1000 feet is usualy no problem. That would be different in hill country, of course. What is the visibility? Where I fly, great visibility underneath a low cloud deck is common. No problem flying low in those conditions. With good visibility and even 2500 feet hills around, I don't see why you would need 3500 overcast to fly. And I agree to the other poster: Most people underestimate visibility. 3 miles is REALLY, REALLY low. -- Thomas Borchert (EDDH) |
#77
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#78
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#79
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"Michael" wrote in message
m... "Mark Astley" wrote Require? No, of course not, if you're content to get beaten senseless cruising around down low. So what you're actually increasing is comfort rather than capability. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I've been known to file IFR myself just because it was more convenient or comfortable - but it's not the same thing as not being able to make it VFR. I see what you're saying, but I think the line is a bit blurrier. I'm not going to file if I'm poking around the practice area with ceilings under 2k. However, since I fly exclusively for pleasure, I'm not going to take a long x-country cruising down low because I know no one in the plane will be particularly happy bouncing around for several hours (maybe your passengers are more tolerant). Before I could file, I had less capability because this is a flight I wouldn't take. Now at least I have some options. A hazy NJ summer can easily be less than 3 miles, snip In my experience, I've NEVER had a pilot with less than 1000 hours fail to significantly underestimate the flight visibility in haze. Just one of those things I've started noticing since I started teaching. Fair enough, guess I'll have to get back to you when I break 1000 hours I imagine I look like a sissy when it comes to x-winds as well (my current limit is gusts up to 20 on a direct x-wind, I won't go beyond that without an instructor). then there's the occasional freak occurence like smoke from Canada blowing down into your airspace. Yeah, that happens. I remember when the smoke from Mexico blew into Texas. I had about 300 hours then, and I remember thinking how bad it was, and wondering if I was busting VFR mins. Now that I've racked up several approaches in 2-4 miles of vis I know that it probably never got worse than 4 miles. Sure seemed worse at the time though. I concede that after more experience I may sing a different tune. I WILL say that scanning for traffic in such conditions is pretty nerve wracking, but of course filing doesn't get you out of doing that either. mark |
#80
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