+1 -- though don't be surprised if the answer is "oh, we'll do actual, I don't have a problem with that, but I want to get you ready for the stage check and then the checkride."Normal is relative it may be enough to get you the IR, but it hardly seems like it is providing experience that will lead to safety in the real world. Out of curiosity have you asked why he won't fly in IMC with you?
-Jon
I just noticed you're in Phoenix- It's possible your CFII has very little actual IFR experience, and is uncomfortable in actual conditions.
Probably not unusual at some schools, but not the best way to do things in my opinion. Its your training like Ron said. If you feel like you need to speak up then do so. Nothing wrong with that
Whew! Does the candidate get a chance to digest that route before climbing into the airplane for the checkride? I think I might be able to pull that off in a 172 slowed to about 60 KtGS but in my Baron at my normal gear up "slow" speed it would take longer for the DPE to explain the next step than the plane would need to get through it. Perhaps the examiner is doing this with the expectation that the applicant will screw it up a bit and he want's to see how the pilot manages when things get overwhelming?My comments above notwithstanding, there are times I have "taught the test" to an extent when I know the examiner routinely uses the same, complicated test profile in an effort to "get up, get down, get done." There is one examiner in Maryland who runs a profile which starts east of the Westminster VOR (EMI), enters a hold at an unpublished intersection about 12 miles east of EMI, then procedes inbound to join the 5nm DME arc counterclockwise around the VOR to join the 295 radial outbound, and then 5 miles later intercept the final approach course for the ILS 23 approach into Frederick.
No, he does tell the applicant during the briefing what they will be doing, but it's still a gasser. It reminds me a lot of the routine Sean Connery puts Catherine Zeta-Jones through in "Entrapment" preparing for the array of laser beams guarding whatever it is they were stealing. Seems to me it took her a while to get it right.Whew! Does the candidate get a chance to digest that route before climbing into the airplane for the checkride? I think I might be able to pull that off in a 172 slowed to about 60 KtGS but in my Baron at my normal gear up "slow" speed it would take longer for the DPE to explain the next step than the plane would need to get through it. Perhaps the examiner is doing this with the expectation that the applicant will screw it up a bit and he want's to see how the pilot manages when things get overwhelming?
I can definitely relate to feeling unchallenged. It was always a struggle to get my first CFII to have me fly approaches partial panel, it was never more than one approach per training session, and he resisted failing my HSI for the longest time. I never got to partial panel with my next CFII, and even my current one put it off until after we'd flown maybe 3 times (plus the day we flew in IMC). How is your instructor about that? I'll probably regret saying this on the board but I wonder if it's because I'm female, i.e. the usual male tendency to give women the kid glove treatment (which I'm convinced is ingrained and so unconscious that a lot of guys will even deny it). When I first started getting serious about IFR I wanted a woman CFII for that reason, and had talked to someone I knew about training with her while I was still flying a friend's airplane. Then that plane was sold and the CFII dropped out of aviation (mostly) before I bought my airplane. As of today I don't know of any women CFIIs locally at all.
you need a new instructor, s/he should be bald or white haired and deaf. S/he will not waste your time on too many gps and ils approcahes, and will spend a lot of time on partial panel. NDB approaches will be practiced not so much because they will be frequent needs, but because they make use of basic skills without buttonology distractions. S/He should go far out of their way to find real clouds for you to fly in. As you finish up your training s/he will set you up to ride shotgun with some local freight dogs to see how things work in the real world.
ok, but earlier you're complaining about high cost and lack of value provided. If the local ford dealer rips you off on a repair do you complain about it but then immediately recommend the same shop to your friends ?I feel like I should certainly defend my school because they have done a great job of everything for me.
ok, but earlier you're complaining about high cost and lack of value provided. If the local ford dealer rips you off on a repair do you complain about it but then immediately recommend the same shop to your friends ?
go to the chalkboard and write this 10 times: "I am the customer. The CFI works for me."
Can't even go to kiwa because their runway with the ils is closed for another 2 weeks.
I don't get the "let me do" end of it.I should have put everything else, not everything.
How can I stick up for myself then? It seriously took like 3 lessons to get him to let me us TWO COMM RADIOS at once. I'm not kidding.
Is the ILS OTS as well? You can shoot an approach without landing...
I personally think a disservice is done to PPL students by not having them fly at least once during training through a cloud. If you are not prepared for it, I can see how inadvertantly flying into a cloud can kill quickly.
The whole school is the same way. It's a great school and I do like it there. Just getting kind of bored shelling out this kind of money and never leaving the area except for the XC that's next weekend. And the number of approaches is definitely not an issue. I'm in a huge metropolitan area with like 7 airports a half hour flight or less away. I understand he wants me ready for a stage check that's on Friday with his boss, but I don't understand restricting our flights to primarily these 2 airports. He also has me to T&G's at the untowered field that has the ILS which I don't particularly like but that's for another thread.
I don't agree with this statement. I don't think it healthy to scare the bejeezus out of the new PPL trainee. That's not the way to teach respect for VFR-IMC and will more than likely teach panic in preparation for real world or teach over confidence for the 10% that don't muck it up.
What I will comment on, is that after your rating and after you have had your couple of I-am-a-macho-pilot flights in hard IFR with a bit of ice, or turbulence that has the passenger barfing, you will spend the rest of your flying career working hard to avoid hard IFR.
Reality is, that for single pilot GA airplanes, real can't-see-the-prop IMC is best avoided and the rating used to get you off the ground up through a thin layer and on top in the bright sunshine, or to shoot the approach when it is just a bit scummy for VFR.
Safe flying is ALL about risk management. When the weather is 200 and a half, and the freezing level and the mountain tops are shaking hands, the best place to be is on the ground. The risk is simply not worth the reward.
You do not want to go into a cloud layer for the first time with only you at the controls. Get some actual IMC, even if you have to travel to some weather to get it, with an instructor or an experienced IFR pilot with you.
Now, once you have the rating you will find that your ability to use the airplane to travel has increased by ten fold. Just be smart and leave the hard IMC to the pros with pro equipment and two pilots.