MBDiagMan
Final Approach
My journey toward my instrument rating just should not be this hard! In spite of the number of hold ups I’ve had, my biggest struggle is due to my boondocks location.
I won’t bother outlining the entire list of holdups. I will go straight to my current background and and then the various instructor, or program possibilities.
I got my private in 2011 at the age of 62. I was still working and had limited time and resources to fly. I retired in 2016 and started flying more and working at passing the inst written. I passed the written last May and shortly thereafter injured my shoulder that caused me to change planes from my manual gear to an electric gear Mooney which put me into a debugging mode and it has taken time to get the Mooney in solid instrument flying shape. At the time I even considered doing the IR in my 140 which has a completely capable panel and stack. I still don’t completely rule that out although I really want to do the IR in the Mooney in order to establish my skill and confidence in the aircraft. If I do it in the Cessna I will have to spend time later transferring the instrument skill to the Mooney.
I now have almost 20 hours total under the hood, some of it going back to my early flying 25 years ago. In the Summer I flew with my original instructor who is a Mooney guy as well as a tailwheel guy. I also flew a few hours with an instructor who is marvelous, but unable to fly with me due to his corporate flying schedule. Unfortunately not an option. I had a break in the action waiting on aircraft maintenance and going to Florida for hurricane Michael disaster relief. After getting back with a sorted plane, my 94 year old Mom passed away causing further delay. I finally threw in the towel and flew with the instructor from Hell. He is coarse, abrasive and unnerving, but he has a good track record taking people to the IR albeit in a VERY expen$ive way. You pay him $350 a day plus a hotel room since he is not local, and you will only log a couple of hours hood time per day. He has a DPE that is familiar with him and knows that a student is ready when he sends them.
So, there are two instructors in my general area I can fly with, and a comprehensive program as a possible choice.
Instructor A. The old salt guy who taught me to fly 27 years ago and helped me transition to the Mooney. He admittedly knows very little about the 430 and doesn’t have a favored DPE. He basically flies with you by the hour and sends you off to practice with a Safety Pilot saying that you don’t want to pay me to sit and watch for traffic. He also is 45 nM away and I have to ferry to and from him. I have a hail shed hangar on his field and a car to use, and it is close to my ranch where I go at least 3 times a month, so going there is not a total loss of time every trip. Flying with him would probably mean that I am on my own to prepare for the oral and not know as much about what to expect on the checkride. If it would work, it would clearly be more economical than Instructor B or a comprehensive program away from home. How hard would it be to prepare for the oral onmy own? I have some good study material.
Instructor B. The instructor from Hell; expen$ive, coarse, abrasive and demeaning, but with a track record of success. Obviously he and I have opposite personality types. He makes me nervous and does not teach by reward, but by hammering you when you do wrong. He spends so much time in ground school I feel he would have me prepared, but $50 an hour private tutoring seems like an expensive way to do it. How much is all this ground school really worth? I know a few students he has taken all the way, and they are all extremely well healed to the point that the expense is just absolutely nothing to them. I have enough money to do it, but I am not convinced that this is the best use of my funds.
Comprehensive Program. There is a school in Kansas that will put you up and train to a conclusion for a fixed price. You fly up there, they give you a car and a room, have access to a simulator and they take you to the conclusion.
I won’t bother outlining the entire list of holdups. I will go straight to my current background and and then the various instructor, or program possibilities.
I got my private in 2011 at the age of 62. I was still working and had limited time and resources to fly. I retired in 2016 and started flying more and working at passing the inst written. I passed the written last May and shortly thereafter injured my shoulder that caused me to change planes from my manual gear to an electric gear Mooney which put me into a debugging mode and it has taken time to get the Mooney in solid instrument flying shape. At the time I even considered doing the IR in my 140 which has a completely capable panel and stack. I still don’t completely rule that out although I really want to do the IR in the Mooney in order to establish my skill and confidence in the aircraft. If I do it in the Cessna I will have to spend time later transferring the instrument skill to the Mooney.
I now have almost 20 hours total under the hood, some of it going back to my early flying 25 years ago. In the Summer I flew with my original instructor who is a Mooney guy as well as a tailwheel guy. I also flew a few hours with an instructor who is marvelous, but unable to fly with me due to his corporate flying schedule. Unfortunately not an option. I had a break in the action waiting on aircraft maintenance and going to Florida for hurricane Michael disaster relief. After getting back with a sorted plane, my 94 year old Mom passed away causing further delay. I finally threw in the towel and flew with the instructor from Hell. He is coarse, abrasive and unnerving, but he has a good track record taking people to the IR albeit in a VERY expen$ive way. You pay him $350 a day plus a hotel room since he is not local, and you will only log a couple of hours hood time per day. He has a DPE that is familiar with him and knows that a student is ready when he sends them.
So, there are two instructors in my general area I can fly with, and a comprehensive program as a possible choice.
Instructor A. The old salt guy who taught me to fly 27 years ago and helped me transition to the Mooney. He admittedly knows very little about the 430 and doesn’t have a favored DPE. He basically flies with you by the hour and sends you off to practice with a Safety Pilot saying that you don’t want to pay me to sit and watch for traffic. He also is 45 nM away and I have to ferry to and from him. I have a hail shed hangar on his field and a car to use, and it is close to my ranch where I go at least 3 times a month, so going there is not a total loss of time every trip. Flying with him would probably mean that I am on my own to prepare for the oral and not know as much about what to expect on the checkride. If it would work, it would clearly be more economical than Instructor B or a comprehensive program away from home. How hard would it be to prepare for the oral onmy own? I have some good study material.
Instructor B. The instructor from Hell; expen$ive, coarse, abrasive and demeaning, but with a track record of success. Obviously he and I have opposite personality types. He makes me nervous and does not teach by reward, but by hammering you when you do wrong. He spends so much time in ground school I feel he would have me prepared, but $50 an hour private tutoring seems like an expensive way to do it. How much is all this ground school really worth? I know a few students he has taken all the way, and they are all extremely well healed to the point that the expense is just absolutely nothing to them. I have enough money to do it, but I am not convinced that this is the best use of my funds.
Comprehensive Program. There is a school in Kansas that will put you up and train to a conclusion for a fixed price. You fly up there, they give you a car and a room, have access to a simulator and they take you to the conclusion.
