Best route for IFR

Lawson Laslo

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Hello
What would be the best cost effective route to get my IR?

I own a Ercoupe that has a full six pack but no vor or gps so it’s not ifr legal
Can I do any of the required 20 hours training in it?
What would y’all recommend
Thanks
 
Hello
What would be the best cost effective route to get my IR?

I own a Ercoupe that has a full six pack but no vor or gps so it’s not ifr legal
Can I do any of the required 20 hours training in it?
What would y’all recommend
Thanks

I thought it was 40. Anyway, you can do a lot of the ‘aviating’ stuff. Navigating stuff is another story. Does it have an ADF? If there is an NDB close to you you could knock some of that off. If there is an NDB Approach you could get some approaches in. Once again, not enough to meet requirements for the rating. Cross country requirements won’t be able to be met. The airplane would not in itself be IFR illegal if it had an ADF, but there wouldn’t be much you could do with it.
 
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I thought it was 40. Anyway, you can do a lot of the ‘aviating’ stuff. Navigating stuff is another story. Does it have an ADF? If there is an NDB close to you you could knock some of that off. If there is an NDB Approach you could get some approaches in. Once again, not enough to meet requirements for the rating. Cross country requirements won’t be able to be met. The airplane would not in itself be IFR illegal if it had an ADF, but there wouldn’t be much you could do with it.
Correct, 40 simulated insturment
I’m referring to the 20 of actual insturment training

no Nav source in the coupe, just a portable gps...
 
Correct, 40 simulated insturment
I’m referring to the 20 of actual insturment training

no Nav source in the coupe, just a portable gps...

About the only thing you could do in that is make sure you keep the airplane straight and level, some climbs and descents, and standard rate or 1/2 rate turns. Anything actually having to do with INSTRUMENT flight is going to be a waste of time in that plane. That's about 2 hours of flight time - MAX.

I wouldn't even bother since most of your IR flight training is navigating and tracking and flying approaches. None of which you can do in that plane. The portable GPS is a non starter. Pretend it doesn't exist for training.

If I were your CFII I would say come back when you have a plane capable of passing the checkride with.
 
About the only thing you could do in that is make sure you keep the airplane straight and level, some climbs and descents, and standard rate or 1/2 rate turns. Anything actually having to do with INSTRUMENT flight is going to be a waste of time in that plane. That's about 2 hours of flight time - MAX.

I wouldn't even bother since most of your IR flight training is navigating and tracking and flying approaches. None of which you can do in that plane. The portable GPS is a non starter. Pretend it doesn't exist for training.

If I were your CFII I would say come back when you have a plane capable of passing the checkride with.
About the only thing you could do in that is make sure you keep the airplane straight and level, some climbs and descents, and standard rate or 1/2 rate turns. Anything actually having to do with INSTRUMENT flight is going to be a waste of time in that plane. That's about 2 hours of flight time - MAX.

I wouldn't even bother since most of your IR flight training is navigating and tracking and flying approaches. None of which you can do in that plane. The portable GPS is a non starter. Pretend it doesn't exist for training.

If I were your CFII I would say come back when you have a plane capable of passing the checkride with.

I understand
When I said I have portable gps, I was saying that’s all, no appropriate Nav equipment for IFR, didn’t mean for it to sound like I was intending to use a portable gps for IR training...
 
I understand
When I said I have portable gps, I was saying that’s all, no appropriate Nav equipment for IFR, didn’t mean for it to sound like I was intending to use a portable gps for IR training...

You'd be surprised at how people try and cut corners!
 
You could do some hood time with just the six pack, but honestly, that’s not very useful by itself. You need to be practicing navigation, holds, and approaches, which you can’t do with just a six pack. Especially the instruction time you should be using proper equipment to learn with.
 
One important question that should be answered first is "why do you want an instrument rating?" In other words, what are you going to use it for? If you are interested in flying IFR trips in something other than your Ercoupe, then it makes more sense to do IFR training in a plane that you are going to fly IFR. If you are getting an IR for kicks and grins, then I suppose the bare minimum equipment is enough to do that, but then the question is why spend all that time and money for a rating you won't use?

An instrument rating is pretty perishable if it is not regularly exercised. It's been discussed elsewhere on this board and others, but an IR will not be much of a benefit in an VFR into IMC emergency if you are instrument rated but not instrument competent. And the IR will be legally useless without meeting currency requirements. To be honest, once you get past the keeping the plane upright and pointed in the right direction in a sensible power and attitude thing, IFR training is mostly about flight management: as in nav, ATC, fuel, weather. And approaches, lots of approaches during training.
 
One important question that should be answered first is "why do you want an instrument rating?" In other words, what are you going to use it for? If you are interested in flying IFR trips in something other than your Ercoupe, then it makes more sense to do IFR training in a plane that you are going to fly IFR. If you are getting an IR for kicks and grins, then I suppose the bare minimum equipment is enough to do that, but then the question is why spend all that time and money for a rating you won't use?

An instrument rating is pretty perishable if it is not regularly exercised. It's been discussed elsewhere on this board and others, but an IR will not be much of a benefit in an VFR into IMC emergency if you are instrument rated but not instrument competent. And the IR will be legally useless without meeting currency requirements. To be honest, once you get past the keeping the plane upright and pointed in the right direction in a sensible power and attitude thing, IFR training is mostly about flight management: as in nav, ATC, fuel, weather. And approaches, lots of approaches during training.
My goal is to get my CFI
So I need to get my IR first... don’t plan to use IR very often till future careers
 
Your best bet is probably just rent. There is (or used to be) a minimum cross country hour requirement for the IR, and it didn't have to be flown on instruments (although there were also instrument cross country requirements). Check the AIM/FAR's, and if that is still one of the things listed, you could use your Coupe for those hours if you don't already have that covered.
 
Your best bet is probably just rent. There is (or used to be) a minimum cross country hour requirement for the IR, and it didn't have to be flown on instruments (although there were also instrument cross country requirements). Check the AIM/FAR's, and if that is still one of the things listed, you could use your Coupe for those hours if you don't already have that covered.

50 hrs PIC XC time. Some/most all of that can be knocked out under IFR.
 
I did the PIC ten day course. Actually, mine was only eight as I got a couple of days off for good behavior and the last day was just my checkride. I had already taken the written three times and let it expire. I just needed to go fly.
About four days into the course i had this conversation with the instructor:

CFI: How do you feel about the pace of this class.
ME: Fine, why do you ask.
CFI: You're the first student I've had that I thought I was holding back.
ME: Look, I've been studying instrument flight, reading about instrument flight, doing the bookwork for instrument flight, talking about instrument flight, etc... for decades. All I need to do now is knuckle down and actually fly it.
CFI: Fair enough.
 
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