What compelled you to get your IR?

What compelled you to get your IR?

  • Just another step on the path to the right seat.

    Votes: 11 13.9%

  • I love learning and being a student

    Votes: 13 16.5%

  • I wanted to maximize the usefullness of my aircraft/certificate.

    Votes: 53 67.1%

  • I scared the whee out of myself in MVFR conditions.

    Votes: 8 10.1%
  • Total voters
    79
  • Poll closed .
tdager said:
2. The wife wants me to get it
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That was a double edged sword for me:

1.) She likes the added abilities and skills of the IR pilot.
2.) She DOESN'T like that fact that we can now fly in clouds/low vis WX.

:dunno:
 
I got stuck in Wichita Falls, TX for four day with an 800' overcast 200' thick, clear at home. Ever been stuck in Wichita Falls? I started my IR the next weekend.
 
It was Lake Charles, LA for me.

gibbons said:
I got stuck in Wichita Falls, TX for four day with an 800' overcast 200' thick, clear at home. Ever been stuck in Wichita Falls? I started my IR the next weekend.
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AdamZ said:
My wife kept wanting to go on weekend trips to go on weekend trips to cape cod and i was always worried about getting stuck up there in Wx.
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Is there something about your wife we don't know about? If not why would you worry about getting stuck at Cape Cod with her?:D:D:D
 
I'm one of the scared the whee out of myself pollees. I got myself trapped on top of building cus over the mountains flying from Ohio to Spartanburg, SC in an Arrow II. I spiraled myself down through a very small hole, didn't impact any terrain at the bottom of said hole and limped safely home. I was shaking pretty badly with adrenaline leftovers for quite some time. This is the stuff statistics, bad statistics, come from, and I knew it.

My next flight was my first instrument lesson.

PS I didn't declare an emergency. I should have.
 
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I got stuck in Moravia MD for three days waiting for the weather to come up to VFR. In 1986, I only had my ticket for less than a year and I flew from HKY to Baltimore (Martin State) for my sister's wedding. It was in August and the scud and haze had us socked in for three days while stuck in some roach motel Holiday Inn along the interstate. Meanwhile, as it was a rental plane, you can imagine the scheduling problems incurred.
I started my IR a soon as I got back.
 
Ron Levy said:
I can't imagine trying to do that flight IFR -- the instructor will have to do everything except fly the plane and the trainee will get very little out of it due to total lack of preparation for the event unless the instructor gives the trainee almost a complete IFR ground school first, and the trainee still gets very little applicable to VFR night XC, which is the purpose of the flight.
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Not to mention, how do you get your 10 night takeoffs and landings IFR?
 
She didn't say you couldn't fly night VFR - you just have to stay very close to the airport - so you take off, do your landings and that's that. :(
 
Bill Jennings said:
That was a double edged sword for me:

1.) She likes the added abilities and skills of the IR pilot.
2.) She DOESN'T like that fact that we can now fly in clouds/low vis WX.

:dunno:
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I'll take solid IMC over what I do for a living, any day! Up there, it's up to me to stay alive. Down here on the road, I'm subject to the whims of a hundred other drivers around me; most of them with a cell phone glued to the side of their head.

Being a pilot and instrument rated does make me a safer driver. I'm constantly scanning the area around me, including mirrors and instruments.
 
KennyFlys said:
I'll take solid IMC over what I do for a living, any day! Up there, it's up to me to stay alive. Down here on the road, I'm subject to the whims of a hundred other drivers around me; most of them with a cell phone glued to the side of their head.
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What is interesting is she thinks nothing of riding on the back of the motorcycle, but thinks flying small planes is dangerous!! :dunno:
 
Bill Jennings said:
What is interesting is she thinks nothing of riding on the back of the motorcycle, but thinks flying small planes is dangerous!! :dunno:
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Have her talk to my wife. She hasn't been on a motorcycle since December 14, 1973. If memory serves me correctly, that was the night we got broadsided on ours. She will fly with me, however.
 
The thought of not being able to make it to Gaston's is compelling me to start working on my IR this year...
 
No choice that fits me. After getting stuck for the third time, the wife suggested that maybe an instrument rating might be OK. Who am I to argue. While most of our filght out west are VFR, the IR comes in handy a couple of times year. Take work to keep current though.
 
Today Hubby came into my office and with a "Happy Birthday," dropped a celophane wrapped set of FAA Instrument Flying Handbook and Instrument Procedures Handbook onto my desk.

So, now I have the incentive, the books, and an instructor. The plane will be out of annual soon...
 
I wanted (and still do) to be a better, safer pilot.
 
Summer haze.

I was trying to take the GF up to Chattanooga for dinner one late summer afternoon. Lotsa sun in my face. Could sorta make out a horizon, but after a few minutes of the nose bobbing and weaving about, I said "we are going to have dinner somewhere else, but at least we are going to live to eat." Soon as I turned around, with the sun at my back, the day looked like a normal summer Atlanta day. I decided right there and then to work on my IR.

-Rich
 
AuntPeggy said:
Today Hubby came into my office and with a "Happy Birthday," dropped a celophane wrapped set of FAA Instrument Flying Handbook and Instrument Procedures Handbook onto my desk.

So, now I have the incentive, the books, and an instructor. The plane will be out of annual soon...
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That's very cool Peggy. Isn't it nice to have a spouse who understands? Have fun getting the rating!!
 
AuntPeggy said:
Today Hubby came into my office and with a "Happy Birthday," dropped a celophane wrapped set of FAA Instrument Flying Handbook and Instrument Procedures Handbook onto my desk.

So, now I have the incentive, the books, and an instructor. The plane will be out of annual soon...
Click to expand...
Well heck, now ya get to go learn some more and have some fun! Instrument training was a kick in the pants. I enjoyed it.
 
Flying jumpers in New England after four days of a Bermuda high...

Legal VFR, not a cloud in the sky, but you're flying in the frosted bowl. Got to be able to keep it right side up...

Dan
 
Travel in the NE was my main reason. First, you don't go too often before you are grounded at some point, stuck by the weather if VFR. Second, I wanted to fly south. The easiest way through the ADIZ is IFR. Period. Damn thing disappears. Third, I wanted to be a better, more complete pilot. For me, that meant taking instrument training to learn how to use everything in the cockpit.

Jim G
 
My primary interest in flying has always been taking trips. Living in Michigan it can, at times, be difficult to plan even a day trip without an instrument rating.

There is also no doubt that getting the rating made me a better pilot. It also helped me save a little money on my aircraft insurance.

Jeannie
 
I am starting in Jul because I am tired of playing safety pilot to my brother in-law while he gets his Instrument every time we go up. I want in on some flying too instead of just being a set of eyes in my plane.
 
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