MBDiagMan
Final Approach
I’ve been working on my IR a LONG time! Have had a hard time finding an instructor, get going with one I like flying with and he has to move for a flying job or get things going then have major mechanical trouble, etc.
I have finally really learned the skill of keeping the shiny side up and flying approaches, and all the stuff that goes with it. I have all requirements such as written, cross country time, time under the hood and IMC, instrument cross country et al. The only ticket I don’t have punched is three hours CFII in the previous two months.
An acquaintance of mine got his CFII not long ago so, before resorting to flying to another airport to finish up, I thought I would look into flying with him. I sent him a text that began by saying “xxxxxxx, I would like to talk to you about finishing up my IR in my 140 since it will be weeks or months before my Mooney is back together....”
He courteously responded that he could meet in a few days, he then texted what he wanted to see, like my logbook with all the required hours and so forth. That seemed reasonable since I had told him I had all the ticket punches except the last three hours. While I was tabbing logbook pages and making lists that I figured would be handy on the oral anyway, he texted me to tell me that a friend of mine who has flown with me and taught me a lot because he taught instrument flying in the military, is not a CFII. He apparently thought I was so stupid that I didn’t know that the 15 instruction hours had to be with a CFII. I have WAY more hours in all categories that I need including 27 CFII hours.
So I met him at the scheduled time and sat down with him. He started right away basically challenging all my hours. For instance he wanted each cross country to have a leg of greater than fifty miles and insisted that it wasn’t legitimate. I have 179 hours cross country so I know there’s no problem, but we start through the book checking the from’s and too’s in Foreflight to make sure they are legitimate according to his interpretation of the 50nM stipulation. It took a while, but we got far enough along that he could see that I was good in that category. We then went through the instructors listing each one and how many hours. The long and short of it was that he either thought I was lying about it or was too stupid to know the difference.
So then he starts stacking all the books on the table that he says it is imperative that I read. He asked me some different questions about things, some that l knew, some not. I took my written last August and made an 85 which I thought was not bad for a 72 year old. My plan has been to bone up once I get nearer to the checkride because of the memorization. I think I could pass an oral now, but I plan on studying and be at a point that I know what I’m talking about when I do it. I am not a slacker when it comes to such things.
He said that he didn’t think the DPE would do the ride in a 140. Okay, well another instructor who knows the DPE had told me that he couldn’t imagine that being a problem. This is a 140 with a 420, LOC/GS, six pack and center stack with an O-200 with alternator and vacuum pump. It is a totally legitimate instrument trainer and some have even said they would fly it confidently in IMC. He went on to say that he only had an hour in a Decathlon and something else and wasn’t comfortable teaching in a 140 and said something about feeling uncomfortable with no tailwheel skills teaching someone with hundreds of hours tailwheel. I hesitate to right this because he put it in terms that were unclear.
He stressed that I was going to have to go through the books and that he was going to start over with all the categories of Instrument flying before he put his name in the logbook. I actually understand this, although I would hope that he didn’t spend a bunch of time reteaching me these things, but that might be what he has in mind.
So we wrapped up in a little over two hours. He kept asking about the 172 I flew for awhile and why couldn’t I use it. It was my son in laws who sold it so it’s out. and asked when my Mooney would be back together. He clearly didn’t want to teach in a tailwheel plane.
SO.... we finished our meeting. I had asked him to discuss flying with him and wanted to talk about it, but he considered it a lesson said that even though it was more than two hours, he would round it off to two hours and I owed him $100. I paid him without complaint.
After that meeting I called the guy who taught me to fly many years ago and set up for 9AM the next morning. The next morning I went to that airport almost cross country distance away and flew almost three hours with him with the foggles on. About two hours in, he asked me if I had gone onto IACRA and set up for the checkride. He ended up logging 2.7 hours checkride prep in my logbook.
I spent most of my career before retirement in a software company that went through hyper growth. There is no telling how many people I interviewed for a job during that time, but up until this week, I have NEVER paid someone to sit in front of me an interview for a job. Life is full of firsts.
I have finally really learned the skill of keeping the shiny side up and flying approaches, and all the stuff that goes with it. I have all requirements such as written, cross country time, time under the hood and IMC, instrument cross country et al. The only ticket I don’t have punched is three hours CFII in the previous two months.
An acquaintance of mine got his CFII not long ago so, before resorting to flying to another airport to finish up, I thought I would look into flying with him. I sent him a text that began by saying “xxxxxxx, I would like to talk to you about finishing up my IR in my 140 since it will be weeks or months before my Mooney is back together....”
He courteously responded that he could meet in a few days, he then texted what he wanted to see, like my logbook with all the required hours and so forth. That seemed reasonable since I had told him I had all the ticket punches except the last three hours. While I was tabbing logbook pages and making lists that I figured would be handy on the oral anyway, he texted me to tell me that a friend of mine who has flown with me and taught me a lot because he taught instrument flying in the military, is not a CFII. He apparently thought I was so stupid that I didn’t know that the 15 instruction hours had to be with a CFII. I have WAY more hours in all categories that I need including 27 CFII hours.
So I met him at the scheduled time and sat down with him. He started right away basically challenging all my hours. For instance he wanted each cross country to have a leg of greater than fifty miles and insisted that it wasn’t legitimate. I have 179 hours cross country so I know there’s no problem, but we start through the book checking the from’s and too’s in Foreflight to make sure they are legitimate according to his interpretation of the 50nM stipulation. It took a while, but we got far enough along that he could see that I was good in that category. We then went through the instructors listing each one and how many hours. The long and short of it was that he either thought I was lying about it or was too stupid to know the difference.
So then he starts stacking all the books on the table that he says it is imperative that I read. He asked me some different questions about things, some that l knew, some not. I took my written last August and made an 85 which I thought was not bad for a 72 year old. My plan has been to bone up once I get nearer to the checkride because of the memorization. I think I could pass an oral now, but I plan on studying and be at a point that I know what I’m talking about when I do it. I am not a slacker when it comes to such things.
He said that he didn’t think the DPE would do the ride in a 140. Okay, well another instructor who knows the DPE had told me that he couldn’t imagine that being a problem. This is a 140 with a 420, LOC/GS, six pack and center stack with an O-200 with alternator and vacuum pump. It is a totally legitimate instrument trainer and some have even said they would fly it confidently in IMC. He went on to say that he only had an hour in a Decathlon and something else and wasn’t comfortable teaching in a 140 and said something about feeling uncomfortable with no tailwheel skills teaching someone with hundreds of hours tailwheel. I hesitate to right this because he put it in terms that were unclear.
He stressed that I was going to have to go through the books and that he was going to start over with all the categories of Instrument flying before he put his name in the logbook. I actually understand this, although I would hope that he didn’t spend a bunch of time reteaching me these things, but that might be what he has in mind.
So we wrapped up in a little over two hours. He kept asking about the 172 I flew for awhile and why couldn’t I use it. It was my son in laws who sold it so it’s out. and asked when my Mooney would be back together. He clearly didn’t want to teach in a tailwheel plane.
SO.... we finished our meeting. I had asked him to discuss flying with him and wanted to talk about it, but he considered it a lesson said that even though it was more than two hours, he would round it off to two hours and I owed him $100. I paid him without complaint.
After that meeting I called the guy who taught me to fly many years ago and set up for 9AM the next morning. The next morning I went to that airport almost cross country distance away and flew almost three hours with him with the foggles on. About two hours in, he asked me if I had gone onto IACRA and set up for the checkride. He ended up logging 2.7 hours checkride prep in my logbook.
I spent most of my career before retirement in a software company that went through hyper growth. There is no telling how many people I interviewed for a job during that time, but up until this week, I have NEVER paid someone to sit in front of me an interview for a job. Life is full of firsts.
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