Finally finished my IR!

D

drummer4468

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drummer4468
Welp, looks like I’m officially “cleared for the approach!”

Passed my IR checkride a few days ago and am both excited and relieved to finally have the rating under my belt. Definitely recommend any new pilot to go ahead and get the training. It was exhaustively challenging but has absolutely made me a better pilot. Attention to detail, aircraft control, working with ATC, confidence in the equipment, everything has become more precise and natural.

Even if you don’t plan on flying IMC on purpose, it provides a huge additional margin of safety. Hell, even if you don’t want(or can’t afford) the rating, get with a CFII and practice attitude flying and shooting approaches. It may just save your skin someday when weather doesn’t play nice. The more I learned, the more baffled I was that this training isn’t required for night flying in the US.

I there’s anything I’d do differently, I’d focus more on practicing oddball emergency situations on top of the routine procedural stuff. Unexpected situations increase pilot workload real quick. Realized on my checkride how complacent I got when my DPE failed my alternator and I got behind the plane a bit cobbling together a nasty ILS while configuring the plane. (Pulled flaps on short final and threw myself way off glideslope. Don’t try to save a botched approach by chasing pinned needles, just go missed) EDIT: to clarify, I should not have gone missed in this situation. Given the nature of the “emergency,” I should have not pulled flaps and thrown myself off, and even the DPE said I should have done what I had to to get back on glideslope instead of risking losing battery power while going missed.

Thanks to all of the posters here that allowed me to learn from their experience and mistakes. Diving into CPL now, and always looking forward to using my “license to learn” for all it’s worth.

Cheers, happy flying all.


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Last edited:
drummer4468 said:
.... Realized on my checkride how complacent I got when my DPE failed my alternator and I got behind the plane a bit cobbling together a nasty ILS while configuring the plane. (Pulled flaps on short final and threw myself way off glideslope. Don’t try to save a botched approach by chasing pinned needles, just go missed)
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I wouldn't go missed in that situation unless it was REAL ugly ... going missed for another approach on battery power ONLY might leave you up a creek with no navigational means to get down.
 
danhagan said:
I wouldn't go missed in that situation unless it was REAL ugly ... going missed for another approach on battery power ONLY might leave you up a creek with no navigational means to get down.
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Oh, I absolutely agree. DPE said the same thing, it it were a real emergency situation he’d have dove down and gotten back on GS, as well as not bothering with flaps in the first place, as a rwy with ILS likely had plenty of room for a no-flapper in a light plane.

That’s also why I mentioned I’d drill more on emergency situations and thinking on my toes, instead of being stuck in “examination mode,” regurgitating routine procedures in non-routine situation. I was caught between “emergency: just get on the ground” and “don’t fail the checkride by not going missed with pinned needles.”


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Welcome to the club, the hard part is staying current! ( says the person taking a few days off to get back)


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NH_Moose said:
Welcome to the club, the hard part is staying current! ( says the person taking a few days off to get back)


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Rgbeard said:
Congratulations, cloud puncher!

Are you in an area of the world that gets enough actual to allow you to stay proficient?
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Thanks! Staying current and proficient shouldn't be an issue up here in coastal Maine. Colder months raise freezing level concerns, but aside from that, there are plenty of benign overcast days to keep me sharp. To borrow another member's words, I'm stoked to be able to fly on gloomy days when blue skies are only a few thousand feet away.
 
drummer4468 said:
Oh, I absolutely agree. DPE said the same thing, it it were a real emergency situation he’d have dove down and gotten back on GS, as well as not bothering with flaps in the first place, as a rwy with ILS likely had plenty of room for a no-flapper in a light plane.

That’s also why I mentioned I’d drill more on emergency situations and thinking on my toes, instead of being stuck in “examination mode,” regurgitating routine procedures in non-routine situation. I was caught between “emergency: just get on the ground” and “don’t fail the checkride by not going missed with pinned needles.”
Click to expand...

You did great or you wouldn't have passed ... most people participating here are for the most part going to be very good pilots because they're reviewing potential hazardous beforehand like you're doing now ... congrats again!
 
Congratulations!

I agree you did great. Way to go!
 
Congrats! It really is a great rating and sometime soon you'll be sitting in the hold short looking at the sky and thinking how great it is to go flying when the VFR guys are grounded. :D (just pick your days for a while!)
 
Congrats!!!!!! How long may I ask did you take to get ready for the written, and how long did you fly getting ready for the practical? I'm clunking through studying for the written right now.
 
Congrats! Thanks for sharing your experience. It's very motivational for someone like me - only a few hours into the training.
 
danhagan said:
You did great or you wouldn't have passed ... most people participating here are for the most part going to be very good pilots because they're reviewing potential hazardous beforehand like you're doing now ... congrats again!
Click to expand...

Thanks, always striving to improve!

somorris said:
Congratulations!

I agree you did great. Way to go!
Click to expand...

WDD said:
Congrats!!!!!! How long may I ask did you take to get ready for the written, and how long did you fly getting ready for the practical? I'm clunking through studying for the written right now.
Click to expand...

I'm in a 141 school as part of a degree program, so I had a semester of instrument ground to prep for the written, in addition to extra studying I did before I was even done with private. Then once I started flying, the average flight time is about 50 hours of practical training. I was closer to 60ish.

samiamPA said:
Congrats! Thanks for sharing your experience. It's very motivational for someone like me - only a few hours into the training.
Click to expand...
Stick with it! It can be incredibly challenging at times, sometimes even discouragingly so. But keep at it, once it "clicks" it's super rewarding.
 
Congrats!! I hopefully will be in your shoes soon. Aced the written, did the xc and need 4 hours hood or actual time. Going to use that time to perfect approaches, partial panel and unusual attitudes. And perfect approaches.

Have been studying like crazy now for the practical. Hopefully by thanksgiving I will have the rating.

How was the oral portion?
 
drummer4468 said:
Welp, looks like I’m officially “cleared for the approach!”

Passed my IR checkride a few days ago and am both excited and relieved to finally have the rating under my belt. Definitely recommend any new pilot to go ahead and get the training. It was exhaustively challenging but has absolutely made me a better pilot. Attention to detail, aircraft control, working with ATC, confidence in the equipment, everything has become more precise and natural.

Even if you don’t plan on flying IMC on purpose, it provides a huge additional margin of safety. Hell, even if you don’t want(or can’t afford) the rating, get with a CFII and practice attitude flying and shooting approaches. It may just save your skin someday when weather doesn’t play nice. The more I learned, the more baffled I was that this training isn’t required for night flying in the US.

I there’s anything I’d do differently, I’d focus more on practicing oddball emergency situations on top of the routine procedural stuff. Unexpected situations increase pilot workload real quick. Realized on my checkride how complacent I got when my DPE failed my alternator and I got behind the plane a bit cobbling together a nasty ILS while configuring the plane. (Pulled flaps on short final and threw myself way off glideslope. Don’t try to save a botched approach by chasing pinned needles, just go missed) EDIT: to clarify, I should not have gone missed in this situation. Given the nature of the “emergency,” I should have not pulled flaps and thrown myself off, and even the DPE said I should have done what I had to to get back on glideslope instead of risking losing battery power while going missed.

Thanks to all of the posters here that allowed me to learn from their experience and mistakes. Diving into CPL now, and always looking forward to using my “license to learn” for all it’s worth.

Cheers, happy flying all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Cool, go play in the goo
 
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