IFR Bootcamp

MtPJimB

MtPJimB

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Sep 29, 2010
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Eatonton, GA
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RVFlyboy
I just completed the IFR Bootcamp offered by PilotWorkshop.com (http://www.pilotworkshop.com/concrete5/ifr-bootcamp/booking/)- I did the 1/2 day ground school followed by the 1-day Level 1 Bootcamp. It was a very worthwhile experience for me.

I got my PPL in 2007 and my IR in 2008. I did a fair amount of instrument flying staying current and proficient until late 2010. At that point, for the next 3 1/2 years, I did very little flying at all, and what little I did was all VFR. This year, I moved and I've picked back up my flying and I needed a good way to jump start my instrument currency & proficiency again. The bootcamp was just the thing I needed. It is intense, scenario based refresher training. They use touch trainer simulators linked in with Pilot Edge simulated live ATC, so your clearances are real-time, complex, and require you IFR A-game. You fly missions from pre-flight planning, clearances, various towered and non-towered departures, en-route, arrival, approaches landings and debrief. There were GPS and non-GPS scenarios. All was performed one-on-one under the watchful eye of a very experienced CFI-I.

I got, in one day, what would have taken many days and much longer to replicate in other types of training environments. For me, it was among the best IFR training for the casual pilot that I can imagine. Now I can't wait to get back up and get into some actual IMC again and get my ticket "re-wet".
 
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That sounds outstanding - tell more (as you are willing) about the training scenarios, etc.
 
Glad you enjoyed it,sounds like a good training program.
 
That sounds challenging and beneficial for any IR pilot. Thanks.
 
One of the best teaching lessons on IFR procedure was given to me in a sim; regular old takeoff, climbed through the deck (about 3,000' thick) and, at some point, my vacuum pump failed (I happened to notice the gauge go down), so here I was above a solid overcast with no attitude instrument, just a turn coordinator and a whiskey compass.

So I worked through the options, no VFR fields in range, so what do I do now?

Declared with "ATC," and they inquire what my intentions were, and I asked for the ILS approach into Dallas Love Field, nice long runway, plenty of services, yadda yadda. "Approach" gave me excellent service, vectoring me for the approach. After descending into the clouds, I had a hell of a time keeping it under control with the AI lolling around like a drunk sailor, almost lost it a time or two. Real armpit-sweating stuff. Once I was on the localizer, I was fine, landed well.

So the lesson the instructor emphasized to me? If you're above the deck, refuse a descent until you're on a localizer (or a straight-in, whatever), then fly the needle in. I felt like a yutz for not thinking of that, but he reminded me: "You're the pilot in command, not the controller; exercise your command a little."
 
My CFII teaches these. He swears by them. We were just discussing today.
 
Sounds like it was worthwhile for you. Which school did you use?

My company provides the ATC service for the Bootcamp (as you pointed out). I hope the outsourced ATC made it even more realistic for you compared to the traditional method of having the instructor play the role of ATC.

We had a good session the other day where one of the Bootcamp aircraft was on final at Santa Barbara shooting the ILS RWY 7 while a VFR guy (another customer, not involved in the bootcamp, totally spontaneous) was inbound opposite direction. Sequencing ensued and the bootcamp guy was asked to keep his speed up while we changed the VFR guy to land on 15L instead. Bootcamp guy, then nearly had a runway incursion as he started taxiing (without clearance) towards the ramp. It's those dynamic elements which make it interesting.

We also had a Bonanza pilot land gear up on another approach as a result of higher speed restrictions with a conga line of arrivals. That was a huge eye opener for him. He was fully configured 15 miles out...then got barked at for blowing his speed restriction. After that he blew threw the final which made the sequencing even tighter, so he got barked at again. Ultimately, he cleaned up the gear, hit the gas and continued inbound. The gear never came back down.

Having the dynamic environment can sometimes expose chinks the armor that have nothing to do with improving your radio comms. That's probably been one of the most surprising things i've learned by watching these situations unfold.

Most simulator training is void of any ATC, or it's the instructor sitting next to you. You don't really have to listen for your callsign, there's no pressure, no other traffic, etc.

We've worked hard to put together something that feels a bit more realistic, which is also why we have you do end to end flights, rather than a bunch of repositioning and banging out approaches.

Thx for spreading the word. We spent close to a year building and tweaking the program. We're just now ramping it up with the 6 training providers.
 
Coma24, I was at the Atlanta school. It was very cool to have actual ATC to deal with in the sim environment. And it was being dealt with, as you indicate, in very busy and realistic ways. My instructor said he was impressed as I was one of very few he has seen that didn't get yelled at by SOCAL departure coming out of Santa Monica on a TEC route clearance to Palomar crossing the LAX area with an unexpected diversion to John Wayne. Considering I've never flown in the Southern Calif area before, this was a very cool and confidence building exercise too.
 
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