IFR Training Question

G

Guest

Guest
This doesn't quite belong in the "lessons learned" section, however I wanted to stay anonymous as this situation is a little embarrassing to me.

I simply don't feel comfortable in the IFR environment, single pilot.

I'm scared of making a mistake alone, or not being able to think through something.

I do not believe I am not capable. I passed my instrument checkride without a single hiccup. I am more than capable of flying in the ifr environment. I am just not comfortable yet doing so alone without an instructor or another instrument rated pilot.

I have had my rating for months now. But I cant get myself to go up without someone else. Does this ever go away?
 
Guest said:
This doesn't quite belong in the "lessons learned" section, however I wanted to stay anonymous as this situation is a little embarrassing to me.

I simply don't feel comfortable in the IFR environment, single pilot.

I'm scared of making a mistake alone, or not being able to think through something.

I do not believe I am not capable. I passed my instrument checkride without a single hiccup. I am more than capable of flying in the ifr environment. I am just not comfortable yet doing so alone without an instructor or another instrument rated pilot.

I have had my rating for months now. But I cant get myself to go up without someone else. Does this ever go away?
Click to expand...

Yup, fly with a mentor until you are comfortable. Make sure other things aren't bothering you, like do you trust your airplane? Also, you don't need to go out on hard IFR days, set personal mins. For me I add 500 feet to decision altitudes and 2 miles vis.
 
Is it the case that you are not comfortable in IMC? Or is it the case that you aren't comfortable in the system regardless whether IMC or VMC?
 
A big help for me in building my confidence was shooting approaches on a mvfr day. I knew that if I totally screwed the pooch I could bail and land vfr. I was still terrified the first time I went into the clouds by myself, but after a couple of those sessions I feel pretty good about it. There's always a little apprehension about entering imc, and there probably should be.
 
You and I must have received our IFR ratings about the same time. So, firstly...congrats! I cannot hold a candle to the level of experience and knowledge of most on this board but, being a newly minted IFR pilot myself, I can relate to your question. A common thread to responses here is, when confronted with a bigger challenge/problem, to break it up into smaller pieces, tackle those smaller pieces, then next thing you know you'll have the bigger challenge solved. On my very first IFR flight after my rating, I was actually looking forward to flying in the clouds, but only wanted to pop in and out. Then, as I approached a cloud bank of unknown length, I chickened out and asked ATC for a different altitude. The thought of flying 30+ minutes in the soup on my first solo flight was not appealing. I won't go as far to describe myself as scared, although maybe I was a little bit. It was more that wanted some smaller IFR victories before biting off something more challenging.
 
Last edited:
File and fly IFR on days with good weather. This will build your confidence and level of comfort of working in 'the system' on your own. With good weather, you'll always be able to say, "Cancel IFR" if the workload gets too high.

As you become more comfortable, file/fly into busier airspace and airports and fly in increasingly lower weather. It shouldn't take long for trips with 2,000' to 3,000' ceilings become low stress--much lower stress then trying to make the trip under VFR. Eventually you'll work up to being comfortable flying where IFR departures and approaches are necessary.
 
You’re far better off recognizing your problem and working to solve it, rather than pretending it isn’t there or assuming it will go away on its own. The suggestions in this thread are all solid. Another idea is to get in the right seat when someone else is flying in the clouds. And definitely fly some practice approaches or even cross country flights under the hood with a good safety pilot. Maybe even fly partial panel a bit to stay sharp there. There are many elements to a successful IFR flight, and you can work on them one at a time when conditions are good.
 
asicer said:
Is it the case that you are not comfortable in IMC? Or is it the case that you aren't comfortable in the system regardless whether IMC or VMC?
Click to expand...

And the follow-on question, if you are comfortable flying IFR in VMC: Is there any thickness cloud at any altitude that you’d be comfortable flying through for 15 seconds, or inside of for 1 hr? Or is it the dep/arr stage, or approaches that scare?
 
I am not even rated, so i am not going to give any suggestions, but a lot of pilots on this board and other places i have seen, right after their rating, stay high up in altitude and just punch through layers until they are comfortable flying in the soup. Not sure if you got much actuals in the training or not, if not, getting some actuals with a competent CFII might help.

The other thing is comfort feeling when you have someone in the right seat. happened to me after my PPL. i spent a crap load of time getting my license and right after it when i started flying, i used to feel lot more comfortable with someone in the right seat, doesnt even have to be a pilot, just another warm body in the right seat. took a while to get out of that mindset, and when i wanted to talk to someone ATC was always there :).
 
I had a similar experience my first few times after I got the rating. What helped me was spending a decent amount of time in layers high above the ground. I was nervous because I didn’t have an instructor next to me double checking my altitude or attitude. A couple hours in clouds high enough that I knew I could descend out if I ran into trouble let me prove to myself that I could do it without the extra set of eyes.
 
Jim K said:
A big help for me in building my confidence was shooting approaches on a mvfr day. I knew that if I totally screwed the pooch I could bail and land vfr. I was still terrified the first time I went into the clouds by myself, but after a couple of those sessions I feel pretty good about it. There's always a little apprehension about entering imc, and there probably should be.
Click to expand...

Exactly. And when you jump up in the clouds on those MVFR days, don't make it a long flight. Just over to the nearest airport you like, then home to your home airport or even just an approach or two at your home airport. An hour flight and done.
 
PaulS said:
Yup, fly with a mentor until you are comfortable. Make sure other things aren't bothering you, like do you trust your airplane? Also, you don't need to go out on hard IFR days, set personal mins. For me I add 500 feet to decision altitudes and 2 miles vis.
Click to expand...

I always felt the visibility was the more important one. 1 mile vis is not a lot... 2 miles is much better, and I like your 500 over decision or MDA, although most MDAs by me are 800 ago, so I go with 1000 for no precision and 800 for precision, but 500 over DH for precision is a nice number.
 
Find someone to go fly with on MVFR or IFR days with a high ceiling. Go to an airport a good distance away and get comfortable.
 
Larry in TN said:
File and fly IFR on days with good weather. This will build your confidence and level of comfort of working in 'the system' on your own. With good weather, you'll always be able to say, "Cancel IFR" if the workload gets too high.

As you become more comfortable, file/fly into busier airspace and airports and fly in increasingly lower weather. It shouldn't take long for trips with 2,000' to 3,000' ceilings become low stress--much lower stress then trying to make the trip under VFR. Eventually you'll work up to being comfortable flying where IFR departures and approaches are necessary.
Click to expand...

This is great advice. You can easily build your confidence by flying IFR when you have a VFR backup plan available at any point in time. File and fly as if you are in the thick soup, but knowing that you can look up at any time and switch back to VFR should give you all of the confidence that you need. Eventually, you will either decide that you are able to handle the tasks as a single pilot or you will know that it just isn't for you. Having a VFR "out" is a great solution for this.
 
I think his concern is actually flying an approach in the crud. The only way to alleviate that concern is to fly in the crud IMO. Bring an instructor while there is crud until you are comfortable is probably the best way to get thru this.
 
I think this is a one-on-one targeted discussion and possible additional training with a good CFII. "I simply don't feel comfortable in the IFR environment, single pilot" and "I'm scared of making a mistake alone" has way too many possible variations and causes to even guess at an answer.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 365 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top