PIC Professional Instrument Course question

adanziger

Filing Flight Plan
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adanziger
Anyone in here take their IFR training from PIC Professional Instrument Course? Want to chat with you if you did. Thanks.
 
Haven't used them personally, but rumor has it that some of their instructors lack experience and don't know much about the regs.:rofl:
 
Anyone in here take their IFR training from PIC Professional Instrument Course? Want to chat with you if you did. Thanks.

I haven't taken their course, but my CFII had me use Peter Dogan's book, which as I understand it their training is based on, and it seemed like a very sound way of approaching the subject. Also, one of their instructors posts here, and if he is any indication, you should be in very good hands.
 
I did PIC for my instrument rating. Originally they were going to send some guy over from Salisbury, but he was busy so I got a nice man from Tennessee. It was frankly just what I needed. I pretty much finished the course in eight days. Day 8 was a simulated check ride and filling out the paperwork for the ride. Day 9 I got off for good behavior, and Day 10 was my check ride which was a breeze.

The instructor was quite familiar with my aircraft avionics (GNS480) and had me make sure I had the 480 simulator handy to go with the archaic ATC610 he lugged out. He read the book on the 55X so he'd have that down when we flew as well.

Despite the advertisement, do not expect to do a lot other than flying and bookwork during the course. I did help my wife with some household stuff, but really that was it.

Price (not counting the DPE) was about $5000 (I got a refund for the one unused day). I lucked out on expenses for the instructor, his daughter lives in Fredricksburg so except for two nights in a hotel when we were doing full days at my house, he stayed with his daughter.


Day 1: Introductory paperwork and doing the Dogan Command-Performance control settings vs. performance tables for the six or so basic flight regimes. First on the simulator and then after lunch in the plane with basic air work.

Day 2-4: Bookwork and Simulator practice at my house. Instructor says I am the only one he thinks he may be holding back. In my case I've been flying for decades and have been studying instrument flying for almost that long. I don't need theory, I just need practice.

Day 5 - Holds and Approaches in the plane. Figures we don't need the simulator anymore so we don't even bother unloading it from his truck.

Day 6 - Long XC. CJR-SVH-ROA-CJR.

Day 7 - More practice of various sorts, met up with the DPE who was getting ready to a ride with someone else. Ask for his weight so I can have a w&B prepared. He also tips his hand to the instructor as to what he does on check rides.

Day 8 - Fill out the check ride application, do the cursory review of the two questions I missed on the written. Mock oral to cover everything imaginable. Lunch and then Mock check ride.

Day 9 - Get ready and read the copy of Forsyth's The Shepherd that the instructor provided. Write note to instructor on the flyleaf like all his other students have done.

Day 10 - Grab instructor fly over to SHD for the ride. Dump instructor. Work through the oral with the instructor: demonstrate that everything (pilot, plane, etc..) is airworthy for the flight, go over the flight plan, questions about alternates had they been required, question about NORDO procedures. Go out to the preflight, get a couple of questions about plane's systems for IFR (pitot/static, gyros).

Flight is easy: Fly the ODP out which has a hold. Do a couple of turns in the hold, come back and fly the ILS back in. On the missed get a few headings and VOR radials to track of which the nopeakies come out in the middle. Examiner has me close my eyes and attempt to fly a few maneuvers blind (straight and level, standard rate turns, etc... this I find extremely unnerving) which of course results in an unusual attitude. Recover from a couple of those. Head to the GPS approach IAF fly that in partial panel. Asks if if the vac went out would my autopilot still work (it will) suggests I use it. Before I get to the FAF he points out I could probably do a better job hand flying (it is gusty) and I do. On the missed again go around and fly the LOC circle to land. Land full stop. Shake hands, get my picture taken, certificate issued.

PIC instructor asks if he can fly the leg back home to CJR...of course!

There are probably other good places out there, but PIC certainly has a curriculum geared to this. As the quality of doing it in 10 days versus spread out. Frankly I think the learning is just as good. There's just a lot of leaving out the "what did we cover last time" and things forgotten in the interim.
 
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I did PIC for my instrument rating. Originally they were going to send some guy over from Salisbury, but he was busy so I got a nice man from Tennessee. It was frankly just what I needed. I pretty much finished the course in eight days. Day 8 was a simulated check ride and filling out the paperwork for the ride. Day 9 I got off for good behavior, and Day 10 was my check ride which was a breeze.
Am I the only one who found humor in that?....maybe there's one or two more that did
 
Am I the only one who found humor in that?....maybe there's one or two more that did

I assume he's referring to Salisbury NC just north of Charlotte near one of his listed home airports (NC26). So can't say that I do. But I am curious why you see humor in it. :D
 
I assume he's referring to Salisbury NC just north of Charlotte near one of his listed home airports (NC26). So can't say that I do. But I am curious why you see humor in it. :D

:rofl::rofl::rofl:
It's even more funny that you're trying to figure the inside joke.



(Yes, I said more funny)
 
They're referring to the fact that I'm a PIC instructor based in Salisbury MD just down the road from FRon.
 
They're referring to the fact that I'm a PIC instructor based in Salisbury MD just down the road from Ron.

Ah. Didn't know that. The only Salisbury I know about is just north of me where I live in Charlotte. :D

You're getting slammed on the forums today. : )
 
FWIW -- 40 hours of airplane instruction and 10 hours of ground instruction would run about $1250 with me. Hotel can be had for under $200 a week and IFR airplane runs about $115 per hour.
 
I'm not kidding. They said that they had a guy in Salisbury that they'd probably send over. It wasn't until after I got my rating I met CapnRon online on the red boards and that was purely coincidental. I had to ferry a buddy up to Hagerstown to retrieve his Tiger and Capn Ron was looking for a ride back from Lancaster for his Tiger and it turns out everybody knew everybody else.
 
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