Updated my sig

CONGRATS!! IMO the hardest checkride you'll ever take and the most useful rating. Enjoy!
 
After I get over it, I'll come back and post a short checkride writeup. I made some goofy bad mistakes but was able to correct them. I'm so glad it is over and am eager to fly in the system by myself!
 
congrats! i just got my ticket about a month ago. ive been flying almost all my x countries IFR since getting the rating. im not going to be able to do ifr soon and will be bracing for some new york winter!
 
Congrats man!!!! Cant wait to read your write up. My ride is in 3 weeks, I had to come back from my 10 day in texas without my rating because of weather. I graduated the 141 school but now I just need my ride. Congrats again!!
 
ChrisK said:
(see subject).
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Nice work and congrats.

I've always thought that passing the IR checkride is really just signing you off for the REAL checkride. That comes the first time you're all alone in your plane in the soup. I promise you will remember that feeling. I'd suggest you get right out there and take 'the real' check ride! Sooner rather than later.

Again, gratz
 
Congratulations! I felt so good when that ride was over and I know you did, too. Now go fly with the ability to see around you. Oh, and re-learn how to land. I remember IR training resulted in a distinct decrease in the quality of my landings for a while. :D
 
Welcome to the League of Temporary Airmen, Chris! :D

And Captain is right. It's like your first solo all over again, there is nothing else like it. For me personally, being alone in the clouds is one of the great joys of flying.

(as long as all of the toys work, of course!)
 
Good job. Looks like you'll get plenty of opportunity to use your hard-earned new privileges in the near future.
 
Ghery said:
I remember IR training resulted in a distinct decrease in the quality of my landings for a while.
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I was having the same issue. I actually took a break and did some WINGS-creditable private review (with three different instructors), which included different types of landings. I think it really helped, and my landings for the remainder of my training, while not PERFECT, were less-than-horrible.
Captain said:
I've always thought that passing the IR checkride is really just signing you off for the REAL checkride.
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I rushed from the airport where I took my checkride (15G) to an airport closer to my house (1G5) for a rental checkout. The instructor I met there was really quite nice and offered to call me and take me up in the soup in his personal aircraft whenever the conditions were right. I'm looking forward to that, and plan on flying on the first day that has 2000' ceilings without a high chance of icing. Hopefully that'll be before March =)
steingar said:
Looks like you'll get plenty of opportunity to use your hard-earned new privileges in the near future.
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I hope so. The next few days are too crappy for me at this point (looks like a pretty high icing chance). What I don't want to do is go kill myself or wrinkle a plane on my first go!
simtech said:
Cant wait to read your write up.
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Disclosure - throughout this writeup, you will see me using the term "pro tip" in italics. The use of this term is sarcastic, and in no way indicates that I am a professional anything. Also, I said this would be brief. I lied.

I arrived at the airport before 8 for my 9 AM appointment with the examiner. Got the keys, grabbed my bag, and walked out to the plane.

It was completely covered in a sheet of ice from freezing rain over the night. It was so bad that when I ran the flaps down during my preflight I heard a semi-disturbing *bang* when the flap motor snapped the ice. First time I ever experienced that! One of the nice FBO / flight school employees tractored the plane over to the pumps and helped me push it back out of the way / in the sun. He monitored the ice meltage during my oral and said he'd get it in a heated hangar if necessary. Additionally, he flat out refused a tip (as he always does). I need to buy that guy some rum.

My prior (retired) instructor called me on the phone shortly after I preflighted and fueled. Chatted with him a bit as my current instructor strolled in the building. Had him fix some missing sigs in my logbook that I had found the night before as well as sign off on the VOR check I asked him to do while he was flying with another student the previous evening (note to instrument students - make sure this is done before your checkride). While I was talking to my instructor, he once again stressed how if I was going to fail it was going to be because of the hold and to make sure I drew it out on a piece of paper before executing it.

About this time the DPE walks in. He was the same DPE I used for my private and I'd seen him around the airport and chatted with him since then, so we knew each other, which helps a bit. I was still extremely nervous and felt very unprepared, but this was go time, and I wasn't going to get any more ready.

First, we walked in and did the IACRA paperwork (pro tip - have your IACRA login handy for your checkride). Completing this, we hung out and chatted for about 20 minutes (the "calm the applicant down" phase of the oral) before getting started in earnest. He asked me questions about currency (6-6-HIT), required inspections, etc. Nothing too tough here. AV1ATE was helpful, but I missed the pitot-static system inspection which he sorta gave me anyway after I talked my way into it in 5 seconds.

I used the Jepp format for my cross country plan between 15G and KBUF. Feel free to look at it. I didn't calc the deviation for the plan but (as I suspected would be the case) the examiner didn't care, and was quite happy with what I prepared. If you look at the spreadsheet, I calculated the totals for my intended airport on top and added in my alternate airport at the bottom so I had both numbers handy. He really liked this. Also, note that I was /U, so my initial fix was a VOR. He said that even CFIIs forget / argue about filing to a waypoint /U. I have Ron Levy and some other threads on this board to thank for knowing that cold as one of my instructors had the same misconception.

My DPE didn't know about the flight path tool on ADDS, so he was pretty interested in the icing prediction features. I walked him through my preflight weather process (which includes checking everything, getting a DUATS briefing, and then calling for an abbreviated briefing and walking through DUATS with the briefer), and he was satisfied with this combination. In conjunction with the weather, we talked about alternates, my choice of alternate (which was farish away from my primary - pro tip - don't pick an alternate right next to your primary), and alternate minima. I answered the visibility question wrong. 800-2 for non-precision and 600-2 for precision. I said -1. He corrected me immediately and moved on without comment, asking how the minimum changed with MALSR out of service. He said "you use ForeFlight right? Look it up on there." (pro tip - if your examiner knows you use ForeFlight, know where to find this information). I pulled up the legends and general information PDF which I had already downloaded and answered the question. Fortunately, whenever I got a question like this while studying for my written, I made sure I knew where to find this information in ForeFlight.

During the review of the low altitude enroute chart, I knew the answer to all of his questions EXCEPT MAA. He pointed at a segment that said "MAA-15000". The OROCA in that sector was 5200, the MEAs were all 3000-5000, and the MEA for that segment was 3300. I didn't remember what that meant, so he asked me to guess. I guessed (correctly) that it was the maximum altitude for the segment. Before you all jump on me for not knowing that, I do recall studying that information, but under pressure of the exam I didn't recall it. He asked me WHY there would be an MAA and I had no idea. He told me it was due to another VOR on the same frequency interfering above that altitude.

Finally, we moved on to aircraft systems, decidedly my weakest area. I was able to answer his questions about static instruments, failures, etc. He asked me about the vacuum system which I immediately said was electric and drove the gyroscopic instruments. He then quickly set up a scenario where I was flying along and lost my electric system, and asked me if my DG, AI, and TC all went down. I said "no of course not." He said "want to change your answer?" to which I responded "the vacuum system is mechanically driven". He smirked and said "I thought so". Yeah. Whoops.

After this, we moved to the airplane. I did a quick second preflight, sumped, used the facilities, and we hopped in. There were no issues with takeoff and we proceeded to the practice area for unusual attitudes. We did clearing turns and set up for the attitude (power off climbing turn to the left). I jammed the throttle in and went wings level within a second or so, pulling the power out as I gained airspeed. He said "ok call Akron Canton approach", where I coordinated my approaches with ATC (hold over ACO, 2xCAK ILS 23, BJJ VOR-28). About halfway there, he gave me my holding instructions (hold southeast of the Akron VOR on the 140 radial, left turns, expect further clearance in 30 minutes). I read it back to him, sketched the hold perfectly, and proceeded to slowly freak out as I approached the VOR.

I had everything set up for a parallel entry. Crossed the VOR and turned to 140 and started my time. I actually corrected back to the 140 radial, which the examiner later told me I didn't have to do. I feel better being on the radial, but I understand he is absolutely correct. FYI winds were 260@23, so there was some correction required. As I was approaching 60 seconds out, I lost my mind and said "oh my God I just busted". The examiner said "... you're doing fine so far". I started a left turn and then somehow calmed down, turned right 180 degrees, and sat there for a few seconds. I then realized I wasn't turning back to the inbound course, turned right until I saw the needle move, intercepted the course, and commenced a normal holding pattern to the left. It is pretty obvious how badly I botched this, and later he told me that without the wind I would have busted, but I managed to keep myself on the protected side of the hold and stay within the pattern despite my panic.

I didn't mention this earlier, but the controller seemed completely overwhelmed with the 3 or 4 aircraft he was managing. We were at 3500' in our hold and the controller constantly asked me what my altitude was (there was traffic going under us at 3000' on another approach). I constantly read back my altitude and started to climb to 3600-3700'. TECHNICALLY this would have been a bust, but it was an extremely blustery day (we were rattling all around the cabin) and I told the DPE that the controller was making me all kinds of nervous about the conflicting traffic. He didn't have the traffic in sight and accepted my decision without comment.

I was able to refine my corrections a bit and decide on future corrections after a couple turns at which point he released me from the hold and we went on to fly the ILS.

The ILS was pretty good. I was slightly high on glide slope for part of the approach but I think that this had to do with the winds. I corrected adequately, kept the localizer in the donut, and hit minimums perfectly crossed. He called my go-around and we went around for the second (localizer with circle to land) approach. The controller sent us out an extra 30 minutes around the patch (which annoyed my poor examiner), but eventually we did the localizer, circle, and low approach without incident. This particular localizer didn't have a marker beacon, and I correctly set up and identified the FAF with a cross radial.

After the low approach, we were sent off to do the non-precision approach. The examiner simulated a vacuum failure, and I flew my vectors and intercepted pretty darn well (largely I did my timed turns by counting though I did glance at the clock). I was able to stay on the radial and do my descent and stay on top of the radios probably better than I did with the DG and AI uncovered. My instructor said "sure you did - less stuff you have to look at!" :rolleyes: I canceled with the controller as soon as we were cleared for the approach. We flew the missed and headed back to 15G under the hood.

I thought the landing was slightly squirrelly (did I mention that it was a blustery day?) but the DPE reminded me that the winds across the freeway at the approach end are always unpredictable. I kicked out of a scary crab just before touchdown and had the aircraft stopped before the halfway point on the centerline of our short runway, and the DPE seemed perfectly happy with my firm landing. If he's happy, I'm happy.

All in all, I messed some things up by not being prepared and others just out of sheer nerves. The examiner said he was really worried about the hold but that my performance other than that was perfectly fine. He gave me some tips for flying but honestly after getting past my screwups I think I did better in many ways on this checkride than I did on my private. I have a lot to learn but I can say certainly that the mistakes I make on my ride are mistakes I will be much less likely to make again.
 
Congrats! Checkride day is always a long one. Bet you are glad to have it done.
 
Hey what are you doing posting outside Spin Zone? ;)

Seriously Congrats, I've got my IR but been thinking about the commercial. The IR is a great rating, it made me a much safer pilot. I'll look forward to reading your write up.
 
dell30rb said:
Congrats! Checkride day is always a long one. Bet you are glad to have it done.
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After my ride I was 30 minutes late for that other airport checkout. I ended up lunching on vending machine cheese and crackers and getting a rental checkout on the same day. By the time I got home I was completely worn out.
 
AdamZ said:
Hey what are you doing posting outside Spin Zone? ;)
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Crap. Do I have that reputation? =( Maybe politics is easier to talk about than piloting =)

AdamZ said:
Seriously Congrats, I've got my IR but been thinking about the commercial. The IR is a great rating, it made me a much safer pilot. I'll look forward to reading your write up.
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Two posts up!
 
Nice write up...I was nervous reading it and am now nervous about mine! haha But you did great and made it, that is a HUGE accomplishment and one to be proud of. Holds.....I can actually do those pretty well for some reason. My big thing is bracketing. early on they called me a snake charmer as I was back and forth on the LOC. I still can't nail it but I'm within PTS. Something I'm working. Did you have to arc at all?

Great job and again congrats and thanks for the write-up!
 
simtech said:
Nice write up...I was nervous reading it and am now nervous about mine! haha But you did great and made it, that is a HUGE accomplishment and one to be proud of. Holds.....I can actually do those pretty well for some reason. My big thing is bracketing. early on they called me a snake charmer as I was back and forth on the LOC. I still can't nail it but I'm within PTS. Something I'm working. Did you have to arc at all?

Great job and again congrats and thanks for the write-up!
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I was /U so he really couldn't give me anything hard.

My practice holds were all good to outstanding. This was my worst hold ever including my first. I was so psyched out about it I almost ruined a good plan.
 
ChrisK said:
I was /U so he really couldn't give me anything hard.

My practice holds were all good to outstanding. This was my worst hold ever including my first. I was so psyched out about it I almost ruined a good plan.
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Gotcha, yeah at school we were /g and well here im /u. The plane has a gps (very old data card) but was not sure if he will allow me to use that for DME.

Yeah nerves play a huge part. My last stage check was horrible because of my nerves. And like you all my landings went to pot..Not sure why either. Is it because approach at 90 when landing assured drop all flaps and come on home. It has to be that approach that ruins us. haha
 
simtech said:
Have you had a chance to go up in the soup yet?
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No. It has either been severe clear, severely icy, or down to minimums with high wind and rain. I'm waiting for that overcast but otherwise obviously nice day. I will take one of those IFR 172's that a VFR student canceled and fly approaches =)
 
i only had one time in some decent ifr since getting my rating. i went down to richmond virgnia and got to shoot and ils with a 600 foot ceiling. it was probably my best approach yet. not to brag but i didnt see the needles move!
 
I try to do this every chance I get, but it's hard and sometimes you miss your chance. My last proficiency flight was end of September, and I got stranded at a nearby Class D field with an ILS (posted about it here somewhere too).

Altogether I think I've had about 5 good "in the soup" flights since getting my ticket in January.

It's been icy here a lot too lately, and my plane has been in the shop for the last week so I couldn't have gone up today anyway, even though it was IFR and no ice. But there was lots of rain and wind, turbulence, a good day to stay on the ground.
 
azure said:
It's been icy here a lot too lately
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I think we have almost the same weather ;)

So, tomorrow may or may not be my day:

KCLE 012330Z 0200/0306 24008KT P6SM SCT025 OVC060
FM020300 24009KT P6SM OVC025
FM020900 24008KT 5SM -SHRA OVC015
FM021600 29012KT 5SM -SHRA SCT012 OVC020

KCAK 012330Z 0200/0224 24006KT P6SM SCT025 OVC040
FM020400 24008KT P6SM OVC025
FM021200 24008KT 6SM BR VCSH OVC015
FM021700 29012KT 3SM -SHRA SCT012 OVC020

Looking at maybe getting up between 1600-1800Z depending on the temp and icing forecast (and, of course the actual ceilings). That secondary cold front moving through might stop me, but we'll see what she's doing. If it works out, I'll be thrilled. I'm bringing an experienced IR pilot with me for a second opinion. This will be my first time PIC in the clag without an instructor!

The airport I'll be departing from has a 600' non-precision approach that is available to me, but worst case there are many ILS options in the area if things really go south. Of course I'll be looking for areas of better forecast weather when I set up my final plan in the morning.
 
Nice! Have fun.

ChrisK said:
I think we have almost the same weather ;)

So, tomorrow may or may not be my day:

KCLE 012330Z 0200/0306 24008KT P6SM SCT025 OVC060
FM020300 24009KT P6SM OVC025
FM020900 24008KT 5SM -SHRA OVC015
FM021600 29012KT 5SM -SHRA SCT012 OVC020

KCAK 012330Z 0200/0224 24006KT P6SM SCT025 OVC040
FM020400 24008KT P6SM OVC025
FM021200 24008KT 6SM BR VCSH OVC015
FM021700 29012KT 3SM -SHRA SCT012 OVC020

Looking at maybe getting up between 1600-1800Z depending on the temp and icing forecast (and, of course the actual ceilings). That secondary cold front moving through might stop me, but we'll see what she's doing. If it works out, I'll be thrilled. I'm bringing an experienced IR pilot with me for a second opinion. This will be my first time PIC in the clag without an instructor!

The airport I'll be departing from has a 600' non-precision approach that is available to me, but worst case there are many ILS options in the area if things really go south. Of course I'll be looking for areas of better forecast weather when I set up my final plan in the morning.
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Just wondering if you went... AIRMET for icing above 4000 in your area, 3000 here. Otherwise would be a nice opportunity. I would pass based on icing chances, in my area anyway, a little iffier where you are. Depends on MIAs. Even so, the temps will be in the low single digits, somewhere I don't like to be in solid IMC.
 
azure said:
Just wondering if you went... AIRMET for icing above 4000 in your area, 3000 here. Otherwise would be a nice opportunity. I would pass based on icing chances, in my area anyway, a little iffier where you are. Depends on MIAs. Even so, the temps will be in the low single digits, somewhere I don't like to be in solid IMC.
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I'm not scheduled for another couple hours. I was going to see what the freezing level did. It is my biggest concern right now, and I certainly won't go if I think I'll pick up ice. The airmet expires an hour before I'm supposed to leave, and I'm sure they'll reissue for some altitude.

It looked like if I could get cleared towards Akron at 4000' (wrong direction for altitude but higher than the OROCA at 3200) it will be doable, and even nicer if I can get lower. I haven't decided to go yet but I'll let you know.

Edit - "CONDS CONTG THRU 21Z.". Hrrumph.
 
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Nogo today. I got to practice my ADM. I called the briefer and said "I'm calling for you to tell me not to fly today." He said "Don't fly today. Anything else I can help you with?"

...

I then got a standard briefing =)
 
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