Started Real World IFR training this weekend...

RonCraighead
Posts: 62
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 11:23 am
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: Started Real World IFR training this weekend...

Post by RonCraighead »

Well... The life-enduced 'Time off' from RW IFR training continues... But I'm getting ready to start again (and hopefully finish!) in three weeks when I take a break from school. But I needed a flight review.

My club now has an aerobatic Great Lakes Biplane... And parachutes! Well, gee... The insurance company says we need an hour of ground training and an hour of flight to make sure I'm safe.

So I got called an aerobatics instructor! My little way of sticking it to an insurance company.

It was AMAZING! Got a spin endorsement for my (some day) CFI ticket, did four rolls, four loops and four spins! Looked up on the top of a loop, and realized that there was nothing between my head and the ground 6,000 feet up!

Loops are more difficult than you think! Rolls and spins are a breeze. It ain't cheap, but I'd encourage anyone who wants to give it a try to drop the $4-500 that it takes to get your feet wet!

I then did the I-7 and I-8, and I'm working on 10... Thanks for ALL the help from the controllers!

And back to schoolwork. And playing Army this weekend... Ugh...

Cheers,

Ron
Ron Craighead
VFR and IFR Pilot, High Performance and Complex Endorsement (AT-6 Texan), Tailwheel Endorsement (Cessna 170), Spin Endorsement (Great Lakes) and survived some acro!
FAA Advanced Ground Instructor, Instrument Ground Instructor.
RonCraighead
Posts: 62
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 11:23 am
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: Started Real World IFR training this weekend...

Post by RonCraighead »

Well, time for an update I guess!

Flew four times last week... Decided a little concentrated flight time would get me back on track. I've now got about seven hours to go before 40...

I'm loving the GTN 650 from Reality XP and the one in the Archers I fly RW. It helps a TON.

I still have good approaches and not so great ones. By the time I flew the 4th flight, I was burned out and actually got worse. I flew the GPS 09 in to Ramona and it was a train wreck! I did a good job on a GPS in to Palomar from the west over the Pacific... And the GPS 17 back home to KSEE was good.

Anyway, I'll fly tomorrow and Thursday (more approaches), then the cross country from KSEE to Oxnard Sunday, then fly once the next week, then I'll be out of town for a bit for a vacation (gotta keep the lady happy) and some Army duty. Then back for some warmup and the check ride... On June 11th.

Things are getting busy! I hope I don't lose too much proficiency over the break...

I'll keep you posted!

Cheers,

Ron
Ron Craighead
VFR and IFR Pilot, High Performance and Complex Endorsement (AT-6 Texan), Tailwheel Endorsement (Cessna 170), Spin Endorsement (Great Lakes) and survived some acro!
FAA Advanced Ground Instructor, Instrument Ground Instructor.
RonCraighead
Posts: 62
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 11:23 am
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: Started Real World IFR training this weekend...

Post by RonCraighead »

Okay... Good news bad news...

My checkride is FINALLY scheduled! June 12th. The DOWN side is that I couldn't get it scheduled before I take off for Hawaii... (Gotta keep my girl happy!)

So I will have a ten day 'Break' to let rust build up, then six days to cram in flying and study for the oral exam. I'll fly twice before the trip, plus my cross country...

I have flown two previous checkrides with this examiner... Sport Pilot (SportCruiser) and Private (Cherokee). I failed my first sport ride (don't ask), but passed two days later. BOTH of my oral exams were more than two hours... She covers it all!

Here's to not busting minimums... I've heard that this rating is one of the most difficult, and from where I sit now, I can certainly see why!

Hitting the books now... ;-)

Ron
Ron Craighead
VFR and IFR Pilot, High Performance and Complex Endorsement (AT-6 Texan), Tailwheel Endorsement (Cessna 170), Spin Endorsement (Great Lakes) and survived some acro!
FAA Advanced Ground Instructor, Instrument Ground Instructor.
RonCraighead
Posts: 62
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 11:23 am
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: Started Real World IFR training this weekend...

Post by RonCraighead »

Hello all...

So I finally earned my instrument rating. It's been a while since I've posted here, so what I'm about to write here is a bit of a cautionary tale, and a guide to how I should have done it.

First, some describe me as the busiest person they know. I’m a Manager of Network Engineering, a soldier in the National Guard, a private pilot and flight student… I attempt to go to school full time for a degree in Aeronautics. And my wife has a sense of adventure, so I never know when I’ll be running a relay race or diving caverns in the Yucatan.

Lesson one: If you do too many things, you won’t do anything particularly well.

Yup. Task saturation can apply to life in general, not just flying IFR.

All these chaotic life events got done. But sometimes, like when learning instrument flying or especially CHECKRIDE PREP IN THE KSAN AREA!!! You should probably single-task to the greatest extent possible. I passed my IFR ride within a week of leaving my civilian job (a pretty stressful event) and within a week of leaving for my deployment training (an extremely stressful event). And I’m here to tell you…

Make sure your calendar is as clear as possible during your final train-up and check ride. Much like a real flight, you should pretend (to the greatest extent possible) that there is nothing else in your life. It’s said that single pilot IFR is the toughest task in aviation, and I agree so far. Taking a test on the subject, in flight, is a stress that has few equals, including combat. Give it the respect it deserves. Set aside a couple weeks for final training flights, flying on PE, and book study. Tell your boss to be flexible if possible. Take some time off. Remove as much load as possible from the equation.

Lesson two: Use tools to learn PROCEDURES (and build HABBITS).

Not just instrument procedures, like you do on PilotEdge. Although that is AWESOME. There is a saying:

Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they never get it wrong. This is absolutely true.

The FAA examiners would like to see professional level flying… Or at least the habits and procedures that a pro would use, even if you are flying a 152. The problem is that we can’t afford to fly an actual airplane enough times, or frequently enough, to make those professional procedures habit. But we can in the sim. When I looked at my numbers on PEAware, I actually don’t use the system much at all. I fly out of Gillespie, and flying in the system here is what we do. Talking to SOCAL is hectic second nature.

What I should have done more of, is simulated the procedures in the sim, and on PE. At this point, I will describe something that I learned AFTER failing the ride. (Yes, I know I should have embraced the concept long before)
Flows.
I used to be a strict checklist guy. Read a step, do a step. If you take the time, it works perfectly, every time. So why not do that? Answer: Single pilot IFR, and SOCAL. (Task saturation!)
So a FLOW (to the new me) is a sweep of the panel. A quick list of the things you do to accomplish a task. You back it up with a checklist that the examiner sees in your hand or on your knee.
Read the AOPA article below… It seems like a lot, but we should all reduce it to the lists we need to accomplish the task. I never note the time on an approach, for example. Not really necessary in the San Diego environment. Time is relegated to making sure I don’t run one of my tanks dry in my Cherokee.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all ... nce-of-ifr

But identifying navaids got added, as I got scolded for forgetting that on my first ride.

Anyway… A sweep of the panel based on your approach brief is a flow, and developing a habit of knowing where, exactly, you are on the approach is a good thing… Well, essential. Fly some approaches on PE. Use the AP if you need to, but whatever procedure you come up with, whatever ‘flow’, get it down COLD.

And back it up with a sweep of your checklist as time permits. Use phases of flight to nudge you in to doing checklists. For example, on departure, you are directed to go ‘Over to departure, one one niner point six’. Wish the tower a good day, flip frequencies, check in… Super simple tasks, because you already had the departure frequency in standby right? Then work on the climb checklist, if you haven’t already. It may be a little late to turn off your fuel pump technically… But that’s not going to bust your checkride. Not using your climb checklist may. Use your arrival at that first navaid to start thinking about your cruise configuration and checklist as well.

SOCAL will throw curveballs. They don’t do it for fun, but it happens. Flying the missed, real world out of Brown for example. I have NEVER flown the published missed. It puts you in the way of arriving traffic for KSAN. They have you report POGGI, then turn left, northeast bound and get vectors for whatever you decide to do next. (* A training\checkride flight that is typical: Depart KMYF via the DP, MZB, Brown VOR approach, Missed to the Northeast, Published Hold at RYAHH, air work (DME arc off of JLI, etc) Vectors to the Loclizer at KSEE, Missed, Vectors to the ILS at KMYF for a full stop.).
I’ve also been vectored around VFR traffic that isn’t on flight following, around the Miramar Bravo because of military traffic (It’s actually easy to get cleared through Miramar’s Bravo RW) and been given the ‘Caution wake turbulence, passing under the 747’ on the way in to Brown. Oh, and sometimes they make mistakes, too. They are human.

So yeah, flows and checklists. Memorizing navaid frequencies doesn’t hurt either… In San Diego, you’ll fly MZB, OCN, POGGI and JLI. Localizer frequencies wouldn’t kill you either, as well as towers. That way you can dial them in during your sweep without looking down to your kneeboard. If SOCAL throws you a curveball a few seconds later, you’re already done.

If you can brief the plates with your eyes closed, all the better, but don’t get caught NOT using the plates on the ride. Approach courses, where to go missed, etc. The MYF localizer frequency changed while I was training… Yeah, that can lead to an awkward and avoidable mistake. Oh, and become a link in an accident chain…

This is, of course, where the sim and PE shine. Take the time to fly one of your potential checkride approaches every other day or so… The numbers and procedures will be drilled in to your brain for sure.
All of these things help fight of task saturation. They slow down time.

As for the oral exam…

I need to shout out to Kieth here. His videos on approaches and such, as well as the Real World IFR series, helped a lot. I mean a TON. The oral is where I did particularly well…
A few tips. First, read the Airman Certification Standards. The oral is largely about risk management, in the context of the flight you are supposed to plan, the airplane you are going to fly, the weather, and of course your current level of proficiency. The last item is important.

If you are like me, and don’t get a ton of actual IMC time down to minimums, talk a lot about that. I fly in San Diego. IFR means punching through the thin marine layer in the morning, and maybe an approach through it and popping out at 1500 feet AGL. I wouldn’t plan an approach nearing minimums unless I’ve been flying a LOT of IFR in reality or training.
Personal minimums are huge, and so is a quick reality check on your flight plan. For example, don’t plan a route with an MEA of over 10,000 feet in a Warrior, with three men onboard and 50 pounds of luggage… Can the airplane get up there? Eventually, but it’s pushing it. So realistic AIRPLANE minimums are key. Use the words ‘risk management’ a lot. Think about what degrading weather or an in-flight emergency would do to your risk level… Of course, in the context of your skill level\personal minimums.

Remember that, while the examiner assigned you a flight to plan, you are Pilot in Command. You can stop for fuel along the way. Go the long way around obstructing terrain. Tell one of your buddies that he can’t go, because he’s a little heavy. Limit luggage weight to allow for a one-hour reserve that is your personal minimum.
Or better yet, “I would not attempt this flight, based on these four factors and how they relate to the FAA regulations and my personal minimums.”
You are not going to fly the actual cross country flight anyway, so feel free to scrub it.

All told, this is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, and well it should be. This is the one rating that can save your life.

In summary… Set aside time to focus on training and check ride prep as much as possible. Prepare for your approaches by flying them in the sim, and on line as much as practical. Develop flows and checklist procedures in flight and in the sim, and make them second nature. If I fly in the sim, I have the kneeboards and such on, just like in the cockpit. Use your real world flights and time with your flight instructor to validate what you’ve learned on the ground.

For the oral, tell the story of how you planned your flight, using risk management as a context. Use the PE seminar videos, and the Real World series to give you an idea of how to do that… They are quite good. I haven’t seen the coast to coast videos yet, but plan on getting them as soon as I can.

The examiner will ask you to elaborate on certain decisions. They are looking for JUDGEMENT, based on Aeronautical Decision Making skills. They don’t expect you to be perfect, but these skills will keep you alive long enough to get pretty good at this stuff.

That’s my take on it, for now. I hope this helps some of you who embark on the journey.

Feel free to comment below. I KNOW I missed some things, and may have erred somewhere.

Regards,
Ron
Ron Craighead
VFR and IFR Pilot, High Performance and Complex Endorsement (AT-6 Texan), Tailwheel Endorsement (Cessna 170), Spin Endorsement (Great Lakes) and survived some acro!
FAA Advanced Ground Instructor, Instrument Ground Instructor.
FDXDave
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Jul 17, 2017 7:56 pm

Re: Started Real World IFR training this weekend...

Post by FDXDave »

Your so busy I'm tired. Lol.
Very informative. It's a fun read.

Dave
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