Thoughts on accelerated IFR training?

[jmills]

So, as you folks know I just acquired my first plane recently and last week picked up my complex endorsement and BFR after 14 years of no flying. Now, I may be 'legally minimally competent' but I've got a ways to go before I  feel am actually competent.  My plan is to spend this summer and early fall getting more acquainted with the plane, flying, radio communications, emergency procedures, x-country, etc... in general just to get up to speed.

Once I put some more hours in the plane, and no longer feel like I have two left hands, I want to earn my instrument rating.  I like my CFII but he recently got a job with a scenic airline in the area and won't have as much time for me as he has the last month or so. And frankly, I learn better when I jump head first into the deep end. To that end, I was considering an accelerated intensive IFR program.  Now, my local area (Las Vegas) pretty much has two seasons; summer and wind.  And I want some actual IFR when I'm learning, and to do so in more complex airspace than my local area (granted I've got a Class B airspace shared with McCarren and Nellis AFB and two Class D airspaces, and restricted areas and MOAs pretty much all in one valley here locally in Las Vegas, but I'm sure SoCal is several times more daunting, and that is where I'd like to really cut my teeth... go big or go home, right?). So, I figured I could take some time off from work this fall and head down to Southern California to earn my rating. I was looking at the PIC accelerated program.  Apparently, an eat-sleep-breath 10 day IFR course.  The plane is pretty nicely equipped with a 530W and Century 2000 AP with ALT hold and slaved to my HSI and 530 but no GPSS though; nevertheless it should serve as a good platform for my IFR training (then again, maybe not as I admittedly don't know much about such things!?!)

Any thoughts about accelerated IFR training in general and the PIC course in particular? Also, what recommendations do you folks have regarding prepping myself BEFORE I head into the training later on this year?

Thanks!

PS Cross-posted on the Purple Board, and the red board too.

[carusoam]

JM,

Great decision to need to make...

I considered the 10 day immersion, but decided to attend a school instead. 

The upside of the school,  You could do it in 10 days, or skip every other day to catch up on things.  The school had equipment and instructors that were (nearly) always available.

It took me about 6 weeks total, with time off for Christmas and other things (like work).  Most of my flights were in the 2 - 3 hour category.  That's about the maximum work I can put into learning in one day.

I think the best advantage you have, is that you will be learning in your airplane with your nav equipment.  I used school planes, no autopilot. They had a tendency to drift off course if you were slow on the scan (no time to read approach plates twice).

I found in my time off, I could review procedures and plan ahead using microsoft flight simulator.

Bottom line,  I wanted to spread my flying dollars over a longer period of time.

You won't go wrong either way. 

Advice: Start studying.....get started training....

I look forward to hearing what and how you decide...

Best regards,

-a-

[Kwixdraw]

If you are seriously considering coming to Southern Cal. to do your training I would highly recommend you check out Orange County Flight Center. Gary Sequiera is the owner and is a Mooney savvy guy with a good program. You can do a good chunk of your training in a simulator which will be safer, less costly, and will speed up the process.  I did the King tapes to get the written out of the way before I started and it worked out well for me. They use Ralph Butchers' sylabus and you can get his books on-line in advance so you will have the program  dialed in before you start. I really like the way Butcher's program is set up to deal with real world techniques for single pilot IFR. For me the real ahh haa moment was in the sim when my instructor "failed" the AI and I caught the bad instrument before getting into an unusual attitude situation.  My confidence level went way up at that point. They are an established school and have nice equipment if you want to use their aircraft. Not the cheapest but good stuff rarely is. Good accomodations very close by too. You'll hate being near the beach.

 

[lahso]

Accelerated flight training is a great way to go. When I took the PIC course years ago, I was a better equipped to handle the "firehose" aspect by having 20 hours with a CFI-IA beforehand. For a part-time pilot like me, using accelerated courses are really good for finishing up the rating/license.

[danb35]

If you do post on the Red Board, Cap'n Ron there is a PIC instructor and can tell you a lot about how their course works.  I've heard consistently good things about their course, but the universal caveat I've heard is that you really need to shut off everything else in your life for those 10 days.  Don't just put the cell phone on vibrate, leave it at home, etc.

If you're considering PIC or another accelerated course, be sure to check out their prerequisites.

Might also want to check out http://semperfi-aviation.com/IFR.htm.  No experience with them though.

[Stefanovm]

I used a "10 day" to finish up in 2004. It may have been easier for me as I already had 40+ hours of instrument time, with 9 actual. I had passed the written 3 times (1977, 1982, and 1985) and let them run out. The "10 day" forced me to finish before letting the 4th one run out. I took a weekend "pass" class for the fourth pass and got the lowest score of the four passes, an 85. The "10 day" I took required the written to have been passed before starting the "10 day" course.

I paid up front and the instructor kept finding little items to extend for the whole ten days rather than be obligated to refund any money, my biggest complaint with the process. We only flew about 20 hours, but I got a lot of ground instruction, almost too much to take. The DE, anti-climatic to the grueling 10 days, was very happy with my performance and knowledge. However, the CFII was not really familiar with my C152 and KNS80. He had taught me some bad habits. I had disagreed with the CFII about several of them, but his way was the instructor way :-(. I was happy to learn from the DE that my way was the correct way, but the DE re-teaching me extended the check ride by about 15 minutes. Make sure that you can get along with the instructor using an accelerated course. The 10 days goes by rather quickly with little, none in my case, opportunity to change instructors.

I am now up to about 100 hours with no more "actual" approaches, the only being some during the 9 hours way back in the 80s. Several of them were to minimums. I have more hours of enroute, now, with approaches that have been VFR before the initial approach fix. A lot of my 9 hours was in multi-engine, a C310 and a King Air C90, although my ticket is for SEL. Both of the twins had no "working" autopilot. The weather in Texas has seemed to not cooperate for additional actual approaches as either it has been too bad or the aircraft has not been ready. The M20E sems to be easier to fly IFR than any other airplane. With good nav radios I know it will be.

Unfortunately, my Mooney 20E has two Collins Micro Lines, sort of relaible, a VFR only KLN94 on the co-pilot's side, and a DME. The shop says the DME is unfixable and mounted further right than the GPS. The DME works unreliably, showing a 100% wrong (>5 miles) miles to go too many times. I can not wait until I can replace one of the Collins with a 430, as until then actual IFR approaches will be hard to fly. The KLN94 would be good, but the cost to make it IFR is about 60% of installing a 430. GPS or DME required approaches are the main ones close to my home airport. However due to the speed and range, it may be easier than in my C152 to do the simulated approaches. My C152 was replaced by the M20E a little over two months and 20+ hours VFR ago with a little enroute IFR.

I absolutely love N5520Q. It flies using less fuel than the C152. Fuel burn is way less than the C152 when I slow down to accomodate my neighbor's Grumann. He used to slow down for me ;-).

[KLRDMD]

Quote: jmills

The plane is pretty nicely equipped with a 530W and Century 2000 AP with ALT hold and slaved to my HSI and 530 but no GPSS though; nevertheless it should serve as a good platform for my IFR training (then again, maybe not as I admittedly don't know much about such things!?!)

Any thoughts about accelerated IFR training in general and the PIC course in particular? Also, what recommendations do you folks have regarding prepping myself BEFORE I head into the training later on this year?

[Earl]

I can't comment on comparison of the 10-day course to regular training because I only did the 10-day PIC course.  For me it was a much better fit because I could take a week off work and come back with my rating.  With my travel and business schedule it would take me months to complete the training in the regular way.  I also think you spend less time relearning something from your last lesson that you forgot or became rusty on.

I would agree with other posters that you really need to be prepared for the course since it is a firehose.  You also have to be mentally prepared to at some point in the 10 days hitting a brick wall and wondering if you should continue.  This is usually caused by some really dumb mental mistake that if by yourself or in IMC could be a real problem.  For me it was picking the ILS DH when doing a localizer approach.  My CFII said he really worried about the initial safety of any newly minted IFR pilot that didn't have that kind of experience in training.  Scared the you know what out of me as I am descending to 200' agl and when I got to around 400' he said look up......oh crap was I low and the airport was far away.

As for post training flying, I always file IFR even in VMC when on a cross country.  I also file for altitudes that give me more time in IMC (unless ice or bumps are a problem).  I have learned a whole lot dealing with ATC, getting new routes several times on one flight due to MOAs going active, having weird clearances given, etc., etc.  The more time you spend in the system the more things become routine and don't add to pilot workload.  And if they are really busy or want to vector you 100 miles out of your way you can always use the magical words, cancel IFR.

Good luck with your training!  You will really like the utility of an IFR rating although it will require some diligence to keep safe.  To me that's the biggest challenge of the rating.  Not too hard to stay current but safe takes a little more effort.....