Passed my IFR check ride!

[MHemperly]

Well after all the hard work and studying and flying I pasesed my instrument check ride today! What a rewarding feeling! I took the ride at Van Nuys Airport (KVNY). I did the oral last week and due to the TFR over LAX and then Palm Springs for our WONDERFUL president.. Cough cough!!  we had to postpone the ride to today. It started with a Tower enroute clearance with a SID to Burbank (KBUR) for the VOR-08 partial panel then cancel IFR and go missed, Then the ILS 16R to KVNY touch and go and fly the missed, and out to the practice area for hold,dme arc and unusual attitudes then back to KVNY for the LDA-C. All in all I feel I did well, I do think I could have done better but at least I passed. Now the real learning begins! Can't wait to apply my new skill! 

 

Mike

[cloud116]

Congrats, that is a major accomplishment. I noticed no GPS work. Plane not equipped or just not tested on it?

[Danb]

Awesome......one of the great accomplishments in flying

 

way to go!!

[Mooneymite]

Congratulations!

That's  one of the toughest checkrides you'll ever take.  You will be amazed at how much more utility you will get out of your aircraft with the ability to fly in IMC.  The other surprising thing is how often the weather is great after you punch through that overcast.

Enjoy.

[mike_elliott]

Congrats! Well done!

[MooneyBob]

Very nice. Congrats.

 

[Cyril Gibb]

Congrats... well done. 

[N33GG]

Congrats!  And further, congrats on a great attitude in your post.  Continue to learn, be cautious, and take your time diving into more challenging situations.  Sounds to me like you will do fine.

Harrumph!

[RLCarter]

Congrats on your new rating and as you said, "Now the real learning begins". Just wondering during your training did you get much "Actual IMC" time?

[MHemperly]

9 hours ago, cloud116 said:

Congrats, that is a major accomplishment. I noticed no GPS work. Plane not equipped or just not tested on it?

I do have a 430W. But my data base isn't up to date so my examiner chose those approaches. I did however get the chance early on in my training to do some gps approaches when it was up to date. I plan on getting a subscription now that I can really use it. 

[MHemperly]

7 minutes ago, RLCarter said:

Congrats on your new rating and as you said, "Now the real learning begins". Just wondering during your training did you get much "Actual IMC" time?

Unfortunately due to the weather here in SoCal I've only got one actual approach in IMC. I did the ILS at Montgomery field through an overcast layer that was about 2000' thick. 

[RLCarter]

5 minutes ago, Mhemperly said:

Unfortunately due to the weather here in SoCal I've only got one actual approach in IMC. I did the ILS at Montgomery field through an overcast layer that was about 2000' thick. 

I'm on the Third Coast (Gulf of Mexico) and was able to get several hours of actual,  also did a few "simulated" instrument takeoffs which were kinda cool

[MHemperly]

1 hour ago, RLCarter said:

I'm on the Third Coast (Gulf of Mexico) and was able to get several hours of actual,  also did a few "simulated" instrument takeoffs which were kinda cool

That's awesome! I'm definitely planning on taking baby steps with my IMC flying. Can wait until our June gloom season out here on the west coast to do some departures and approaches with some higher ceilings. 

[flyboy0681]

Well done. And as I always say when somebody gets their rating, the first few flights in actual conditions without your instructor sitting beside you is where the rubber meets the road.

[carusoam]

Way to go, IR Bro!

Best regards,

-a-

[1964-M20E]

congrats

[slowflyin]

Congrats!!!!

[Seth]

Big accomplishment - congratulations.  Now go file and fly in the system as often as reasonably possible for a while and keep those skills up.  They degrade QUICKLY.

 

Set personal minimums and then slowly lower them as you become more and more comfortable.  When you are not comfortable anymore - those are YOUR minimums, not the legal minimums.

You will now really enjoy what the Mooney has to offer.  A small could layer or the posibility of a small rainshower will not disuade you from a cross country flight.  Remember, there are still no-go decisions - you can always fly earlier to avoid an issue or the next day.

Congrats!

 

-Seth

[Pictreed]

Congratulations!

[steingar]

On February 22, 2016 at 10:09 AM, Seth said:

Set personal minimums and then slowly lower them as you become more and more comfortable.  When you are not comfortable anymore - those are YOUR minimums, not the legal minimums.

-Seth

Seth, I'm not trying to rag on you or anything.  Just something I've heard and don't understand.  There are published minimums for all this stuff.  MEAs for enroute, MDA's for approaches and so forth.  The minimum visibilities are spelled out on the charts.  So if all this stuff is charted to be safe and free of obstructions, for what do you need personal minimums?  Again, not trying to argue, genuinely curious.

[chrisk]

15 minutes ago, steingar said:

Seth, I'm not trying to rag on you or anything.  Just something I've heard and don't understand.  There are published minimums for all this stuff.  MEAs for enroute, MDA's for approaches and so forth.  The minimum visibilities are spelled out on the charts.  So if all this stuff is charted to be safe and free of obstructions, for what do you need personal minimums?  Again, not trying to argue, genuinely curious.

From a planning perspective, there is a huge difference between an ILS to minimums with 1 mile of visibility, and an ILS to 1000 foot ceilings and 10 miles of visibility.  In one case, your pretty certain to make it in.  When the airport is at minimums, the weather may change en route, and you may not make it in and have to go missed for real.   And if the area has a very wide weather pattern, the alternate you picked may not be available.   --and your legal 45 minute reserve may not get you to an airport above minimums.   There are more than a few accidents where this has happened.

Know where the VFR is and have enough fuel to get there.

 

[carusoam]

Legal minimums vs. personal minimums, that is the question...?

Typically...

Legal minimums are the limitations of the ground based or satellite based navigation equipment.  On Some approaches, the airplane can be brought down to 200' agl with typical Mooney equipment and typical well practiced Mooney pilot skills.

Personal minimums are the limitation a pilot puts on himself to keep a buffer between his self and the unknown.

-------------------------

What makes it challenging..?

Some pilots take a week or two off from flying and their skills become 'rusty'.  Starting at TPA, They have difficulty controlling speed and Altiude to make a nice smooth landing.  

Add in an approach down to 200' agl, approach speed is a bit higher than the usual traffic pattern speeds.  The transition to a visual landing starts at 200'agl.  Get slowed, get configured, check the GUMPS, land...

What makes some pilots minima different than others..?

Experience, recency, equipment, weather, familiarity with equipment, ability to multitask, cross check, control speed and energy.

Where the logic falls apart..? (Old guy with family logic)

1) you are piloting a single engine aircraft.

2) you have reached the DA.

3) you see nothing out the window.

4) you apply full power for the go around.

5) nothing happens... (Control cable stuck or broke?)

6) set up to land on anything that isn't hard...?

 

Hope you have your E checklist memorized.  You won't have the physical time to pull it out and go through it prior to landing.

There are few things of value from this discussion.

1) high personal minima (say 1000') keeps you from being grounded in most cases.  Transition to landing is normal traffic pattern activities.

2) emergency engine out situations have significantly more opportunity for success.

3) your personal minima may depend on who is at home waiting for you.

4) This discussion opens your eyes to what happens when flying over foggy expanses.  I select higher altitudes as a method of buying a little extra time.

The big disclaimer....  I am only a PP.  Let me know if I have missed something...

Best regards,

-a-

 

[Marauder]

I look at it as risk tolerance. I flew for years with little care about the ceilings and visibilities below. Experience one mechanical problem while flying over this stuff, you develop a different view on the risk. In my case, if I had to descend into the low ceilings and visibility to make an off field landing, I would have been in trouble.

I now fly with a personal minimum that I want 1000' ceilings and at least 2 miles of forward visibility over anything I fly. It doesn't mean that if I need to cross 10 miles of lower visibility I won't do it. It just means I want an out most of the time.

As for approach mins. Although I fly an IPC every 6 months and practice approaches frequently, I want some assurances of acceptable mins above the legal mins. At my home airport, the MDA is 1040 on the circle to land. Knowing there is a tower and hill on that circle, I won't fly it if the ceiling is less than 1200'.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Seth]

On 3/3/2016 at 9:46 AM, steingar said:

Seth, I'm not trying to rag on you or anything.  Just something I've heard and don't understand.  There are published minimums for all this stuff.  MEAs for enroute, MDA's for approaches and so forth.  The minimum visibilities are spelled out on the charts.  So if all this stuff is charted to be safe and free of obstructions, for what do you need personal minimums?  Again, not trying to argue, genuinely curious.

Good question - it seems it's been answered by others here.  

Just trying to give a little advice to a new instrument rated pilot so that they know they can ease into lower and lower minimums for their own comfort.  Even with an instrument ticket you can legally kill yourself.  Experience grows over time and though in my opinion, you can probably nail an approach to minimums right after your IFR Checkride better than in many future years, those two weeks off as someone else noted, the rustiness sets in, and you can get yourself into real trouble.  Some people set 500AGL ceilings.  Some published minimums, some 1000 feet gentlemanly IFR mins.  Every situation is different and each pilot has a different risk tolerance they may take.

My decision making process has added new layers now that I have more experience, have flown in a lot of types of weather, and have a spouse and baby girl at home.  I still have a lot to learn, however I also have noticed and nipped in the bud get-there-itis more than in the past which I historically tended to fell prey to.  

When on my game, I have flown to minimums.  Right now, seeing that I flew 90 and 70 hours respectively in the last two years, I probably won't go flying on those days, or will alter my destinations.  In the past, when flying 250 hour per year by hand, with no in panel GPS and before iPads with paper charts I flew to minimums routinely in my M20F.  I now in my M20J Missile 300 have a good autopilot, GPS, and the plane can literally fly automated to a few feet over the runway if I wanted (I tend to disconnect at published minimums or when I'm visual, but have in VFR conditions experimented with how low it can get), while monitoring, but my hours are down, my hand flying skills are rusty in my opinion (though a few hours flying and practice approaches will cure that) and my personal minimums are not the published minimums in my opinion right now even though I have better equipment than I used to.

I don't think I'd fly to published minimums right now at an airport is close to icing conditions in the mountains as I there is a lot to juggle with a missed, while climbing through cold temps, between peaks, to get to a safe heading on a specific bearing to hold.  I like to have an out.

It's a sliding scale for me depending and the many data points assist the decision making process.  I'm sure even now I would fall prey to certain decision making factors that we have to watch out for, but at least I'm aware of them and do look at alternatives.

Hope those who responded as well as this helps.  No argument noted and feel free to follow up.

 

-Seth

[midlifeflyer]

On 3/3/2016 at 2:21 PM, Marauder said:

I look at it as risk tolerance.

That's exactly what it is.  

All personal flying, like all life's activities (including doing absolutely nothing) involves risk. At least statistically, certain things increase that risk.  Yes, in theory, flying an approach to minimums in both ceiling and visibility with the wife and kids on board in mountainous terrain at night is no different than the same approach solo to a flatland airport during the day with 1200' ceilings.

Except that it is different.

It is different in terms of statistical risk, room for error, distraction level and the consequences if something goes wrong. The accident reports leave very little room for doubt on that one. Add to that the perception of risk. To most human beings I've met, even a simple approach when the ceiling and visibility are both at minimums has a little more butt clench to it. For some that focuses; for others it's a distraction. 

So, if nothing else, a self-assessment of "what do I feel comfortable with" is a sign of good aeronautical decision-making.