Plus 1 IFR Pilot & PIC PIREP

[ReconMax]

Hi MooneySpace. I just wanted to check in and tell you guys I passed my Instrument Checkride this weekend. I have been studying hard and practicing every chance I got. I did employ PIC to provide 10 days of intense training. 

https://www.iflyifr.com/

My instructor was Bob Yarmey and I thought he was great! He has a ton of experience (20K+ Hrs) and an awesome story. If anyone else decided to go this route, I'd suggest asking for Bob. I'm sure they have other great instructors though. My experience with Bob and with PIC was very good. I found PIC to be honorable and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to friends and family. I feel like I got a lot of value out of their service. I know different people have different views on accelerated training and both sides have valid points. I liked the accelerated training but each to his own. 

I would point out that the accelerated course is intense. If you do it, make sure you can shut yourself off from the outside world for the duration. We started every morning at 7:00-8:00 and never finished before 8:00 PM. Bob was a task master but very patient. He demonstrated great skill in educating with very subtle traits that I found to be very helpful.

My cross country was 84R-MWL-DAL-AUS-84R. I was fortunate to do my cross country and several other days of training in real IMC. One picture below shows us breaking out on approach to DAL. 

My checkride consisted of a RNAV circle to land, and ILS with missed and then a partial panel RNAV straight in, also a hold and a course interception. 

So far, I've got 235 hours in my Mooney and I love flying this plane. Now I have a ticket to learn some new things. I'll be filing IFR for ~all my flights and trying to stay current.

Also, I should mention that Laura and JD at SWTA went above and beyond to keep me flying during the training. I wouldn't have been able to complete it all without them. Also Paul at Maxwell made last minute config changes to my PFD that really helped!

 

[Parker_Woodruff]

Great job, John!

[Mcstealth]

Completely jealous and in awe. Congratulations. 

[gsxrpilot]

Well done John! That's a big one. Now go get it wet, as they say.

[Bravoman]

Nice job and great looking panel. I too used PIC years ago and agree with everything you say. It is the way I like to do stuff like this, but it was like drinking from a fire hose for sure. I’ll never forget my instructor. He is an Air Force Academy grad and a retired Col. but I didn’t know until much later that he was a highly decorated forward air controller in Vietnam who had won the Distinguished Flying Cross two times. He was a task master for sure and a fabulous instructor.

[carusoam]

Fantastic pirep for PIC, and JD/Laura, and Pmax!

Thanks for sharing the details...

Go fly! In the system...

Best regards,

-a-

[jlunseth]

Nice job! Not an easy checkride. Wow is there a lot to learn from here forward about how the IFR system actually works and how complex actual weather can be. 

[LANCECASPER]

Nice job on the IFR checkride! Also nice Allegro! As you probably know they only made the Allegro one year, 1998, and only 19 of them

[RLCarter]

Good job