Instrument rating in a week

[flyboy0681]

Me finding time isn't the problem... it's trying to find time when I can go, my instructor can go and the weather allows. In this respect, owning hasn't been much better than renting. I'm still finding it difficult to schedule (my instructor is very good, which means very popular, so he's not always available when I am).

  

 

Time has been my biggest hurdle, in addition to the other items you mentioned such as instructor availability and the weather itself. I have major business responsibilities and find it difficult to get away, as does my instructor. Some may say get another instructor who has more time available, but I'm extremely comfortable with him, we work well together, I know his methods and techniques and find him extremely competent and professional. During the summer weather plays a big role down here with intense afternoon thunderstorms and we land up canceling a lot of lessons due to that.

 

Add to the mix that I'm well into my 50's and the neuron's just don't fire as well as they did when I was in my 20's, and my studying for the written proved this. While I did manage to score a 97 on the test two weeks ago, the amount of reading, re-reading and re-re-reading was intense, all this while conducting business and being on the road. At a recent Florida Mooney Luncheon I met a fellow who recently completed his instrument rating and is also in his mid-50's. His story was identical to mine, which actually made me feel good because I knew I was not alone.

 

The good news is that the written is out of the way, my skills are improving and I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Could I have done it in an accelerated course? No way.

[PTK]

Obviously the examiner has to take the airplane to setup unusual attitudes and allow for hood!

 

This doesn't change the facts for reasons I already mentioned, it is discouraged very strongly and it is not very smart. May be "legitimate" but definitely not very astute. i.e. not very wise and pretty stupid. Lots to lose for both examiner and applicant and nothing to gain.

[Hank]

Hank,

Which came first for you?

Your instrument training or your plastics training?

I had run machinery on their instruments for several years prior to flying. Instrument scan seemed to be similar....process temperature, pressure, and machine rpm were the three important things to watch.

Anyone else have similar instrument scans at work? Did it help to make IFR training less daunting?

Best regards,

-a-

 

I started into the injection molding business in 1989, and learned to set injection parameters using knobs and set screws; pressures were read on individual dials while you were holding the button down. The new computerized machines with the whole thing available on a single 6" screen are wonderful!

 

Flying began for real in 2006, after an abortive attempt in 1993 [instructor moved up, I moved away], and I obtained the coveted "IA" in 2010.

 

Airplanes with T-panels permit developing a functional, useful instrument scan. There is no such standard arrangement for molding machines . . . The fundamentals of melting plastic haven't changed, it's still time, temperature and pressure. RPM only figures in during charge, and is a single set value.

 

My plane, old and simple as she is, has more readouts and controls than our molding machines here. The fanciest one is all electric, 2009 model with options out the wazoo, but 98% of them are set once and left alone, rather like the gear preload value. Virtually nothing transferred from work to flying other than the mindset and attention to detail. Oh, the ability to multi-task and track several things at once does help, too.