wrote:
[snip]
Getting an IR isn't cheap, but unless you fly exclusively in some
place like
Arizona or Florida, it is pretty much a necessity for extracting real
transportation value (as opposed to just recreation) from an airplane.

Yep. To say, as some have, that the rating is not worth having for most
GA pilots ignores the most important criterion of flying: what do you
use the airplane for? If you use an airplane to travel, how useful is
it if you have to accept regular postponements for weather?

As soon as I got my PP certificate, it became obvious to me that flying
to Houston every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas was going to
*require* me to have the instrument rating. Otherwise, I could expect
to skip some trips or get stuck at Mom's house on occasion.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM