On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 12:00:33 GMT, Jon Kraus wrote:

Get an instructor that isn't afraid to get you into the clag... Seems
like I have been reading about some CFII's that don't want to get the
students up into the clouds... Why I don't know...

I HAVE TO SECOND this opinion from Jon.

One of the absolute best things that happened to me, was my first
instructor had me in IMC and had me go down to ILS minimums. This was the
same lesson where I had to execute "real" missed approaches due to the fact
the ceilings dropped below minimums at my own airport and I had to divert
to the airport with an ILS.

I did three lessons at almost 2 hours each lesson in hard IFR. It was
brutal, but having been through that, all of my solo IMC experiences were
nothing to compare to as I was well prepared due to my first instructor.

To re-iterate Peter R's post, simulated hood does nothing to prepare you
for actual conditions. There is nothing like looking around and seeing
absolutely nothing and getting bounced around in turbulence with no visual
references and having to talk to yourself OUTLOUD to trust the instruments.

Not to take away from my second instructor skills, as he taught me many
different techniques that my first instructor did not show me, which more
or less refined my cockpit management skills to be much more ahead of the
plane then I probably would have learned from my first instructor.

My first instructor was in the school of thought, that the airplane doesn't
care what the weather is outside, and to fly hard IFR or VMC on top
shouldn't make any difference to the pilot.

My second instructor was a believer that the IFR rating for a single engine
plane was to launch, get through the cloud deck and VMC above and then
descend through the cloud deck and land.

So, in a nutshell, having two different instructor was a huge benefit for
me, as they both had their own strengths, and I was determined to take full
advantage of their strengths while I was under their wings.

By the I did my first IMC solo approaches in ceilings of 1000 feet, it was
no big deal. I am currenty up to 16 hours of actual, in which I have done
about 7.4 hours post training.

I only hope you get the same quality instruction that I received from both
of my instructors.

Allen