Hi Jay,
With the number of hours you've got, I suspect you'd be able to get your IR
pretty quickly. You won't need to spend much time learning how to control the
plane with finite precision... That's about the first 1/3 of the
cirriculum...

I did my IR during a slightly slow period in my business... I flew about
twice a week for about 3 months, including maxing out the simulator. I got
the rating with 40.5 hours of IR training (which includes, btw, the time
under the hood from the private). I think the simulator time was extremely
valuable, because a) there is absolutely no "seat of the pants" feedback so
it becomes really obvious very quickly when you are not doing your scan, and
b) the simulator controls are very sensitive, forcing you to really control
the "plane" in a very fine-tuned manner.

My guess is that you could easily get it done in a few months without too
much difficulty. And once you've got it, when you and Mary go on trips, just
throw the foggles on and you'll have no trouble staying current.

You'll be the talk of the hangar...

Oh wait, you already are!



"Jay Honeck" wrote in news:1155437071.376308.171920
@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Mary is the person who will really determine whether or not Jay
gets his instrument rating. Unless Mary was pulling my leg, she
doesn't seem at all comfortable with the idea of being in clouds.

You're right -- Mary has ZERO interest in flying herself into the
clouds.

However, she would have no problem flying IFR with me. She just doesn't
want the responsibility at this phase of her life.

In most other ways, it WILL be up to Mary when I ultimately get the IR,
since she'll have to carry the load at the hotel for several months
while I hit the books again. I doubt that's going to happen any time
soon.

It's a shame we didn't wait five more months to buy the hotel, back in
'02, and this conversation would be a moot point. I'd simply be
another non-current instrument pilot, like most of the guys at my
airport... ;-)

But it's all good. As long as we can continue to have great times
whenever we *very* occasionally have to spend the night somewhere due
to bad weather, we'll be happy campers... Hell, Mary and I can have
fun anywhere -- even South Bend, Indiana!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"