: Congrats!
:
: Now remember, IFR in a light plane can only really safely go in about
: 20% of the instrument weather mother nature can throw at you.
:
: However, an instrument rated pilot can go in about 40% of the VFR
: weather that would have been too risky for a VFR-only pilot to attempt,
: due to the the risk of weather closing in being too great.
:
: Therefore paradoxically, by getting an instrument rating you will find
: yourself flying a lot more VFR than you had before :-)

: Uh, ok. That's not the case for me, nor most of the pilots I know.

I can say that it *is* the case for me. Being in Virginia with most
cross-country flights to the north or northwest, actually flying IFR in a
non-high-performance piston-pounder is often less safe than VFR. Between the
convective activity in the summer, and the icing in the 6000' MEA's over West
Virginia, *filing* is often a fool's game. Flying 1500' AGL VFR is safer than getting
stuck in VMC on top of an icing layer IMO.

I don't know if I quite agree with your 20% of instrument weather number or
40% of the VFR weather. I'd probably double those numbers so long as you stay
current. Of course... there are some that say that flying IMC in a single is unsafe
at any speed.

-Cory

--

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* Cory Papenfuss, Ph.D., PPSEL-IA *
* Electrical Engineering *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
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