Instrument rating??

Tom Sixkiller wrote:

The question I'd ask is: What is your current flying profile (business or
just pleasure) and what changes do you anticipate? I'd sure consider taking
the lessons just to have a better sense of handling the aircraft, but will
you really make use of an IR? Would you be willing to expend the time and
money to stay current? Can you're flying profile justifiy the expense?


Those are the issues that have pretty much convinced me to stay VFR.

I bought into the notion back in the late 80s that the rating would
enable more utility from my airplane, so I got the rating.

After several years of struggling to round up safety pilots so I could
stay current, mentally treating even all my solo VFR flights from an
instrument perspective to the point that every flight was for
proficiency, and none were just to be enjoyed, and keeping up with all
the added costs for current chart/plate subscriptions and airplane
certifications, I finally came to the realization that, hey, I don't fly
for business, there's never a flight that can't be postponed for
weather, and, most important of all, if the weather's crummy, I don't
enjoy the flying much anyway - so I decided not to do it anymore.

The rating will make you a better pilot, no question, and I'm not sorry
I got mine. I just can no longer personally justify jumping through all
the hoops to stay current and use it.