Value of a knot

Ben Jackson wrote:

If you're flying long distances and want to cut the total time, the most
cost effective way is to carry enough fuel that you don't have to stop.
If you can cut a 30 minute fuel stop out of a C-172 flightplan it's like
adding 15kts.

Another way might be to get an instrument rating.

I only have one data point for this, but this spring a fleet of 4
Warriors took a club trip from TTA to IAD. It was a VFR day. The one
flying VFR put 6.1 hours on the hobbes. The three flying IFR all put
5.1 hours on. I was the VFR one. The ADIZ did not slow me down as far
as I can tell. As far as I can tell the penalty was due to:

1. Worse ATC service. Once in the ADIZ and class B, every time I was
switched to a different frequency, I had to wait for several stretches
for there to be a break in the servicing of IFR traffic before I could
even get acknowledged and get a vector. Not to mention how nervous you
can get flying right at the prohibited area (or later, right at the
airport at 3500) on the vector the last guy gave you and the new guy
hasn't acknowledged you for several minutes.

2. More vectoring. While my compatriots were being cleared direct to
Brooke VOR then to IAD, I was getting vectored around the RDU Class C,
and then once in the ADIZ and class B I was vectored all over the place
to basically get me out of the way while the IFR traffic landed, then
they worked me into a gap in the IFR traffic for landing. My first time
on a 13 mile final in a Warrior!

I don't know if this is typical, but assuming an instrutment rating
costs $5-6000 to get working the $/effective knot here might be a pretty
good number. So pilots who fly both IFR and VFR, is that experience
typical? Is better routing and radar service a good enough reason to
get the instrument rating, even if you don't plan to do much hard IFR?

In article ,
TTA Cherokee Driver wrote:

Another way might be to get an instrument rating.

1. Worse ATC service [vfr]. Once in the ADIZ and class B, ...

Controllers have to make quick judgements about who they can trust to
execute more complex clearances without deviating. In my experience
several things factor in, including: good radio technique, being on an
IFR flightplan, and flying an airplane that's not typically a trainer.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

TTA Cherokee Driver wrote:

: typical? Is better routing and radar service a good enough reason to
: get the instrument rating, even if you don't plan to do much hard IFR?

Yes.
It's helpful for avoiding TFRs that suddenly pop up. It's helpful for avoiding
active MOA (IFR aircraft get separation from military traffic). It's helpful
for not having to dial up every stinkin class C & D from Boston to Miami. It's
helpful for not having to study the many shelves of the MOAs on the coast of
the Carolinas. It's helpful for landing at a class B main airport. etc.
--
Aaron Coolidge

I find that if I transit the Phoenix Class B airspace as a VFR pop-up, ATC
sometimes treats me as a second class citizen. If I contact Tucson
departure as I leave the airport and request flight following into Phoenix,
things usually go much smoother. I now fly almost all of my long cross
country flights with flight following rather than a formal VFR flight plan
and have the extra security blanket of someone immediately available to talk
to when needed.
--
Regards,
Mike

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/amountainaero/fspic1.html
"TTA Cherokee Driver" wrote in message
...
Ben Jackson wrote:

If you're flying long distances and want to cut the total time, the most
cost effective way is to carry enough fuel that you don't have to stop.
If you can cut a 30 minute fuel stop out of a C-172 flightplan it's like
adding 15kts.

Another way might be to get an instrument rating.

I only have one data point for this, but this spring a fleet of 4
Warriors took a club trip from TTA to IAD. It was a VFR day. The one
flying VFR put 6.1 hours on the hobbes. The three flying IFR all put
5.1 hours on. I was the VFR one. The ADIZ did not slow me down as far
as I can tell. As far as I can tell the penalty was due to:

1. Worse ATC service. Once in the ADIZ and class B, every time I was
switched to a different frequency, I had to wait for several stretches
for there to be a break in the servicing of IFR traffic before I could
even get acknowledged and get a vector. Not to mention how nervous you
can get flying right at the prohibited area (or later, right at the
airport at 3500) on the vector the last guy gave you and the new guy
hasn't acknowledged you for several minutes.

2. More vectoring. While my compatriots were being cleared direct to
Brooke VOR then to IAD, I was getting vectored around the RDU Class C,
and then once in the ADIZ and class B I was vectored all over the place
to basically get me out of the way while the IFR traffic landed, then
they worked me into a gap in the IFR traffic for landing. My first time
on a 13 mile final in a Warrior!

I don't know if this is typical, but assuming an instrutment rating
costs $5-6000 to get working the $/effective knot here might be a pretty
good number. So pilots who fly both IFR and VFR, is that experience
typical? Is better routing and radar service a good enough reason to
get the instrument rating, even if you don't plan to do much hard IFR?

I don't know if this is typical, but assuming an instrutment rating
costs $5-6000 to get working the $/effective knot here might be a pretty
good number. So pilots who fly both IFR and VFR, is that experience
typical?

Certainly not in case of non-turbo'd airplanes in the West... VFR is
almost always more efficient, routing-wise. However, I agree IFR tends
to be a lot easier in busy class-B areas.