Run-in with Chicago Center

In article ygmVc.22648$Fg5.7581@attbi_s53, Jay Honeck
wrote:

I appreciate the contibutions that you have made to these aviation
groups, but I don't really understand your position here. It seems to
me that if you spent half the time you must spend reading and posting
to Usenet you'd have the rating done very quickly.

Probably true. However, one difference is that I *enjoy* this kind of
educational exercise, while I find training for instrument flight to be like
watching paint dry.

In short, this is fun, while training for the instrument rating is like high
school geometry -- a chore that must be slogged through, with no apparent
reward at the end.

It also helps that I can do Usenet in 5 minute chunks here and there
throughout the day. I am not the type who can retain complex material by
studying in such a haphazard way -- and I simply don't have any open 30
minute (or greater) chunks of time in my day.

Ok, so in light of that I can certainly understand you not going for
the rating.

I found my instrument training very challenging and very rewarding. For
me, it was always an interesting test to see how well i could maintain
my positional awareness while under the hood. I found it fascinating
that in spite of the fact that I could not see where I was going I
usually always knew exactly where I was. And when the hood comes off
and the runway is right there in front of me I always get a charge out
of that. I would not have made it to OSH this year without the rating
as I had to fly through an area of rain and low ceilings in
Pennsylavania on the way out. And whenever I make a cross country
flight of any length of more than about an hour I will file IFR even in
VFR weather because I enjoy working within the system. I find it keeps
me on my toes and gives my flying skills the excercise that keeps them
sharp.

Keeping abreast of the Usenet threads, OTOH, is a chore for me. I do
it though because every once in a while there is a choice thread that I
either find very interesting or learn something from.

I agree with previous 2 posts in that if it ain't fun, at this point in your
life, why do it?

But I loved it. I had already done it when I was 25 in UH-1s, so I had a
strong foundation. But I couldn't wait to get another lesson. I loved the
Frasca, too . . . seeing the line plotted over a chart or approach plate . . .
seeing my holding patterns, etc.

I started having fun when I got Trevor Thom's "Instrument Flying".
Once I picked it up and started reading it, everything just flowed. I couldn't
put it down.

And I have to echo this comment:

when the hood comes off
and the runway is right there in front of me I always get a charge out
of that.


So do I . . . and the only BIGGER charge is when you are on the ILS for real,
and you get down to 300-500 ft before those lights are right before your eyes
where they belong. It's WAY up there in the gratification dept.




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