Jay Honeck must get an instrument rating

Jose wrote:

I've been flying in the northeast for years, and almost never get
direct. At least not in the Boston/NY/DC corridor. I suppose if I plan
to go via Albany, Cleveland, and Altoona, I can get what I planned on.

Agreed. Into or out of Philadelphia, NY City, and Boston airports, there
is no such thing as a piston aircraft flying IFR direct, at least after
6:00am to 11:00p local. I suspect that the overnight hours might be more
lax.

--
Peter

Getting near the airport, we
descended, popped out of the cloud and was rewarded with a Kodak moment
of a beautiful rainbow over the field.

http://tinyurl.com/h54vm

Wow!

Yanno, trying to convince Jay to get an instrument rating is a lot like
Jay trying to convince non-pilots to take a flight.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Longworth wrote:

It sucks because you had only experienced IFR flying in training.
In our short 5 years of flying, we had enjoyed many beautiful
sceneries, sunrises, sunsets, breathtaking mountains, valleys, lakes
etc. in all seasons but many of our most memorable experience were in
IFR flying. They were like religious experience. You fell closer to
God while dancing among the clouds with angels. A recent experience
was our camping trip to Mt. Washington Regional Airport in Whitefield,
NH. We were in the clouds in light rain. Getting near the airport, we
descended, popped out of the cloud and was rewarded with a Kodak moment
of a beautiful rainbow over the field.

http://tinyurl.com/h54vm

Very nice! I might buy a coffee mug with that picture on it!

--
Peter

Jay Honeck wrote:
snip

3. Instrument Flying Sucks. This is something I've rarely seen
discussed here (maybe never?), but instrument flying is one of the most
boring things I've done.

I just have to comment on this. I think most VFR flying is incredibly
boring. In the clouds? I love it. I love having to pay attention
every second. I love talking to ATC. Call me strange, but I don't
think it's boring at all.

Ron Lee wrote:
Emily wrote:

Hehehe...I used that line on a student once and his response was, "I've
flown in the clouds before and lived, so what's wrong with not having
one?" Got rid of that one real quick. Who needs that kind of liability?

Man, that's why I don't have kids.

Hmmm. No kids. A pilot. This could be love.

Ron Lee

I think I pointed that out a while ago!

(maybe not to you)

Jay Honeck wrote:
The subject line says it all. I declare from this moment on all
rec.aviators should, on all possible occasions, pick on Jay Honeck for
not having an instrument rating.

Jay, guess you've got a big target on you. I'm also one that didn't
know that all pilots must get an instrument rating. Wish they had
gotten to me before I wasted 30 years and 3000 hours enjoying myself.

--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

In article om,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:


3. Instrument Flying Sucks. This is something I've rarely seen
discussed here (maybe never?), but instrument flying is one of the most
boring things I've done. Neither of us learned to fly so that we could
stare at what amounts to a computer screen for hours on end. In fact,
we learned to fly for the freedom of flight, and the sheer beauty of
the experience.

One of my three most beautiful memories of flying was possible
because I was IFR. It was popping out of a (benign) cumulus
cloud into the incredible valley of clouds, with the sun streaming
in.

Now that I think about it, one other time was seeomg the moon rise
over the atlantic as I was flying in the northeast. I don't think I would
have made the night flight if I wasn't current for instrument flight
(too much danger of blundering into clouds in this technical
mountainous area).



In other words, getting there -- not being there -- is the reason.

I don't understand this. Properly used, an instrument rating will
increase your freedom of flight. An instrument rated pilot is NOT
required to file and fly IFR. An instrument rated pilot can do every
one of your VFR flights and more.


[snip]
4. Safety. This may sound counter-intuitive, but of all the instrument
pilots I know -- and I know a LOT of pilots -- there is only ONE that I
would fly with in the soup. The rest are technically instrument
pilots, but they fly instruments so infrequently that I know -- and
they do, too -- that they are not proficient.

I figure that I'm not the one pilot mentioned above, especially since
I haven't been current for over six years.

otoh - who do you think would have a better chance of surviving
a VMC-IMC mistake, the VFR Jay or the IFR Jay even if not current?




My basic fear is that I
would not maintain my instrument skills at a level high enough to
ensure that our flight safety would actually be enhanced by having the
rating.

Jay, you fly so much with Mary, that if you couldn't maintain proficiency...
....well words fail me.

Does anyone think Jay's situation is not almost ideal? Once or twice a month
doing some hood time for a portion of the flight would be so simple.

In any case, you still are going to be heckled.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

Jay,

My opinion of instrument flight agrees with what Jose, Emily, and Dylan
wrote:

Jose wrote
... Instrument flight can be the most beautiful, transcendental experience
in the air. Flitting in and out of the tops of a broken or overcast
layer, or even just getting =that= close to clouds as you brush by (which
you can't legally do in most VFR situations) is also fun.

Emily wrote
... In the clouds? I love it. I love having to pay attention every
second. I love talking to ATC. Call me strange, but I don't think it's
boring at all.

Dylan wrote
... if you're flying IFR, generally (or at least in my
experience) you don't tend to spend all that much time inside a cloud.
Quite a lot of it between them, above them, flying in and out of them.
Some of the most beautiful flights I've had have been IFR - bursting
from a wall of cloud into majestic canyons and mountains of cloud, all
patterned dappled by the overhead altocumulus. It was almost like being
on another planet.

I am confident that operating in benign IFR will greatly add to your
enjoyment of flying.

Jon

On 2006-09-27, Jay Honeck wrote:

3. Instrument Flying Sucks. This is something I've rarely seen
discussed here (maybe never?), but instrument flying is one of the most
boring things I've done.

*Training* for instrument flying is some boring flying. Flying in and
out of actual IMC can be spectacular. Flying on top of the clouds because
you have the confidence that you can get back down can make for a much
nicer flight, too.

--
Ben Jackson AD7GD

http://www.ben.com/

Bob Noel wrote:

Does anyone think Jay's situation is not almost ideal? Once or twice a month
doing some hood time for a portion of the flight would be so simple.

In any case, you still are going to be heckled.

You know it is not the hours that is required, but the approachs, holds,
and tracking. On a cross country enjoy the flight. As you approach an
airport put on the foggles and do the approach. Do a missed go to the
hold, hold, do the approach. There - you have tracked, hold, and
approached. And, Mary can get safety pilot time logged.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI