Jay Honeck must get an instrument rating

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.
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.

Well, okay -- "boring" may be the wrong term for instrument flight.
How about "long periods of monotony (hopefully) broken by short periods
of fulfillment"?

Nah. Never monotonous. At least where I fly IFR, ATC keeps us well
entertained. I miss Grissom Approach...they were always good for that.

In article ,
Emily wrote:

Damn, if I could only find a pilot who was ok with no kids for a very
long while...

I'm probably too old for you....

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

I firmly belive that we make time for whatever we deem important.
Since you already had prior training, you probably can finish it up in
a week of accelerated training. If you counted the vacation days that
you took per year since starting the hotel business, you probably ended
up with at least two weeks/year. Substracting one week for the sacred
Osh trip, this still leaves you with one week for the training.

Precisely.

If we felt a burning need to get the rating, I would sacrifice going to
our daughters' volleyball games, or my son's wrestling meets, or going
out to dinner with fly-in guests, or holding Tuesday Movie Night, or
chairing Friends of Iowa City Airport, or being our airport's AOPA
Support Network volunteer, or organizing fly-outs, or working on the
history of the Iowa City airport, or...

At the moment, our life is full to bursting, and it's wonderful! The
instrument rating will simply have to wait for that idyllic (mythic?)
time when I've got nothing better to do.

If the trips are important then even one is too many. You may want
to consider the VFR trips in marginal weather as well.

Just an aside: I failed to mention in my original response that there
are many times we would scrub flights here, whether we were VFR *or*
IFR, even if the conditions were relatively benign-looking IFR. For
example, there are plenty of days here when the sky conditions are
relatively "soft" IFR, but the wind is howling at 20 - 30 knots. We
would not fly in those conditions, period, not because it's unsafe but
because it's awful to fly a light plane in turbulence -- especially
without a defined horizon.

Again, this is a product of our equipment, not our ratings. Even with
Atlas' (relatively) heavy wing loading, the experience of flying inside
a popcorn popper is not one we wish to do again.

But you don't just fly in the Midwest. It seemed that your family
had taken quite a few cross country trips.

True enough.

Don't get me wrong, there are times when the IR would have made a trip
or three easier.

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.

It sucks because you had only experienced IFR flying in training.

Mostly, but not entirely, true. I've gone on several long trips in
light GA aircraft that have included actual instrument conditions (when
I was not PIC, obviously). In each case, the instrument portions of
the flights were either stultifyingly boring, risky beyond anything I
would ever attempt (rated or not), or physically uncomfortable due to
turbulence.

Now, in the end, we *were* able to make it to destinations in a
timeframe that would have been impossible to achieve without the IR, so
some would say that makes it all worthwhile.

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

That's beautiful, Hai. Thanks for sharing it.

In closing, getting the rating has long been a goal of mine,

Just do it, Jay. You will find that the rating is a heck more useful
and IFR flying a lot more fun that you thought.

Someday.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jack Allison wrote:
Margy Natalie 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.

Margy

Does this mean you'll get yours too Margie? :-)


I was trying to throw the attention off of me and onto Jay. It doesn't
seem to have worked.

Margy

Duane Cole didn't have an IFR equipped Taylorcraft, yet he never missed
an airshow because of weather.

In article ,
"Peter R." wrote:

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!

Submit that first photo to AvWeb for picture of the week!!!

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...

Children are a byproduct.


Actually, when you get right down to it, children are the reason.


Odd that I was the one accused of not having a sense of humor.

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote in message


Yeah, it makes flying in the clouds so much more interesting.

While flying *in* the clouds may not be very interesting, flying closer to
them still inspires me.

http://sage1solutions.com/TknoFlyer/2006/08/07/Greensboro+NC+KGSO+To+Leesburg+VA+KJYO+Leg+3+Of+3. aspx
http://sage1solutions.com/TknoFlyer/2006/07/08/Clouds+At+9000+Feet+Enroute+To+Trenton+NJ+KTTN.asp x
http://sage1solutions.com/TknoFlyer/2006/05/06/Dancing+With+Clouds.aspx

--
John T
http://sage1solutions.com/TknoFlyer
Reduce spam. Use Sender Policy Framework: http://spf.pobox.com
____________________

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.


Wait a minute...this seems a bit odd, coming from a pilot who *also*
doesn't have an instrument rating.

;-)

I know your post is tongue-in-cheek, but in the spirit of Usenet, I
will response in a semi-serious way. (Besides, Steven would be
disappointed if I didn't take this matter with the utmost
seriousness...)

I've been over this many times, here, internally, and with Mary, and my
reasons for not pursuing the rating at this time always come back to
the same four points:

1. Time. snipped


2. Utility. snipped



3. Instrument Flying Sucks. snipped


4. Safety. snipped


Ok Jay, I concede. I'll get mine before you get yours.

Margy

--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

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


Submit that first photo to AvWeb for picture of the week!!!

I second that.

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.