Passed checkride... yay!

Just figured I'd share. It's been interesting reading these
threads as I've been working towards the ticket. Now, to figure out what
my personal mins are while keeping the shiny side up...

As is usually said of a new rating... a "license to learn," I
guess.

-Cory

--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************

Congrats on the pass. My personal mins are 3 miles and 1000' ceilings for
right now. I only have about 15 hours of actual.

But the "license to learn" thing you mentioned...that more applies to the
private. My DE was a little more cynical. He said the instrument rating,
without superior judgment, is a license to kill yourself.

Fly IFR in VFR conditions for a while and get the procedures down pat.
Don't waste another dime flying under the hood with your instructor. Go out
with him or her in actual IFR conditions and build your actual time up to at
least 10 to 15 hours before venturing out alone. Keep your mins high at
first for solo flight to build you confidence. Mine at first were 1500' and
5 miles for non-precision and 1000' and 3 miles for an ILS. I have to do a
VOR-A to get into my home airport and a circle to land can be tricky.

Good luck and be safe,

Kobra



wrote in message
...
Just figured I'd share. It's been interesting reading these
threads as I've been working towards the ticket. Now, to figure out what
my personal mins are while keeping the shiny side up...

As is usually said of a new rating... a "license to learn," I
guess.

-Cory

--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************

"Kobra" writes:

Congrats on the pass. My personal mins are 3 miles and 1000'
ceilings for right now. I only have about 15 hours of actual.

My personal IFR minimums (a couple of months after my IFR flight test)
are a little different -- I use standard alternate minima for both my
departure airport and my destination (or an airport *very* close to
them). In other words, I won't fly too or from anywhere with a
forecast that wouldn't allow me to use it as an IFR alternate, unless
it's close to another airport that would count (i.e. one with better
approaches).

The nice thing about alternate minima is that they're well-known and
not easily fudged, and they take into account the different-quality
facilities available at different airports. Of course, I also make
sure that there are at least a couple of airports along the route that
also meet alternate minima, so that I can get down early if I have
to. I also tend to fly over flatlands.


All the best,


David

Kobra wrote:
: Congrats on the pass. My personal mins are 3 miles and 1000' ceilings for
: right now. I only have about 15 hours of actual.

"License to kill" A bit morbid, but probably true enough.
Fortunately, I scheduled my cross countries when there was actual, so I've
got about 10 hours... enough to know you need to be sharp. Actually, (at
least with the safety of an instructor with me), I prefer actual to the
friggin' hood. For now, I'm looking at pretty conservative ceilings, and
plan on poking up through and down from benign layers. Fortunately, my
base airport has a LOC/DME, and my training airport (10 min to west) has
an ILS down to 400'. Both of these I'm very comfortable with, having done
a lot of training there.

-Cory


--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************