Dreaded IPC

Ran into my CFII the other day in the FBO parking lot. I see him once
in a while around the airport, but I've flown with him only a couple of
times since I got the rating six years ago. After telling me one of his
corny jokes, he asked me how long it had been since I had an IPC. I
told him I'd never had one, that I keep myself current and fly enough to
stay proficient. He cocked his head to one side and gave me that "who
do you think you're bull****ting?" look that I remembered so well from
training with him. I felt like a schoolboy caught playing hooky.

Long story short, I'm now scheduled for an IPC next weekend. The funny
thing is that I find myself dreading it. Now, to me, that's a dead
giveaway that I know I'm weak in some areas and have been in denial
about it. My CFII has an unerring ability to expose faults in his
students, so I know I'm going to be put through the wringer.

Ok, so I'm going to take my medicine like a man. When it's over, I'll
report here just how ugly it got. The rest of you folks who may want to
consider if you've been deliberately ignoring that little voice telling
you you're not really as sharp as you ought to be. Might be time to
give your CFII a call.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)

Relax, its not a big deal and it can be fun. I do an IPC every 6 months
whether I need it or not. Keeps me in shape for things I don't otherwise
practice much, and gives me an opportunity to nip bad habits in the bud.
The one I did this week gave me a real live gyro failure (AI) while under
the hood (bummer for the wallet). It took me a minute or two to figure out
why I was working so hard. The AI just started being somewhat sluggish, it
didn't really give any far off indication for a while, then it started
showing me pitching up when I wasn't. As soon as I covered it, everything
was fine, and was easier than before I recognized the failure. This wasn't
a vacuum failure, in fact the AI's vacuum flag never came down. Turned out
the AI's bearing had gotten tired (got a rebuilt one in there now). My
insurance company likes to see the IPCs too.

Dan Luke wrote:

Ran into my CFII the other day in the FBO parking lot. I see him once
in a while around the airport, but I've flown with him only a couple of
times since I got the rating six years ago. After telling me one of his
corny jokes, he asked me how long it had been since I had an IPC. I
told him I'd never had one, that I keep myself current and fly enough to
stay proficient. He cocked his head to one side and gave me that "who
do you think you're bull****ting?" look that I remembered so well from
training with him. I felt like a schoolboy caught playing hooky.

Long story short, I'm now scheduled for an IPC next weekend. The funny
thing is that I find myself dreading it. Now, to me, that's a dead
giveaway that I know I'm weak in some areas and have been in denial
about it. My CFII has an unerring ability to expose faults in his
students, so I know I'm going to be put through the wringer.

Ok, so I'm going to take my medicine like a man. When it's over, I'll
report here just how ugly it got. The rest of you folks who may want to
consider if you've been deliberately ignoring that little voice telling
you you're not really as sharp as you ought to be. Might be time to
give your CFII a call.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)

--
--Ray Andraka, P.E.
President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc.
401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950
email
http://www.andraka.com

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, 1759

"Dan Luke" wrote in
:

Long story short, I'm now scheduled for an IPC next weekend. The funny
thing is that I find myself dreading it.

I have to take a checkride every 6 months whether I want to or not, and I
always dread it. I've never failed one, but my stomach always gets into a
knot. Maybe it comes from knowing that the guy in the other seat has your
job in his pocket. Whatever the reason, I never do as well on checkrides
as I know I can do when it's just me and the regular copilot in poor
weather.

--
Regards,

Stan

I'm in the camp that believes people perform best when they are
enjoying themselves. When they are "into it". If flying with an
instructor makes me "dread" the flight, I just don't do it. Here is
one idea, take a "lesson", then take your IPC. Now when you fly your
IPC, you will be proficient, up to speed and it will be a piece of
cake.

I've always stayed current by meeting the six approaches, six months
thing. But come to think of it, one of those was an IPC. What I find,
to be truly proficient, I need to fly in the clouds every couple of
months. Under the hood just doesn't do it. It helps, but it's not the
same as actual. So my suggestion would be to get some actual.

I agree that actual is best, but I find that flying at night with a
hoodlam is about as close as actual as you can get if you are flying
into and out of an airport that is an area that is not too densely
populated.

Doug wrote:
I'm in the camp that believes people perform best when they are
enjoying themselves. When they are "into it". If flying with an
instructor makes me "dread" the flight, I just don't do it. Here is
one idea, take a "lesson", then take your IPC. Now when you fly your
IPC, you will be proficient, up to speed and it will be a piece of
cake.

I've always stayed current by meeting the six approaches, six months
thing. But come to think of it, one of those was an IPC. What I find,
to be truly proficient, I need to fly in the clouds every couple of
months. Under the hood just doesn't do it. It helps, but it's not the
same as actual. So my suggestion would be to get some actual.


--
Remove "2PLANES" to reply.

"Dan Luke" wrote
Ok, so I'm going to take my medicine like a man. When it's over, I'll
report here just how ugly it got. The rest of you folks who may want to
consider if you've been deliberately ignoring that little voice telling
you you're not really as sharp as you ought to be. Might be time to
give your CFII a call.

I have a feeling that the era of staying current and not needing an
IPC is coming to an end, and I for one am not sorry to see it go. At
this point, the only people who can still do that are Part 91 private
light piston operators. Everyone else is already getting at least
annual recurrent training as a condition of insurance if not
regulation. The trend is extending - even in my light piston twin, I
am required to do an IPC in make and model every year, whether I need
it or not. Of course I can get insurance that doesn't require it -
for over $1000 a year more.

In fact the insurance requirement means nothing to me, since I've been
taking at least annual (really more of a 7-10 month irregular cycle)
recurrent training that satisfied the requirements of an IPC for as
long as I've been flying IFR, despite the fact that I fly more IMC
than most non-pro pilots. I think that if you're not doing regular
recurrent training, you're just kidding yourself. Your ability to
handle a routine IFR flight with everything working may be fine (or
not - I've seen pilots do some pretty ugly things on an ICC with
everything working) but when the workload ramps up and stuff starts
failing - well, that's when the rubber meets the road.

Enjoy your recurrent training, and try to use it as more than a check
to make sure you still meet instrument PTS standards. Those are
MINIMUM standards, and I would expect that someone who has been flying
IFR for years ought to be able to do a lot better.

Michael

"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...

Ok, so I'm going to take my medicine like a man. When it's over, I'll
report here just how ugly it got.

Why is the IPC Dreaded?

You cannot fail. It is a chance to have some fun flying, maybe learn
something new, and keep your skills up. Maybe you can try something with
your CFI you have not done before, like an ASR approach to minimums or some
feature in your avionics you have not tried before.

What could be more fun for an IFR pilot (OK, loaded question, but you know
what I mean)?


--------------------
Richard Kaplan, CFII

www.flyimc.com

"Michael" wrote:

I think that if you're not doing regular
recurrent training, you're just kidding yourself.

Yep, I think I am. I do recurrent *practice* with a buddy, but that's
hardly the same thing.

Your ability to handle a routine IFR flight with
everything working may be fine... but when the
workload ramps up and stuff starts failing - well,
that's when the rubber meets the road.

I'm sure I'll get some tread burned off this weekend; Hugh loves his
job.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)

"Richard Kaplan" wrote:
Why is the IPC Dreaded?

I guess it's because I know Hugh's going to turn the floodlight of
reality on me. Makes me feel like a kid who hasn't done his homework.

What could be more fun for an IFR pilot (OK, loaded question, but
you know what I mean)?

Yeah, I know; it'll be fine once I get into it.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)

Richard Kaplan wrote:
"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...


Ok, so I'm going to take my medicine like a man. When it's over, I'll
report here just how ugly it got.


Why is the IPC Dreaded?

You cannot fail. It is a chance to have some fun flying, maybe learn
something new, and keep your skills up. Maybe you can try something with
your CFI you have not done before, like an ASR approach to minimums or some
feature in your avionics you have not tried before.

What could be more fun for an IFR pilot (OK, loaded question, but you know
what I mean)?

Almost as much fun as a partial panel NBD at night in turbulence. Just
doesn't get any better than that! :-)


Matt