Getting My Instrument Rating From Start to Finish
I was told once before that your instrument rating
will be the hardest training you go through out of all the raids including commercial I didn't
believe it then until I went to The Gauntlet how's it going everybody welcome back my name is
Mike I am a proper pilot and recently instrument rated pilot and I wanted to talk to y'all about
the process so whether you're an Enthusiast right now you're a private support pilot or you're
thinking about getting an instrument add-on to your license My Hope Is that this video will be
helpful because I just received mine and now I'm learning how to properly use it because remember
when you go through the training that's just to get you in the door the real learner really starts
once you've got in your rating and then you go out into the real world and fly yourself so why do
you get an instrument rating anyway for me it was about safety and it just was about natural
progression right so whether you're flying for fun or for business you want to fly safe and get
an instrument rating is one of those things that you can do to actually keep you safer in the air
also there are other benefits your insurance rates can be a lot better because you're instrument
rated and also you have a wider window for you when the weather is not so great so like right
now outside it's nice anybody even my grandma could get out there and go fly no I'm kid but the
point is as an instrument Raider pilot you also have a wider net of weather conditions to fly
through now you get an instrument rating does not give you the permission to just go out and
fly in any type of weather especially ones that you're not experienced with but it does give
you an opportunity to learn in less dangerous weather that's how I take it so just because you
have an instrument rating doesn't actually mean you just go out and fly even if it's storming
outside but those are the benefits you become a safer pilot you get to fly in more weather
conditions and also your radio skills actually get better over time as an instrument rated pilot
now just not anyone can become instrument rated you do have requirements and I'm going to read
them out loud here through my notes so I don't miss anything if you're thinking about getting
your instrument rating for one you have to have your pilot certificate already meaning you have
to have a private pilot license you can just jump from zero to then get an instrument rating
so have to be certified as a pilot and then you also have some flying time and cross-country
requirements so you have to have at least 50 hours of pic cross-country time and 10 of those
hours have to be in an instrument rated aircraft then you have to have 40 hours in either actual
or simulated instrument condition okay actual means you either get one of your CFIs or another
pilot that's instrument rated and you go on a trip with them that you're flying an IMC or instrument
condition or you file IFR so that's actual you're flying an actual instrument condition compared
to simulated that self-explanatory basically you're simulating instrument flight conditions and
you're typically on the ground and learning how to fly in this type of condition you have to have at
least 15 hours of Flight Training with a certified instructor meaning you have to be trained by CFI
at least 15 hours where they simulate a bunch of stuff for you they teach you how to fly using
your instrument just like with your private pilot license you have to complete a cross-country
flight where you also need to do three approaches typically to three different airports I believe
that cross-country flight has to be a minimum of 250 nautical miles if you remember for your
private you had to do a similar type of flight from cross country and the same thing for your
instrument except you also have to a land at three different airports doing approaches so
that is all the requirements you need to get instrument rated now how do you even get started
okay we've established that you have to be a pilot already this is what I did so the first thing
I did was I wanted to knock out the knowledge part as a matter of fact I actually recruited
the CFI the person that would potentially teach me and this was their first advice they said
before we even get to Flying I want you to go knock out the ground get the knowledge part out
of the way and that way we can just fly so I did I dedicated time to study and I got this program
called Shepherd's Air Guys Shepherd's air did not sponsor this video it's just a great resource for
anyone who's learning or who's training to get instrument rated it's an application where you
have a bunch of test questions and answers and just it helps it helps your brain get used to the
top of things that you're going to be seeing or that they're going to ask in the actual written
exam so to study for your written make sure you get Shepard's air like I said they didn't sponsor
this video it's just a tool that worked out great for me and I remember the day that I went to take
my written exam I walked in there and saw I'm like when I was done I was like wait that's it that
was it and I I did pretty well on my uh with my test score so I think that's a great resource
to to start on your ground and then also study for your written and then you also want to get
feedback from your instructor right especially if you have an instructor that's also a friend in
my case you know things that I didn't understand either using the the software from Shepherd's air
or just studying generally I would just call up my friend or my instructor and we will schedule
a time for us to get together and actually get it explained to me and also YouTube is a great
resource and there's a lot of great educational stuff that you can actually pick up from YouTube
the only part of that I would say is make sure you take it with the grain of salt because you don't
want to take everything on YouTube as fact make sure you fact check it before you move uh forward
with it but I do think YouTube is a great resource just like you're watching this video there's a
ton of other Pilots out there who teach you things because I remember some of the things that I had
a hard time with I just went on YouTube searched it and I found a pilot who was able to explain it
to me in a three-year-old term if that makes any sense now once you've knocked out the ground and
written exam then you want to get together with your CFI now if you have access to an aircraft
or you own your own airplane this whole thing is going to be a lot more flexible compared to if
you went to a flight school logistically you're not dealing with too many fins the only thing you
really have to worry about is your time and the time of your instructor the plane you don't have
to worry about the plane being available or not because again you own on it or you have access
to it so I think this whole process can go much faster if you have access to an airplane compared
to going to a flight school so get your CFI you know schedule time and what I strongly advise
is to do similar to what I did which was more of an accelerated program the reason I say that
is when you're working full time or you have a business that you run time commitment to training
in general is extremely important if you come in say once a week or once every two weeks it's gonna
drag I promise you that it's gonna drag but if you go through an accelerator program like the one we
offer at look of Flight Academy you can knock this out literally in 30 days and all for me it took me
all together nine months to finish right from from starting to finish line but my actual training
was no more than 30 days what I did was I went for one or two weeks the first time knocked
a bunch of things out and then life happened and I didn't go back for another couple of
months and then the second time I went back I just knocked it out within 20 days so that's how
it would work if you go through an accelerator program as compared to if you're just trying to
take it you know bit by bit and I understand like I said life happens and things like that but
if you're able to afford the time commitment and just commit a good 30 days to your training
you will knock this out you know before you know it now once you get into the Flight Training
portion the way my journey went was day one we just started playing with the equipment that we
have on board so in my plane I have a VFR slash IFR equipped airplane and the main IFR equipment
in my plan is the gtn 650.
Now normally when I fly cross country and I'm flying VFR I would try to
use my gtn but for the most part I'm really using my primary display and my hands and knobs are on
the G3 touch which I know in and out compared to the gtn650 now fast forward to when my training
started day one my instructor wanted me to know exactly how to operate the gtn 650 he wanted me
to get used to it and they wanted my brain and my eyesight to always look at that as compared to
just looking at my big 10 inch g3x touch so that's one thing that I think helped me down the line
is that from day one I started learning how to use my actual equipment on board and then we went
on to learn Maneuvers we wanted whole patterns we learned uh steep turns again the Steep turns
and just basic Maneuvers are some of the things that you're going to go through in every phase of
ratings or flight Journey that you have through your sport license Private Pilot and instrument
you're going to do those things and then also with instrument consider instrument training
as more Precision training right so there's less room for errors so for example during your
private you might have or you might have had a leeway of say 100 or 150 points meaning if they
tell you to climb to as specific altitude say 4 000 feet and they tell you to maintain that you
may drop 100 or 200 with a private pilot license but with instrument it's about being precise
staying within I believe 50 is the envelope that you have with instrument training now in
my case that took a while because again I'm used to just being free flying VFR but during
my training for instrument my instructor really kind of pulled my ears to stay within the altitude
also stay within your heading I can't tell you how many times that was just preached to me like hey
stay with the head and even if they tell you to deviate if they tell you or if your instructor
tells you to do one thing or the other maybe you did steep turns or did any type of maneuver make
sure you stay back within your head if they tell you to go to a particular heading turn your knob
go to that heading and try to maintain literally your your room for error should be as little
as possible so that's another thing I picked up during my training easier said than done and
also obviously depends on the aircraft that you're flying what the weather is doing we had a lot of
like bumpy bumpy days just flying and those can be distracted but it does help you stay more precise
the next thing I would advise is if you have access to a flight simulator during your train
please use it because that was one thing that happened to me that long period where I didn't do
anything regarding to my rating I needed to stay sharp with the skills that I learned so I try
to set up a flight simulator at home I actually made a video on that so for those of you who are
looking to get on this journey if you're able to set up a flight simulator at home that would work
out great you've got Microsoft now that has just amazing Graphics in very real life situations and
you can even get live ATC in a flight simulator so I would love that I'm Gonna Leave the video up
here so you can check out my setup what I did and so whenever you have time off from your training
you can actually have fun at home and just keep your skills sharp so that way when you get back
into the real airplane then do not foreign to you and the last portion of my training really were
just practicing approaches briefing the approach practicing it we went to different airports and we
repeated the same thing and same thing repetition is is the king of mastering something okay so
towards the end there for me we just repeated approaches I repeated how to brief them repeated
you know how to talk to air traffic control when you depart you know from a particular airport
and all those things and also just learning your destination airport as a VFR pilot if you fly you
know cross country all the time this is probably a skill that you already have but with instrument
flying it is extremely it's even more important to know as much details about your destination
airport than it is for VFR because when you're coming in in marginal condition or an IMC and you
know the runway something is up with the runway or you don't know much about that airport or the
runway is not fitting with your type of aircraft then you know that could be a life and death
situation so the instructor of my instructor distressed the importance of knowing as much as
you can about your destination airport especially if you're coming in with you know reference to
instrument or you're doing an approach into an airport you want to know what's working what's not
working what's available and what's not available how long the runway is all that good stuff you
want to know that and once you get good and your CFR sees you fit to take the check ride all the
guy do is reach out to the DPE you pay a fee for your check rod and the schedule a check right for
you now my rule of thumb is when you're preparing for your check right obviously you can fly more
practice things more when you're close a day or two probably should not do anything don't do too
much now if you have something specific that's just like you gotta get right maybe practice that
but I tend to just stay off of everything a day before chat cry because you know your nerves can
get to you I would say the things that gave me the most headache during my training were holding
procedures I for the love of God I've had a hard time with that so I would advise a strongly
advise for those of you who are behind or coming in to learn your instrument rating practice you
know holding patterns and procedures it's very important for whatever reason you know just
my learning curve it was a challenge for me so that gave me a hard time also just learn how
to properly use the gtn 650 that took some time also for anyone again who's trying to do this I
would I would stress the importance of those two know you're holding procedures not just knowing
it in terms of practice but understand it you know having a good understanding of what it is why
it's there why you use it is very important and then also the timing because when you're in a hole
in uh procedure you also have to time yourself all that good stuff you're going to learn with your
instrument training so I had challenges with that and then also again working my gtn 650 something
so simple can get you dinged in your check right when it comes to your equipment because remember
your DPE needs to know that okay you actually know how to use these things before they can sign you
off because guess what when you're by yourself in the real world instrument conditions means you're
dependent on those instruments and if you don't don't know how to use it then you can get yourself
in trouble ultimately I felt really good getting certified and getting my instrument rating and
my hope is that you know for those of you who are looking to either become a pilot or you're
already on your journey that you also add on this rating because it does keep you safe in the skies
and also it gets you to the next step like if you wanted to become a commercial pilot which brings
me in to our flight school plug if you are looking to either get your license as a proper pilot
or you want to go all the way to the airlines make sure you check us out at look up flight
academy.com we can get you from zero to private to instrument to commercial all within a year it's
all accelerated so you're you're in school and you're training almost every single day if you're
interested in that make sure you give us a call or just use the link in the description below
and somebody is going to reach out to you okay I'm gonna end it here thank you all so much for
watching if you have any questions about anything talked about in this video leave in the comments
below and I will catch you on the next video peace