First instrument lesson

[Ryan]

I never realized what a bad pilot I was until I took my first instrument lesson today. WOW. Ive got a lot to learn. Should be fun though.

 

[bobbysamd]

You'll do fine . . . .

Just work hard in the sim on your BAI and procedures. Once you get them down, doing them in the airplane will seem easier because sims are so unstable.

Do yourself, and your instructor, a favor. The better prepared you are before a sim or flight, the better you'll do and the less it'll cost you. Instruments requires a great deal of headwork, but it's nothing that you can't learn.

Good luck with your instrument training. This rating might be your most important, because instrument flying is really the essence of profesional flying.

 

[Flying Illini]

Do yourself, and your instructor, a favor. The better prepared you are before a sim or flight, the better you'll do and the less it'll cost you. Instruments require a great deal of headwork, but it nothing that you can't learn.

I can't stress how important this is!! As an active CFI-I I have to put my 2 cents in. There is nothing easy about instrument flying, as a matter of fact, it may be the most difficult rating you ever get (it was for me). Prepare for your flights. Don't just look over the material or think that you will pick it up as you go, actually prepare for the lesson. It brings a tear of joy to my eye when a student comes in with questions about the material they just read! Good luck on your training. Remember, you're not a bad pilot, you just have a very steep learning curve with this new form of flying.

 

[brianjohn]

Ryan-
Easy on yourself. I'm sure you're not a "bad" pilot! At least you are starting out with the right attitude that you have a lot to learn.
I struggled through instrument and busted the ride the first go at it. I have 4.7 dual in IFR, but not ready for it alone YET!
I don't think by any means that getting the instrument rating means one is immediately IFR ready. Try to look at it as progressive learning-- it can take years to make a truly self-proficient IFR pilot (I still have those "years" to go). Long after the rating is obtained, don't be afraid to keep going through the instrument books to keep brushing up.

 

[Mr. Cole]

Ryan,

I had my first sim session today and it was a tiring, and at the same time, cool experience. When doing my private I always felt that I flew better on the guages than visually. I guess it's the engineer in me. I had a pretty decent understanding of the IFR system even before starting my PPL because I've always been a flight sim and aviation fan, and in preparing for the IR I've read everything I can get my hands on. I agree with Bobby that the sim is harder because of the instability. It was also cool to see the effect of a blocked static port or pitot tube and to really experience all the clues that we've read about.

And I also learned that a failed AI can be very distracting if you don't remove it completely from your scan. Best of luck and keep us posted.

Dave

 

[daddysquared]

Call me a geek or whatever, but I absolutely LOVED instrment training and can't get enough intsrument flying. As soon as I got the rating, I was up soloing around IFR as much as I could. (Which isn't much in Southern California.) But to echo what has already been said, it is the essence of professional flying, at least that is also my low time opinion. I had heard and read that there was no greater feeling than to take off, hit IMC a few hundred feet AGL and remain in IMC until just a few hundred feet above decision and have the runway all lit up smack dab in the middle of your view. Flying is such a thrill and such a challange. I can hardly wait to acutally get paid for doing it.

 

[Be200pilot]

wow, there are still people out there who want to be pilots? good luck, youll need it to survive.