Why I Almost Gave Up My IFR Rating- An How A Flight Simulator With Real ATC Saved Me

I’ll try to make a long story short. I struggled to pass my IFR checkride...failed it twice before finally passing it the third time. It didn’t come easily to me, obviously. The extra tests (and related training) took me far, far over my budget and when all was said and done I had an IFR ticket and no money left to go use my “license to learn”.

It was somewhat depressing. I flew a few VFR flights over the next several months but did not fly IFR. Partly I couldn’t afford to rent a plane and an instructor, and partly I just didn’t feel like it.

Then I read about PilotEdge (www.pilotedge.net) and how they have Air Traffic Controllers in real time, set up like real life. You have to change frequencies as you travel through the system. They offer you shortcuts just the way it’s done in real life. There’s other airplanes on the frequency with you and sometimes you have to wait for a break to get in, just like in real life. It sounded like a way for me to practice and get better without spending a wad of money.

I had played around with Microsoft Flight Simulator X before and it was somewhat helpful for tracking VORs, setting up an approach, and all the planning stuff that goes into an IFR flight. The Beta testing of PilotEdge was up and running, but so far only supporting X-Plane’s flight simulator. At only $29 I figured it was worth trying out X-Plane. And it certainly was. I was able to get a Comanche set up nearly identical to my buddies airplane and then I got configured for PilotEdge.

The experiences I’ve had on PilotEdge have been far more profound than I expected. Each flight I’ve become more and more comfortable flying “in the system” and I’m a much better pilot because of it. The controllers are professional and treat you just like real life ATC.

I can practice as much as I want and I know that the next time I file IFR in real life, I’ll be far better prepared.

Flying Again

After finally completing my Instrument Rating my flying dropped to practically zero. The move to San Diego's North County (Escondido) put me about 2 1/2 hours away from my home base airport (El Monte) and the beautiful Piper Comanche that I regularly flew with my buddy Ron.

I thought I would be renting airplanes down here but the way I drained money into the IFR rating there wasn't much left for fun flying.

I did manage to meet up with a guy I met on the Purple Board (http://www.purpleboard.net/forums/index.php) and we flew around the San Diego area and out to the Anzo Borrego Desert where we landed at a remote airport (the name escapes me). That airport was a trip because the ground rises pretty steadily to the north (I think it was north) and there's a mountain to the south and west...So....if you take off to the west and turn to the north the ground continues to rise at about the same amount that your airplane is climbing...an interesting feeling to say the least. My new flying buddy, Roy Rodgers, has done extensive mountain flying training with a CFI that's an expert in the field so I was able to trust his judgement.

Roy is an Electrical Engineer and he brings that certain thoroughness to flying that you would expect. I love it. He verbalizes everything he's doing and that, to me, goes a long way toward building trust. I never once think that Roy might do something dumb.

I'm hoping that Roy will help me get to know the intricacies of the complex airspace around San Diego.

Flying Again!

After a grueling 5 month wait...I'm flying again! My flying buddy Ron sold his Cherokee 140 just after I completed my IFR cross country flight (that was back on July 29, 2009) and bought a Comanche 250. The Comanche needed a lot of work to get it back in flying shape as it had been sitting for 12 years.

The airplane has been repainted, had a new leather interior installed, the panel retooled, new fuel cells installed, and much more. I will be presenting N7720P as soon as I shoot some beauty shots of her.

My first flight was just the other day and it was with my CFII Steven Wilson to begin the familiarization process and get signed off to fly a Complex and High Performance airplane. That should take somewhere between 5 and 10 hours...but Ron's insurance company wants me to get 10 hours of instruction logged before they will let me fly the airplane anyway so we're going to have some fun and do some learning at the same time.

After the Complex and High Performance instruction is complete I will get back into the IFR training and finish that up as soon as possible.

FlightPrep ChartCase

My flying buddy Ron bought the FlightPrep ChartCase Electronic Fight Bag with GPS and XM weather to use in his Cherokee 140 but the learning curve proved to be too much.

Ron is used to the Lowrance Airmap 1000 GPS and that’s a pretty simple to use GPS. The Chartcase is PC-based and runs on a tablet computer. After turning it on, you have to start the XM. Then you have to open up the ChartCase software. Then you have to turn on the GPS and make sure the computer is reading it. Then you have to go back to the XM weather and tell it what weather information you want downloaded. Then you can choose a flight path (like El Monte to Fullerton, for example). Then you go into the InFlight mode. Then you choose what charts you want to use (Sectional, Terminal, Low Enroute were what he had paid for and, thus, were available for selection). If you want weather info you click a couple more buttons to check that.

I took the unit with me for 3 days to try and get it all figured out and to be able to make it seem simple for him, but the bottom line is that it’s not simple. I can’t say that it’s extremely complicated, but there’s certainly a lot more to do to get ready than when using the Lowrance.

In the end...Ron’s head was spinning. Too much stuff to do in order to get it ready to go flying. He’s going to return it on Monday.

Might be ordering a 696, but I’ve encouraged him to find someone on the field who has one and see how it works before buying one.

(The photo was taken when I was using the GPS in my car to get used to it.)

1-Year Anniversay of Flying37 Blog!

Today marks one year since I started this blog and I'm very happy about that. I love having a place to talk about my aviation experiences and share photos and videos with others who love flying. I posted 109 times in the past year. I'm going to keep on going and add more posts. I'm currently deep into the process of learning how to fly on instruments so I can get my IFR ticket and fly through the clouds.

Today was a perfect example of why I need the IFR rating. It was cloudy down to about 1500 feet, making it practically impossible to get out of the airport and get anywhere without encountering clouds. But, the tops of the clouds were at 3500 feet. Which meant, with an IFR rating, I could have just taken off, popped through the 2000-foot layer of clouds, and then gone anywhere I wanted to. I'm hoping to have it all wrapped up by my birthday on June 29. We'll see....stay tuned!

OUCH!

When N6794J's owner Ron went for a pleasure flight with a buddy, he let the buddy fly left seat on the way home. Ron, in the right seat, didn't put his seatbelt on. The buddy didn't notice (hey, isn't that one of the jobs of the PIC?) and they took off with the buckle outside the door. About 1/3 of the way home then heard a noise and wondered what it was...figured it out and decided to continue on home. Look at the damage the buckle caused on the side of the airplane!

IFR Training

I've been studying for my IFR rating for more than a year now, all on my own. It's not easy to read books and totally understand the concepts. So, I enrolled in an IFR ground school class at Palomar College in San Marcos, California to help move the process along. It was a great experience. I boosted my knowledge greatly, plus I had an expert to ask questions of when I was stuck on something. When the class ended I took the FAA written knowledge test and passed with an 80% score. I wanted to be in the 90s, but...I decided to not worry about that anymore. Next up was the simulator class that the school offers. More on that later.

Leonard's Airport Cafe in Apple Valley

I almost forgot to mention that last week I got to add a new airport to my list of 45+ airports I've flown to. Apple Valley is in the SoCal desert and it's a pretty sweet airport with multiple runways. We went there because we heard the food was good at Leonard's Airport Cafe. It was. Ron got a burger and I got a tuna melt. Very happy with the food. But the service was a kick. Leonard is a bit of a wry comedian and his cook goes back and forth with him endlessly. We were entertained and part of the entertainment as the subjects ranged from which airport cafe had the best burgers to world events. We'll be back.

Hangar Wreath

Ron drilled a hole in his hangar door and hung a wreath from it. I think it looks cool!

You're not SERIOUS...are you?

My flying buddy Ron can't stop talking about getting a bigger, faster airplane. We looked at this Beechcraft Duke when it was at the hangar at FAST Aviation in El Monte. Then we saw the owner at the fuel pit and started talking to him. He sells airplanes. He's selling this one. There isn't a prettier airplane on the planet. Ron and the guy started talking numbers...trade in the Cherokee 140, carry the 2, devide by 7.....hummmm....Ron's starting to think he can afford it....there's a doctor who was interested in it but backed out...maybe he could become a partner....hey, this isn't so expensive after all! Who knows what will happen?

Santa Paula valley

Here's a short video clip of flying over the Santa Paula valley en route to the local airport.

Ground School for IFR

Did I mention that I'm studying for my Instrument Flight Rules ticket? Okay, well, I am. I studied on my own with a variety of books for almost a year. Got to point where I just couldn't grasp some concepts so I've enrolled in ground school at Palomar College in San Marcos, California. It's already helping a lot. Hearing someone explain something that you don't understand in a different way (and then being able to ask questions) has spurred me on to get moving ahead with this giant leap.

My Flying Life....So Far

My Flying Life...So Far

I began my flight training in April '06 at Universal Air Academy at
the El Monte, California airport (KEMT). I trained in a Piper Archer
II low-wing airplane.

I passed my Private Pilot Certificate checkride in November '06. Just
before getting PPL my flight instructor Camron introduced me to Ron.
Camron had been training Ron in Ron's Piper Cherokee 140. Camron told
me it was a good, solid airplane. Ron and I started studying together
(pretty much 4-5 nights a week for a month).

After getting our licenses, Ron and I started flying together in a
quest for learning. Ron does not like to fly alone and had been paying
instructors to go along with him on joy rides. I have a very flexible
schedule and was looking to fly anytime, anywhere. The fact that I
have a relatively small amount of discretionary income and Ron was
enjoying an upsurge in his business was a perfect combination. Ron
won't even let my buy him lunch. I worried for awhile that maybe I was
taking advantage of him but he made it clear that he is getting more
out of it than I am.

I do all the flight planning, weather checking, flight plan filing,
cockpit cleanup, hangar door opening and closing, airplane pulling in
and out of the hangar, and more. I love doing all that stuff anyway.

Ron and I GO places. We've flown the Cherokee more than 200 hours in
less than two years (ah! My bi-annual is coming up!). We've been to
more than 45 airports. We've gone to Mesa and Yuma, Arizona. We've
gone to Jean, Nevada several times. North Las Vegas too. We've gone to
Modesto, Placerville, Napa, Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs,
Gillespie Field, Ramona, and on and on and on. Next up on the list is
Salt Lake City and then, hopefully in October, we are planning to go
to Lake Of The Ozarks, Missouri to visit Ron's daughter.

Usually, Ron flies to wherever we're going while I navigate and do the
radios. Then, I fly back while he takes over the Nav/Comm duties.
We've learned each other's tendencies, habits and weaknesses. We push
each other to be better. It has worked out very well.

Ron and I have talked about me buying his airplane (and then he would
buy a bigger one...something he talks about almost daily). He won't
allow a partnership though. It's all or nothing. So I was planning to
start saving up, borrow some money from my mom, maybe also from my
best friend who's a Southwest Airlines pilot...whatever I could do to
make it happen.

But there is another airplane that will be for sale soon that might be
the perfect entry into airplane ownership for me. My CFI Camron has
been training a guy in the guy's own 140. He wants to sell it as soon
as he passes his IFR checkride. The owner told Camron he wants $26,000
for it. Camron and I could bring one other person into the deal and it
would be very affordable. We'll see.

Ron has no interest in trying to get his instrument rating. He's
annoyed by some of the things you have to do (fly to Paradise VOR
first, then on a Victor airway). He likes to cut corners, go direct,
get there faster. I've tried to set up flights that simulated an IFR
path but he doesn't want to climb that high (10,500 feet to cross the
mountains?! We only need 6500! No Way!) So I gave up on that idea. I
think the only thing that would be attractive to him about an IFR
rating would be the ability to get out of El Monte on the endless
foggy early mornings.

I, on the other hand, am attracted to the challenge of being a better
pilot. I started studying IFR on my own almost a year ago. I've bought
and read lots of books. I got to a point where I was not getting any
better though. I kept getting 82s and 83s on the practice written
test. That would pass, but I want to be in the 90s and, more
importantly, really understand the concepts. In order to jumpstart my
learning and get a better understanding of IFR flying I enrolled in an
IFR ground school class at Mt. Palomar college in San Marcos.

El Monte Takeoff

Taking off from an airport is a unique experience. Here, the little airplane that could (Piper Cherokee 140) takes off from El Monte Airport (KEMT) early in the morning and turns left crosswind.

middle of nowhere

Flying across the barren land of SoCal....can't even remember where it was.

Father's Day Spin

After a nice BBQ at pilot buddy Ron's house, the inevitable words finally were spoken, "Wanna take a spin around the patch?" There is only one answer to that question and so we headed down to El Monte Airport at 6:15 p.m. and pulled N6794J out of hangar Tango 4. Wait, that IS a tongue-twister, isn't it? Sometimes we accidentally say Hango Tanger 4 and the other day the ATC ground guy make the same mistake. We all had a good laugh about it. We asked if in the future could we just say "taxi to Tango" and he affirmed that it would be just fine by him. Anyway, I digress. So, we fired up Juliet and headed toward the Paradise VOR at 2500 feet. Called Chino tower to transition through their airspace and they oblighed. Once out of Chino airspace and pretty much over the VOR we contacted Riverside tower and asked to transition through their airspace. With the affirmative answer we turned North/Northeast and headed for Rialto airport. Just read an article in GA news about the "Art Scholl Airport" and how it's going to be closing down so we thought we'd take a visit. It was a beautiful day to fly with the sun low on the horizon. Everything had a special glow to it and and the fact that two fathers were out flying on Father's Day made it more special. We ended each final call to the various airports with a "Happy Father's Day to all" and were acknowledged with a double click on the mic.