How soon can I start my IFR Rating?

7 Answers

1. 
   

   
   

   Andrew Leonard on Oct 04, 2010

   Depends on your pace and drive. Getting your IFR ticket will greatly increase your skills as a pilot. Let your wallet take you a few fun places before you put all that time and money into it, but if you really want to go for it, nothing’s stopping you!
   You could also work on getting your high-performance endorsement (I got mine by doing a bunch of hours in a Turbocharged Cessna 206), complex endorsement, and so forth….

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2. Best Answer
   
   

   
   

   Kent Shook on Oct 04, 2010

   Each person and each situation is a little different. It depends where you live, where you want to fly, how flexible your schedule is, what your financial situation is, what kind of airplane(s) you fly, and a myriad of other factors. 
   Your statement “Can’t really go anywhere without having to have some luck with weather staying above marginal VFR for a weekend” isn’t necessarily true. You can go places VFR – I went from Madison, WI to Lexington, KY (in November!) VFR for the weekend, and I flew to Houston, TX and back before I had completed my Instrument rating as well. 
   Your instructor’s idea isn’t a bad one – The Instrument rating is tough, and it would be awful for you to get burned out by going straight from your Private to your Instrument. Burnout may or may not actually happen to you, but that’s probably one reason why your instructor is suggesting that you go out and reap the rewards of getting your Private Pilot certificate before diving into the next round of heavy training.
   All that said, you can start right away. Some people wait until they have the 50 hours of cross country PIC time to start their instrument, but there’s nothing that says you can’t do the 50 hours of XC PIC as part of your instrument training – Now that you’re ASEL rated (presumably), if you do your instrument training in an ASEL you can log all of your training time as PIC. Do cross-country flights under the hood with approaches at each end and a landing at least 50nm from your origin and you can get that XC PIC time while you train.
   The best answer, I think, is that you don’t have to do one or the other. Take some VFR flights on your own when you can, and start taking instrument lessons as well. If a planned flight can’t be done VFR, grab your instructor and do it IFR if possible – That way you’ll get incredibly valuable real-world experience as well. 
   Fly safe, and have fun!

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3. 
   

   
   

   Ryan on Oct 04, 2010

   Kent, that is some great advice at the end “…. If a planned flight can’t be done VFR, grab your instructor and do it IFR if possible – That way you’ll get incredibly valuable real-world experience as well. ”
    
   I think I’m going to do that and sprikle in ground training.  I really like the king school series (It helped for my private pilot certificate).  So as I enjoy the VFR flights, I’ll try and work through the ground course on-demand.  Once I start IFR flight training, I’ll walk through the ground course again.  pretty much the same process I did with my VFR trainig.
    
   Thanks agian for all of the responses!

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4. 
   

   
   

   Curtis Ide on Oct 04, 2010

   Ryan,
   Congratulations on your Private Pilot license. It would be interesting to know why you would take a 3-6 month break as opposed to some other time period from your instructor.  I am also interested to hear your instructor relationship and training history in a little more detail because as Kent said everything is highly variable.  I see that you have higher hours assuming you just finished your license (not that it says anything about you really) but to be blunt is your instructor the one taking the break?  I have seen some instructors that aren’t getting along with their students with similar results (higher training hours and breaks in training).  Since I don’t have that information now I will give you my other thoughts as they stand. 
   If you are financially ready to start training that is the first step.  Next, is to ensure that you are comfortable using all of your VFR flying skills. Feeling comfortable with the airplane will help you when you go into instrument training.  As an example, you will learn a few methods of controlling the aircraft via the instruments including the control and performance method.  This method greatly relies on knowing that a certain pitch and power setting/aircraft configuration will have an expected airspeed.  This greatly increases your safety because you will be able to recognize failures and configuration errors quickly.  If you don’t know what pitch and power setting it takes to get Vy in a climb for example you may want to spend a little VFR time working on it.
   Also, it may be to your advantage to complete a home study ground school prior to starting training.  With how affordable they are now, you will have an advantage going into training when you are able to compare the dvds with your instructors lessons.  It’s nice to have the overview and should save you a few flight hours.
   One of my recommendations depending on your schedule and desires is to start your training in the Nov-Dec. time period or the May-June time period and plan your training to take 6 months.  This allows you to see the different seasons and hopefully fly with the weather in your area with someone that has experience.  Learning about embedded thunderstorms and icing conditions is very important and getting practical planning experience always helps.  (this isn’t a requirement by any means just a recommendation) 
   To add to a statement from Kent – Part 61 requires 50 hours PIC cross-country time but Part 141 does not.  If you would like to complete the training in less flight time 141 is generally the way to go for instrument.  However, for some individuals 50 hours of cross-country will help to build your confidence and proficiency.  If you do Part 61 and do the cross-country time on your own I highly recommend using flight following/radar services to help build your ATC communications.
   I could go on for a while but I think that’s a good start.  Hope I wasn’t offensive with my statement in the first paragraph it certainly isn’t meant to be.
   Tailwinds!

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5. 
   

   
   

   Ryan on Oct 05, 2010

   Hey Curtis.  thanks for the response and advice.  Very helpful.  my instructor and I have a great relationship – I can call him any time any day and ask for advice or if im in a bind he’ll come and pick me up.  To think of it, I’m pretty sure I know why he wants me to take a break.  He’s not a CFII yet!!!  I do recall him saying that he’s almost done but the wait time could be so that he is assured I’d train with him for the instrument rating.
    
   The 100 hours was accumulated because I liked to fly.  I was signed off at 70 hours to take my ride.  Unfortunatly there is only one DPE in the area and I’m in a very high traffic area (JFK, LGA etc).   I had to wait 2 months to get a checkride date and then a few more weeks because of weather.  I couldnt let that stop me from flying though – for those 2 + months I flew almost every day just fartin’ around the airspaces solo and dual instruction so keep me super sharp.  I love flying and the challange of attaining the perfect flight (Hasnt happened yet).
    
   The King School ground school DVD did wonders for me for my private pilot.  I was able to relate, consume and digest this format much better then just a text book or jepp’s dvds.  After reading your post I immediatly purchased the IFR DVDs from king – not sure why I didnt think of at least starting to slowly digest the IFR ground info. 
   The other element I am struggeling with is the idea of a 10 day IFR course.  I personally tend to learn and retain better when things are condensed and hammered into me.  I know people have mixed emotions about the 10 day IFR courses.  I may not even be able to – I work full time 9-5.  Who has 2 full weeks to take off and do that?!
    
   Not sure how im going to proceed other then begin familiarizing myself with the ground stuff.

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6. 
   

   
   

   Curtis Ide on Oct 05, 2010

   Good to hear that you and your instructor have a good relationship and that you haven’t had a bad experience on your private pilot license.  Sorry to go that direction but it’s always worth checking. 
   As for the 2 week courses I have given instruction under both formats in the past and can’t say that one leads to a better result.  The only exception is that you have to make sure you continue to review your material after the two week course and continue to practice regularly.  A teaching course I took that discussed memorization and retaining skills recommended this: Review the material everyday for the first week, once a week for the next four weeks, and once a month for six months.  Once you have reviewed the material in this manner it is determined you will have better recall.  This relates to the two week course because if you stop studying after you finish your chance to lose information (memory dump after the checkride) is much higher. 
   All that said, you sound very self-motivated and shouldn’t have any problems with any particular course of training.  Just watch out who you hire for your two week program and do your research. You don’t want the instructor driving up in a truck and running out of gas in your driveway like one of the students that came over to me after a horrible experience with one of the big name two week companies.
   Forgot to say this above but I do agree with you that if you want to be able to plan business trips or vacations based around you flying the trip having an instrument ticket will certainly help to keep up your plans.  However, make sure you know your personal minimums because when you stop flying for leisure and start having a purpose (somewhere to be) that you find yourself pushing your limitations.
   Good luck and enjoy.

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7. 
   

   
   

   Steven Kaufmann on Oct 08, 2010

   Ryan, looks like you got the drive and willingness to put the effort into learning.  If you are serious about the instrument rating I would start right away. Remeber if you strech out the training to long the rating will cost you more but I would also avoid the 10 day or two week courses.  These courses will jam alot of information to you and get you the rating but like Curtis stated you could experience a memory dump after the checkride.
   I would consider,if possible, a 2 to 3 days a week of actually flying, 2 days of actual ground school, and if available 1 day a week with a FTD.  Also if your instructor does not have the CFII he can be a safety pilot and help with basic hood work in the aircraft.  I would also look for a instructor that is willing to take you into actual IMC conditions, and a high traffic airport on an instrument approach.  Nothing compares to real world experience, and get it with your instructor first and not alone.
   Also, remember you still have to maintain the skills you learned getting the private certificate.   
   Do not rush the training and at the same time do not strech it out, both can result in the memory dump, and after you get the rating, which you will, continue getting supplemental training from instructors to maintain your skills.  Do what alot of professional pilots do, every six months do a complete flight review with an instructor that cover both VFR and IFR procedures.

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