First time solo in IMC

RyanB

RyanB

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Well I popped the cherry today. It was IFR all day today and slowly improved to MVFR late this evening. I waited til there was at least a 2000ft ceiling and launched. It was reported as 2,600ft at the time and some few below. I picked up my clearance via cellphone on the ground and took off. They climbed me up to 4,000 for the approach into CHA and that put me solid into IMC. I only got about .3 of actual during the vectoring and broke out before the FAF, shortly before joining the final approach course, but dang it was pretty awesome. Canceled IFR a couple miles out and then went back to base. Nothing too impressive, but I wanted to slowly dip my toe into actual conditions when safely practicable.
 
Nice start. :)
With a similar ceiling, go up and have the controller(s) vector you and give you holds, hand flying the whole time. That will make you comfortable with a variety of challenges, with the ability to opt out at any time. I found this to be fun, but there was very little turbulence. The controller had just one other plane, and gave me a good workout.

That ups your confidence in the ability to cope with unexpected changes in heading, and maybe altitude, as opposed to just following the magenta line. The high ceiling below gives the option of descending to visual if discomfort occurs. By yourself in the plane is a whole different world in IR, much more than VFR.
 
RyanB said:
Well I popped the cherry today. It was IFR all day today and slowly improved to MVFR late this evening. I waited til there was at least a 2000ft ceiling and launched. It was reported as 2,600ft at the time and some few below. I picked up my clearance via cellphone on the ground and took off. They climbed me up to 4,000 for the approach into CHA and that put me solid into IMC. I only got about .3 of actual during the vectoring and broke out before the FAF, shortly before joining the final approach course, but dang it was pretty awesome. Canceled IFR a couple miles out and then went back to base. Nothing too impressive, but I wanted to slowly dip my toe into actual conditions when safely practicable.
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It's a cool feeling after spending all that time avoiding clouds, isn't it? I ended up flying home from my checkride ifr. Like you ceilings were high enough to scud run, but it felt so good to punch through the layer, and I was rewarded with a beautiful sunset on top. I'll never forget it. Cmi gave me my first visual approach, and I managed to not screw it up lol.
 
Oh, fwiw, my next solo ifr i went to do some approaches in actual. Climbing into the soup, approach gave me a turn towards the iaf, and I got the leans REALLY bad. Concentrated on the instruments, and once I was leveled out on the correct heading it went away. Never had it that bad since, so be prepared for that when the time comes; it takes while for your brain to figure out what's going on.
 
Congrats! And that sounds like a really smart way to start it.
 
When did you get your rating?
My first flight after the test put me in some actual. Nothing long or bumpy, but nice to do.
 
Good for you !! Thats the way to do it !!

Flying in the clouds is phenomenal !!
 
4RNB said:
When did you get your rating?
My first flight after the test put me in some actual. Nothing long or bumpy, but nice to do.
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Per this thread, Thursday of last week.

www.pilotsofamerica.com

Got my ticket punched today…

Officially Instrument rated! It was a pretty thorough evaluation. About a 2 hour oral and then a 1.7 flight. Overall the oral was straightforward and right by the ACS. We talked about weather a fair bit, rightfully so and covered about everything related to flight planning, approaches, approach...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
 
Congrats always good to start above minimums and work your way down as you get more experience. Set your own personal minimums.
 
Congratulations! The first time can be nerve wracking not having someone more experienced with you.

My first time was about two weeks after I passed my checkride on a long cross country trip with my wife, which was the motivator for finishing my IR. The worst part was the actual involved crossing through a small frontal line with precipitation to navigate. Today in hindsight it was nothing, but the first time the controller calls you with, "I show moderate to heavy precip along your route of flight, please advise if you need to deviate" and not ever having penetrated weather like that before...I was nervous. At the end of the day it was just a little light rain, but I didn't know what I didn't know.
 
What a good way to start solo actual IMC! Good for you.
 
IFR was where I learned way more about the variations of ATC. VFR on flight following, it is pretty much all the same. But IFR, some towers/approach/center are on the ball, others have you the lowest on the list of priorities. It’s where I really learned what PIC is as ATC is sitting in a comfy chair on the ground managing the big picture, not looking out your windscreen. NYC area they will keep you high until it suits them, so knowing how to dump energy fast is key. Approaches at airports handled by center, prodding them with requests helps move things along. And the reverse happens too, where I got a handoff, switched frequencies and waited to see if they are busy, and approach keys up with my tail number and ”say approach request” before I’ve said anything.
 
RyanB said:
Well I popped the cherry today. It was IFR all day today and slowly improved to MVFR late this evening. I waited til there was at least a 2000ft ceiling and launched. It was reported as 2,600ft at the time and some few below. I picked up my clearance via cellphone on the ground and took off. They climbed me up to 4,000 for the approach into CHA and that put me solid into IMC. I only got about .3 of actual during the vectoring and broke out before the FAF, shortly before joining the final approach course, but dang it was pretty awesome. Canceled IFR a couple miles out and then went back to base. Nothing too impressive, but I wanted to slowly dip my toe into actual conditions when safely practicable.
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Thats awesome. Congrats!
Does your plane have A/P. I like flying in and out of IMC but have found I dont enjoy being IMC past 10 mins without the A/P.
 
ahmad said:
Thats awesome. Congrats!
Does your plane have A/P. I like flying in and out of IMC but have found I dont enjoy being IMC past 10 mins without the A/P.
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You are spoiled :D. I did my instrument training in a 172 with two VOR receivers (one with LOC) and an ADF. My first solo IMC was a week after getting the ticket. 1.3 total, 1.0 actual, 0.8 night, ILS approach to 550 AGL.

I’m being tongue in cheek about “spoiled,” but I do think there are downsides to the amount autopilots are used in training these days. Your 10 minute limit, even if soft, may be a consequence.
 
midlifeflyer said:
You are spoiled :D. I did my instrument training in a 172 with two VOR receivers (one with LOC) and an ADF. My first solo IMC was a week after getting the ticket. 1.3 total, 1.0 actual, 0.8 night, ILS approach to 550 AGL.

I’m being tongue in cheek about “spoiled,” but I do think there are downsides to the amount autopilots are used in training these days. Your 10 minute limit, even if soft, may be a consequence.
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This is exactly why I hand fly at least half of the approaches I shoot for currency/proficiency. I'm a firm believer in using A/P to the maximum extent possible for real world single pilot IFR ops. However, you've got to be comfortable hand flying as you never know when the A/P is going to go Tango Uniform.
 
For clarity I don't have A/P. I flew the old beat up 172 during training. now I fly an old beat up c150. lol neither has AP.
I have racked up a bunch imc time solo. I can hand fly it fine in imc but it gets tiresome after 15 mins. a month after getting my ticket I was flying ifr back home from far. the taf was calling a ceiling at 2000 which was my personal limit at the time. when I got there the ceiling was at 800. 300 ft agl. it was tense but so satisfying.
 
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tsts4 said:
This is exactly why I hand fly at least half of the approaches I shoot for currency/proficiency. I'm a firm believer in using A/P to the maximum extent possible for real world single pilot IFR ops. However, you've got to be comfortable hand flying as you never know when the A/P is going to go Tango Uniform.
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That’s a good thing. I mentioned training for the rating but AP overdependence causes issues for rated pilots as well. It’s the subject of my latest IFR Mag article (subscriber paywall on this one).

(Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I love autopilots!)
 
bbchien said:
I did 2.5 in awful IMC last late summer. IT WAS WORK! (no A/P)!
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No AP and that amount of time in awful IMC ... I'd pass and not even have gone airborne ... that sounds horrible doc ... did you have a passenger?
 
geezer said:
Nice start. :)
With a similar ceiling, go up and have the controller(s) vector you and give you holds, hand flying the whole time. That will make you comfortable with a variety of challenges, with the ability to opt out at any time. I found this to be fun, but there was very little turbulence. The controller had just one other plane, and gave me a good workout.

That ups your confidence in the ability to cope with unexpected changes in heading, and maybe altitude, as opposed to just following the magenta line. The high ceiling below gives the option of descending to visual if discomfort occurs. By yourself in the plane is a whole different world in IR, much more than VFR.
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Great idea, geezer! I am going to do this next time I'm able.
 
tsts4 said:
This is exactly why I hand fly at least half of the approaches I shoot for currency/proficiency. I'm a firm believer in using A/P to the maximum extent possible for real world single pilot IFR ops. However, you've got to be comfortable hand flying as you never know when the A/P is going to go Tango Uniform.
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I find that the AP is good for the enroute portion of flights, where it gives me a little relief to brief weather, approaches, and flight progress. But TBH I prefer hand-flying approaches. My STEC-20 doesn't have altitude hold anyway, and while it can fly an approach with safe lateral guidance, it quite frankly drives me crazy with its rate-based meandering during a GPS approach. I can fly much straighter by hand.

I just finished an IPC and the AP was off for the entire flight. It's hard to practice to fly to standards if you never do it. I'm very grateful to have the AP for enroute ops, but if necessary I will fly IMC by hand. It's a workout for sure for a 3 hour flight in the clag the whole way, but doable.
 
Nice Job! Congrats.

I did something very similar to what you did. Passed my IR check ride latter part of May. Two weeks later I asked a buddy of mine who's been my safety pilot on a few of my training flights to go on a hamburger run. A benign cold front was coming through and it was 030 OVC. A good day to get some actual.

ANE --> BRD with 15-20 knt headwind at 050 would put me right in the soup. It would also keep me there for a while due to headwinds.

I didn't do a lick of actual in all my training, so this was going to be my first. I was a bit nervous as I was approaching the cloud layer and kept thinking about all the things I read about pilots getting disorientated during transition. (Flying into a cloud in NOT the same as donning foggles!) The fact that my buddy was a pilot gave me some sense of comfort, but I still had some butterflies. The transition was not a bad as I thought, but still somewhat nerve racking.

When in the soup, the biggest thing I noticed is how different flying in the clouds is as opposed to just wearing foggles. With foggles, the glasses limit your vision so it's easy to concentrate on the instruments. When flying in the clouds I found myself having to put much more concentration on the instruments and ignore things in the periphery. Yes, it was WORK. I'm sure it will become more second nature as I get more experience.

Ended up with .7 in the clouds on the way up and .4 on the way back.

Like the OP, on the way back, I got a bit of disorientation. I filed 060 but for some reason I found myself wanting to keep leveling off at 055. I don't know why but I could not sustain a meaningful climb rate after 055. After 30-60 sec of that nonsense, I literally said out loud "focus"; Things settled down and I was able to finish the climb.

I didn't have any trouble keeping ahead of the plane as there was plenty of time to set frequencies, brief approaches, anticipating what ATC was going to do. However, all the techniques drilled into me to complete secondary tasks incrementally so as to maintain "the scan and control" was definitely put to the test as I hand flew all the way there and back.

My buddy was impressed and had a lot of fun; He was taking pics all along the way. It was fun for me too, in a different way.

1.7 total with 1.1 in the clouds was enough for one day.
 
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