instrument Rating - How long?

RalphInCA

RalphInCA

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RalphInCA
I am in the middle of instrument rating training. So far been at it for about 3 months. Things seem to be dragging. A lot of things have slowed me down: aircraft availability (I rent), instructor availability, weather, work conflicts, etc. I want to fly three times a week, but it's working out to be about 1.5 times per week. Is this normal?

How long did it take you to get your rating?

I want to get this done. Been thinking of just spending the money and time for one of those immersive programs, although I really don't learn well in, and don't want the stress of, a fast paced work until you drop environment.
 
How much sim time, sims are HUGE when it comes to instrument flying.
 
If you want to get it DONE now, take one of the two week courses run by a school with a DE. Get the written out of the way and maybe 10 hours of IFR instruction, then get it done.
 
I started my first IFR lesson on 10/10/15 and am scheduled to take my checkride on 3/13/16.

I felt the exact same way, because at first I was only getting 0.5 to 0.9 for every flight and it just kept dragging. However, once I got through about 15 hours we had basically hit all the material and it was just time to practice.

I have two words of advice: "safety pilot". I was able to knock out about 15 more hours doing this. And I would schedule it for long cross countries somewhere and would buy them breakfast or lunch for thier effort. Flying somewhere an hour and a half away and then coming back will really start to eat up the time. Plus you can just make it a fun mission to go somewhere you've never been before.

Good luck and hang in there.
 
I think mine took roughly 5 months. I had just bought partnership in the arrow and went straight from transition training to instrument training.
I'll second the safety pilot thing! Could have saved me some more money, but still happy with the time line I got it done in.
 
1.5 per week will get 'er done for you. Probably not ideal, but it will work. Certainly not awful, or atypical.
 
I usually did a flight in the morning, oral quizzing at lunch with my instructor, then another flight in the afternoon. Took me a little over two months.
 
Mine took me about 8 months due to me procrastinating and being a dumb 18 year old. If you can't really find the time go so an accelerated course. A few people on here have done them and passed.
 
It took me about ~4 months at an average of ~3 hrs per week. One thing in hindsight I wish my CFII would have been better organized around (and which I should have pushed harder for) was a syllabus. It was never clear to me what all we had to accomplish, how I was progressing through it, etc.. Helps the planning a lot when you know what's ahead, relative to what you've already accomplished. Also, I found using x-plane at home helped me reduce cost dramatically. You can't log time on it, but you can sharpen your skills a LOT between training flights. I've done a ton of approaches on x-plane. With PilotEdge, it makes it that much more real, since they're really good about calling out when you make mistakes and what you should have done differently.
 
Took me 5 months or so... I did a lot of fake flying on my home set up, reading and studying on my own and flew more than taking lessons... so I never felt rushed or over whelmed...
 
RalphInCA said:
I am in the middle of instrument rating training. So far been at it for about 3 months. Things seem to be dragging. A lot of things have slowed me down: aircraft availability (I rent), instructor availability, weather, work conflicts, etc. I want to fly three times a week, but it's working out to be about 1.5 times per week. Is this normal?

How long did it take you to get your rating?

I want to get this done. Been thinking of just spending the money and time for one of those immersive programs, although I really don't learn well in, and don't want the stress of, a fast paced work until you drop environment.
Click to expand...

Ralph you sound EXACTLY like I did. Luckily for me, I own my own plane, but that still didn't change things. I went through 3-4 instructors for my instrument rating due to unavailability, scheduling, etc.

Started it in April, then gave up for a bit and picked it back up end of July, finally finished it up in November last year. So, 4 months start to finish since I really don't count the April flights. I hit it pretty hard, was doing sometimes 3-4 flights a week.

When I wasn't doing IFR training, I was racking up time for my PIC XC requirements. In between instructors I would pick up a flight with a buddy as a safety pilot and do some practice approaches. Couldn't file an IFR plan, but ATC was pretty accommodating.

Keep at it, even 1.5 hours a week is better than 0 hours per week and don't be afraid to change instructors/flight schools. I did, worked out fine for me. Yeah there was some "get to know you" time at the start, but once you get all the basics down all you really need is a II in the seat next to you to file IFR and do some real work. Plus, once you get those other instructors familiar with you, your scheduling possibilities open up ALOT and there's no more "get to know you" time wasted.
 
Eight days for me. Contact iflyifr.com to get out of you ineffectual training rut.
 
Took me about a year. Did it while going to college at an airport about 1 hour away. During the summer and Christmas months I set it aside making it closer to 7 months of training and would fly between 0-3 times a week depending on my school workload.
 
Had my own airplane,so I could fly whenever I wanted .scheduled the instructor for a two month period. Took a little over two months .
 
Took about 4 months for mine, so it sounds like you are on a fairly normal pace. I did a couple long XC with either my CFI or safety pilot to build hood time. That helped! Since getting it in August I have about 14 hours of actual logged.
 
I found an accelerated format was best for me. It was mentally draining but worked out well. I used IFR6 out of Charleston SC.
 
I think my instrument rating took about 8 months. I had taken the written test prior to starting instrument training, so that was out of the way. My main hang ups were a couple of airplane maintenance problems, an airplane sale and new aircraft purchase, and switching instructors in the middle.

The private and instrument ratings can feel like they drag on forever, since they require a fair amount of flight experience to achieve. When you're only doing 1 or 2 hours at a time and factor in weather, mechanical, and schedule conflicts things can get drug out. Hang in there, you'll get it done.
 
18 days for mine at my local flight school back in 1994. I set it up 2 months in advance to avoid the rental plane issue and 18 hours was done in their approved sim (GAT-1B). I prefer the fast route because I retain more information and found it took less time to review things because information loss over long layoffs was non-existent.

Getting ready to do the CPL crash course in 3 weeks.

Cheers,
Brian
 
One of these days I'll knock out some more sim IMC and then get started on it.
 
10 days start to finish. Find a school house and get it done in a few days.
 
2.5 months flying 2-3 times a week, mostly after work in the evenings.
 
I fly for enjoyment, and not to work up to a flying career, so I was not in a hurry. It was a good thing, too, because back then work was really hectic. I had to reschedule my check ride due to work demands.

I flew probably once a week. I took the written before I started the flying and the impending expiration of the written gave me enough of a kick in the butt to get it wrapped up. One advantage of doing it this way is that you get to fly in all kinds of weather because the flying is spread over all four seasons.
 
Ralph, you mentioned 4 major disruptors in training: vehicle availability, instructor availability, schedule and weather. Each of those will disrupt your training. All 4 will nuke it.
Control all 4 factors well and you can finish your training in no time. Unfortunately, I don't think most of us have the powers.
So be patient, ENJOY the flying, read, re-read and study and re-study in the meantime (it WILL help, trust me) and be again, be patient. If you are nearing the end of your training, have your CFII take you into IMC to gain some invaluable experience.

Again, ENJOY the flying and don't sweat it, it will happen one day.
Btw, I thought I'd knock out my IR in 2 months. Boy was I off .... by about a factor of 5. :) Guess what? All 4 factors kicked in, several times (at separate times). Comments? :D
 
Doing it in my own plane helped a great deal. I was ready after a few months and 26 hours and then burned off the last 14 on a couple long trips that I did with my instructor. I think having no variations between aircraft helps a lot.
 
I am at about 16 hours in and we are officially moving on to the cross country portion of IFR training. My CFI says that almost all of his IFR students are ready at the 40 hour minimum as opposed to PPL where most are 60 to 70.
 
I got 20 hours over about 15 years then did an finish up program and got the last 20 over 4 days. IFR is about traveling, long cross country's with lots of stops is a good idea. It's interesting, realistic, and burns the hours quickly
 
I started in June last year with some sim work. First part of this year has been slow going fly wise, so I figure I have a few more months left. Although, I have a 4 day weekend coming up and am planning to fly each day and a week vacation coming up in April that I hope to use to finish up!
 
Knocked out most of mine in just over 2 months. Took ride yesterday with 42 hours actual/ sim
 
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