Starting Instrument Training (again)

AuntPeggy

AuntPeggy

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Even though I haven't gotten around to taking the written (work..work), I found the Sporty's Instrument course about the best "on your own" course I have seen. Plus you can take unlimited online practice tests from their website.

Merf
 
AuntPeggy said:
OK, I want to start my instrument training again by using my lunch hour to review the online FAA manuals and taking the practice tests. I haven't started with a CFII yet.

I'm starting to read the 2007 Instrument Flying Handbook at http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/instrument_flying_handbook/media/FAA-H-8083-15A-Chapters%201-4.pdf during lunch. Is that the right starting place?
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Probably about as good a spot as any assuming "readily available", "FAA", and "free" are the three compelling criteria.

I'd recommend moving to Aviation Weather and Aviation Weather Services as #2 and #3 (in either order, which you do first really doesn't matter).
 
That's a good starting place, but for something a little easier, the Jepp instrument training book is great. And of course, one of the best (and least thought of) references for instrument training/flying...the AIM. Especially chapter 5 (i think). Obviously it doesn't cover the "how to" of aircraft specific technology, but if you read the AIM from front to back, you'll have a pretty good understanding of how the IFR system works.
 
that new instrument procedures book from the feds is pretty good too
 
A private or commercial pilot must have an instrument rating and meet the appropriate currency requirements if that pilot operates an aircraft using an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan in conditions less than the minimums prescribed for visual flight rules (VFR), or in any flight in Class A airspace.​
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​
This is from the Introduction. Does it imply that a VFR pilot can operate an aircraft using an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan in conditions better than prescribed for visual flight rules (VFR)?
 
I think it is missing some punctuation: A private or commercial pilot must have an instrument rating and meet the appropriate currency requirements if that pilot operates an aircraft: 1. using an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan, or 2. in conditions less than the minimums prescribed for visual flight rules (VFR), or 3. in any flight in Class A airspace. Any of the three. Some people have said on this and or the AOPA forum that you can check the IFR box when you file a flight plan, and put "Request VFR" in remarks, to fool the system into giving you IFR service for a VFR flight. Apparently done in the east for busy areas, but the briefer here (out west) was not impressed. The "Request VFR" gets you - perhaps a problem. You are not really on an IFR flight plan, since you never get an IFR clearance. And you are not filed VFR either, so FSS will not start looking for you if you do not close your flight plan. I initially thought this was a neat idea, but now I am not so sure. If you file IFR the ATC system expects you to have the training to fly IFR, so if you file IFR without the training - even if YOU expect it to be VMC - you could get into a situation where you are expected to do things you have not been adequately trained for. If you file VFR with flight following, you get similar handling, but are not expected to fly like an IFR pilot. And you can still request to fly an approach for the experience of how the IFR system works, just fly it VFR with your attention out the window as well as on your instruments.​
 
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AuntPeggy said:
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This is from the Introduction. Does it imply that a VFR pilot can operate an aircraft using an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan in conditions better than prescribed for visual flight rules (VFR)?
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Nope, don't think so! :eek:

They aren't addressing VMC, they are only addressing IMC and Class A. Don't be trying to infer ANYthing from a govt document. They don't "imply", they say outright. If they didn't say it, they meant to not say it. ;)
 
What does this mean?
It should be noted that at night, oxygen deprivation such as one caused from a climb to a high altitude causes a significant reduction in vision. A return back to the lower altitude will not restore a pilot’s vision in the same transitory period used at the climb altitude.​
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AuntPeggy said:
What does this mean?
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With what I have been reading on night vision, the restoration of oxygen levels back a lower altitude will take longer than the period it took to achieve an effect at higher altitudes.

For example, you climb from 5,000 to 10,000, the oxygen level declines over a period of ten minutes and affects vision acuity. When you return to 5,000 feet, it may take twenty minutes to regain oxygen levels available at that altitude.

These numbers aren't exact but rather pretty broad for the example. Everyone's body is different and also subject to other atmospheric conditions.
 
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