Team effort or lone wolf training?

moparrob66

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Moparrob
I got my private in 1997, took instrument ground school at a community college but never did any training. Fast forward a bit, and my 17 year old is about to take his private check ride and he wants to fly commercial. Have any of you done instrument training with a partner or did you do it alone? My hope is that we can study together for the written and take turns under the hood so as to spend minimal time with a CFII. Can the 40 hours simulated be combined with 50 hours xc? Itd be nice if we could plan some XC trips under simulated imc after we pass the written and maybe after a few hours of instruction?
 
I got my private in 1997, took instrument ground school at a community college but never did any training. Fast forward a bit, and my 17 year old is about to take his private check ride and he wants to fly commercial. Have any of you done instrument training with a partner or did you do it alone? My hope is that we can study together for the written and take turns under the hood so as to spend minimal time with a CFII. Can the 40 hours simulated be combined with 50 hours xc? Itd be nice if we could plan some XC trips under simulated imc after we pass the written and maybe after a few hours of instruction?
I didn't. I wouldn't make your CFII to minimal. You and your son could have a bad habit that neither of you is aware of.
 
As @Gilbert Buettner indicated, you can learn a lot by sitting in the back and watching.

Having learned instrument flying FROM my dad (among other aviation pursuits) just be careful that you make this a peer learning event and not a subordinate one.
 
I'm so rusty after 15 years of not flying, I'm looking forward to learning FROM him as much as WITH him. Humility is one of my superpowers. I pride myself on being more humble than anybody else...
 
Some wide ranging thoughts here.

1. Don’t worry about the 50 hours XC. You can probably knock that out during training.

2. Don’t expect the 15 hours of CFII to be all that’s needed with a CFII.

3. What you can do now is fly cross countries for the $100 burger. Use flight following, go to towered fields, get used to the comms of being in the system. The instrument rating is about being able to channelize your attention very granularly.

4. While you’re flying the burger runs, hold yourself to ACS standards for the Instrument rating. Heading, airspeed, altitude, climbs, descents. Start working thru descent planning, using the checklist. Get ahead of the flight by getting destination weather as soon as possible. Write down ATC instructions, follow them.

5. Don’t try to fly under the hood before your CFII says you’re ready to do it with a safety pilot.

6. The knowledge component is a like trying to fill the Grand Canyon; the rating encompasses instrument knowledge and procedures applicable from the Private to ATP certificate. Don’t try to memorize the knowledge, learn it’s applicability in practice.

6. You need to understand you’ll learn as much about weather as you will about instrument flying. Weether Flying by Buck and Buck should be a prerequisite before starting any instrument ground school.

7. Flying backseat with your training parter will be eye-opening.

8. Don’t rush it.

9. Get actual. If your CFII won’t do actual, find a different CFI.

10. Whatever you do, don’t think this will be easy. The flying isn’t that hard, but putting together everything to safely fly in the weather is the challenge.
 
I did all of my hours with my cfii. It didn't really click until about hour 30, then we spent the last 10 polishing and doing checkride prep.

Echo the advice to get as much actual as possible. It is shockingly different to being under the hood.
 
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