What's the best way to start instrument training?

I'll be brutally honest. Flying by yourself with a safety pilot for IFR training hours is an invitation to ingrain bad habits. I did all 40 hours with a CFII (a colleague at work). This is a good idea because you can grab all the actual IFR time you can with a CFII in the right seat. And you can pick their brain about flying in weather or managing ATC in different airport environments. This was invaluable for building self-confidence and a good instrument toolkit. Flying single-pilot IFR after the rating was a non-event. IFR is serious business if you are going to use it. It is not advantageous to short-cut it.
 
jbarrass said:
Trim is huge. Make sure you keep the plane trimmed all the time.
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Do you know of any resources to teach how to quickly and effectively trim? Also, it's one thing to trim in stable conditions and quite another when it's turbulent.
 
elvisAteMySandwich said:
Do you know of any resources to teach how to quickly and effectively trim? Also, it's one thing to trim in stable conditions and quite another when it's turbulent.
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Bumps are an exercise in minimizing deviations.
 
Hang 4 said:
Agree with the advice that just farting around with a safety pilot isn't doing much for you and potentially creating bad habits. One thing to consider, if it works for you, is to get 10ish hours with a CFII and then go to a accelerated course and just bang it out. It's HARD either way, but for some learning styles the accelerated 100% focus for 10 days works better than 1 or 2 times a week.

I did accelerated and I think it worked for me. I was totally drained at the end and exhausted at the end of each day, but the learning was solid.

Doesn't work for everybody. I had just retired, so I could devote 100% for the 10 days. If you can't do that, then it's not for you.
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This is exactly what I did. Basics with CFII for about 20h over 3months. But inconsistency scheduling was hampering my progression. Accelerated course over 10d was the perfect solution. But I do think you need some time and learning the specifics of your airplane prior to jumping into an accelerated course.
 
dmspilot said:
The way to start is with groundschool and the written test, if you haven't already done so.
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I so agree with this. "We'll start upon successful passing of the knowledge exam". I say to any new applicant. I've had several students go to other CFIs because of this self imposed rule. I'm fine with that. I recently had a gentleman come back to me because he didn't feel like he was learning anything. We started out by shutting off the autopilot in his Cirrus. An instrument rating is a complicated addition to you certificate.
 
WDD said:
I spent the bad weather months studying and taking the written. Hint - it’s as much of a slog as the ppl written. I’d get the written out of the way and then start training with your CFII.

And set up your home simulator. Suggest X plane. Lots of threads in how to set up. Get the GTN 650 (or whatever you’ll be using) I pad simulator as well.
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IR written is 3x more painful than ppl imo
 
saddletramp said:
I so agree with this. "We'll start upon successful passing of the knowledge exam". I say to any new applicant. I've had several students go to other CFIs because of this self imposed rule. I'm fine with that. I recently had a gentleman come back to me because he didn't feel like he was learning anything. We started out by shutting off the autopilot in his Cirrus. An instrument rating is a complicated addition to you certificate.
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I somewhat agree with getting started on the written early. But for me, it was way easier to understand things like how an HSI works by looking at one rather than looking at a bad picture of one in an FAA pub.
 
jbarrass said:
I somewhat agree with getting started on the written early. But for me, it was way easier to understand things like how an HSI works by looking at one rather than looking at a bad picture of one in an FAA pub.
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I agree on getting some dual instrument time before prepping for the test in earnest. I had right at 20hrs dual under the hood/actual and 18 approaches when I took the instrument written and started studying hard at around 16hrs. The VOR and HSI questions were second nature by then. It also made most other knowledge areas easier having experience similar situations while piloting. I didn’t find the test much more difficult than the ppl knowledge test but I did study harder for instrument.
 
Great information here and a lot of input from a number of different folks. Thank for all of the thoughtful contributions.

I'm doing my first BFR this month and my (relatively) new CFI (who is also the person responsible for connecting me with the club of which I am a member) is taking his CFII checkride in about a month. (they're a good instructor and actually enjoy teaching, something that I think a lot of newly-minted CFIs do not.) Their response to my question "should I start flying with an -I, or just study for/take the written and wait until spring?" was "do both, if you can." I think the path forward for me (given EOQ at work, my wedding this week, and work travel later this month) is to buy the instrument books, start making my study guide, start reading, and If my current CFI passes their -I checkride, then I'll start flying with them soon thereafter. If not, I'll reach back out to the Part 61 school from which I got my PPL.

Great discussion. Thanks!
 
@allPrimes If you have not done so I suggest completing an online ground school. Much of it will not stick at first but once you start getting some instrument time in the air it will make more sense. I used Gold Seal which will allow lifetime access so you can go back and review sections appropriate to areas of current cockpit instruction. I presume other online programs also have some degree of long term access.
 
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