Getting your instrument rating is a difficult but worthwhile thing to do. It's expensive, and takes a long time. The subject matter is confusing to grasp and understand. Gaining mastery of controlling an aircraft solely by reference to the gages/glass without being able to see the ground is challenging for every pilot. Learning to decode the alphabet soup of acronyms, cryptic procedures and myriad regulations when you’re flying once or twice a week is hard work requiring tenacity and dedication. Additionally if you are doing it immediately after you received your Private it's usually not one of the fun thing you anticipated when learning to fly in the first place. If you have a flying budget spending more money training vs going to cool and exciting places might cause some resentment at home. Maintaining proficiency and staying current once the check ride is passed is a whole other matter deserving of numerous postings.
However once you get your private license and (hopefully) buy an airplane you quickly realize the value of the instrument rating. Without one, your passion in the eyes of friends and family is just a clever novelty. Like the weird guy at the party doing magic tricks, you’ll have plenty to talk about at social functions or when out to dinner with friends and associates. Inevitably the questions turn to weather and if you can fly at night, and fly on instruments. People really want to know whether you will end up like JFK Jr. and they’ll come right out and say it.
But when you’re sitting on the ramp on a beautiful summer morning with your wife and friends trying to get to (or home from) Martha’s Vineyard, Ocean City , or Montauk and the visibility is less than 3 you’re stuck. Every plane with an instrument rated pilot is taxiing out of the FBO and taking off making you feel like Junior Aviator. The other guys girlfriend is talking to your wife and friends about all the cool places they've been. They're going to the beach today too, 'maybe we'll see you over there', everyone wondering why you can’t go. The pilots in the briefing room are filing flight plans, picking up their clearances and getting released.
I was motivated to get my ticket after flying back from Oshkosh in 2001. We flew VFR at 2000’ from Fond Du Lac Wisconsin around Lake Michigan to spend the night in Eire Pa. The next day we launched into marginal weather and had to do a 180 about 10 miles north of Dunkirk NY at 11000 feet surrounded by canyons of building cumulus. A radical decent thru a 4 mile hole that extended to the surface to make Dunkirk Airport was next and we waited on the ground for 4 or 5 hours before launching to make Buffalo where there were hotels, rental cars and restaurants. We spent the next day banging into the back side of a cold front that we kept catching up to. When we finally got vapor lock on the Signature ramp in Albany I rented a car and we drove the 2 hours home.
That week I took the Amtrack to Albany and and flew home to Danbury in 40 minutes. They say 'Time to spare, go by air' - that trip is a story in itself.
One thing I learned after I got my instrument rating is that you never really solo until after your check ride. Up until that point you are flying with a flight instructor or safety pilot. Even though you may be the sole manipulator of the controls and piloting by reference to instruments when things get tough you can always take off the hood or say ‘your airplane’ to the instructor and be off the hook. Its a whole different ballgame when you are in the clouds, getting thrashed about and the only way you're going to continue living this thing called life is by going within, finding what it takes, suck it up and fly the plane. Wondering if you're going to see the runway at the decision height or minimum decent altitude adds a layer to what I like to call the sedimentary stress level. Stress impacts our ability to function and its really difficult to simulate how it feels and the way you will react when the majority of your training is in benign weather with a senior pilot sitting at your right shoulder.
The first time I soloed IFR. Judy was attending a SAP training class outside of Philadelphia and I stayed home with the cats. When we spoke at lunchtime she said ‘I’m lonely, why don’t you fly down, the room’s paid for and I have a car - we can go out on my boss’.
Philly is the type of trip our Mooney really excels at. To go from DXR to PNE is about a 50 minute ride with light winds. I checked the weather and it was good for the departure with 8000 broken and about 7 miles in haze. The weather for the return trip in the morning was a little different story with sky obscured visibility 3 in mist until 10 AM improving to clear and 5 after ten. With my newly inked instrument rating folded in my wallet and nothing to do the next day I said what the hell and headed to the airport.
Once there I did a thorough preflight and called for clearance and taxi. The clearance was a different routing than I had filed and they assigned me eight thousand instead of four. Holding short I called ready and was cleared for takeoff. The takeoff and climb out were uneventful the typical Danbury departure direct Carmel direct Sparta clearance maintain 3000. This was cool. I was going to be in the system by myself, flying through the New York and the Philadelphia Bravo airspace. Shortly after departure I was cleared direct Sparta and to climb and maintain 6000. I started the climb and as I was crossing the Hudson River realized that I was 8000 was going to be right in the middle of the broken layer they were calling for.
At the time 58 Victor was a day sailor. The equipment list was state of the art for 1975 and the panel had a few upgrades in its 20 year history but there was no panel GPS. Airway navigation was what we were limited to and there was no functional autopilot.
I was cleared to 8000 and on reaching that had me in and out of the fair weather cumulus. It was bumpy and wet but being a short trip they started descending me for the airport.
I got the visual to PNE and vectors to join final and my landing was uneventful.
The next day however was a totally different story. I woke up at the Courtyard and we had to rush to the airport so Judy could be back on time to make it to her class. Out west of Philly it was foggy but the sun was shining when we stopped at Starbucks for a cup of coffee for the ride to PNE. We followed the Mapquest directions we printed out and were amazed at the traffic heading into the city. Judy dropped me at the FBO, told me to be careful and took off.
I walked into the FBO called Flight Service and checked the weather along what I thought my route would be. One of the strangest things about getting instrument rated is the flight service briefer doesn’t stop telling you the weather after they say ‘VFR is not recommended’. The forecast was for the mist and fog to burn off after 10 and it was 9 so I did a long preflight, checked the weather again, and dispensed my physiological excess. Ten rolls around and it doesn’t improve. I’m walking around like a madman out to the plane and back, check the weather again, calling flight service from my cell phone and all of a sudden I realized that the rest of the two hour old Venti coffee isn’t helping my nerves any and throw it away. When it became time to amend my departure time or head out I finally decided to get in the airplane.
Out in the airplane things started getting hectic and I hadn’t even started the engine yet. ATC had thrown away my requested flight plan instead having me fly out to Allentown then Huguenot then over to Kingston NY to join the Nobbi Two Arrival into Danbury. I pulled together the charts and marked the fixes with post it flags and briefed myself of what the routing was. I called ready to taxi and headed out to the runway. The plane kept shimmying to the right and I realized that my leg was shaking and I was riding that brake.
The checklist served as a mantra though and I found myself comforted by reading it off and verifying that everything checked ok. As I made it to the end and set up the radio’s I was wondering did I slip thru the cracks? Did I really pass the check ride or did the examiner give me a pass? I couldn’t think that way so I told myself forcefully that this is what I had trained for and to get a grip. Cleared for takeoff I motored down the runway and lifted off into the fog and the mist.
There was no doubt when I was handed off to departure that it was IMC. You could see the ground directly under the airplane but the forward visibility kept you from seeing anything out front. I received Vectors towards Allentown then a heading to intercept the victor airway between Allentown and Huguenot. Those stations are pretty far apart so we had to track outbound of Allentown until receiving HUO. Being off airway was something I wasn't used to as neither of the needles were centered. I was real nervous and wanted it to be over and kept looking out the window and hoping it was clear, the way it was forecast, but of course, no such luck.
ATC climbed me to 7000 and I was afraid I would lose sight of the ground and wanted to cancel but the vis' was still less than 3 miles. I thought I should put on my foggles so I wouldn’t be afraid of the weather as I wouldn’t be able to see it.
The nice thing about the stable air, low visibility flying that day was it was smooth as glass. With no autopilot flying the airplane, visualizing where I was, managing charts, talking on the radio, looking up arrival procedures, writing down frequencies and changing tanks every half hour was exhausting. I couldn’t imagine doing it with nasty turbulence and rain.
I was flying into the sun and as I got north and east the visibility started to improve. Finally I was handed to New York approach, which made me feel better. Hearing the rapid fire transmissions, the familiar accent, the impatient rude exchanges I knew I was close to home and the area I trained in.
The white plains controller cleared me direct to Brezy intersection. I asked him how it was defined and he told me the fixes and quipped, 58Victor you're based in Danbury and how come you don't know Brezy?
I picked up the ATIS in Danbury and asked for the Localizer 8 approach for the airport. I remember thinking Wow, I’m buzzing around in the clouds, in the system, in New York. They gave me vectors to a few miles short of AMORE and switched me to the tower. Once inside the fix with the needle lined up I looked up and had the field.
I called in and reported inside AMORE. 'Mooney 58Victor cleared to land' the controller said. I read back the clearance and landed uneventfully.
When rolling out the tower controller asked ‘Mooney 58Victor could you give us a pilot report on the bases and inflight visibility?’ What a rush, Junior Aviator no more, I had joined the club.
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