Month: March 2022

Part 1, 13 sections, 8 quizzes and about 1 hour and 40 minutes of video down, and what seems like hundreds more to go.

I am not sure I really got a lot out of this. I went through most of the videos at least twice. Sometimes three times. It mostly touches on what we will be covering in more depth. The Scan, flight sims, certain weather flying conditions, EFB’s, partial panel, steam gauges, glass cockpit, etc. Just enough to keep it moving, but hardly enough to start taking practice tests. I definitely do not feel like I learned much of anything at this point. I wish I could talk a little more about it, but that was just it, it was…meh.

The next section is ATC & IFR, which should be much more interesting. Anything having to do with communication with ATC always seems like more fun than discussing, let’s say, steep turns. I’m not sure how far I will get in this section in the next couple weeks, as I will be at SnF ’22 (I leave this afternoon!!). I will definitely post some updates while I’m there, but probably not about studying for the IFR written.

Look us up! We would love to see you! I’ll post a map of where we are in a few days.

Thanks,

Mike

I’m heading there this weekend! We will be camping in (most likely) the main campground, on the west side of the lake. If that is full when I get there, we will be in the pasture. Look for the RV with a pirate flag. We should have about 4 RV’s and a handful of tents around us. I’ll post an update once camp is established. We usually have a campfire and some adult beverages most nights, if we aren’t at Coconut Flyers. And if you haven’t been to Coconut Flyers, you are truly missing out. Make it a point to stop by there and give them a donation for some free drinks.

But everyone is more than welcome to stop by our camp site, have a few drinks, and tell a bunch of lies. We all love talking about aviation, and hearing about everyones’ Logbook Memories. We hope to see you there!

Whelp…. Once again, work gets in the way. To explain, I am a Technical Sales Advisor for a software company. What this means is when a sales person is trying to sell a software product, our small team will architect and build a Proof of Concept (PoC) for the prospective customer.

I got called into a project for an already paying customer, who needed to replicate his environment. We had to cram 4 weeks of work into 2 weeks. BUT….we got it done. Presentation was completed this week with flying colors.

What does that mean? It means 14 hour work days doesn’t leave a lot of time to study for the IFR Written. I am back on it this weekend. I’ll obviously keep you all posted. And I promise I’ll try not to fall asleep from the instrument videos. 😉

Laters!

One thing I can say for certain….I got a lot of rest the other night, my first night of watching the IFR instructional videos. You see….It’s very easy to fall asleep when you are done watching the videos. “Why??”, you ask? Mostly because you may have already fallen asleep while it was playing. Whew. I need to find some way to stay awake for these. I got through the first series the second day, but it wasn’t much better.

I am hoping it gets better, as more information…useful information… gets the ‘ol grey matter chugging and I’ll want to stay awake. And stay interested. And stay intrigued. But so far, for now, it hasn’t grabbed me like a Marvel movie.

But one thing that DID grab my attention last night was an FAA Notice regarding the IFR cross country approaches requirement. It seems two previous, legal, interpretations inaccurately concluded that an applicant for an Instrument Rating must use three different approaches using three different navigation systems to meet the requirements.

However, the FAA concluded that the plain language requirement of § 61.65(d)(2)(ii)(C) “requires three different types of approaches, not three different navigation systems.” So they want all CFI’s and DPE’s to know that “the requirements for an instrument rating may be met by performing three different approaches, regardless of the source of navigation. “. WHEW! Good news.

There’s 3 pages of information in the memorandum, so if you would like to read more detail about these conclusions it is located here: https://www.faasafety.gov/files/notices/2022/Mar/61.65_Recission_memo.pdf

Starting this morning, I have begun my IFR training for the written exam. I am setting aside 2 evenings per week and one day on the weekend towards studying and reviewing. I have a dedicated section in my office to study. My hope is to be able to get the written complete by late spring and then begin flying for my practical. I am hoping to have everything done by OSH’22.

I still have an IFR video series that I bought about 10 years ago, which is still valid and has been updated over the years, through Sporty’s. That will be my primary source of training. I also have the flash cards I mentioned in the previous post. I am also finding other tools online, like MZeroA’s IFR training, Airplane Academy, The Finer Points, among others.

Follow me on this journey. My next post will be what I was focusing on today, and if I have any questions. Feel free to chime in with your comments on how you studied for the IFR Written.

Laters!

Mike