I did a CIR renewal a few months back, which involved access into and use of CTA, CTZ and MIL CTZ , IALs, ILSs, RNAVs, at a whole bunch of different levels and with multiple plan changes 'on the hop', with a number of system and airframe / engine faults / failures chucked in. The whole show was managed without any sweat or particular effort, using the system how it was meant to be used. In fact I was very relaxed about the whole thing, right up until I finished the process and had to fly from a D class AD to a ALA OCTA under and around some CTAs. Christ!
The sweat was pouring, trying to flick between channels, dodge other VFRs, read VFR charts, stay within the OCTA boundaries, look up ERSA etc.....you get the picture. On top of this there were 3 different ATC units calling me to advise of traffic, track and frequencies (despite being 'out of the system). Bugger this VFR stuff!
