MECIR

[toohigh]

G'day Ppruners

Just finished CPL and looking for some advice on MECIR. I am fortunate enough to have access to staff travel anywhere in OZ and I'm after suggestions for training providers. Doesn't reall matter where in OZ

Any suggestions

ta

[Lasiorhinus]

Steve Pearce at Moorabbin.

[SCE to Aux]

Wardair at Bathurst is worth looking at. Very good facilities and personalised attention. Close to all navaids and they have a well equipped and well maintained Duchess.

[urkidnme]

Johnston Aviation Services in Port Macquarie are about to open the doors under new ownership and will offer all their previous courses,the MECIR they were well known for.

You can contact Kevin or Jamie through Aviation Consulting and Testing (http://www.aviation-consulting.com.au)

[FNG_WA]

Ad Astral. Go see Magilla and the boys at Perth Domestic.
The Dutchy they have is recently refitted and they will get it done quick. Three thumbs up.:cool:

[Sue Wridgepipe]

Johnston Aviation Services at Port Macquarie re-opening with Jamie and Kevin back managing the company is hard to go past for professional ME-CIR training on barons. These guys have a good reputation for knowing what they are doing.

[jonobishop]

Another vote for Steve Pearce! :)

[glekichi]

Tasair do them in Chieftains, which is obviously quite a bit more expensive than others but they then give you a whole heap of ICUS for free, and this is where they tend to find their new twin pilots.

[PlankBlender]

As per Steve at YMMB, I keep meeting low hour guys who left him because his approach seems more geared towards more more experienced pilots adding MECIR to their already considerable VFR experience. Reports of unrealistic expectations and pressure abound.

I recommend selecting any MECIR instructor (not the school, the instructor) very carefully, I've had several leave for the airlines, and know of various cases where students actually waste precious twin IFR dual time with instructors who don't really teach them much for one reason or another (lacking ability as a teacher, lack of real world experience, etc.).

[WannaBeBiggles]

As per Steve at YMMB, I keep meeting low hour guys who left him because his approach seems more geared towards more more experienced pilots adding MECIR to their already considerable VFR experience. Reports of unrealistic expectations and pressure abound.


I am doing my flying with the crew at Bini's at the moment and have had experience with quite a number of schools (moved a lot due work) and cannot say enough good things about Steve. He expects a high standard and professionalism in his students and will quickly correct you if he sees you doing something you shouldn't be doing.

However I have never felt as relaxed in a flight test than with Steve.

He has a very calm manor about him, but will make sure he produces a pilot with a high standard, which cannot be said of all schools.

[Lasiorhinus]

As per Steve at YMMB, I keep meeting low hour guys who left him because his approach seems more geared towards more more experienced pilots adding MECIR to their already considerable VFR experience. Reports of unrealistic expectations and pressure abound.

I agree that Steve assumes you can already fly an aeroplane, and all you are now doing is learning to fly a twin, and learning IFR. Yes, he expects you already know how to fly VFR, and how to fly VFR well.

The expectation and pressure that you do what he asks of you is certainly there, but none of this is unrealistic. With Steve, you will fly five days a week, for four weeks, and cover everything you need, and a whole lot more, for ALL the approaches. He expects you will put in the time and effort required, but not waste time.

This is in marked contrast to certain other schools, where the instrument rating course takes about six months, flying a flight once a week, sometimes less if the aircraft is in maintenance, where you are given three weeks to complete the endorsement engineering paper, where there is no pressure, and the instructor really doesn't care how long ( on the calendar ) it takes the student to get through.

Yes, make your choice of instructor very carefully. I chose Steve Pearce, and I would make the same choice again in an instant if I had my time over again.

[CharlieLimaX-Ray]

Girls you are doing an IFR rating not a line dancing course, wait until you are let lose on your own in bad weather or marginal conditions.

The other thing with an IFR rating is preparation, know your AIP's, know your approach charts, know your aircraft, know your POH and when you think you know it all go and start again.

Waste of time trying to do an IFR rating over six months, take leave and do it full time and that way you are not wasting time trying to get back up to speed.

[Lasiorhinus]

The school I'm thinking of, its the full time courses that take six months...:ugh:

[toohigh]

thanks everybody, sound advice
TH

[climingflightlevels]

Bob Harris. Top notch instruction from a well respected instructor at a resonable price. Innisfail allows you to do ILS LLZ VOR NDB DGA RNAV all within a short but high work load flight. Oh and a "pass standard" and "industry standard" in my mind are different things. The latter is what you will achieve at Harris'.

[krankin]

Another vote for Steve!

Any expectation to be able to perform is well founded because your adding the instrument rating to your bag of tricks a VERY important skill. As a previous poster said, wait till your out in the crap on your own and THEN you'll need to know how to fly the thing naturally so you have some brain capacity left to apply your IFR stuff....

You should be a very proficient VFR pilot before getting an Instrument Rating in my opinion and that is probably what the other bloke was on about.

[ReverseFlight]

Echoing sentiments by PlankBlender, krankin and others, I agree Steve really knows his stuff and if you work hard and do well at it, he will reward you graciously.

Steve expects extremely high standards from his students because he has to put in a lot of effort and he expects students to do the same. Don't expect any mercy from him if you foul things up, but it's much better for him to grill you on your mistakes rather than trying it alone on a dark and cloudy night - you may not survive to learn from the experience, and that's the bottom line. Errors in instrument flight can be very unforgiving, to put it mildly.

I'd recommend some real world or instructional experience before starting out with Steve.

[GABLUES]

This post is far from a fair assessment of Steve, i worked with the man for some 10years teaching and observing his methods which i now try to match in my efforts to pass on the difficult and sometimes sole destroying MECIR techniques. I just hope i can maintain his standards of teaching in my new role at another school.:=

[PlankBlender]

guys I was just relaying hear-say, I know the guy has a stellar reputation and for all I know he has more than earned it and is much better than many other instructors out there, I simply made the point that low hour pilots need to do their homework to find the best path to their instrument rating, and that courses and instructors geared towards high hour pilots might not be that.

For low hour pilots IMHO it's much more important to have someone next to them who has the patience and understanding to relay their real world IFR experiences, even if that takes a little longer, rather than getting someone to test standard as quickly as possible.

Good points in this thread about getting it right, getting comfortable with your IFR skills before you throw yourself into weather, and may I remark that a high pressure teaching environment to build skills in the short term to pass a somewhat artifical testing situation has some issues in the long term, at least for some types of pilots..

[Arm out the window]

I'll put in another vote for Bob Harris at Innisfail, and it's a bloody good part of the country to become familiar with, too, if you're not already.

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

Bob Harris

Bob Harris. Top notch instruction from a well respected instructor at a resonable price. Innisfail allows you to do ILS LLZ VOR NDB DGA RNAV all within a short but high work load flight. Oh and a "pass standard" and "industry standard" in my mind are different things. The latter is what you will achieve at Harris'.


I'll third that!

Dr :8

[tmpffisch]

Tasair do them in Chieftains, which is obviously quite a bit more expensive than others but they then give you a whole heap of ICUS for free, and this is where they tend to find their new twin pilots.

Wondering if anyone else can add their input here if they have experiences with Tasair.

They advertise free ICUS with the rating, however it is dependent on the W&B of each freight flight like elsewhere? Is a PA31 too fast for IR training?

[PA39]

Rick Wedgewood Caboolture

[Fonz121]

Is a PA31 too fast for IR training?

They're only the same as a Baron so not an issue. Single engine work would be fun if its like any of the ones I fly!

[FL170]

Hey guys and gals maybe those who have 'been there done that' can shed some light on what they experienced with my following observation...

Most 'newbies' who do their Intrument Rating will not get a job straight out of flying school utilising their Rating, however having the credential there for when the time comes is the whole point of doing it in advance.

After all that hard work of learning the rules and tricks of the trade, getting that hard earnt rating on your licence and getting a job flying day VFR singles, isn't it fair to be said 'If you don't use it you lose it'??

I'd be interested in hearing the experiences of those who have attained their rating, flown day VFR single for some time, then when the time came for a gig flying a twin under the IFR how much revision was needed. I understand your not going to be thrown in the left hand of a PA31 by yourself yet still I am sure there would be a fair bit of revision involved in coming back up to speed.

Any thoughts??

[DWC182]

Give Rob Marshall a call at Curtis Aviation located at Camden NSW you can get the details from their website

[Pilotpeter]

AD-Astral in Perth.
Good school (only me/ir, no ppl, cpl training).
The guys (and girl) at AD Astral are very switched on.
They will do it on time (4 weeks and yur done), on budget and in a very proffessional atmosphere.
The genuinly try to help, which is a rare feature these days.
The operate from Perth domestic, perfect environment (ils approach every landing) and still manage to be cheaper then any other school at Jandakot(they need a 2hr nav to get to an ils).
Not the biggest school out there, but I reckon the best.
Look into it and be ready to be amazed.

[ReverseFlight]

FL170, I dare say even with frequent (VFR) flying plus doodling on your PC FlightSim, you'll need to fix up with an instructor at least a couple of sessions in the sim and another couple of actual flights to get up to speed, which is not that far off CAO's requirements for recency. Can anyone else confirm or otherwise improve on this ?