Doing Instrument Rating - Any Ideas/Tips???

[kabz]

I'm currently working on my Instrument Rating, and wondered if any of you have and ideas/experience that you could share to make it go a bit easier ... ;-)

[Skyambition]

I found it useful to get yourself organised around the cockpit. By this I mean all your maps, plates and paper. This allows you to be comfortable in the aircraft and not get confused when ATC start shouting stuff at you.

Relax and try to stay ahead of the aircraft. Conrtol ATC, they do not control you! Keep things simple, remember nothing about flying is hard!

Cheers

[expedite_climb]

Try and learn the routes and procedures that you will use before you go for training. I found flt sim useful for this (not for flying).

When you get to the real a/c you will just be left to concentrate on the raw flying.

[er82]

I went to OATS, so during our twin-engine training we did the routes that were most likely to come up for the IR itself. Not only had we then flown the route before, but we also had the plog already completed. If you can get this done, and have plogs done for the most likely routes, on the day itself you just have to put in the winds and you're ready to go! You can then spend more time thinking about the route rather than trying to plan and think at the same time. Depending on your examiner, you may be given your route with plenty of time to go, or maybe just one hour before departure. With everything else to sort out, you don't want to be panicking over your route too much.

If you can get someone to help you, then do. We normally helped each other out with A-checks, Mass & Balance, Performance graphs etc. It takes a lot of weight off your mind, and you'll be more relaxed.

It's always a good idea to phone the airfields where you are going beforehand. Tell them you are coming up for your IR later on, and you just wanted to check on the weather, what runway they are using etc. Be polite, and they should remember you later on that day and be extra nice to you!

Get a good night's sleep. The last thing you want is to be tired. Don't panic - you've done it all before, it's just another flight with some different person sat next to you. Most airfields are particulalry helpful to IR exams. If you want something, ask them for it and they'll most likely let you do it.

Good Luck.

[euroflyer]

er82 has almost covered every useful tip for the IR.
The key is pre-planning and staying ahead at all times.
One other thing I did during every flight was to tell ATC from the initial call your route and intentions, that way they know from the start what you will be doing and won't have to ask you later during the flight, in other words, less workload for you.
Act as ATC don't know anything about you, it helps them as well as you even though they are very good most of the time.
Good luck

[deza]

remember your ice checks! and enjoy it?

good luck

[5150]

You can certainly benefit from doing some practice on any procedural flight sim, or even MS sim........

Practice holds until you're sick of them, from different angles and altitudes and this will get your brain used to working out your sector joins and timings, as well as improving your spacial awareness.

Practice an approach every time you go on the sim. Just like er82 says; your school will almost certainly know the airfields you are likely to go to for the exam, so you can help yourself for this by preparing your plogs and getting to know each approach and potential sector joins 'intimately'!

One thing I did was to plan to do the return leg via airways, at least then you don't have the worry of entering controlled airspace without permission, or without ATC knowing your intentions.

All of the above advise is spot-on - it's like that cr@p old saying:

Failure to prepare: Prepare to Fail!

Good luck

[kabz]

Thanks for your replies so far !!!!

I am using a PC-ATD and MS flight sim for procedural practice and I think I made a bit of a break through for me last night on the NDB stuff ...

Any one care to comment on whether flight sim could actually help your scan ... it seems like it's not that far to move your eyes, unlike the real plane, where it is easier to forget the GS, or the DG if fixated on the GS etc etc etc :-((

[deza]

forget learnig ,sids routs & ACT instructions by heart, scan, scan, scan, scan that is the key. aviate navigate communicate.

[Crosswind Limits]

Have to agree with deza - your scan IS of utmost importance. If it's good then you will have time to manage other tasks like the radio, setting up nav aids and ice checks. However, if your scan is poor, then other tasks will take longer and your overall flying accuracy will deteriorate.

Remember SCAN SCAN SCAN!

Oh yes and enjoy it! cough cough ;)

[Julian]

Check your cockpit management into gear, makes everything a whole lot easier if you arent fumbling for stuff and you know where to find it.

Duirng my check ride we short three approaches very close to one another (to put you under a high workload pressure), and it paid dividends here - leaves you to worry about the important stuff!

Julian.