IR Part 141, Checkride: Becoming a Legal Instrument Pilot

After about two months of flying, studying, and waiting, I am finally going to have my Instrument Rating checkride. I am thrilled since I only had to wait for two days after my end-of-course check, which is not common at all.

We will be flying to Brooksville, a nearby controlled airport with an ILS approach available. Although the weather is not perfect for a runway with ILS today, we might be able to have a low-pass. I am planning ILS, LOC, and RNAV approaches there and an RNAV approach at my home airport.

I am always a bit nervous about exams, not because of a lack of confidence but because of the higher pressure than usual. Besides that, there will be nothing more than what I have already done, such as flight planning, weather briefing, working with charts, unusual attitudes recovery, holding, airplane control, and instrument approaches. One more good thing is that the ATC in Brooksville is usually amazing.

As a result, I am now a legal instrument pilot. I have a bit of a strange license now, which is an EASA PPL, piggyback FAA PPL based on the EASA one, and the US instrument rating based on this piggyback FAA PPL.

What’s next? I am going to obtain a FAA CPL to eliminate the necessity of maintaining my EASA PPL for executing the privileges of the FAA one. In other words, it will become a normal standalone FAA Commercial Pilot License with an Instrument Rating. Then I am going to pass the EASA ATPL theory and obtain a standalone EASA CPL. I can count my future US flight time towards EASA minimums too.

Why am I going that way? Why two different licenses? Basically, to increase my chances of being hired anywhere. Since I am neither a US citizen nor an EU citizen, aviation-related things are complicated in Russia, and our general aviation is nearly dead. I suppose I need as many credentials and as much experience as possible. At the end of the day, it’s also fun, and I love flying.


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Milestones

04/09/2017: My First Flight
04/25/2017: EASA PPL written exam (6 exams passed)
05/21/2017: Radio Operator Certificate (Europe VFR)
05/22/2017: EASA PPL written exam (all passed)
05/26/2017: The First Solo!
05/28/2017: Solo cross-country >270 km
05/31/2017: EASA PPL check-ride
07/22/2017: EASA IFR English
08/03/2017: 100 hours TT
12/04/2017: The first IFR flight
12/28/2017: FAA IR written
02/16/2018: FAA IR check-ride
05/28/2018: FAA Tailwheel endorsement
06/04/2018: FAA CPL long cross-country
06/07/2018: FAA CPL written
07/16/2018: FAA CPL check-ride
07/28/2018: FAA CPL ME rating
08/03/2018: FAA HP endorsement
06/03/2019: EASA ATPL theory (6/14)
07/03/2019: EASA ATPL theory (11/14)
07/15/2019: FAA IR IPC
07/18/2019: FAA CPL SES rating
08/07/2019: EASA ATPL theory (done)
10/10/2019: EASA NVFR
10/13/2019: EASA IR/PBN SE
11/19/2019: Solo XC > 540 km
12/06/2019: EASA CPL
12/10/2019: EASA AMEL
02/20/2020: Cessna 210 endorsement
08/30/2021: FAVT validation
05/27/2022: TCCA CPL/IR written
05/31/2022: Radio Operator Certificate Canada