Category: Airplane

  • IR Part 141: Challenges of Cross-Country Flying

    The third stage of the course primarily focuses on cross-country flying. This means that students are required to plan and execute a flight to a remote airport, located more than 50 nautical miles from the departure airport. Although I had experience preparing mass and balance, weather briefing, and fuel, I had never prepared and filed…

  • IR part 141, Stage II Check: Mastering Instrument Approaches

    Probably the most important stage in the Instrument Rating course is Stage II, when the student learns to fly approaches. It requires precise and correct piloting, proper radio communications, multitasking skills, and attention to detail. Of course, these skills are important in every flight, including visual piloting, but instrument flight is even more demanding. Although…

  • IR Part 141, Stage II: Resuming My Instrument Training

    After an one-month break, I have resumed my Instrument Rating course in Florida. I had to return home to attend to some work matters, but now I’m back and continuing my training. Currently, I am on Stage II, which focuses on instrument approaches, the most challenging part of the course. I believe it’s not a…

  • FAA IR(A) Written Test

    What can you do when the weather is bad? Of course, the best choice is to study! Feeling confident about my knowledge, I decided to take a written test for my FAA IR certification. The exam itself wasn’t too difficult. The program interface looked exactly like Gleim’s software, and the pictures were the same as…

  • IR part 141: Flying Approaches and Practicing ATC Communications

    Brand-new instrument rating course students often encounter a lot of problems after feeling rather confident flying VFR. For example, quickly transitioning to a visual approach after hearing the words ‘runway in sight’ (when you should remove your hood and really see the runway), calculating the optimal speed for a stabilized approach, or executing a stabilized…

  • The Art of a Good Decision Making: Weather Challenges

    Weather is a critical factor for any pilot, and today we were planning ILS and VOR approaches in controlled airspace. The forecast was initially good and even improving, with almost no wind, a ceiling of 4300, and visibility of 10 miles or more. After all preparations and a preflight check, however, the wind shifted to…

  • IR Part 141: Instrument Approaches

    Probably the most challenging, but also the most interesting, part of the Instrument Rating training program is instrument approaches. This phase of flight requires a transition from the enroute portion to landing, and demands even more attention and better multitasking skills. Although I know how to perform the approach in theory, putting it into practice…

  • IR part 141: Flying Holding Patterns

    The next part of the course includes flying holding patterns. Sometimes it is not possible to make the next planned step or maneuver right away, such as due to congested air traffic or rapidly changing weather. In this case, an aircraft must wait in the air. However, the airplane is constantly moving through the air…

  • Passing the First Stage Check of Part 141 Instrument Rating Course

    The Part 141 Instrument Rating course requires a proficiency check after every stage of training. There are a total of three stage checks and a final end-of-course check. The Part 141 course also mandates a strict order of lessons, so one cannot begin the next stage before completing the previous stage check. I had been…

  • IR Part 141, Lessons 9 and 10: Improving Proficiency with VOR and GPS

    It’s vital for an instrument pilot to be proficient with airplane navigation equipment. We’re continuing with VOR and starting with GPS. All airplanes have the Garmin 430, and its interface is not very complicated. However, the main problem is multitasking: it’s not so easy to fly the airplane properly and simultaneously tune frequencies while communicating…