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An instrument rating will give the pilot much more utilization of the airplane and a better education of weather and increased navigation skills. This provides the pilot with all weather flying capabilities, and navigation in the IFR environment. For aircraft owners, especially high performance, an instrument rating is required by insurance companies plus annual recurrent training. The instrument rating is probably the most challenging and the most useful in terms of increased safety and confidence level for pilots.
Simulators & Aircraft
The foundation for all instrument training is built with extensive use of flight simulators, and flight training devices; Simulators are the modern way to train. It is a proven statistic that simulators accelerate pilot education and skills 3 to 1 over the airplane. Besides increased learning and skill level, training in simulators lowers the cost of the rating. Aircraft training is accomplished in a Cessna 172SP with GPS or in optional Glass Cockpit G-1000. We are insurance approved to instruct in customer owned aircraft, especially high performance and TAA aircraft from single to multiengine & turbo prop.
Flight Experience
The Instrument Rating requires that pilots have a minimum of 50 hours pilot-in-command cross country (50 nautical miles) time prior to application. The FAA minimum requirement is 40 hours of instrument training, including a 250 Kt. mile IFR cross country. 20 hours of instruction maybe accomplished with a certified instrument instructor in a qualified flight training device,(the IFRSIMCLUB membership saves training dollars).In our experience, the average time to complete the rating is closer to 50 hours of instruction. Plus an average of 15 hours of additional ground briefings/instruction. For most glass cockpit training IFR, the rating usually adds an additional 10-15 hours for the transition.
FAA regulation FAR Part 61.65
Knowledge Test
To thoroughly teach the necessary theory and prepare students for FAA knowledge exams, we recommend the King ground school and Sporty’s DVDS, computer based Instruction programs. For your convenience there are local FAA computer exam testing centers available on Van Nuys, Camarillo and Santa Monica airports. It is advised that the instrument student come to training with the written passed, especially for accelerated training.
Training Philosophy
As professional instructors with thousands of hours of instructing IFR ratings and recurrent training experience has taught us, that teaching just to pass a practical test is not the type of sub-standard training we teach. Our philosophy is to teach pilot’s to think outside the box, build confidence, aeronautical decision making and cockpit resource management skills. Additionally, as much as possible to give students exposure to actual IMC weather flying. Learn the use of automation tools for situation awareness, increased safety and proficiency all a part of the good training that we stress.