IFR Rating

[vincentjus]

I've been pro-rec'd for Pilot, NFO, & SWO and I'm waiting on word for final select. My recruiter tells me my likely report date would be July 22nd.

I am currently enrolled in an IFR flight course at a Junior college and I'm about to take the IFR written exam and begin IFR cross countries.
Right now I'm undecided as to whether I should:

A: Stay enrolled and try to finish my IFR rating by mid June and get a B or C on the college transcript.

or

B: Withdraw from the course (upon receiving orders) and have an IM (Incomplete-military) on the transcript. The IM is for those leaving the college to go on active duty.

I was pro-rec'd in February and should receive a yes or no any day now. My question is how would an IFR rating or IM affect me at this stage and what what are your opinions on this issue? Thanks.

 

[Morgan81]

The instrument experience will help you out in primary, but you might forget a lot between when you finish up and when you start primary. If you have nothing better to do and don't mind dropping the money, I'd go for it, either way it's no deal breaker.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Did you already pay for it? If you did, and won't get your money back - finish the course.

If you paid for it and will get your money back, I don't think it would matter either way.

 

[vincentjus]

I'm not paying for the course. I enlisted in the Navy as a Texas resident and I've already used my GI Bill getting my BA, which means I'm now exempt from paying tuition and most fees at Texas public colleges (up to 150 semester hours) I would still have to pay for the check ride and IFR written exam. Check rides are roughly $300.
I wanted to give myself about a month to get things squared away, work out, memorize the big four, etc.

 

[Single Seat]

Finish it up. Excelling in IR/RI in flight training is what will really break you out and make you competitive to get what you want.

Never mind the fact that you can never be too good at basic instrument skills. I personally would finish it up.

 

[tiger84]

The RI flying in primary isn't that difficult if you bust your ass studying and flying the RIOT trainer. I had zero flight time prior to IFS and I'm doing very well in RIs. That being said, if you can get the instrument time without it adversely affecting the rest of your studies then you might as well go for it. It'll make RIs that much easier for you, and you'll really be able to make some good NSS gains.

 

[insanebikerboy]

Well, in my opinion, it's not late stage RI's that you'll make your money in, it's the BI and Form stages. If memory serves, late stage RI's are almost all 4's, so it's hard to make any real gains there, maybe one or two 5's tops, even if you have tons of instrument time.
The BI flights are pretty easy to nail as long as you take time to actually practice the maneuvers in the sim.

 

[BACONATOR]

Well, in my opinion, it's not late stage RI's that you'll make your money in, it's the BI and Form stages. If memory serves, late stage RI's are almost all 4's, so it's hard to make any real gains there, maybe one or two 5's tops, even if you have tons of instrument time.
The BI flights are pretty easy to nail as long as you take time to actually practice the maneuvers in the sim.

I don't know about Tiger, but I agree with you. I'm in the second block of RI sims and my grades are MAYBE 1 or 2 5s, so my gpa sucks and is bringing my Instrument cumulative GPA down. I'd recommend an IR if you can afford it. I really think I'd have benefited a LOT more if I'd had instrument time before primary. But this is coming from the perspective of a student mid-RIs so take it with a grain of salt....

 

[tiger84]

Well, in my opinion, it's not late stage RI's that you'll make your money in, it's the BI and Form stages. If memory serves, late stage RI's are almost all 4's, so it's hard to make any real gains there, maybe one or two 5's tops, even if you have tons of instrument time.
The BI flights are pretty easy to nail as long as you take time to actually practice the maneuvers in the sim.

The MIF definitely goes way up in late stage RIs, but if you have just a little more experience than the next guy it can mean the difference between one or two fives on a hop and five or more 5s. That makes a huge difference in late stage RIs in terms of arresting the massive decrease in your cumulative instrument stage score.

Again, I don't have any prior time so it's entirely possible that loads of studying/chairflying alone is enough to get good instrument grades. However, I do feel that prior instrument time would have had benefited me.

 

[phrogpilot73]

The instrument light didn't go on for me until I was almost complete with RI's. Talk about a lot of sweating whether I'd actually finish flight school or not. If I had an instrument rating prior to that - I probably would have had less stress. My vote is for getting the rating.

 

[Gatordev]

The MIF definitely goes way up in late stage RIs, but if you have just a little more experience than the next guy it can mean the difference between one or two fives on a hop and five or more 5s. That makes a huge difference in late stage RIs in terms of arresting the massive decrease in your cumulative instrument stage score.

Again, I don't have any prior time so it's entirely possible that loads of studying/chairflying alone is enough to get good instrument grades. However, I do feel that prior instrument time would have had benefited me.

If you don't have any prior flight time, then what are you basing your first statement off of? Five or more 5's is huge. Rarely have I seen anyone worthy of more than one or two on the 4100 block, the 4200 block usually rates a little more (although the last 4201 I did I think I gave five 5's, but he was a Herc navigator and was able to tell me when the FTI procedures would "violate" the AIM due to ambient conditions, which is well on par w/ an IP). Obviously that's dependent on the IP, but generally, five or more 5's, even on the road, is like flying w/ Santa Clause.

 

[nittany03]

Obviously that's dependent on the IP, but generally, five or more 5's, even on the road, is like flying w/ Santa Clause.

Tell that to the guy I went through Primary with that aced his I4390. Yes, that's right. ACED it. And went helos anyway.

 

[Gatordev]

Tell that to the guy I went through Primary with that aced his I4390. Yes, that's right. ACED it. And went helos anyway.

I've flown w/ one or two guys that pretty much ran the 4390 and did well. I'm just saying on average. But again, I know some IPs are more "liberal" w/ the 5's than others. Not a big deal as long as they're consistent (and do the appropriate write-ups....</end STAN kool-aid>).

 

[tiger84]

If you don't have any prior flight time, then what are you basing your first statement off of? Five or more 5's is huge. Rarely have I seen anyone worthy of more than one or two on the 4100 block, the 4200 block usually rates a little more (although the last 4201 I did I think I gave five 5's, but he was a Herc navigator and was able to tell me when the FTI procedures would "violate" the AIM due to ambient conditions, which is well on par w/ an IP). Obviously that's dependent on the IP, but generally, five or more 5's, even on the road, is like flying w/ Santa Clause.

Maybe I should have worded my statement a little better. I meant to imply that having more experience might mean having more confidence in the airplane and a better ability to multi-task the RI stuff while still keeping air work and the like locked on. While I have no prior flight time, I'm lucky in that I "got" the RI stuff pretty much from the second or third sim on and carried the confidence from those hops into the airplane and through the last block of sims. I definitely would have preferred to have prior instrument time though since I think I could have done even better.

I agree that getting five 5s in an actual hop is a bit far fetched, but simulator hops are a different story altogether, at least in Corpus. If you can keep the air work well within CTS (i.e. +20'/-0' on approaches and pretty much on altitude hold for the enroute stuff), and fly the events with solid procedures, EPs and planning, then five or more 5s is entirely possible. Whether or not grades like that are truly deserved is obviously a very subjective matter and varies greatly instructor to instructor, but I'll never argue with someone for giving me too many 5s.

 

[Gatordev]

I see what you're saying. From what onwings have told me, it's not nearly that "easy" to get that many 5's in the Whiting sims. Take that for what it's worth. I will say that if you're able to hold +/- 20' in general, let alone 0' in the sim, you're doing alright. When they send us for our annual sim hop, I usually spend the first 10 minutes recovering from unusual attitudes. I hate those things.