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Instrument Rating with OBXFlight

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Aug 12, 2019
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I just spent the last week in North Carolina in the accelerated IFR program by OBXFlight. As of Friday, I completed the program including a successful examination with a DPE. I've wanted to do it for over a year, but it was tough to get away from work and family so that I could concentrate on training. I've only found a one or two references to it here, but I thought I'd make a post for others that were thinking about it.

The first day entailed flying from my home airport to NC. Scott flew out to me so that we could fly back to his area. This was a great option for me because I didn't want to delay the training due to IFR conditions that I couldn't fly through to get to him. It was a 650 mile flight and in my Comanche, took about four hours. We did the flight under an IFR flight plan with a set of waypoints he had predetermined. The first two hours was pretty clear, but the last two was solid IFR. We could see nothing and experienced turbulence most of that leg. It was a fantastic introduction to the world of IFR (bumps and visibility). Near our destination, we had to get diverted due to heavy precipitation over the destination airport. We dropped into a near airport for an hour before we could continue the flight. Learning to navigate through the waypoints and fixes using both GPS and VOR at times was incredible.

The second day was about VOR navigation, compass techniques, and unusual attitudes. We also did a few VOR approaches, a few hold patterns, and DME arc using GPS. It was pretty fascinating to see ANDS and UNOS work in actual conditions. In my PPL, there was a small portion on VOR. This day really took it up to another level entirely. We also did the first ILS approach on this day.

The third day was all about approaches. We did 4 ILS, 1 LOC, and 5 RNAV approaches. In addition, most of the approaches were punctuated by hold patterns. Naturally, we had lots of opportunity to do direct, parallel, and teardrop entry patterns. It was amazing to see how well the navigator (GTN650) would sequence all of this activity.

The fourth day was the long cross country with three different approaches on the way out. It actually went pretty quick with the PA24 cruise speed. We filed an IFR flight plan and interacted with the ATC system the entire way out. On the way back, we nailed two more approaches and did another flight plan. This really helped to solidify the use of the ATC system to facilitate IFR flight. Unfortunately my boost pump decided to spring a leak on this flight so we called it a day a little early.

The fifth day was done in Scott's Piper Warrior II. On this day we did 5 RNAV approaches and 2 ILS approaches. It was amazing to see how much easier this was to do in a fixed gear, fixed pitch plane. The power and speed management of my PA24 adds a significant amount of overhead during approaches. The "Duck" as Scott calls his Warrior performed great. This was the first day of checkride prep. By that I mean we started to execute the sequences in a very similar way to a typical checkride. This was also about refining the variance in altitudes used in approaches. I struggled a lot with ATC calls and remembering the numbers spit out to me on this flight.

The sixth day was another checkride prep day. My Comanche was back in service for the afternoon. I felt this was critical, because the checkride would be done in my PA24. We did 6 approaches, 3 RNAV, 2 ILS, and 1 LOC. We also did a circling approach. 2 of the approaches were done with partial panel. I screwed up two of the approaches which did not bode well for the checkride the next day. Scott reinforced that learning from my mistakes would just make me better and not to sweat it. My radio calls and number memorization was much more on point this day.

The seventh day was the checkride. We flew over to KHBI in actual IFR conditions, though mostly clear above the cloud layer. We didn't do much prep on the way so that I was fresh for the checkride. First we had to fix an paperwork issue with my medical. After that, we spent about two to three hours on the oral exam. That went very well and we moved onto the practical. One the practical, we did several approaches (RNAV, ILS, LOC, and a circling approach). We did some holds, some unusual attitudes, and a few other things. I passed! Afterward we returned back to KJNX to conclude the experience.

Overall I can't say enough good things about OBXFlight (Scott and Lisa both). The curriculum was fantastic. I was curious if I would really be able to get where I needed to be in seven days and indeed I did. Every day for lunch we would stop at a planned airport to get a courtesy car and explore a local NC town. It gave us a chance to debrief and decompress before hitting the second half of the day. Scott was courteous enough to ferry me to the airport and back as well as using his hangar.

If you need to get your instrument rating knocked out, I'd give OBX a call. I don't think you can find a better program to get it done.
 

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