10-Day Instrument Training

After training back in May with AFIT to get my private pilots’ certificate, I turned back to them get my instrument rating. It was ten days well spent advancing my aviation career.

This time I brought my own plane to the party and Mike was wonderful in teaching me how to get the most out of my very limited equipment. The aircraft I was training in only had a single VOR, no DME, and no stand by frequency in the nav. Mike helped me get her set up so that I could shoot VOR/LOC/ILS that requires multiple frequency changes. That’s what I love about training with AFIT, their instructors have plenty of hours under their belt and are excellent at bringing up techniques to make pilot workload lighter.

Instrument training over the short period of time means that it is going to be a lot more intense, and it was. I made sure that I had my cross-country time and some hood time with a safety pilot (per the FARs you need 40 hours of hood time, but only 20 has to be with an instructor). Knocking as much of the training out of the way as possible before hand allowed me and Mike to spend more time focusing on my instrument flying instead of just building cross country time. If you have the opportunity to develop some flight skills before coming out, it will certainly make training a lot easier for you.

For people concerned about AFIT teaching you to pass the tests and having examiners that go easy on you, I had an individual from the FAA sit in on my check ride as part of their standard operating procedure to make sure that my examiner did her job correctly. He was more than happy with my performance and was pleasant to work with as well. At the end of the day I can say that because of my training with Mike that I am confident in my instrument flying abilities.

As always, Tony was there helping me get things set up for my next round of training. This time around I had a better handle for things and didn’t need as much help, but he was still there fielding phone calls and getting back with me in fairly short notice. Overall, it was a pleasant experience yet again training with AFIT.
Very Respectfully,

Zackery U Belford