By Rebecca Burghy
In the May issue of our newsletter, Paul Wiley provided an excellent article titled “Why Get an Instrument Rating in Arizona?” He lists the many advantages to earning an Instrument Rating, all of which are true and lead to the key point: This rating really will make you a better, safer, more capable pilot.
Taking on the challenge to improve your pilot skills, you put in many hours of study and flight training, learn a whole new vocabulary and skill set, and successfully earn the Instrument Rating. Yipee! You’re all set now, right? Hmm…. Let’s look a little further ahead.
Speaking as a CFII and 40-year pilot, I have observed an interesting trend about instrument ratings. A pilot spends almost all of their instrument flight training with eyes INSIDE the airplane, focused intently on the panel, flying solely by reference to instruments. ATC separates IFR traffic for you, and you typically don’t spend much time actually looking for conflicting traffic. After 40+ hours of this practice, it becomes such an ingrained habit that it is quite difficult for the pilot to start looking OUTSIDE the airplane again, even when flying in clear VFR conditions.
We humans really are creatures of habit, and if instrument training is the last thing we learned, we tend to keep using those IFR habits even when we need to be using our VFR habits.
How do we overcome this pattern? Earn a Commercial Pilot certificate. You may argue that you never plan to fly for hire, and while that may be true, you will benefit immensely from this training. In learning to perform lazy eights and chandelles, you’ll physically fly the airplane more precisely than ever before, achieving greater awareness of the airplane’s capabilities as well as your own. You’ll hold altitude better, handle turbulence with aplomb, and roll those wheels onto the runway exactly where you want them. In the process, you will retrain your eyeballs to look outside the airplane again, without losing your ability to focus inside as needed.
In short, with both Instrument and Commercial training, you will become the pilot you always aspired to be: capable, calm and cool, able to handle the myriad challenges of flying in a wide variety of conditions and environments. You often spot traffic before ATC advises it, radio calls are no longer intimidating, and you handle the airplane with a deft touch. And those lazy eights are just plain fun!
Not only will your insurance company appreciate the additional training hours and certification, but you will be accomplishing required flight reviews, while maintaining currency AND proficiency. Yes, flight instructors and avgas cost money, but you’re going flying anyway, aren’t you? Make those hours count and reap the benefits. Fly Smart!