Instrument Rating Pass

Yesterday I passed my instrument rating check ride. To say this is a relief to me is an understatement. I have been preparing, on and off, for this examination since around ~ 2016! The flying portion didn’t start until 2018 or so, but the theoretical knowledge was vast, and therefore, I required a bit more runway to get all that information crammed into my head.

If anyone is unaware of the instrument rating in flying, it’s the ability for you to fly IFR routes in the “system.” Similar to how airliners fly, except I fly at lower altitudes. The rating gives me the ability to depart from an airfield if conditions are not visual, aka, clouds or fog. There’s a vast world to this sort of flying, as it requires a great deal of knowledge, precision and planning on the part of the pilot to pull it off successfully.

The day of the ride was calling for some low level wind shear, with wind gusts in excess of 30 knots. I was skeptical that the examiner would like to go up in these types of conditions so I wasn’t exactly confident that I’d complete the examination on this day. I was looking forward to at least getting over the oral portion.

Since I scored a 95% on the knowledge examination, there was not a whole ton of cross-examination. I did recite some of the standard mnemonics, such as: - What equipment is required for IFR flight? - How do you know there is ICING in the area? - What’s the intercept angle for the FAP on a vectored instrument approach?

We discussed plenty of accidents, experiences from other pilots and previous checkrides of the examiner. The oral portion went rather well, and we quickly switched the focus of the conversation to discuss what types of approaches we’d like to shoot for the practical phase of the test. A lot of ideas were thrown around, including: - The JVL ILS 32 Approach - The Beloit C44 VOR Approach - The RFD LOC 9 BC - The RFD RNAV 25

We finally agreed upon, with the current winds situation, that we’d likely not like to extend our flying beyond what is required, so we settled on: - The Morris C09 VOR Approach with published MINOK hold partial panel - The DKB ILS 02 Approach - The DPA 20R RNAV LPV Approach with Circle to 28

None of these approaches were particularly challenging, I was dreading the holding procedure but it wasn’t too bad, the published MINOK hold off the chart gave me the added flexibility of seeing it in the 430 Unit. Keep in mind the Autopilot was INOP and the turbulence was being reported in the area as slight to moderate, it was a lot of work to keep that plane stable and flying on course.

The VOR approach went great, I maintained my altitudes and ensured I did not descend below any of the minimum altitudes for a particular segment of an approach. I was given instructions to “fly to the MAP and go missed” which I did, which took me to the MINOK hold. We did a lap in the pattern and headed to DKB while picking up ATC from Chicago Approach control. I was given vectors to the initial approach fix for the ILS DKB 2. I had no issues once again shooting that approach and I was able to track the localizer and glideslope inbound down to minimums. Our third and final approach was the RNAV 20R at DPA. Again, I performed an LPV approach down to circling minimums and the examiner told me “make it a real nice landing”, and I think I did, considering the winds! We landed and there was no doubt in my mind that I did great on the test. The examiner confirmed and we shuttled off the FSDO to print my new temporary certificate! All in all, it was the most intense 1.8 hours of flying in my life.