Beyond the PPL | CB Instrument Rating
48 | Pilot September 2017 http://www.pilotweb.aero
The suspense continued until, after the
necessary visit to the gents, I was finally
sitting opposite John back in the briefing
room. After meticulously analysing my
various mistakes, and with many sensible
recommendations about how to improve
my flying, he told me that I’d nevertheless
passed. In other words, a pass with a
knuckle rap.
I was thrilled and could have hugged
him. To be honest, I was also a little
overwhelmed. I’d started this journey way
back on New Year’s Eve 2015 when, as the
clock struck midnight, I made the slightly
drunken resolution to get myself an
instrument rating. Now it was April 2017.
After seven written exams, nearly fifty
flying hours and sixteen months, I’d finally
got it. It felt good. I looked across at Mark
who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. He
gave me a big thumbs-up. After all the
incredible work he’d put in, I reckoned it
was as much his moment as it was mine.
So now I have the magic letters CB-IR on
my licence. The big question is, was it
worth it? On the debit side−and I use the
word in its true sense−it cost me the best
part of £16,000 to do it, including all the
hotel stays, the positioning flights from
Denham to Gloucester or Bristol, landing,
parking and navigation fees, the theoretical
course, and of course the time off work.
That’s a serious amount of money, and
much more than I had planned, although
I probably needed a lot more training
hours than most pilots. But what about the
plus side?
Well, my actual flying skills have
significantly improved, as one would hopeafter all that cost and effort. I fly much
more precisely. I know my aircraft’s
performance far better, my radio is slicker,
and I do my checks properly. And, of
course, there’s also the huge bonus that I
can now fly in weather that would once
have kept me firmly on the ground. That
doesn’t mean I’m now going to launch into
a skulking cloudbase at night, fly five
hundred miles in IMC and not see the
ground again until I’m 200 feet above it
at the other end, even if I might be
technically legal to do so. But it does give
me options, as well as responsibilities, that
didn’t exist for me before. It makes the
kind of flying I like to do much easier,
which is to travel around Europe−or even
further afield−and discover new places.
And it allows me the privilege of seeing
the skies from a whole, and sometimes
stunning, new perspective.
So if getting an Instrument Rating is
something you’ve ever dreamed of, the
CB-IR gives you the best chance of doing so
right now. Yes, it’s not cheap and it takes a
big toll on your time, but if a very average
pilot like me can do it, then just about
anyone can. Now all I need to do is actually
put it to use, get up there into the airways,
and start having some adventures!If a very average
pilot like me can do
it, then just about
anyone can
Instruments now to be used in earnest!Stephen letting off steam after hearing the test result