Advice for 6-day IFR training trip

[jrh]

I'd like to hear advice from everybody about how to conduct a six day long IFR cross country trip to train a student for the instrument rating.

Here's the situation:

I heard about Morey's West Coast Adventures (http://www.ifrwest.com) and thought it was an excellent idea. Essentially, this is a program designed to train pilots for their instrument rating by flying a week long trip around the country in a Cessna T182R (Turbo Retractable 182 Skylane).

I started talking to a friend of mine who is just starting the instrument rating and we decided it would be a good experience to fly a similar trip for his training. This student had started training with another instructor in our school a few weeks ago, but that instructor will be gone for the summer beginning this week, so the student will switch over to my schedule to complete his training.

The student has about 20 hours simulated instrument time, 8 or 10 hours of instrument instruction received, and is fairly proficient at basic attitude flying and holding pattern entries (according to him, at least...but I don't doubt it, I have flown VFR with him and he is a good pilot). He has also taken an instrument rating ground school class and will have his written completed within a few days (he's been scoring high-80's on practice tests).

The student is leaving on vacation, but will be back on June 20. Our current plan is to fly together for three local flights so I can give him some instruction on IAPs into our home airport, then begin our six day long trip on June 26. After the trip, possibly fly together for another couple of local flights, then send him for the checkride. Hopefully have everything done, start to finish, in 3 weeks.

We'll be taking our school's Garmin 430-equipped C-172. My plan is to fly about 6 or 7 flight hours per day and shoot an average of 7, maybe 8 approaches per day. Four of the six days will be spent flying in California, everywhere from Crescent City in the far north, all the way down to Hawthorne near LAX.

I've given a small amount of instrument instruction, but this will be my first full-time instrument student.

Now, here are my questions:

I'm assuming this student is proficient at attitude flying and holds, but what specific standards should I look for when I fly with him for the first time, before we leave for the trip? Is there a certain level of proficiency I should expect in any particular area, such as approaches, that should be met before leaving? This is why I wanted to fly with him two or three times before the trip starts.

What is the best way to integrate the Garmin 430 into training? Personally, I did my instrument rating in a C-152 with minimal equipment, so I don't have much experience using a Garmin 430 under actual IFR. I'll be playing with the 430 sim on my laptop a lot this week! I was thinking I should teach with little to no GPS usage for the first half of the trip in order to stress the basics, then integrate it to show it's usefulness for the second half of the trip. But I'm open to a better way from all the experienced CFIIs around here.

When should I start doing partial-panel work? I was thinking of flying with the attitude indicator covered for the entire first day, in order to stress how the attitude indicator is always a secondary instrument, then go full panel for days 2, 3, and 4, then do a lot of no-gyro work on days 5 and 6.

Does it matter what order we fly approaches in? For instance, should I try to fly all ILSs one day, all VORs the next, etc., or should I pull approaches at random? I'm thinking a mix of every type each day would be best, but I'd like to hear what others think.

Should I try to find more unusual approaches, or should I stick to the common ILS, VOR, NDB, and GPS approaches? In other words, how beneficial would it be to fly LOC backcourses, SDFs, PARs, etc?

I'd like to file and be on an IFR plan whenever possible, for the sake of the student understanding the system, but I've heard that can be a hassle in SoCal. What are some guidelines on good and bad times to be IFR in SoCal? This will be my first time in the area.

Should I do anything in particular to prep myself for this trip? I'm going to re-watch my Sporty's Instrument Rating DVD course and study the ASA oral exam guide again, trying to be sharp on all the little details. As I said above, I'm also going to play with the Garmin 430 sim a lot, and actually go out and fly the 172 for an hour or two of practice approaches. During the trip, of course I'll take my collection of IFR study material along for a reference.

I might come up with more questions later, but for now that's all I have. Of course, any advice in general is appreciated also.

 

[MrSandman]

I will try to answer your questions the best I can, although it's difficult to "gauge" online.

I'm assuming this student is proficient at attitude flying and holds, but what specific standards should I look for when I fly with him for the first time, before we leave for the trip? Is there a certain level of proficiency I should expect in any particular area, such as approaches, that should be met before leaving? This is why I wanted to fly with him two or three times before the trip starts.
If you have the time, try to sit down with him in a simulator (or an actual flight) and see how he does. After the 30 or so hours of training so far, he should be fairly decent at BAI flight. Personally, I would hold him to PTS standards or something close, say PTS+50 feet, etc. It does not sound like the student has done approaches before, so it would be a good idea to do an intro into them before you go on this trip.


What is the best way to integrate the Garmin 430 into training? Personally, I did my instrument rating in a C-152 with minimal equipment, so I don't have much experience using a Garmin 430 under actual IFR. I'll be playing with the 430 sim on my laptop a lot this week! I was thinking I should teach with little to no GPS usage for the first half of the trip in order to stress the basics, then integrate it to show it's usefulness for the second half of the trip. But I'm open to a better way from all the experienced CFIIs around here.
Just like you'll be playing with that nifty 430 sim, have your student do the same in order to get a general feel for the device. The use of the 430 is more or less up to you. I would start including it as you begin, but place more emphasis on it later in training.

When should I start doing partial-panel work? I was thinking of flying with the attitude indicator covered for the entire first day, in order to stress how the attitude indicator is always a secondary instrument, then go full panel for days 2, 3, and 4, then do a lot of no-gyro work on days 5 and 6.
The first couple times you fly with him, or at least the first flight, I'd would let him be full panel. Only after he appear to be proficient in full-panel flight, would I start failing instruments. After all, if he is having trouble flying with all of them, it will not help to then fail them. As for all full-panel one day and partial the next, I would mix it up covering it on every flight.

Does it matter what order we fly approaches in? For instance, should I try to fly all ILSs one day, all VORs the next, etc., or should I pull approaches at random? I'm thinking a mix of every type each day would be best, but I'd like to hear what others think.
You're correct, mixing them would be the best. I like to start my students with the ILS as their first approach.

Should I try to find more unusual approaches, or should I stick to the common ILS, VOR, NDB, and GPS approaches? In other words, how beneficial would it be to fly LOC backcourses, SDFs, PARs, etc?
Well, that all depends on where the student would be taking his checkride. If there is a LOC BC in the area, I'd give it a shot--a lot of students are weak when it comes to the dreaded backcourse. As for SDFs and PARs, I wouldn't worry about them all too much, but if time and conditions allow for it, go for it!

I'd like to file and be on an IFR plan whenever possible, for the sake of the student understanding the system, but I've heard that can be a hassle in SoCal. What are some guidelines on good and bad times to be IFR in SoCal? This will be my first time in the area. I've flow IFR in the area before, but not for flight training purproses. If it is actual, I'd be prepared for somewhat of a hassle.

Should I do anything in particular to prep myself for this trip? I'm going to re-watch my Sporty's Instrument Rating DVD course and study the ASA oral exam guide again, trying to be sharp on all the little details. As I said above, I'm also going to play with the Garmin 430 sim a lot, and actually go out and fly the 172 for an hour or two of practice approaches. During the trip, of course I'll take my collection of IFR study material along for a reference.
I'd brush up on your instrument flight--are you proficient in all areas? If you can, I would go up for a flight and practice shooting approaches, etc. You need to be comfortable up there!

Good luck!