Build hours or start instrument?

SJM

SJM

New Member
What would you do?

I recently finished my private and am thinking about just building solo x-c time in a 152 before starting my instrument. My other option would be to just start the instrument, but that would require saving up a little. The 152 is much cheaper than 172 + instructor needed for the instrument, and my financial situation is a little iffy right this second. Basically, should I fly the 152 maybe once a week, or not fly at all for a couple months, put some money together and then start instrument training?
 
How much PIC X-country do you have? that's the big factor. also, how much instrument time do you have?

Personally, I did both of those time building factors seperately. I flew PIC X-country with all my buddies and family and had a great time getting that $100 burger with everyone and then hunkered down once I had the 50 hours and built my 40 hours of simulated instrument time seperately. It worked great for me. YMMV
 
SJM said:
What would you do?

I recently finished my private and am thinking about just building solo x-c time in a 152 before starting my instrument. My other option would be to just start the instrument, but that would require saving up a little. The 152 is much cheaper than 172 + instructor needed for the instrument, and my financial situation is a little iffy right this second. Basically, should I fly the 152 maybe once a week, or not fly at all for a couple months, put some money together and then start instrument training?
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I would say definently dont not fly for a couple months.. because it'll take a few lessons, if you do, once u start ur instrument to kinda get back into the swing of things... so if I were you.. i'd time build once a week or so like you said.. but save a little bit of time for once u start ur IR training...then once it's closer to your checkride.. or getting ready.. use some of the xc time u have leftoever essentially.. and go shoot some approaches somewhere you've never been.. make it fun..

just what I'd do..
 
Bear in mind that you need 50 hours XC time as PIC for the instrument rating anyway, plus it's invaluable experience to get out on your own in the real world outside the training environment, even if it's VFR. That's exactly what I did for about 40 hours before starting on my IFR ticket. But don't do it for so long that you start picking up bad habits. Then keep in mind that you'll be flying some cross-countries with your CFII that you can log as PIC--maybe you should save a few of the required cross county hours (beyond what's required anyway) for after you have the instrument fundamentals down and then you can get out in the real IFR environment with your instructor and do more than just beat up the same approaches at the same familiar airports; this option may cost a little more. This assumes you go Part 61 and the instructor has the ability to taylor the training to your specific situation; under Part 141 everything is pretty much driven by a mandatory syllabus and you'll do everything A,B,C,1,2,3 regardless. Anyway, I probably didn't do the best job answering your question because alot depends on you and your individual situation--but good luck because instrument training is exciting, challenging, and fun!
 
I'm kind of in the same boat. I still only have 16.1 hours of PIC cross country time under my belt. I suppose an option is getting a safety pilot and logging some simulated instrument/PIC cross country time in one swoop.
 
You got some good advice so far - mind the 50 x-c requirement and put money together so you don't have to start stop training.
Shoot for that.

on another note, I just laughed my head off at your avitar. It caught me off guard.
 
Good advice from everyone already. If you search other threads, you'll see that several CFIIs here structure much of the training to include a big chunk of XC time, since you get your IR to travel, not stay local.
Set up a sheet with a few options for combinations of solo and dual time to figure out what works best, and also talk to your CFII.
For the solo time, make sure you progressively challenge yourself, go different places, use flight following and fly to towered fields to improve radio skillz, get more comfortable with VOR nav, and fly at night. All these things will help you as you go on.
 
Our University requires 40 hours of x/c time before starting the instrument rating. It's suppose to be 40 but sometimes its +/-. The students just get a packet of specific x/c's they are suppose to fly. It's all solo flying, but you just received a fresh certificate, so you should be good to go. Plan a few stops and head out...and for God's sake, don't rush it, enjoy it!
 
For me, once I got my PPL I did a few $100 hamburger flights with friends, just to see if I really could do it all on my own with people on board. But I got started on my IR about 2-3 weeks later, no sense in spending money for one thing when you could spend it on getting a rating, of course it doesn't really matter in the end since you'll need 250TT to get your comm if that's where you going anyway. I got my IR and now have to buy a 100hour block of a 152 to get up to 250. The good thing about block time, much cheaper per hour 99% of the time that regular hour by hour rentals.
 
Personally, I would get my xcountry time while learning how to fly under the hood with a safety pilot. You will be able to learn a lot by yourself if you study the basics of IFR. Then you don't have to spend all of your $$ on an instructor. Not only that, you can split the flying time with the safety pilot.
 
Safety pilot can be a good idea later on in training. I'd recommend spending time with a CFII first before using a safety pilot- you should have a good understanding of your scan, the system and how to fly approaches otherwise you're likely to pick up some bad habits. If you use an SP later on you can go out and fly practice approaches and holds in VMC, or split time on XC flights. Check regs and other threads on SP so you log it correctly.
 
XLR99 said:
Safety pilot can be a good idea later on in training. I'd recommend spending time with a CFII first before using a safety pilot- you should have a good understanding of your scan, the system and how to fly approaches otherwise you're likely to pick up some bad habits. If you use an SP later on you can go out and fly practice approaches and holds in VMC, or split time on XC flights. Check regs and other threads on SP so you log it correctly.
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I'm doing all of my hood time with my CFI at the moment, considering I have less than 5 hours of hood time total. I believe you have to have 15 hours of simulated with a CFI before you can take your instrument checkride anyway.
 
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