Guidance for instrument ride studying

F

farwellbooth

Well-Known Member
My ride is set for June 6th and of course I'm not ready. How can I effectively cram in 6 days? My flying is OK, I'm more concerned about the oral data dump. My examiner is a senior captain for Southwest and for my private he asked me all sorts of random stuff that isn't in the ASA guides. For example can you purchase 100LL in Mexico and other wierd stuff. The chasm between experienced and novice couldn't be any bigger and I'm freaking out. I've been leisurely working on this for a year working more than full time amongst many other activities. I've never taken a ground school but have looked through the Jepp, Instrument Flight Review, FAA Intrument Flying Handbook, ASA Instrument Oral Exam Guide and a Comair ground study guide. I don't think I've read one book in it's entirety. There's so much stuff I'm a bit overwhelmed and trying to minimize the chest pain, restlessness and nausea. Please help
 
First off, Why do you have a checkride scheduled when your not ready?

PS. If you know the ASA oral exam guide, youll be fine.
 
Well, I'm in somewhat the same boat only I'm preparing for my CFII checkride. What I've been doing is read the applicable parts of part 91 (14 CFR 91.167-91.193). The things in there are what you should be comitting to memory. The bulk of your oral should be about those regulations.

Read the Instrument Flying Handbook from cover to cover if you have time. Also, buy and read "Aviation Weather Services". It is another FAA publication and you should be able to use it on your checkride (I was able to use it on my CFI ride). It explains how to use each type of aviation weather report and chart.

For the flight portion, practice partial panel NDB and VOR approaches, and circle to land approaches. If you have had trouble with ILS approaches in the past, do some more of those. Practice all three different hold entries and partial panel holds. Brief each approach out loud using a checklist and never go below MDA/DH.

And above all, use the PTS as your study guide. The examiner should not go much beyond what's in the PTS during your practical examination. If you have the aeronautical knowledge outlined by the PTS, and can perform the maneuvers and approaches within PTS tolerances, you will pass.
 
I have to agree with the above comment ... why do you have your Instrument rating Checkride scheduled if you don't feel your ready? Not trying to add my 2 sense on the issue, just curious. As for as the oral portion, when I did my instrument I studied the ASA Oral Exam guide and the oral went really well. It wouldn't hurt to reschedule with the DE if you don't feel completely ready for the ride .. just my thoughts. Either way, best of luck.

Fly Safe!

Aaron~
 
Get together with your CFII and get him/her to give you a practice checkride (oral and practical). He/she will then be able to point out your weak areas. You probably know more of the material than you think. Also don't get paniced if the flight before the checkride does not go too well. That usually happens to me but so far the checkrides themselves have gone smoothly.

Good luck.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Also don't get paniced if the flight before the checkride does not go too well. That usually happens to me but so far the checkrides themselves have gone smoothly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Funny you mention that. For the vast majority of my checkrides, the flight before has been total crap. It's gotten to the point now that if I botch the mock checkride, I know I'll pass the real ride.
wink.gif
 
What I found with my instrument ride was that the questions were a lot more cut and dry then for my private. I also got asked a number of obscure questions for my private... but in my opinion, it's a lot harder to do that for instruments. So, I'd definitely say study the ASA guide and you should be alright... and if you don't know something (nobody knows everything going into a checkride), admit you don't know... and ask if you can look it up. Some things you really should know without blinking an eye are questions to do with low altitude charts (what do the different colors of airports mean, etc.), your approach plates (look through the key to figure out what every little symbol on your plate means), and also emergency situations (recovering from spins, unusual attitudes, etc.). Other things I would recommend to study are the part 91 regs... all of them... and definitely take a better look at SVFR regs (read through those twice). Prior to your checkride, try and print out all of the weather on Duats, both decoded and undecoded... look through all the Metars/TAF's and figure out what symbols you don't know (like if you see a $ at the end of a Metar or TAF, what does that mean? It means that station needs to be serviced)... double check everything on the decoded weather and make sure you have it correct. And, if you forget something... have the page in your FAR's marked so you can look up a symbol if need be (justify it by saying something along the lines that weather is a pre-flight item, so you'd have access to your books).
Also, if you have the time... read the FAA's instrument flying handbook... I can't recommend it enough!
I really wouldn't worry too much about it... chances are you'll remember a lot more stuff for your checkride then you think!
good luck!
 
Something i remind my students is that the stage pilots always have to prove that they know MORE than you. Hence the random questions about mexico. No sane stage pilot would fail you if you didnt know about mexico, its just to prove he knows more than you and for your own information.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hence the random questions about mexico.


[/ QUOTE ]

Alot of West-coast pilots fly into Mexico, just as alot of northern pilots fly into Canada. Not really any more random than customs junk or asking an Arizona pilot about icing....

[ QUOTE ]
No sane stage pilot would fail you if you didnt know about mexico . . .

[/ QUOTE ]

I do agree with that!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Alot of West-coast pilots fly into Mexico, just as alot of northern pilots fly into Canada. Not really any more random than customs junk or asking an Arizona pilot about icing....

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, but this dude is in PDX. That's a LOOOONG flight in a 172.
smile.gif


If you get stumped, ask if you can look it up. If you show that you know where to find the answer, that's sometimes just as good. Just don't make it a habit. It's quite true that the IR ride is much more black and white than the PPL ride. What it boils down to is "Is it legal or not?" And if you can, get a plane without an ADF. That works wonders.
 
without the ADF works wonders until you do your Horizon Airlines sim ride and they ask you do to ADF holding...then you sure wish you had trained with one.
 
Not saying I don't know how to fly an NDB approach, it just reduces the stress of the IR checkride. After that, you can practice NDB's with a safety pilot all ya want. That's what I do.
 
[ QUOTE ]
without the ADF works wonders until you do your Horizon Airlines sim ride and they ask you do to ADF holding...then you sure wish you had trained with one.

[/ QUOTE ]

bob laux got on with them after he busted up on the DME arc on his sim ride
wink.gif
one of these days, one of these days....
 
I have to agree with the other users, if you don't feel comfortable cancel. My IR checkride was scheduled for Tuesday June 1st, but t'storms passed through the NYC area so we cancelled the flight. The DE did allow me to do the oral however and I found that he focused more on understanding the why instead of just rote memorization. Why do you really need an alternate? What are the currency requirements for IFR and taking passengers along with you? What information would you obtain before planning and launching on an IFR flight? When must you file IFR? Which VOR checks are most and least accurate? It was fairly in-depth, but the ASA guide, as well as all the other books I've read, actually made it very low stress. Now if I can just past the flight portion.

Oh yeah, this is my first post on this board.

Dave
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I've managed to cram in a bunch of studying the last few days, flying the cr*p out of MS simulator and have been up a couple more times too. Sat down with a couple guys who recently took their IR rides from this particular examiner and got a ton of gouge.

About canceling... I highly doubt many people ever feel entirely prepared? Anyhoo, my cfi schedule the ride, not me so there must be some thinking somewhere along the way that it's time. It's on like Donkey Kong.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top