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Getting Instrument Rated in RV-14A
I'm a 500-hour pilot (with 80 hours tailwheel) and would like to get my instrument ticket within the next six months.
My RV-14A is well equipped for the task: Garmin GTN 750, dual G3X screens, 307 autopilot, dual comms, etc. My question for the IFR folks here is threefold: 1). What IFR ground school video courses have worked for you? I understand there are several - Sporty's, King, Jeppeson, et al. 2). Is it tough to find a CFII who will instruct in an experimental? I'm fine with a good simulator, but I'd much prefer to do the "live hours" in my RV-14A vs some club C-172. 3). Any other thoughts or tips going forward? Many thanks, PandaCub |
I got my IFR ticket in my RV-10. Finding an instructor is not hard - and they will give you the leads on the examiners that are RV friendly.
Get your ticket in the plane you will fly IFR. A 172 or such will just create unnecessarily pain. Carl |
I did the King's ground school, it's good. They have recently updated a lot of the materials, well worth the $$$.
I went to an IFR bootcamp, that nose down constant-training-until-done works best for me and my schedule. With the bootcamp I had the option of using my 14 or abuse .. I mean rent ... the school's DA-40 with G1000. I opted for the school plane and wow the G1000 is so much harder to deal with after flying the G3X Touch .. I kept trying to touch the screen to do things. These bootcamps are no joke, I flew 10 hours on a Redbird Simulator and 25 in the DA-40 in 8 days. Day 9 was the oral prep. On day 10 I went to another airport to do the check ride with an examiner and nailed it. Everything was fresh. It took me about a week to recover mentally ... :o |
obviously doing it in your bird will be better and cheaper than renting. So much of IFR is rules based and sequence based. As long as you know what you need to be doing at what point, it doesn?t matter what plane you are in. That goes for a simulator or a school plane. Then next most important part is buttonoligy. You have to know how and when to switch from GPS to VLOC. Wether that is a 530 or a 750. The buttonoligy is just as important as the knowledge of when to do it.
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I did very similar in my RV-9A/G3X/GTN/etc. Similar # of hours too. Did all the training in the RV, had no issues finding an instructor or examiner.
I used the Sporty's IFR course, great app, etc. King unfortunately puts me to sleep. |
I did my IFR groundschool using King videos, Sporty's app, and lots of YouTube videos.
I equipped my RV-7 with Dynon and two-axis autopilot, Avidyne IFD 440 GPS/NAV/COMM, along with Dynon COMM2. Jeppeson data for the Avidyne, Seattle Avionics data for the glass charts. I worked with three local CFIIs (two independent instructors, and one associated with an FBO). Found all three instructors via word-of-mouth recommendations from other instrument rated pilots in the area. Personality differences made me move on from the first. The second CFII had to take a sabbatical from instructing for medical reasons. My third CFII was 82 years old! Terrified me every time he got into/out of my RV-7! When it was time for my checkride, I spoke with four different DPEs. All four of them were willing to do the checkride in my RV-7, and I passed my checkride on my first attempt! This was Dec 2017. |
Usually finding a cfii isn?t the problem. But it is tough finding a cfii who is familiar with your particular avionics suite - since there?s no such thing as a standard panel in EAB. You need to be prepared to master them on your own, or educate your cfii.
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Sheppard Air for the written.
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Dauntless Aviation
I used 2 apps from Dauntless aviation. IFR Groundschool and Ride ready.
I passed my written at 96%. I also called around and found an examiner that was willing to do my checkride in my RV |
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