I got my instrument rating in 1984 and from 1988 through 2004 I flew to work daily in the Los Angeles basin an a Piper Archer II. Very stable airplane with an autopilot but I never used it. My wife Jeanine and I built our RV-6A from 1996 through 2004 when I retired. I decided that I never used the autopilot so I did not install one. I flew it for a year IFR that way. The workload to me was very demanding. After a particularly difficult approach to Winston-Salem, NC I knew I needed the autopilot and installed a TruTrak Pictorial Pilot and Altrac altitude hold - tremendous improvement.
I originally installed an SL-60 panel mount GPS nav/com, a SL-40 Com and a Terra Nav radio with an electronic display similar to the dual Bendix BX 2000 that was in the Archer. It worked and met the requirements for ILS, Localizer and VOR approaches but switching NAV frequencies to get step down fixes during approaches was not a pleasant experience in an airplane that is as fast and maneuverable as the RV. To improve this I replaced the SL-40 with a SL-30 and an additional GS/LOC/VOR display.
Following a race in Llano. TX earlier this year there was a severe weather forcast for damaging hail in that area and the weather back at Fayetteville, Arkansas where I now live was forecast to be VMC. My solution was to file IFR and get on my way. No alternate was required and I only had 38 gallons of fuel and would have had to do some fine calculating to get to FYV do a missed approach fly to the alternate and still have 45 minutes reserve and the incoming weather did not permit me the time to do that. I did know that Springdale, Rogers and Northwest Arkansas Regional were nearby and I would have no trouble getting to them if necessary. As I neared Fayetteville I learned via ATIS that the airport was below approach minimums so I called Razorback Approach told them the situation and asked for the ILS approach to Springdale. I was told that both Springdale and Rogers ILS were out of service and that the only ILS available in northwest Arkansas was at XNA. I said that I needed to go to XNA and fly that approach. XNA ATIS was calling the ceiling at 300 and low visibility. I flew the approach in ragged form, knowing that this approach must be completed or ... there was no option. At 300 feet I saw the glow of the approach lights through the haze and everything worked out OK but it was not easy and it was not a routine confident flight operation. This experience should alert you to several things:
- RVs are not simple to fly IFR airplanes with a lot of performance margin.
- Some times the weather forecast is wrong.
- Actual conditions can be such that you have to rush to get airborne.
- Ground based navigational aids are not being maintained reliably
- Glass panel navigation is best probably but obsolescence and product support threats exist
Last week I flew to Waupaca, Wisconsin for another air race on Saturday 10-5-13 and the weather was marginal. I could go whenever I wanted and the weather was supposed to get worse later in the week so I decided to make the trip on Thursday. I had to decide whether to fly IFR or VFR and I said to myself just take the time and replan the flight for IFR. I found I could go direct to Razorback then V63 to Oshkosh at 7,000 feet. I thought I could land there or continue to Waupaca depending on conditions. I took off and all went well until northern Missouri. There, Kansas City Center told me they could give me a vector around some weather but they said there is a cell to the right and another to the left of your course and if you continue that line it appears you will avoid the bad weather. I said that I would just continue my current course. In the past I have scoffed at concerns for turbulence. I flew into this big solid white cloud on autopilot and the turbulence was so bad that I didn't know if the airplane would survive it. I had Jeanine's headset on with the thick leather and wool pad on top because my mic performance is getting marginal. At one point I was smashed into the canopy so hard that I might have been knocked out without it - I have hit my head in rough weather before but nothing like this. I did not know if this was the way my life would end in the next few minutes or not but I knew that I had to do my part correctly for any chance of survival. When I entered a momentary clearing I cancelled IFR and descended below the clouds around Hannibal, Missouri. There I could see the massive black formations on the left and right of my course and deviated north around the back of the one on the right and refueled at Burlington, Iowa, From there I flew at about 1,000 ft AGL to Waupaca deviating many times to avoid weather. More lessons learned.
IFR allows you to fly when the VFR only pilot is grounded but it can kill you. The ground elevation on this trip was around 800 feet. In the past two years I have flown to your part of the country eight times (16 oneway flights) for races in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Reno (not as a racer) and there is no way I would fly there in IMC with an RV. The victor airways are not always the best routes for example, the direct route from Goodland, Kansas to Sheridan, Wyoming is much safer than Goodland - Cheyenne - Muddy Mountain - Crazy Woman - Sheridan
It is often said (by instructors especially) that getting an instrument rating will make you a better pilot. I say that it will demonstrate that you focused on a goal and persisted until you got the rating. I think it exposes you to additional knowledge and procedures but it is a transient skill that must be exercised regularly to maintain and it exposes the pilot to greater risks in exchange for the convenience.
Bob Axsom